Find Ancestors

My father, Charles Victor Howe, was born in South Africa in 1905, of English parents. I have been looking with minimal success for any details of their journeys between England and South Africa, and later their return from South America. This is what I know so far:

Charles Alfred Howe, dob 1878, London:
1901 census, living in London
8 June 1901 Departure Southampton-Cape, SS Gascon, occupation Fireman (on railways)
5 July 1903 married in Holt, Norfolk, England - address given as South Africa

Alice Ann Howe nee Davison, dob 1877,Holt, Norfolk, travelled to Cape between 1903 and 1905

The family, consisting of parents, plus children Charles V (1905) and Dorothy E M (1907), then went to South America c1908

Alice Ann Howe, with children Charles V, Dorothy E M and Alfred G (1909), returned to England in 1911, but after the census date. Their 4th child, Arthur E, was born in London in November 1911.

Charles Alfred Howe returned to England some time after 1914.

If any of you clever people can find any other travel records for them, I should be extremely grateful.

Jan

Here's one?

Name: Charles Howe
Birth Date: abt 1878
Age: 43
Port of Departure: Cape Ports
Arrival date: 17 Oct 1921
Port of Arrival: Southampton, England
Ship Name: Walmer Castle

Shipping line: Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company Ltd
Official Number: 114839

EDIT: May not be your man. he's ERA Royal Navy. No sign of family. heading 121 Humberstone Road Ford Davenport. Entry has been crossed out.

Sadly not my grandfather, he was definitely not in the Navy. But thanks for looking.

Jan

I can't find the Howe/Davison marriage between 1900-1910 on FreeBMD.

It took me ages to find it too, she is transcribed as Alice A David.

Hmm, I can't find it on FreeBMD either, but this is copy of the Banns from Ancestry:

http://prntscr.com/jd7kwm

Can't find Alice David either.
Edit: I see you posted the banns. Could it be that the banns were read in England but the marriage happened in South Africa? It's just that the marriage doesn't seem to be on FreeBMD.

As only the Banns are on Ancestry, it is entirely likely that the marriage took place in South Africa

Banns have to be read in BOTH parishes

My cousin said she had a copy of their marriage photograph in England, but sadly never sent me the promised copy.

Alice Ann was transcribed as David for the Banns entry on Ancestry.

I must admit that I was surprised to find the banns, as I had always assumed, from my mother's reaction once when I said I had a school project to draw a family tree, that they never were married, but can't see the point in having the banns read if they never continued with the wedding.

I thought Banns had to be read where the wedding was going to take place.

Is there any way of checking BMD in South Africa between 1901 and 1908?

As I said above, Banns have to be read in BOTH parishes

And many a marriage has been called off after the Banns have been read

I have also tried looking for travel records for Alice Davidson/Davison, but no luck there either

Goodness, that's strange - I looked at the Ancestry banns entry, scrolled across to the left hand page, and there are the banns for Alice's sister Rose and her future husband, Arthur Amos. Just this morning I checked Rose's 1911 census and found that she was living at 246 Sandringham Buildings, Westminster, which is the address shown on the birth certificate of Alice's son, Arthur, so the family must have been staying with sister Rose on their return from South America.

On the subject of Arthur, I have copies of two birth certificates for him. The first shows him born in Westminster but registered in Holt, Norfolk - Alice obviously went back to stay with her mother - the second shows him born and registered in Westminster. I contacted the GRO to query this, they told me that the birth had to be registered in the district where the event took place, and that the first certificate should have been destroyed.

According to FreeBMD he was registered in Erpingham, Norfolk:


Births Dec 1911 (>99%)

Howe Arthur E Davison Erpingham 4b 141

Edit: Oh but here's his registration in Westminster:


Births Mar 1912 (>99%)

Howe Arthur E Davison Westminster 1a 855

That is why I sent for both certificates. He was born in London in November 1911, taken to Holt in Norfolk and was registered there, then they must have returned to London early in 1912 and re-registered him.

Just looking at the Banns - it mentions a place in S.A. worth following the place to see what church there might have had a part in this marriage. Only guessing, but all clues hold some information even if discounted in the end.
Good luck
Ru

Is there any way of researching BMD In South Africa? I have tried to find a suitable site, but without sucess

Hi Jan,

Well to be honest I think you might have a hard job, but I really do not know - another helper might come in on that question.
My suggestion was based on the Banns and I did do a google of the Grahamstown and the churches in the area. May I suggest that you first familiarise yourself (pertinent but you may have already done this or know more) with the province and then google churches. With your knowledge you will easily select the religion then drop a line or even google the church to see if there is a web site and do it on line.
Suggest you use little detail but tip the favour of interest by suggesting a family member was connected (even if it is only a possibility) and see what comes back.

Good luck
Ru

You could try this:

www.eggsa.org/bdms/Marriages.html
Ru

Have just gone into the site - there is a lot on this and it may well be good to check it out to see what it covers.

I cannot decipher the name of Naakufoust (??) as I think to google that might help or not!!

It's Naauwpoort, also known as Noupoort, but I can't find anything useful about churches or BMDs on a Google search.

It seems to have been a railway community - was Charles anything tto do with railways ?


Noupoort
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Noupoort is a town in the eastern Karoo region of South Africa.

Town 54 km south of Colesberg and 45 km north of Rosmead Junction. It was laid out on a portion of the farm Caroluspoort, was administered by a village management board from 1937 and attained municipal status in 1942. Afrikaans for ‘narrow pass’, the name refers to a gap in the Carlton Hills 27 km to the north-west.[2]

It revolved principally around the railways and is still used as traction change-over facility from diesel to electric locomotives on the Noupoort-Bloemfontein line. It was serviced by Midlandia, a locomotive complex a few kilometres to the south of town, especially during the diesel era up to the late 1900s. Nowadays links up with the electric line to De Aar, part of the main artery for iron ore and manganese exports from the Northern Cape through Port Elizabeth Harbour on the south coast.

Churches in Noupoort:

https://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=12516

http://travelbucket.co.za/noupoort-northern-cape/

St-Andrews Presbyterian Church has a Facebook page with absolutely no info on it

http://register.nbkb.org.za/site/old-anglican-church-shaw-street-noupoort/

https://www.militaryimages.net/media/anglican-church-noupoort.23522/.

Something about some marriage records here :

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/South_Africa_Archives_and_Libraries

https://tinyurl.com/yddyojm7

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Library_for_Historical_Research

https://tinyurl.com/y9gpy6uc

https://www.ru.ac.za/corylibrary/genealogy/