General Chat

Looking for general help and advice as really struggling to locate a man I know was definitely living and working at a restaurant in London in 1963. He is estimated to have arrived in the UK between 1955 - 1960 from Hong Kong.

I have spent months researching ship records on Ancestry and conducted general searches on Find My Past and this site. Just wondering if there are other travel databases that someone can recommend?

I have what I believe is his original name, and the Anglicized version which appears on a 1988/9 electoral list. I can only find a single entry in Kent.

He would be 90-95 if alive - so unsure if its appropriate to list details on this chat as he could still be alive or have family in UK? Any ideas gratefully received on where to go next.

If he had a Chinese name, have you tried searching with family name first followed by given name?

Hi Gwyn,
Yes , tried playing with variations of name without success. The only factual record I can find is an electoral list entry in Swanley Kent in 1988/89 after a private search by the local librarian.

Agee, he may well have flown into the UK if you have not found him in shipping records.

I have no idea how much information on naturalisation records is released to the public but, as a long shot, you may find him there - if he ever felt the need to be naturalised, of course, but if he was Hong Kong-born, he may not have felt it necessary to go down the naturalisation route.

As you’ve already found him in Kent in 1988/89 through searching for his name, I think he would not have changed his name, otherwise I’d suggest searching any public database of name changes - does he have children who may have done so, though? If so, they may also be in the UK White Pages.

He may even have gone back to Hong Kong.

Thank you both very much.

Joy Louise I don't think he required naturalisation as those who emigrated from British controlled HK in the 1950 were considered to have citizenship.

I have a legal document dated 1963 which confirms his birth name. Then the next document I can find is an entry on the 1988/89 electoral list which confirms he changed his first name, and added his partners name to create a hyphenated surname (same partner who appears in the 1963 document - that's how I found him).

I did wonder about flights - but air travel was still rare in 1950s - and I am not sure he could have afforded it. National Achieves have confirmed there are no reliable air passenger lists sadly.

Nameslessone - sadly you may be correct as I can find no record after the death of his long term partner.

Thank you both for suggesting possible options.

Have you thought of getting his partner's death certificate to see who reported the death?

You can get the certificate as a PDF to your email, for £7, and it is good enough copy for family history though not for any legal purpose.

Hopefully, it would be him, which would give you an address.

If it isn't him, then that's an indication that he might already have died and it might say "widow of ...", or not been with her ..............eg if the death occurred in a hospital or he had gone back to HK

https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/general_chat/thread/1399038

New thread:

https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1400386

Sylvia, are you saying you can get a PDF by email of any BMD's for £7 ?

Florence in the hebrides

Florence, Sylvia wrote that 8 months ago.

LOL names, never realised, just shows you how much my brain is scrambled today. I just saw the posts and thought they were current.

Def need something more than toast!