General Chat

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I've been trying to find one of my elusive ancestors in the 1901 census on many occasions but everytime I have just ended up with a blank. So many people on GR have tried to help me and still we have not found this guy. I haven't found a death for him either and may even have a possible marriage for him in 1906. It has been suggested to me in the past that perhaps he was away on military service, serving in the Boer War for example. How likely is this? I've not found any members of this family in the army before the First World War and the gentleman marrying in 1906 has a daughter not long after (quickie marriage it looks like...) and his occupation is Builders Labourer. As I still haven't proved this man who married in 1906 *is* the guy I'm looking for (I have 3 people with the same name who are all born within a 15 year period) its possible my guy wasn't the builder's labourer. So is it worth trying to find military records for my man? Is it reasonable to suggest he isn't on the 1901 because he was serving or is it equally likely he was accidently missed off?

MyGrandad joined the army in 1896 and was in India with the Dorset Regiment (primus in Indus) at the time of the 1901 census. So certainly could be the reason. Joy

Sarah I have a similar issue, with someone missing from the 1901 (and the 1891 incidentally). Boer War was suggested to me too, but I haven't followed it up yet. Its certainly a possibility. Good Luck Paul

Did your Grandad have an occupation before he joined up?

He was a labourer. Joined up aged 16! having given his age as 18. Later he joined the police. Joy

Sarah Who knows! I believe that the Boer war soldiers were all people who were regular soldiers - conscription didn't come in until 1916. But how likely a career it would be for your relative I can't say. What is his name and what info do you have - what relationship is he to you and where did you get his name from? Personally, I've found all my missing relatives on 1901 census - one turned out to have died 4 years before it was taken, and the others were all mistranscriptions. The most unlikely of these was my grandfather John David Robert Smoothy. I thought with 3 christian names and an unusual surname he'd be dead easy to find. Not so. I finally tracked him down as John DR Lenorthey! I searched on his first name and age and place of birth. Sometimes you need to know what you will find in order to find it! nell

You see I found this guy in 1891 aged 16 working as a coach harrier in a different part of the county from where he was born and the rest of his family was. He is a bit of a mystery to me and if it is him getting married in 1906, why did he come back to where his brothers were?

Sarah Your wrong in thinking that all soldiers in the boar war were regular soldiers. There may not have been conscription but very many volunteered. My grandfather was one of them and enlisted having lied about his age in the North Staffs Regiment. I have a photo of him wearing his boar war medal. My cousin has the actual medal. Margaret

His name is Harry Scarfe and he was born in 1875 to George Scarfe and Emma Bradbury in Barnsley (St Mary's parish). He was the youngest brother of my great-great grandfather (also called George). What makes life difficult is that although there is a Harry Scarfe marrying in Barnsley in 1906 and another marrying in the same district in 1912, there are actually 3 Harry Scarfes in my tree at this time. George and the Harry I'm looking for had a cousin called Harry Scarfe and George's eldest son was called Harry too (b. 1885). I have checked the death indexes at Myddleton Street and the first Harry's wife didn't die by 1912. So its all very confusing right now until I get the marriage details!

If you send off for the marriage certificates, they'll show the fathers name - you should be able to work out which is which from there ?

Sarah, I was looking for my grandfather and couldn't find him on the 1901, after 2 years he has turned up(with the help of a GC member) he was lodging with someone, waiting to move his family into a new house but the people he was lodging with, hadn't put his birthplace correctly. Just keep hanging in there. June xx

Peter - It will only show if its the cousin or not! The really awkward thing is Harry Scarfe b. 1875 was the son of George Scarfe (b. 1831) and Emma Bradbury. His nephew, Harry Scarfe b. 1885, was the son of George Scarfe (b. 1862) and Emma Plowright. Its the most confusing thing ever!

Several relatives seem to have lived quiet, stay at home lives... until I found them in the army. Carpenters, labourers, they joined the army, then went back home afterwards and took up their old occupation. My grandfather, the corset cutter, joined up in 1913. After WW1 and a series of dead end jobs, he went back to corset cutting, but nobody told me this, it was in the records. Brenda

In case it helps, heres a brief timeline for Harry 1875 Born in Barnsley to George Scarfe and Emma Bradbury 1881 Living in Barnsley with his parents and 3 of his older brothers 1883 Harry's mother and one of his brother's both die within a month of each other (of unrelated things). Within a couple of months of that another of his brothers gets married 1891 By this stage none of the brothers anf their father actually live together. Harry is working in Whitley as a Coach Harrier and thats all I know about him :(

Does anyone know how I might go about looking for this guy if he did join up?

Sarah, not answering your question but commenting on "coach harrier". Harry Scarfe is on a 1891 census page that has several coal miners. There is a pen stroke through the word which you say is "coach". "Coach harrier" finds a few hits on Google, all of which seem to refer to American sporting coaches having Harrier as a surname. "Coal harrier" find a few hits which appear to be census occupations. "Coal carrier" gets thousands of hits. I'm not saying the transcription "harrier" is wrong, but I'm fairly sure that "coach" is.

If he was a coal carrier it might make more sense. Mind you, why he's bothered to go to Whitley to do that dosen't make sense! Plenty of mining opportunities round Barnsley!

Should I bother going down to Kew to look for his army records (if indeed he ever were in the army)? Am I likely to find anything?

Sarah Put his name in GOOGLE and see if his name comes up in the army. My great grandad was missing 50yrs 1830-1881. Googled his name and found that he had been in the Indian Mutiny 1857-1859. I had been looking for him for 18 months but I was chuffed to have found him. Sue