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HarrysMum
08-04-12, 09:40
This thread may have to be moved to sensitive if anybody finds anything interesting.

My sister in law heard a story about her father's brother. Apparently the brother married in England then left his family before WW2 and went to Singapore to escape going to war .......ironic really if that's true. He apparently had a second family there and then came to Australia and died here.

Now all this is family stories.....and my sister in law would love to find any possible family.

Here goes...

Samuel Baxter MELHUISH married Edith Helen Astin in Grimsby Lincs 12 Oct 1904

Marjorie Melhuish born April 1905 Grimsby
Leslie Melhuish born 1908 Grimsby
Donald Melhuish born Jan 1915 Grimsby.

It is Leslie we are looking for.

The family is on the 1911 census (without Donald of course).

Donald married Joy Perkins and came to Australia for a while then went back to England and they both died there.

I have looked on shipping records etc and really don't know where to start but I know there are some brilliant people here who have found the impossible....
Olde Crone
08-04-12, 09:49
Was he in the navy?

OC
HarrysMum
08-04-12, 09:51
Not sure OC......but Leslie's father was a Captain of a Steam Trawler in 1911 and the family were fishermen.
Merry
08-04-12, 10:30
Born in Grimsby and marrying in Devonport district (if that's him 1934 to Bartlett) - definitely souds like a possible navy link.

Do you know if he was divorced?
Merry
08-04-12, 10:34
If that is his marriage in 1934 it looks likely his wife didn't remarry and died in 1988.
HarrysMum
08-04-12, 10:36
No idea Merry. Donald did not speak about his brother and neither did Marjorie.

Sister in law didn't even now if Leslie was actually a brother. I only found out from the 1911 census.

There is another marriage for a Leslie Melhuish to a Doreen Cook in Reading 1937.
Tilly Mint
08-04-12, 10:39
Not sure OC......but Leslie's father was a Captain of a Steam Trawler in 1911 and the family were fishermen.

Found this........

http://dscalm.nelincs.gov.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo==%27208/5/37/1192%27%29
HarrysMum
08-04-12, 10:43
Thanks Jacky. So the ship was called Harrier. I'll have a google around.
Merry
08-04-12, 10:52
If he left his family before WW2:

Devonport marriage has three children - last one in Q2 1941.

Reading couple have children up to 1947.

The trouble is, if a husband had done a bunk and the wife had a child afterwards without remarrying then that child might not appear any differently to a child of the marriage when looking at the GRO indexes.
HarrysMum
08-04-12, 10:55
Leaving his family prior to WW2 is only a story as well. Maybe he left prior to being called up for service, although if he was already in the Navy that wouldn't make sense.

Also, going to Singapore (if he did) wouldn't make sense later in the war either.
Merry
08-04-12, 10:58
I guess a step would be to try for one or other or both of the marriage certs.

Some descendants would be traceable in the UK if you wanted to go that way, but you would have to be sure you were on the tracks of the right Leslie.
Merry
08-04-12, 11:02
Thinking that one, the other or both of the Leslies involved in those marriages might not be yours, I looked at the death indexes hoping to find a Leslie dying in Reading or Devon which might eliminate (or sequence your choices!) one of the marriages, but that didn't work!
HarrysMum
08-04-12, 11:12
I can't find any Leslie Melhuish deaths either.......lol
Merry
08-04-12, 11:20
Perhaps you could make a list of all the Leslie Melhuishes, with or without middle names, and see if you can plot which entries belong to which Leslies?
HarrysMum
08-04-12, 11:22
OK.....do you know if there are any electoral rolls online for that era?
Merry
08-04-12, 12:34
Only the London ones on Ancestry.
Olde Crone
08-04-12, 13:34
(Sorry, went off line for a while).

I was thinking that if he was in the navy and therefore married in Devonport, then Singapore might have been just a convenient place to jump ship, rather than a deliberate choice of venue, lol. Family stories do tend to get a bit mangled.

OC
HarrysMum
08-04-12, 21:04
Smart thinking OC.

I think I'll get sister in law to buy the 2 marriage certs (maybe one at a time and she'll get lucky) and see who the father of the groom is.

At least she might find cousins from that marriage, even if we can't sort Leslie's life.