Genealogy Chat

Janet - this is just a thought but did you look in the WO miss-files. It's where I found one of mine after he did'nt turn up where he was supposed to. If I remember rightly it's also got a few of the fellows who joined under a false name and later admitted to being someone else! Also why did his sons join under the name Hobbs? I do know you have to be carefull not to miss something when looking at those original docs - another one of ours we nearly passed over because we were looking for a London address on the front and discovered that he joined up in Oxfordshire! It was only that we happened to spot 'Wife Lucy' in pencil in the margin that we took another look and lo and behold he was ours!. Sue.

nudge

Thanks Max, but yes, I have been there and that's where I found Charles not Thomas Charles. My cousin and I spent all day for 3 days up there and that's all we found. She tends to think it's him but you know when you get that gut feeling? I'm not at all convinced that he's our man. I'll just have to keep looking. Jan from Gravesend, Kent.

My Gt GT grandfather, Thomas Charles Hawkins was a soldier in the Royal Horse Guards in the 1850's. I have his marriage cert. and the birth certs. for his three children - the family were living in London when all three were born in 1849, 51 and 55. I have been to the PRO and can only find the army records of Charles Hawkins whose next of kin was his brother. To make matters worse, I have found the army records of his two sons, Charles Lacy and Frank Leatham and they both enlisted under the surname of Hobbs!!!! They changed their names back to Hawkins when they married so they were not changed by deedpoll. The archivist for the RHG can only find a Charles but can't find the permission for him to marry which they, apparently, had to do. I am determined to find this man before I eventually meet up with him but can anyone give me any idea where I go from here? Jan from Gravesend, Kent.