So what do I do now...?

[speedtastickaligirl]

Hi,
My names Sophie, I'm 14, and I'm really interested in genealogy. I have spent ages trying to trace my great-great-granddad who died in the first world war, but so far have really struggled. I had no idea of his regiment, just his name, roughly where he lived and the name of his wife. My great great aunt's son in law spent a lot of time looking in to it (he even went to France to try and do some research) but he found out nothing.
But then, at the beginning of June, I emailed the Commonwealth Wargraves Commission, but assumed that they weren't going to reply after all this time. Then, when I got in this afternoon, I checked my email and they had replied, so now I have his name, regiment, unit, service number, age, date of death, where the cemetery is, his exact plot, and what number and road he lived at.
So now I need help, cause the question is, what do I do now?
Thank you for your help
S x

 

[sterico]

Hi,
Welcome to the F.H.U.K research forums,
We hope you have success in your research and please do not hesitate in asking us for help, all you need to do is select the appropriate forum, and post your question/s, with as much relevant information that you have in your possession, then our members will endeavour to find, or at least point you in the right direction of those answers.
You will find all our members helpful and very friendly and only to willing to help.
Best regards Sterico .

 

[p.risboy]

Hi Sophie, and welcome .

What do you need to find out.
If you want his parents, give us all the details you have, name, age, birthplace, war records.
There will be someone here to help you if we can, but we need details.

You will enjoy your research, I'm sure. And you started at a very good place with the C.W.G.C. Good on ya.

Steve.

 

[speedtastickaligirl]

Dear Miss Smith
Thank you for email of 28 June 2009.

From the information provided, I give below details of the following casualty which appears to be your great grandfather.

Private CHANDLER , W R
Unit: 2nd Bn.
Regiment: Border Regiment
Service No: 7617
Age: 28
Date of Death: 26 October 1914
Commemoration: ZANTVOORDE BRITISH CEMETERY
Belgium
Plot VI. Row J. Grave 16.
Additional Information: Husband of Sarah Chandler, of 39, Dove Row, Shoreditch, London.

Location: Zandvoorde British Cemetery is located 8 Kms south-east of Ieper town centre, on the Kruisekestraat a road leading from the Meenseweg (N8), connecting Ieper to Menen. From Ieper town centre the Meenseweg is located via Torhoutstraat and right onto Basculestraat. Basculestraat ends at a main cross roads, directly over which begins the Meenseweg. 7.5 Kms along the Meenseweg in the village of Geluveld lies the right hand turning onto Zandvoordestraat. At the end of the Zandvoordestraat is the left hand turning onto Kriusekestraat. The cemetery itself is located 100 metres along the Kruisekestraat on the left hand side of the road.

Visiting: Wheelchair access to this cemetery is possible with some difficulty. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Section on 01628 507200.

Historical: On 30 October 1914, the village of Zantvoorde (now Zandvoorde) was held by the 1st and 2nd Life Guards, numbering between 300 and 400 men. It was bombarded for over an hour with heavy guns and then taken by the 39th German Division and three attached battalions. The whole front of the 3rd Cavalry Division was driven back to the Klein-Zillebeke ridge. The village could not be retaken and remained in German hands until 28 September 1918. The Household Brigade Memorial, unveiled by Lord Haig in May 1924, stands on the South side of the village at the place where part of the Brigade was annihilated in 1914. Zantvoorde British Cemetery was made after the Armistice when remains were brought in from the battlefields and nearby German cemeteries. Many were those of soldiers who died in the desperate fighting round Zantvoorde, Zillebeke and Gheluvelt in the latter part of October 1914. There are now 1,583 servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 1,135 of the burials are unidentified. Special memorials commemorate 32 soldiers buried in two of the German cemeteries whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery also contains one Second World War burial. The cemetery was designed by Charles Holden.

I hope this is helpful.

This was the email i received. To be honest, I don't know what I want to find out - I guess the question I'm really asking is what else is there to find out?
S x

 

[leefer]

Just ask what you need to know..or anything you want to try and fathom out...plenty of peeps on here who will try to help or point you in the right areas...best wishes Lee.

 

[nainmaddie]

Hi Sophie and welcome

This is a very mixed site of like minded people who care about their ancestors as you do. Well done, in perservering finding his grave. That is one of the hardest bits to find, and you have done very well. You have his name , no, just tell us what you need next and we will try to help where we can. If you look through the main forums , you will see the headings. Just post an new thread on there and we will see it

Good luck
Nainmaddie

 

[benny1982]

Hi Sophie

A warm welcome to FHUK forums.

This is a fantastic place.

Ben

 

[nainmaddie]

Hi Sophie
Do you want to find out who your other ancestors were ? Or did you just want to find out about your gg grandfather ?
From the information that you have on that E-mail you could find out when he was born and where, whose his parents were etc.

It would be easier to start with your parents , where they were married and when, where they were born and to whom. Don't forget brothers and sisters on each generation. Your grandfather might be able to fill in some gaps for you. If you can get the info from birth, marriage and death certificates it will make it easier , as then you can add the parish to the rest.

You will then join up with what the email told you and if you want to you can get back even further.

Think about it over the weekend. You do not have to do anything if you do not want to.

Nainmaddie

 

[speedtastickaligirl]

Well, I am interested in finding out about the rest of my family, but I have a bit of a weird fascination with my gg grandfather and want to find out as much as I can about him.
I have 2 gg aunts who are still alive, but the one I'm in regular contact with was only a toddler when he died, so doesn't really know alot about him. The other I'm going to meet for the first time in November - we're all going to see her for her 100th birthday, but I don't know how much help she'll be, she's in a home and I have no idea what she'll remember. Maybe I'll find out something from her though.

From the information that you have on that E-mail you could find out when he was born and where, whose his parents were etc.

How would I go about that? Sorry, I'm really new to this and don't really have the faintest clue what I'm doing :biggrin:

Thanks for your help

S x

 

[leefer]

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=chandler&GScid=1966582&GRid=14037970&

Nearly all of us lost Rellys during WW1 Sophie...its a very personal thing..your GG Father died very early in the war in the first few months of the 4 years...nearly 1500 are buried alone in this cemetary giving an idea of the hostile fighting in this area....like all of us on this forum we have nothing but thanks and admiration for the sacrifice they made.....but on a more positive note he would be proud that someone of your generation is keeping his memory alive....this link will show you a little of ware he is buried...

 

[p.risboy]

Sophie,

You are doing great, and I'm sure we all hope that we can help you further.

Well done, I'm sure your family will be proud of you.

I only started family research about a year ago, for the same reason as you did. My Uncle died in WW2, and all I had was a photo and a few bits and bobs.
I have since found out that I had loads of Great Uncles and other rellies who died in WW1.
Again, well done.

Steve.

 

[speedtastickaligirl]

My Uncle died in WW2, and all I had was a photo and a few bits and bobs.
I have since found out that I had loads of Great Uncles and other rellies who died in WW1.

Thats a good point - how do you go about finding out about siblings - a census i guess?

S x

 

[p.risboy]

Thats a good point - how do you go about finding out about siblings - a census i guess?

S x

Spot on S,
If you can work yourself back from your parents to theirs, and so on. You will eventually get back to your Gt.Gt.Grandad.
It might mean getting a few marriage and birth certs to get you there. If you can follow his line back from your parent who's Gt. Grandad it was, It should not take you long.
But try and get as much info from all your living rellies, no matter how small that bit of info is, that is important.
Write it all down, and keep it safe. Some info might seem irrelevant, but at some point it may be a bit of 'gold dust', if you know what I mean.

Good luck, and well done.

Steve.

 

[nainmaddie]

Hi Sophie
I have just managed to delete my message to you !! I am glad you came back to us. To start with you need to start at the beginning.
1. Your date of birth and where (Parish)
2. Your parents marriage and where +date
3. Their dates of birth and where. dates.
4. Their parents marriage and where + dates
5. Your grandparents birth and which parish.

If you can find or if your parents have them use them to extract the details. Are your grandparents alive, and if so have they got their birth certs and marriage details. If they have , great, that saves a lot of time and money.
Each certificate costs £7 from the General Record Office. If you do not have these then I and some others have access to the Record office BMD's ( Births, Marriages and Deaths ) records. We would need Christian name, Surname, and some idea of where they lived,and rough date.


I have done a search for the birth of Private W.R. Chandler and there are 3 possibles. You do your homework and I will give you those names !!!
For free, but I do not know where he came from. They are all from the London or outer London area.

Good hunting
Nainmaddie :2fun:

 

[crankypants]

Hi Sophie

UK soldiers died in the Great War 1914-1919

Name: William Richard Chandler
Birth Place: Bethnal Green, Middx
Residence: Stratford, Middx.
Death Date: 26 Oct 1914
Enlistment Location: Haggerston, Middx.
Rank: Private
Regiment: Border Regiment
Battalion: 2nd Battalion.
Number: 7617
Type of Casualty: Killed in action
Theater of War: Aldershot


The information you received from CWGC lists his home address (Additional Information: Husband of Sarah Chandler, of 39, Dove Row, Shoreditch, London).

Fortunately William & Sarah CHANDLER are still living at that address in 1911.

(CHANDLER transcribed as CHUNDLER)
1911 U.K census (index search only)
Shoreditch, London
Address: 39 Dove Row
Married: 1909
CHUNDLER William, b. abt. 1887 age 24 Bethnal Green
CHUNDLER Sarah, b. abt. 1885 age 26 Bethnal Green

To view the transcript and or image go to this link (pay per view)
http://fmpbsol.1911census.co.uk/

This link has U.K BMD Index.
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Marriages Mar Qtr 1909
CHANDLER William Richard Bethnal G. 1c 219
KELLEY Sarah Bethnal G. 1c 219

Found one CHANDLER/KELLEY birth in 1912.

Births Mar Qtr 1912
Chandler Sarah A Kelley Shoreditch 1c 157

cheers
crankypants

 

[JMR]

Hi Sophie,

Be prepared to become a family history addict like the rest of us, once you start this journey. You are so lucky to have a relative who has reached the wonderful age of 100 to interview. I would suggest that you go well prepared and take along your best listening skills. Here is a good website for you to have a look at, which will help you with some tips on doing family history interviews.

http://genealogy.about.com/cs/oralhistory/a/interview.htm

Pick a few questions and be prepared in case talking about that era is painful for the person, but it can also be therapeutic as well. Just to have the day to day basic information about the person's childhood and the people she interacted with day to day will be very useful for you to know, when putting your tree together. Best of luck!

Jill

 

[nainmaddie]

Hi Sophie
In some ways I wish Crankypants had not given you all that information. When you start Family History half the exitement is finding that information for yourself. I know she meant well, but I was trying to start you the right way of learning for yourself. As she has,
1887 Jan - Mar William Richard Chandler 1c 164.

You need that information to tell you how to order the birth certificate.
I suspect that you do not have a credit card due to your age ! Would your parents help out financially.? Each cert. is £7 each and you will need them at some stage. You can order them online by going to the General Record Office and following the instructions.

What you learn even from us , is that you must satisfy yourself that what you have found out is correct . You must be satisfied that you are right.

Nainmaddie

 

[nainmaddie]

Hi Sophie
I forgot to give you the link
www.generalrecordoffice.org.uk then click on
Order certificates on line and follow instructions that is if your parents are willing to help out financially..

These records began in the middle of 1837, so you can only find the index from then. The further back you go then it is onto Parish records locally.
Speak to you soon
Maddie

 

[gwenythgreen]

Hi Sophie

welcome to FHUK, good luck with your research, may all your descoveries be good ones. :2fun: :biggrin:

Gwen

 

[Ariadne]

Hi Sophie,
On the 5th October 1914, a William R Chandler received a Clasp/2/2646 according to the Medals Roll. I can't give much more info on the medal as it's very hard to read. I don't of course know if this is your William but the comment is he had been presumed dead.
Ariadne

Hi,
My names Sophie, I'm 14, and I'm really interested in genealogy. I have spent ages trying to trace my great-great-granddad who died in the first world war, but so far have really struggled. I had no idea of his regiment, just his name, roughly where he lived and the name of his wife. My great great aunt's son in law spent a lot of time looking in to it (he even went to France to try and do some research) but he found out nothing.
But then, at the beginning of June, I emailed the Commonwealth Wargraves Commission, but assumed that they weren't going to reply after all this time. Then, when I got in this afternoon, I checked my email and they had replied, so now I have his name, regiment, unit, service number, age, date of death, where the cemetery is, his exact plot, and what number and road he lived at.
So now I need help, cause the question is, what do I do now?
Thank you for your help
S x