Military Chat

Hi folks,
Please can anyone help me to find out about my grandads army career. I know he was in WW1 but after that I dont know if he stayed in the army or not. He was a regular soldier before WW1.
Where would I look or would I have to go somewhere to look it up.
Many thanks in anticipation.
AnnMarie

You could try posting up his details (Name, year & place of birth & wife's name) and we could take a look.

If you want to look yourself, both Ancestry and FMP have military records and both are subscription sites - although as you are probably aware around 70% of records were destroyed in WW2.

If you know what regiment he was in contact them, they often have WW1 records.
If you PM me the details I could look for you if you want

Thank you Flip and Unknown.
here are his details.

Archibald Arthur. b 30/05/1881 Portsea.
Cprl RASC st Georges barracks london, Dec 1904
Married Alice King 24/05 1904 and again 21/09/1908 !!!!!!!!
Was serving in Ireland where his daughter was born 15/04/1912
Went to malta 1913.
RASC St, SGT S/86634,RASC 531th (HT) COY Home North Guard.1919

I found out that he died in Herts in 1961. But my nan & mum came back from malta in about 1913/14 and he was never heard of after that. :(

If anyone can help I would be so grateful. Many Thanks for reading.

Apart from his medal card, I can't see a military record on ancestry or FMP. Do you know who Fotini Gociades is, buried with him?

WELL, that is quite a story. I found out that he had moved from Twickenham in early 1961 to a home for the elderly in herts. Along with him was a Fotini Gogiades and Androniki Arthurs. !!!!!! He died may 1961. Fotini is not actually buried with him .It only says on his headstone 'interned nearby'. Having spoken to the vicar of this church he said it was proberley because she was not C of E. I have not been able to find out any more about either Fotini or Androniki only that they were proberley Greek. The mystery deepens. lol.

You could get a copy of her death certificate, it's been recorded as Fatini Gogaides in Bishop Stortford in the March quarter of 1969 ref 4B 36.

It does look like she may have been Greek.

Sorry, havnt been doing this for a while and just realised I missed something out.oops.

I have the death cert of Androniki Arthur.
Died 10 april 1973.herts. (same home as Archibald lived)
It states she was the 'widow' of Archibald.
She was born Istanbul. Turkey.
I wonder if Fontini and Androniki were sisters?

It looks like a possibility, I am having difficulty in accessing images on ancestry at the moment - was Fotini with them when they were living in Twickenham? Although, thinking about it I doubt she was eligible to vote if she had also been born in Turkey. I guess Androniki would have eligibility if she was married to Archibald.

All 3 came from the same address in Twickenham.
My nan died in 1953 and as far as we all knew she was never divorced from Archibald.I wonder if Androniki was only calling herself 'Arthur' for appearances sake.

It could be the case, or they may have divorced but the record is missing - he could have committed bigamy though.

Have you looked at the couple living at same address, they were there before Archibald and Androniki? I think Eudoxie Willey died in 1960, Eudoxie/Eudoxia is also a Greek name. Her husband John A W Willey appears to have a medal card where he served with ASC. I just wonder if Eudoxie is connected to Androniki - just a thought....

Thank you Flip.
I didn't know that. I wouldn't know how to look this up. I don't have ancestry or fmp unfortunately.(wish I did) How would I find this out.
I also wonder if Androniki was living there before Archibald went there and that was where they met? Could she have been a relative of Eudoxie I wonder.
The plot thickens.

I have world wide ancestry but it is acting up at the moment and the images aren't displaying very well.

Neither Archibald or Androniki were at the address in 1955, she was just there with Archibald 1956-59 (so far as I can see these are the only ERs for her or Archibald). Eudoxie and John A W Willey were there in 1955, and Eudoxie/Eudoxia Willey was on the ERs from the early 1930s with John.

Not coming up with anything for Archibald or Andronika prior to them being on the ER in 1956 though - but if it is correct and she was born in Turkey they could have been living there - or elsewhere in the world. I've checked immigration records, but nothing coming up.

Thank you Flip.
I have always wondered where my granddad was but it was a forbidden subject when I was young and I just presumed he had died and by the time I got into my family history everyone I could have asked had died. Same old story 'if only I'd asked earlier' lol.
It will proberly remain a mystery as to where he was between the time my nan left Malta in 1913 and the time he was in Twickenham but I thought if I could find his army records that might tell me more. Thank you anyway.

Don't give up though, you know his service number and regiment so maybe try, as Unknown suggested, and contact them?

I believe, though not an expert in military records, that if he continued to serve after WW1 the records would still be with MOD - there are many threads giving details on how to apply for these records. I'll try to find a link for you.

Here you go:

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html

Thanks again Flip.
I wont give up but don't often get the chance to get into family history due to family commitments and ill health but thank you for taking the time to help today.
Kind regards
AnnMarie

You're welcome AnnMarie - good luck with your future research :-)

Just had another look at the address they were living in Twickenham - 26 Cardinals Walk. They are not showing up on the name search on ancestry, but looking at the address:

In 1960 both Androniki & Archibald were there with John & Eudoxie Willey, then in 1961 Androniki & Archibald were there alone. There was no one registered to vote in 1962 at that address.

This could indicate your info is correct - they obviously moved in 1961 not to be showing on the 1962 London ERs.

Thank you Flip for keeping on looking. xx