Genealogy Chat

Hi Paul There is a Public Member's tree on Ancestry which has Arthur Llewelyn Harris listed as the son of Arthur Lionel Harris and Lucy. Tree was updated early 2007, submitted by a Roy Harris. Might be worth e-mailing him to see if has any knowledge of the evacuee. Maureen

NUDGE..hoping some-one finds a link to her. gwen x

Nudging as I too want to follow this lovely little story.. Gerri x

The South Wales Echo and the Western Mail are two local Cardiff papers. Reported in the South Wales Echo Monday 24th May 1943, Page 3 EVACUEE KILLED ON LINE Patricia Armstrong, aged nine was knocked down by a passenger train and killed on Saturday afternoon on the Gelynis Crossing, Morganstown, Radyr near Cardiff. She was an evacuee from the Woolwich area and lived with Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Harris, Gelynis –Terrace North, Morganstown. (The Western Mail also carried the identical story that day) Knowing the name of the family she was staying with I made my way to the Glamorgan Record Office where I was able to view the 1939 Electoral List 8 Gelynis Terrace North, Morganstown Harris, Arthur Lionel Harris, Lucy Harris, Robert John Harris, Arthur Llewelyn Unfortunately I cannot view the Rural District Council Minutes 24th June 1943 until next week. I noted the names of some of the families who lived in the street. There is only one row of houses in the street, the other side being a grass bank running down to the main road. Perhaps they will spark some memories. 6 Gelynis Terrace North, Morganstown Skipper, Percy James Skipper, Mary Jane Skipper, Nancy Louisa Skipper, Lily Isabel 7 Gelynis Terrace North, Morganstown Dew, Owen William Dew, Margaret Elizabeth 9 Gelynis Terrace North, Morganstown Dowling, William John Dowling, Sarah Ann Williams, Frederick George Furz, John Bye Paul

I will be watching this space in anticipation and hope that it will be the happy ending which we all enjoy!

nudging - such an interesting story!

Hi Janet, Many thanks for your reply and offer of help which is very much appreciated. I intend to call into Cardiff Central Library one morning this week. Will try and get there tomorrow to look up any reports in the local paper of that time. If this produces any further information then I'll post it as soon as possible. Once again to all, many thanks. Bye Paul

n. so I continue to follow this tale on return from my hols.

Paul I am a Trustee Member of the Evacuees Reunion Association, which is a National Association bringing all evacuees together and I have taken note of these details which I will bring up at the next committee meeting that we have. One of our jobs is to keep our eyes open for cases such as this. Can you just clarify for me where St Johns Cemetery is? I will see if we can make it available in our Evacuees Magazine that is printed every month and is distributed worldwide to all past evacuees. Someone from the Woolwich area may have known her or may recognise the details. You can pm me if you like if you have anything further to add or if anybody else finds anything like this. For those evacuees that have no known grave we sometimes can find funds to have a simple one done. Anybody interested in this organisation or belonging to the organisation can try the Evacuees Reunion Website: http://www*evacuees.org.uk/ Replace asterisk with a dot. Janet

any news ? linda

Nudge

how sad but hopefully you brilliant people on here will be able to find out more about her and surely even if she was an only child her parents must have had relatives so she will belong to someone out ther. migh be someone who never knew anything about her. linda

nudge Caz

Hi All, Many, many thanks for all your replies and expressions of interest. The record which Paul Barton found and pointed me to was:- Cardiff Schools & The Age Of The Second World War The Log Books: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY By Paul Strange This is fascinating reading and appears to be the combined School’s Log during the war years. The reports also show that several other evacuees were killed when Cardiff was bombed. Hopefully I can visit the library sometime soon and check out if there was a press report of the incident and also visit the Glamorgan Record Office (GRO) and check out the reference given. What I still do not know is who she was staying with in Morganstown, did they have children, or anything about her parents or other siblings. I have approached the writer of the article who is the sub warden of St. John the Baptist Church where Patricia is buried to ask if he can check the Parish burial records for any snippet of information. If there’s any feedback, I’ll post it. Once again, many thanks to all. Bye Paul

Oh how sad. I am nudging for later because I know someone on here will find her someone to love her x

This must have been covered in the local paper. Also, even in wartime there would have been an inquest, so a record must exist.

There must be records....perhaps in Cardiff? of which school the child came from in Woolwich. Maybe these will be mentioned in the Morganstown school logs. This in turn might lead to an address and the electoral lists checked there to see whether these are the right parents.... There won't be wartime lists but there is a chance that the Armstrongs were there before the war. Gwyn

nudging - to read later

What an interesting story

Just a little more to what Special Agent Paul added. The footnote says that the source is: GRO, Cardiff RDC, Minutes, 24th. June 1943 Would anybody be able to look that up? Such a sad story, but only one of many during the war. Margaret