WW1 soldier research

[Blackadder43]

Absolutely amazing the amount of information you have found with your research Evan
Thread of the year already i think

[Kenleyboy]

Some interesting archives being dug up Saffron , thankyou .
I do understand with all the data protection etc that it would be harder to find someone living in the present unless they have been researching a family tree and requested information .
In some cases families for whatever reasons do not wish to be reminded of their family past , we found that when researching some of our own family history . You never know , one day I may be able to hand this back to where it rightly belongs , I know if it were from my own family thenm I would be very grateful .

[Saffron]

Got his marriage
Even if some disagreement about how to spell Hilda / Hylda (The Hilda version is likely to be correct as that is show for birth, marriage and death, Hylda is only on the electorial register)

Name: John W Sheriff
Registration Date: Jul 1932
[Aug 1932]
[Sep 1932]
Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration District: Willesden
Inferred County: Middlesex
Spouse: Hilda L Rowe
Volume Number: 3a


She died in 1986
Name: Hilda Louise Sheriff
Death Age: 83
Birth Date: 2 Nov 1902
Registration Date: Jan 1986 (Jan-Mar quarter)
Registration District: Bournemouth
Inferred County: Dorset

So there is a chance of children.

Evan

There is probate record for Hilda (John's wife) although this time she is shown as Hilda Louisa vice Hilda Louise! (this type of minor difference is not uncommon!)

Sheriff, Hilda Louisa, of Flat 5 Wisteria House, Redhill Drive, Bournemouth.
Died 20th Jan 1986.
probate 21 February Winchester, not exceeding £40,000.


In another record for 1939, where the family are at 22 Mersham Drive it gives dates of birth as follows
John W. Sheriff: 1 March 1899 ) matches other
Hilda L. Sheriff: 2 Nov 1902 ) records
Deborah E. Sheriff: 27 June 1870.

John was working as a clerk in the textile dept of an import / export (could not read next word). He was shown as an ARP warden and qualified in first aid.
Hilda and Deborah were "unemployed and doing domestic duties".

Evan

[Kenleyboy]

There is probate record for Hilda (John's wife) although this time she is shown as Hilda Louisa vice Hilda Louise! (this type of minor difference is not uncommon!)

Sheriff, Hilda Louisa, of Flat 5 Wisteria House, Redhill Drive, Bournemouth.
Died 20th Jan 1986.
probate 21 February Winchester, not exceeding £40,000.


In another record for 1939, where the family are at 22 Mersham Drive it gives dates of birth as follows
John W. Sheriff: 1 March 1899 ) matches other
Hilda L. Sheriff: 2 Nov 1902 ) records
Deborah E. Sheriff: 27 June 1870.

John was working as a clerk in the textile dept of an import / export (could not read next word). He was shown as an ARP warden and qualified in first aid.
Hilda and Deborah were "unemployed and doing domestic duties".

Evan

So it looks like his Wife Hilda ended up in Bournemouth after his passing .

[Saffron]

I think we might have a living descendant

WARNING THERE ARE SOME ASSUMPTIONS BEING MADE, RATHER THAN PROVEN FACTS.
But I think there is a fair chance of this being correct.

John Warwick Sheriff married Hilda Louise Rowe in Jul-Aug-Sep 1932.
They had a daughter Ann L Sheriff whose birth was registered in Oct-Nov-Dec 1933.
(this is certainly their daughter as the mothers maiden name is given).

I then have this marriage -
Name: Ann L Sheriff
District: Bournemouth, Hampshire
Spouse: Stephen E Parnaby
Registered: July - September 1964
(This would make Ann 30 which is OK and this is the only Ann with a second initial "L".
However there are a few other Ann Sheriff's with no middle initial that without checking I could not rule out.
Also Bournemouth is a bit away from London.
So could not be certain that this is "our" Ann).

We know that John died on 22 Jul 1976 at Kingsteignton, nr Newton Abbot, Devon. So at some point the family had left London.
Hilda Louise Sheriff died on 20th Jan 1986, aged 83, at BOURNEMOUTH.
Considering her age and that her husband had died 10 years previously there is a good chance that she would want to either live with or by her daughter .... who was married at Bournemouth.
So I think that the above marriage is "our" Ann Sheriff and her mother spent her last days with / near her.

I can find no record of a Ann Parnaby (nee Sheriff) having died (that would give her age so confirm or otherwise if it was the right Ann), but "new" records are not an Ancestry so she could either have died in the last few years or still be alive (she would be 86 so its quite possible).

Assuming the Ann L. Sheriff and Stephen E Parnaby wedding is the one we need they had a son born in 1965.
Birth
Name: Bruce R Parnaby
District: Poole
County: Dorset
Year: 1965
Quarter: 3 (Jul-Sep)
Mother's Maiden Name: Sheriff

Evan

[Saffron]

As Kenleyboy initially said "Not a lot to go on"


Fortunately the cap badge gave the Regiment and his diaries gave when he arrived in France, so I could work out the following.

John Warwick Sheriff, Rifleman (Private), service nr 394593, 9th County of London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles), served in European theatre 9 Mar 1918 - 15 July 1918. For this service he was awarded the British and Victory Medals.

With that service number of 394593 he would have signed up (probably as a conscript) in late March / early April 1917 very soon after his 18th birthday. He would then have had slightly under a year training before going to France on 9th March 1918, aged 19yrs and 8 days

From the letters we could see some details of his service in the Albert area (part of the Somme front), and him being wounded and evacuated back to England.

John was born on 1st March 1899 in the Paddington area of London.
In the 1911 Census he was aged 12 and lived at 16 Acland Road, Willesden (north west London)
His parents were William John Sheriff (a builder) and Deborah Elizabeth Sheriff both aged 40, and he had an older brother, Arthur William Sheriff aged 13.

The 1930 Electorial register showed John living at 12 Chandos Road, Willesden.
Registered at the same address were Deborah Elizabeth Sheriff (his mother).

His marriage to Hilda L (Louise or Louisa) Rowe was registerd in the Jul-Sep quarter of 1932 at Willesden.

I could only find them having one child, Ann L Sheriff, born the following year with the birth registered in the Oct-Dec quarter at Hampstead, Greater London.

The 1939 Electorial register showed the family had moved to 22 Mersham Drive, Wembley, and that his mother was still living with them
In another record for 1939 it gives dates of birth as follows
John W. Sheriff: 1 March 1899 ) matches other
Hilda L. Sheriff: 2 Nov 1902 ) records
Deborah E. Sheriff: 27 June 1870.
John was working as a clerk in the textile dept of an import / export (could not read next word). He was shown as an ARP warden and qualified in first aid.

He died on 22 Jul 1976 aged 77 and had lived at 27 Meadowcroft Drive, Kingsteignton, near Newton Abbot, Devon.

His wife, Hilda L Sheriff, died 20th Jan 1986, aged 83, and had lived at Flat 5 Wisteria House, Redhill Drive, Bournemouth.

There is a marriage between a Ann L Sheriff and Stephen E Parnaby registered in the Jul-Sep quarter at Bournemouth, Hampshire. This is probably John's daughter and could explain why Hilda was living at Bournemouth when she died.

Ann and Stephen Parnaby had a son, Bruce, whos birth was registered in the Jul-Sep quarter of 1965 at Poole.

John's brother, Arthur William Sheriff, was born on 8 Sep 1897. On 4 Feb 1922 he married Mable Sprague, at Saint Mary the Virgin, Primrose Hill, Camden. By 1939 they had moved to Poole, Dorset. He died at the end of 1974 aged 77 and his death was recorded in the Torbay district of Devon. So we have all the family moving from London to Poole / Bournemouth and then the Torbay area of Devon.

Evan

[Kenleyboy]

Yes I agree , there could be assumptions here but as you say it does look to be pointing in the right direction and reading through the information it looks more likely .
So now we have a Daughter who at 86 who could still be alive and a Son around my age . It is all looking promising

[Easylife]

Electoral rolls and phone books are useful to track people down.
This is likely Bruce, his wife and son Glen who is on FB.
https://www.192.com/atoz/people/parnaby ... 114948653/

Ann's (old?) address.
http://www.phoneebook.co.uk/person.aspx ... %20Ann%20L

[Dave The Slave]

Wow, this story has developed over night, thanks to Evan.
Redhill Drive, i go past everyday, it is within a quarter of a mile of where i live.
Looking for the name Bruce Parnaby, there was a Bruce R Parnaby living in the BH8 area, along with a Wendy A Parnaby and a Glen R Parnaby, on the electoral rolls 2002-07 and 2014 -16..
Looking at the Bournemouth Echo archive for Bruce, there was an article in 2008, 75 year old widow Ann Parnaby and about nearly falling for a Holiday win scan. Can`t get back to add the link.
Whether these people are the same already mentioned by Evan, i do not know.
What a strange world that we live in for links.
Cheers,
Dave.

[Dave The Slave]

Electoral rolls and phone books are useful to track people down.
This is likely Bruce, his wife and son Glen who is on FB.
https://www.192.com/atoz/people/parnaby ... 114948653/

Ann's (old?) address.
http://www.phoneebook.co.uk/person.aspx ... %20Ann%20L

Minstead Road , 10 minutes away, last sold in 2007 ?

[Kenleyboy]

I am going to drop this young chap Glen Parnaby a pm and see if he is part of the family . As it is the Bournemouth area the likely hood is quite good .

[Easylife]

I'd say that this is your man who works at Sainsbury's Bournemouth.

[Kenleyboy]

I'd say that this is your man who works at Sainsbury's Bournemouth.
IMG_20210126_143520.jpg
IMG_20210126_143548.jpg

Thats the laddie . Just spoken with him and it is looking promising .,

[Kenleyboy]

Mission accomplished

I had a nice chat with the great great grandson who was a bit blown away with it all . He then contacted his Father and he confirmed names of which I was then able to marry up with the information I had here and that proved to be the correct family .

Thankyou all , especially for Saffrons sterling efforts which kind of blew me away also . I am very happy to be able to finally hand these back to the rightful owners . These things are always very personal mementos and gives a great insight to what our forefathers had endured at such a young age , just 19 years old ! They say that young men between the ages of 18 and 21 make good soldiers because they have little fear of danger and believe they can take on the world and that is why so many lost their lives when faced with the true brutality of conflict .
Thankfully this chap survived to leave a small legacy to his descendants .

[DaveP]

Well done indeed and a great story.

It just goes to show the power of a small group of like minded people especially when they comprise such talent as Saffron and Easylife to name but two