Genealogy Chat

I am trying to find the marriage of my grt uncle Maurice Henry O'kelly he was born in the last quarter of 1910 and have searched the free BMD's on ancestry from 1928 to 1940 (he was killed in 1940). I know he married a lady called Kathleen and would have probably been married in SE London. Don't have any further info. If anyone could give me a hint of where to go next I would be grateful. Thanks Sharon

Have you checked the full BMD indexes or freeBMD, which only covers upto about 1914? The full indexes are available to view for free on Ancestry but it does mean trawling through each year quarter by quarter. Sam x

Sam i have done the one where i have trawled through year upon year of records, not the partial one. No joy!!!!

In that case there could be a few reasons: 1) You have missed him or he married somewhere you didn't expect and you have disregarded him 2) He married abroad or in Scotland/Ireland 3) The marriage was missed off when the local register office sent their details to the GRO (or whatever it was called back then) 4) They never actually got married In the case of 3), if you know where they married and therefore which register office, you could ask them to check their records. if you do't know where they married, I'm not sure what you can do. Sam x

Sam, 1) is not possible i have checked them 3 times, and checked all Maurice O'kellys to see who they married, there isnt that many of them. 2) and 3) are possibilitys, I may have to write to the records office that covers Camberwell as that is the most likely place they would have married 4) also a possibility, but..... on the war graves website on his memorial it says he left a wife, i would imagine he would have had to prove to the navy he was married and she couldnt have just taken his name???? sharon

I see from the CWGC website that he was in the navy - could he have married whilst at sea? 1837online has the records but you need credits, which unfortunately I don't have. Maybe change the heading of your thread or ask for a lookup over on the records board - at least it will rule that option out if he can't be found there. Sam x

Sam, thanks for your help. I will do that. Sharon xx

Suzanne thanks for that, i am not sure if they had children, might have to do a bit of digging there. Yvonne, I can get to Kew and think i will have to sort a trip there soon. thanks both for your help

I don't think you wil find 2nd world war service records at Kew; they are still with MoD and you have to be next of kin to apply for them.