Genealogy Chat

Thznk you Peter and Bren.
Peter
I had not thought about the honeymoon option, I have always in my own overactive imagination thought that George senior met a girl local girl and 1+1=3. From cousins i have managed to contact through my research, there is a constant tale that has been passed down by our grandparentd, related to G or GG Grandfathers parentage, which we have all discounted as far too fanciful. However all of us have pooled our information and we are all stuck.
The honeymoon idea would perhaps give some credence to this fanciful story

Bren
I did buy credits for Find my Past but George Arthur does not appear on any GRO returns from overseas. My cousin also went to the National Archive, She has also consulted with the Chilean embassy, they advise at this time it was not compulory to registe births in Chile at this time.

I have now put a request on Trying to Find... for possible ideas on where to move next. I wll keep this thread up for a while in case it can help someone else.

Thank you all for your invaluable help... Mandy

Mandy
My grandfather was born in India in 1866 (his father was a serving soldier with the British Army).I found his baptism record in the Chaplains returns in the Overseas BMD's
which are free to view on Find my past , this could be an option for you
The 1901/1911 census shows him as British subject born in India

Mandy,

I have just thought of a famous example that may be relevant to your concern: in the C19 the newly married Mr and Mrs Nightingale took a very extended honeymoon in Italy that lasted several years. Their daughters were born in Florence and Naples and for that reason were called Florence and Parthenope. Despite being born in non-British territory noone, then or now, would consider the lady with the lamp anything other than British.

Peter

Thank you all very much for your replies. So I think I am on the right track and will recheck possible matches for the father and keep an open mind about his mother.

I keep coming up with the same possibilities for his father but then I cannot match the child to his father.

I think the naturalization records may be at the National Archive but I have been unable to find a match there via the internet, but then I never seem to have much success with any of my searches on the National Archive site. I also have been unable to find my ancestor on GRO returns for births registered abroad.

Thanks again....... Mandy

Although Ws's reply covers most British Subjects, if of foreign parentage one could also become a naturalized British Subject. This could be done in the UK, but also in places like Canada, South Africa, Australia, etc., more generally those with "responsible" governments. Since, say, Canadian citizenship didn't exist pre 1949 (or thereabouts), what was conferred was British citizenship.

The Mothers nationality is not relevant as the child bears the nationality of the father. It is possible that he became a British subject after arriving in England and applying for citizenship. There is an index of naturalization records which used to be held at the FRC. I'm afraid I don't know its location now.

Mandy,

I don't have WS's impressive grasp of case law but I imagine that in the mid-C19 the child born to a British couple working abroad, say, an engineer in Argentina, would be considered British both by the local authorities and by the British.

Peter

Gosh WS

Thank you for your reply. So, I think I am correct in thinking that his father must have been British, as he was not born in one of the British terrotories.

His father was not an ambassador, so he must have been naturalised, I remember seeing this on one of the WDYTYA programmes. I know his fathers name from marriage certificates but I have no idea re his mother.

Is it possible to ask if you know whether both parents had to be British.

Sorry for all these questions, it's just that I am embarking on yet another attempt to find this information, after 2 years of trying.

Once agin thank you very much for your information... Mandy

Hi
Can anyone confirm or otherwise whether a person who was born overseas in the 1850's, would have had a British father in order to be a British National/Subject.

My ancestor was born abroad and on the 1891/1901/1911 he has given his place of birth but then written British Subject or National.

I just cannot get further with any information related to his youth or father, so I just wanted to make sure I was on the right track.

Thanks ........ Mandy