Originally Posted by Frank Kelley
To be quite honest, I think in the case of family, it is best to try and work your way back with what you actually know, the problem is that you need to know the last one hundred years, or, as near to as possible, talk to all the family and find out what they know.
In two years the 1921 census will be made available, but, after that, they will be a two decade gap, the 1931 census is no longer extant and in 1941 the census did not take place because of the Second World War, so the 1939 Register is very important.
You gave a name, a very uncommon one, a rank and unit, a Sgt serving in the MGC during WW1 would be entitled to a BWM at least, there is only the one man with that name shown in both the index and the roll itself.
There is a obvious issue with a man of the same name and Corps in the War Memorial Register, this was put together by the Imperial War Museum, there are two possibilities, the man is shown in error as loosing his life during the war, or, his name appears as simply having actually served during the war, the IWM might be able to clarify what is going on there.
The link in my mind is that Prenton is a suburb of Birkenhead, so I do not see that it can be simply coincidental as a man with that name was born there in 1896 and a man with same name served in the MGC and is mentioned locally given that there appears to be no other of that name that is actually in the same time frame.
Notwithstanding, in the absence of a complete set of service papers, it can only be on the balance of probability. that is the link between the two.
However, you could not loose your life in the war and then go on to join the Army Reserve afterwards in August 1919.
You could speak to the MOD, but, I would think that his papers do not exist now, it would all depend upon the actual reason and date they were last looked at by the War Office.
All the shipyard business you mention in interesting, again, I doubt if it is just coincidental, it might be worth you looking at the census returns in the RG series working back from 1911, as I said, knowing the last century is so important.
Again, I would think the best starting point, is a really good family gathering to find out who knows what, any and all photographs and documents should be got out and passed around, in particular, if you don't know who they might relate to.
Anyway, whatsoever you decide to do I hope it proves fruitful, best of luck to you.
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