Genealogy Chat

Hi there,

After searching for quite some time, I've finally come to the conclusion that my Mother's Great Uncle, Walter ASBURY SMITH, must have married while he was in Australia. I know that he was in Melbourne between 1923 and 1927. He apparently went out with a Bishop and was a clergyman. I have a marriage for his daughter and his granddaughter (that trail came from his death cert). He definitely returned to the UK in 1927/8 and his last listed address in the clergy book was 78 Guinness Trust Buildings, Stamford Hill N16. In 1974 there is a P.C. Asbury-Smith at that address in the phonebook (on ancestry). I suspect therefore that this might be a son.

Walter was born in 1895 in Barrow in Furness, at that time Asbury was his middle name but on his death cert it had become a hyphenated name with his surname. He died in 1985. This is how I found his daughter's marriage. I'm still looking for her birth but I have suspicion that she and possibly other children may have been born in Australia.

I've no idea where to look if they were registered in Australia so any offer of help would be greatly received. I'd also love to be able to find out who he went out with so if anyone could point me towards ships records I'd appreciate it.

His daughter is Patricia J. ASBURY SMITH and married Frederick William Bott in Q1 1951 (Surrey SW.)

Thank you in advance.

There is this entry on findmypast
SMITH Walter A 1895 M 1920 London Australia Melbourne

Someone is offering lookups.

trish, thanks for that I didn't know that was the situation over there. I guess you just get used to being able to access this stuff.

Jim, that looks promising, thank you :-) What record is that for, please, the ships passage?

Could this be Walters marriage.

Family Name: SMITH
Given Name: Walter Ashbury
Spouse Family Name: BENNETT
Spouse Given Name: Catrherine Eva
Registration Year: 1925
Registration Number: 172A
Re-registration Year:
Event Year:
Registration Type:
Event: M

Victorian BDM Index on cd. for viewing by the general public are restricted in most cases, but vary from State to state.

The State of Victoria allow indexed cd's for marriages up to 1942.

Deaths up to 1985

Births up to 1921


Tony ( Melbourne Australia )

Tony, that could well be the one. I've seen lots of misspellings/mistranscriptions of the Asbury over the years so that wouldn't bother me, I certainly haven't come across many outside of my family that used it as a middle name.

Considering his job it's almost certain that he would have married rather than living in sin/having illegitimate kids and I've not been able to find anything on the England BMDs from 1926-1951.

Was that registered in Melbourne? Do you know how I would go about getting more info?

I haven't found the children's birth and it's looking like I might not if they're not accessible after 1921. I'd never have known this woman existed if it wasn't for the granddaughter being the informant on his death cert. Even then it's taken a while to catch on to the idea of looking for the hyphenated name.

I'm going out in a few minutes but I'll check back for replies when I get home.

Thanks :-)

Hi. There were 106 Marriages for a Walter SMITH in Victoria between 1921 and 1942
Like many other Country's...the surname SMITH is numerous in Australia.

This was the only one that came close to your request.

There was also a marriage of a Walter Aubary SMITH but it was in 1937....but you say your Walter was back in the U.K by 1927....so only left the one possible. Walter Ashbury SMITH.

The "h" added in Ashbury could be a mis-pelling.? Australian certs & index's in the early years ( although normally very informative ) were full of mistranscribed BDM's when it came to spelling certain forenames/surnames.

BDM's for the State of Victoria can be downloaded ( in most cases ) to your computer online ( accepting credit card details )...if you think this is your Walter....***Quoteing Registration Number: 172A***


VICTORIA..... B.D.M's Enquire:
http://online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/home


Quite possible he may have married in Melbourne, but Melbourne itself has 100s of suburbs/towns that branch out 25 -30kms in all directions from Melbourne central city.....CBD.

Births after 1921 are not accessible by the general public ( Privacy act ) ..and unfortunatley ( to the best of my knowledge ) even if you know the names of his children.....you would need to go through much red tape and proof, documented evidence, in person......that you are blood kin ( next of Kin ) eg: Father/Mother/Grandparents.

Cant even aquire my own birth cert ( being born here 1940s ) without going through much red tape and physical evidence.


Good luck.

Cheers. Tony...:>))

Thanks Tony, I'll definitely look into this one. I've bookmarked the link as I don't have the funds for the cert right now, but I'm really glad that they're available to download.

In one way I think it's good that they're protective of your privacy but in another it must be a real pain.

Many Thanks.

This looks like the person (possible son) who was at the Stamford Hill address in 1974. Born in 1929 according to this (so Walter should have been back in the UK by then) , but I couldn't find the birth listed on Ancestry BMD:

Name: Peter Clement Asbury-Smith
Birth Date: 6 Feb 1929
Death Registration Month/Year: Jun 2003
Age at death (estimated): 74
Registration district: Tower Hamlets
Inferred County: London
Register number: B36
District and Subdistrict: 246/1B
Entry Number: 254


Oh, and interesting aside (found on Google): PC Asbury-Smith was the Liberal candidate for Hackney Central in 1977. He received 644 votes (4.1%)! Since he was standing for election, there should be some publicly available info on him - like maybe where he was born?

Richard

Found that death after I posted the thread, thanks Richard. I didn't know that about the lib candidate and I did google the names. I think I did the full name though. I now suspect he was born in India, after returning to look at the original info I had on Walter, he was in Cawnpore in 1928-30, I hadn't recognised the place as another name for Kanpur but googling it brought that up...so yeah, comparing date of birth and dates for his parishes he was probably born in India.

Some kind person supplied me with a copy of Walter and Catherine's marriage cert and I've already ordered the death cert for Peter in the hope it'll tell me his children's name.

oh my goodness, just regoogled PC Asbury-Smith and got up something very unexpected.

Thanks so much Richard, it just goes to show that we should google different to just the full names... I'm so thrilled :D