Is this a lead? Help with Irish research needed (again!)

[Merry]

BK6 updated from this thread


Many of you will know plenty (too much?) about OH's grandfather, John Claud Hamilton already and there are plenty of threads on here about him.

The briefest of summaries is that according to the man himself he was b in Cork 25th April 1895/6 to a Scottish father. He had two sisters, Kathleen and Aileen. He left home during WW1 and joined the British Army. He disowned his family in Cork (and they disowned him too!) when he left. He met OH's grandmother in 1918 and married her in 1920. They lived in Southampton. After WW1 he was in the Merchant Navy for the rest of his life first as a ship's fireman and then as a steward. His marriage broke down before WW2 and when not at sea he then lived in seamen's mission accommodation. He died at the West London Hospital in Hammersmith in 1962 (no fixed abode).

We have never found him in birth records or on the 1901/11 Irish censuses and so came to the conclusion he changed his name when he came to England. We have a letter written from Cork in 1919 where he states he cannot make up with his parents and will never visit Cork again (which he didn't). Sady there is no address on that letter, which brings me to this possible chink in the wall........

Yesterday I was looking at the FMP newspaper records and found these two snippets:

Western Daily Press 31st Aug 1921



Western Daily Press 7th Sept 1921



Everything in there suggests this could be him. Why would he give a Cork address though, when he hadn't been there for two years? And more importantly, what can I find from that address? If this was England I wold go straight for the electoral rolls, but I'm not sure they have survived for Cork.

TBH I'm not thinking straight as we have been waiting several decades for some new info to come along and this is the first time something has (might have)!!

[JBee]

Aren't the 1901 and 1911 Irish census's online? Sorry can't find the link at the minute.

If the family name is the same you could possibly find them at the same address.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

You can search by road

[ElizabethHerts]

Merry, it certainly looks like your man.

I've been looking at the censuses again but haven't been able to find anything so far. I wonder if they used a different surname?

[Merry]

The address doesn't appear (Magazine Road only has about half a dozen houses on either census). Sadly searching by name has got us know where which is why we decided he had probably changed hs name.

[Merry]

Pity it sounds like him with that content, Elizabeth! OH was not surprised though. I can't imagine someone as lovely as OH's nan being mixed up with anyone who had a criminal record She was a lovely lady.....she died in 1996 aged 96.

[kiterunner]

Using the Advanced Search on the Irish censuses to search by address, there only seem to be a very few houses on Magazine Road, no numbers anywhere near 98.
(Edit - I see you already found that out, Merry.)

[JBee]

Have a look at this - have found a household in 1901 with a John around right age, Aileen and Kathleen - might be coincidence!!!!!

http://www.census.nationalarchives.i...t_New/1095899/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.i...&search=Search

I looked for an Aileen and then a Kathleen with the same surname - though it looks like this Aileen isn't at the same address.

[kiterunner]

There are various Cork directories including 1921 on this site, but I haven't managed to work out whether 1921 includes a street directory yet:
http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/pla...canddirectory/

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by JBee

Have a look at this - have found a household in 1901 with a John around right age, Aileen and Kathleen - might be coincidence!!!!!

http://www.census.nationalarchives.i...t_New/1095899/

I can't see an Aileen in that family?

[Merry]

We have the Hamilton entries from a 1919 street directory, but those were from the days when we still thought that was his birth name!

Julie.....just going to try your link now!