Newsletter – 18th
October 2024
Great War records are FREE at Findmypast
ENDS MONDAY
Why most family historians are not experts on
military history
A serial enlister who fought in WW1
Map Explorer
now includes the 1841 Census NEW
Cousin marriages in Scandinavia
Updated ethnicity estimates at Ancestry
Save on Who Do You Think You Are? magazine
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Great War records are FREE at Findmypast ENDS MIDNIGHT MONDAY
It’s
just over 3 weeks to Remembrance Sunday and, so that you can find out more
about your relatives who fought in World War 1 ahead of this important day, Findmypast
are providing free access to millions of WW1 service records in their
collection as well as the 1911 England & Wales Census and the GRO indexes
of births, marriages, and deaths. From now until 11.59pm (London time) on Monday 21st October
all registered users will be able to search, view, and download the records completely
free of charge, and with no obligation. In the unlikely event that you haven’t
previously registered at Findmypast you will need to do so – but you won’t have
to provide any payment information (make sure you DON’T click the Free Trial
link!).
Search First World War Records at Findmypast.co.uk
Search First World War Records at Findmypast.com.au
Search First World War Records at Findmypast.ie
Search First World War Records at Findmypast.com
Whilst Ancestry also have a collection of WW1 service
records there are bound to be differences; for example, I couldn’t find my grandfather’s
records at Ancestry, but I did manage to find them at Findmypast. So DON’T
ignore this free access offer just because you have an Ancestry subscription!
Tip: this is also an opportunity
to add relatives from 1911 to your My Ancestors page. Every direct ancestor or blood relative you enter
will count as an entry in this year's Annual Competition.
Why most family historians are not experts on
military history
Although
most of us have an ancestor who fought in one of the two World Wars – for example,
my paternal grandfather fought in WW1, my father in WW2 – prior to the 20th
century wars were fought on a smaller scale, primarily by career soldiers who
were less likely to have a family. So far I’ve only
identified one of my direct ancestors who served in the regular army, my great-great-great-great
grandfather Thomas Butwell – and that has been
inferred from the baptism entry for his son James, who was baptised in Oxford
in 1800, but shown in the register as born in Ireland in 1799. (There is supporting
evidence in the subsequent enlistment in the army of two of Thomas’s sons.)
Whilst
there are some notable exceptions, this limited exposure means that most family
historians are not experts on military history – and it’s probably also true
that most military historians are not experts on family history. I definitely fall
into the first camp, so I was delighted when John Sly, who is not only a
LostCousins member but also a prolific writer and speaker on military history, gave
me permission to republish an article he wrote for Soldiers Of The Queen, the journal of the Victorian Military
Society. You’ll find the first half below – the second half will be published in
a future newsletter.
A serial enlister who fought in WW1
The
following article was written by John Sly and previously
published in ‘Soldiers of the Queen’
After
1870 young men who enlisted in the Army and then deserted, only to go through
the process again and again, cannot have done it for the enlistment bounty as
that ceased to be paid at that date as part of the Cardwell reforms. However,
in my research of soldiers of Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire
Regiment (hereafter referred to as the Yorkshire Regiment) between 1881 and
1918 I discovered two men who were serial enlisters and deserters. What is
perhaps difficult to understand, apart from what gave them the impetus to
indulge in this career, is why they eventually stopped and settled down to
serve as regular soldiers.
My
first example is William Sigsworth. I had no idea of this man’s name until I
researched another soldier, named ‘John Akers’. I put the name in quotes
because this man did not exist, but I discovered this only when I researched
his Great War service. As far as I was concerned ‘John Akers’ was awarded an
India Medal 1895 with clasps Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98, but there
is no service record for a man with this name. I found his Medal Index Card
[MIC], but this recorded not only that 3/9372 John Akers, York R, was awarded
the British War Medal and a Silver War Badge, but that there was another name
cross-referenced with his: ‘William Sigsworth (alias)’.
This
was the beginning of a fascinating, if confusing, search through the records of
William Sigsworth. He was born 20 July 1865 at Thornton-le-Moor, a village
midway between Northallerton and Thirsk. He was the son of Mary Sigsworth; no
father was recorded on the birth certificate. In 1881 he was a farm servant
living in Theakston, near Bedale, with the family of David Waind, an
‘employer’.
So
far so ordinary, until he attested for the Royal Artillery at Redcar on 28 June
1884, number 43329. His service record stated that he was age nineteen years
one month, a labourer, born Thirsk. He was five feet seven and a quarter inches tall, weighed 144 pounds, with a fresh
complexion, hazel eyes, and light brown hair. The fact that he was taller and
heavier than the average recruit of this time was almost certainly a reflection
of the fact that recruits from country areas at this period were usually
physically better built than those from the industrial towns.
Unfortunately
for the Army, William Sigsworth was not a very good soldier. It is a great
shame that the service record did not provide details of his misdoings,
but recorded only his punishments. He was awaiting trial 21 June 1886,
was tried and imprisoned 23 June for fourteen days. He was awaiting trial again
14 August 1886, was tried and imprisoned 28 August 1886 and released 4
September 1886. He was awaiting trial 20 December 1886, tried and imprisoned 15
February 1887 until 15 May 1887. He was transferred to the Army Reserve 16
December 1891. He was also sexually incontinent, as illustrated by the number
of occasions that he reported sick for gonorrhea,
which might have affected his behaviour.
Further
details of offences took a different turn. One note read: ‘Confessed to have
been discharged with Ignominy from Royal Marine Light Infantry on 23 February
1883 in which he served as No 495 Private William Sigsworth.’ This was followed
by the note ‘improperly enlisted into 3rd Hussars as No 3155 Private J
Sigsworth on 22 January 1892’. In 3rd Hussars he was tried and convicted of ‘I[mproprer] E[nlistment’] 23 August
1892,and was imprisoned for six months. He then
committed yet another offence: escaping while a prisoner. For this he was
imprisoned for eight calendar months on 3 September 1892. He was discharged
with ignominy on 30 September 1892. Why William Sigsworth was a serial enlister
and deserter was not explained.
Something
must have changed in 1893, when he enlisted for the Yorkshire Regiment under
the name of ‘John Akers’. This name was perhaps not surprising, as on his
original attestation for the Royal Artillery under the name Sigsworth he gave
his next-of-kin’s name as his father, James Acres (sic). Did Sigsworth make up
this name, or did his mother tell him that a man called James Acres was his
biological father?
None
of this explains why he stuck with the Yorkshire Regiment. Having had an
extremely poor discipline record previously, he stayed with this regiment for
what appears to be at least seven years, if not twelve, although with no
service record available it is impossible to be certain, and there is not a
great deal to be found to describe William Sigsworth’s/’John Akers’ service in
the Yorkshire Regiment. There are a few references in the Green Howards
Gazette: his service number (4368) indicates an enlistment in October 1893; as
a recruit from the Depot he joined B Company of
1/Yorkshire Regiment at Jersey 27 February 1894, and he was included in a draft
from 1/Yorkshire Regiment which sailed 5 February 1895 on the Transport
Britannia to join 2nd Battalion in Burma.
The
next record attributed to the name ‘John Akers’ is his wedding to Kate Ann
Simpson, a twenty-nine year old domestic servant of
Kirby Sigston, Northallerton, at the Register Office, Northallerton, on 5 July
1906; he was described as a thirty-nine year old farm labourer of Winton,
Northallerton. He stated that his father was also called ‘John Akers’. The 1911
census relating to his family is intriguing. First, ‘John Akers’ was describing
himself as William Sigsworth, so clearly he had told
his wife about his name change. Second, there were four children: Edward, ten
years old, Robert, seven, John, three, and James, two. The first two have the
surname Simpson and the last two have the surname Sigsworth. As ‘John’ and Kate
married in 1906, it is clear that Kate brought two
sons into the marriage with her. The family was living in three rooms at Borrowby, Thirsk; William was described as a forty-six year old farm labourer.
After this there is
nothing officially recorded about ‘John Akers’ until he enlisted for the
Yorkshire Regiment Special Reserve on 28 November 1914 with the number 3/9372.
Presumably he wanted to be able to claim his past service in the Yorkshire Regiment
under the name of ‘John Akers’, as he seems to have left William Sigsworth
behind again. However, Army Form B200A, ‘Statement of the services of No 3/9372
Sigsworth W’ recorded that ‘John Akers’ attested at the Yorkshire Regiment
Depot, Richmond, age forty-seven, for the duration of the war, on 28 November
1914. He was posted to 3/Yorkshire Regiment 18 January 1915, to 1/Garrison
Battalion 28 November 1915, to India 24 December 1915, and was discharged no
longer physically fit for the service 16 July 1916. His next of kin was
recorded as Mrs Kate A Akers (wife), Long Street, Easingwold. He was awarded a
Silver War Badge in the name of ‘John Akers’, on 20 January 1917. The medal
roll showed that he qualified for the British War Medal in this name.
The
next phase of his story began on 19 December 1916 when William Sigsworth
enlisted for the Royal Engineers in York as Pioneer 221132, and was posted to
310 Road Construction Company in France[5]. Clearly
this confusion of names brought about an enquiry when his wife applied for a
separation allowance. A document dated 27 March 1917, signed by Second
Lieutenant A F Hobbs, related to Pioneer William Sigsworth: ‘I have interviewed
him & have obtained as much information as is possible. It
would appear that Sigsworth enlisted in the Yorkshire Regiment round
about the year 1894 under the name of Akers & under this name he was
married, on a date not remembered by him, at Northallerton & 3 children
were born under this name. At this time he was
compelled to change to his own name & the subsequent children bear the name
of Sigsworth…The matter has already been gone into whilst he was in the
Yorkshire Regt & the records were seen by the authorities at that time. The
delay in this correspondence is due to Sigsworth being in hospital until
today.’
He was discharged
from the Royal Engineers 5 January 1918, unfit for military service, and
received another Silver War Badge for this discharge in the name of William Sigsworth[6]. Clearly either his past habitual attestation
could not be overcome, or he could not stand the six children at
home, because three months later he attested for the Army Service Corps at York
on 18 April 1918, and was posted to a Motor Transport Company at Isleworth.
What is strange at this point is that he correctly admitted to having been
discharged from the Royal Engineers as unfit; perhaps the ASC was desperate for
recruits and was only too pleased to receive an application from an old
soldier. The attestation document recorded his age as forty-nine years six months, and described him as a horse driver. There were six
children listed for whom he had responsibility, according to a document he
signed in December 1916 stating that he was called Akers when he married and
when his children were born. His youngest child, born 8 January 1916, was given
the forenames Ernest Kitchener.
On
13 August 1918 he voluntarily transferred to the Horse Transport Branch. On 24
March 1919 he volunteered for one year at St Albans, so he was still unhappy
about going home. On 16 August 1919 he was posted from 309 Company to 531
Company, at York. On 21 February 1920 he was dispersed from 531 (HT) Company
‘in consequence of Demobilisation’. His Protection Certificate gave his RASC
number as 423667. He received his British War and Victory Medals on 14 February
1923, for which he signed in the name of Sigsworth.
What
happened to him after that is difficult to trace. His wife Kate died on 26
December 1935 at Easingwold, and her death was registered under the name Akers;
she was described as the wife of William Akers, a general labourer, the first
time that this rendering of his name had occurred in an official document.
Finding the date of death for William Sigsworth/’John Akers’ has proved very
difficult, as there is no clue as to whether his death was registered under the
name William Sigsworth, William Akers or John Akers. He does not appear on the
1939 Register under either name; logically he must have died after the death of
his wife as he was described as her husband, not her ‘late’ husband, and before
the 1939 Register was compiled, which narrows down the time
period of his death. No possible candidate who died in these years can
be identified as the man for whom I am looking. What happened to William
Sigsworth is therefore uncertain, and open to speculation.
Note:
if you can add to the story please don’t write to me, instead post your findings
here
on the LostCousins Forum so that others – including John – can see them.
Map Explorer now includes the 1841 Census NEW
The
innovative Map ExplorerTM at The
Genealogist links census entries to maps, so that you can see where – or, at
least, whereabouts – your ancestors were living at the time of the census. With
the latest addition
Map ExplorerTM now links to all of the England & Wales censuses
from 1841-1911, plus the 1939 Register.
Addresses
on the earlier censuses are often imprecise, especially in country areas, so
don’t expect miracles – though if you find that your ancestors had the same
neighbours in a later census you might reasonably assume that they were still
living in the same property or very close to it. When looking for neighbours bear in mind that enumerators didn’t always
follow the same route – for example, they might walk in the opposite direction
compared to 10 years previously.
I’ve
written in previous newsletters about the enormous collections of tithe records,
linked to tithe maps, and the fast-growing project to digitise the 1910 Land
Valuation – which is only online at The Genealogist. But there are other
reasons to subscribe, including the chance to search censuses in different ways
in the hope of finding elusive families – and of course, it always helps to
have an additional transcription.
If
you want to try out The Genealogist the offer I wrote
about last month has been extended – just follow this link. Remember
that it’s a lifetime discount – so if you decide to continue after the first year
you won’t find the cost going through the roof!
Aileen
Wiggans had a very short life – she died aged just 1 day old on 26th
October 1967, but her mother Angela never knew where she had been buried. This
year Angela turned 80, and with the help of her daughter Carol managed to
locate the burial place of her first-born child in an unmarked grave in Darwen
Western Cemetery.
That
was the easy bit: having found the grave the family wanted to place a headstone
to mark Aileen’s grave – but permission was refused because it was a common
grave, a grave in which unrelated people had been buried. This BBC article explains
how the impasse was eventually resolved – it’s quite possible that some readers
of this newsletter have found themselves in a similar position, or will do so
in the future.
Note:
something that the BBC article doesn’t mention is that Angela Wiggans’ maiden surname
was Bury – a sad coincidence.
When
I found the grave of my great-grandmother Rose Bright (née Stevens) some years
ago the headstone inscription mentioned two infant children who were buried
elsewhere in the cemetery – they too were in unmarked common graves. It was an unfortunate
family, even by the standards of the period: my father never knew his maternal grandmother
– he was just a few months old when she died in 1916 at the age of 57 – and though
she died fairly young, she had seen 6 of her 9
children predecease her, all in infancy. Of the children who survived infancy two
lived only a few more years longer than their mother, dying at 61 and 62 (the
latter being my paternal grandmother, who I never knew).
The
third of the surviving children, and the longest lived of the Bright-Stevens family,
was my father’s Aunt Florrie (Florence Rose Bright) who, though she was the
second eldest, outlived all of her brothers and sisters – eventually dying in
1956 at the age of 73. She passed away just a few weeks after my 6th
birthday, though to the best of my knowledge I never met her – certainly not in
1956 when I was isolated with scarlet fever. Had you looked at the early
records you wouldn’t have picked Florrie as a survivor – in 1889 the school
register described her speech as defective, in the 1901 Census she was
described as ‘feeble-minded’, whilst the 1911 Census was a little kinder,
stating that she had been ‘deaf from birth’ (which would have
certainly have explained the speech problem).
New
at Ancestry this month are nearly 430,000 burial and cremation records for
Oldham which cover the period 1857 to 2023 – which makes them even more up to
date than the online GRO death indexes!
Oldham,
England Burials and Cremations, 1857-2023
There
is also a free search here, on the
Oldham Council website, and this may enable you to find others in the same
grave – which doesn’t seem to be an option at Ancestry.
Cousin marriages in Scandinavia
According
to a 2006 article
in the British Medical Journal, Norway was the only country to record
information on parental consanguinity for all newborn children. In fact, Norway’s
focus on cousin marriages goes back a long way – a 1977 article in Annals of Human
Genetics stated that information on the relationship between couples who
are 2nd cousins or closer has been recorded on marriage certificates since
1889, and the 1891 Census recorded similar information. When you consider that
Mendel did not develop his theory of genetic inheritance until the 1860s and
the importance of his work was not recognised until the early 1900s, it’s quite
remarkable.
This
year Norway has reportedly banned marriages between 1st cousins, and recent announcements
suggest that Sweden and Denmark are likely to follow suit. It’s well established
that the chance of offspring developing genetic disorders increases
significantly if the parents are 1st cousins, although the real problem is in
populations where consanguineous marriage is so common that the risks increase dramatically.
For example, the Wikipedia page
on cousin marriage draws attention to the fact that the entire Amish population
is descended from a few hundred settlers, so even though marriage between 1st
cousins is banned in the Amish community the risk of genetic defects is much
higher than in the general population – it references a 1993 article which
asserted that the coefficient of inbreeding between two randomly-selected
members of the Amish population is greater than between two non-Amish 2nd
cousins.
Updated ethnicity estimates at Ancestry
One
of most important pieces of advice in my DNA
Masterclass comes below the headline Why you should ignore your
ethnicity estimates. And as it says there:
- Either the estimates will match
what you know, in which case you’ll believe them, or they won’t in which
case you’ll think they’re a load of rubbish.
- Whichever it is, the chances of
them helping you knock down any of your ‘brick walls’ is slim, and they’re
more likely to lead you down blind alleys – so don’t waste your time
puzzling over them.
I
do look at my own Ethnicity Estimates whenever they’re updated, but only out of
curiosity – sometimes they come closer to what I know, sometimes they move in
the other direction. The latest update from Ancestry acknowledges my German
ancestry – which last year’s revision didn’t – but eliminates my Irish ancestry,
even though my research (which has been confirmed by DNA matches) shows that I’m
about 6% each. The Scottish component has dropped from 8% to 5%, which is a
step in the right direction since there isn’t even a hint of a Scottish
ancestor – and for my brother, who obviously shares the same ancestors, the
Scottish percentage has been wiped out entirely (last year it was higher than
mine, at 10%).
Even
if the analysis was perfect, the percentages can never be ‘accurate’ since:
·
We
don’t inherit the same amount of DNA from every ancestor – the difference
between my brother’s estimate and my own has arisen in a single generation,
so you can hardly expect the numbers to reaslitically
reflect where your ancestors were hundreds of years ago.
·
The
estimates are typically telling us where our ancestors were 1000 or 2000 years ago,
well outside the 500-year timeframe that family historians are working in.
So save yourself the trouble – DON’T waste time puzzling
over the estimates!
It
was my wife who drew my attention to the recent TV programme in which actors
John Simm and Philip Glenister took DNA tests and travelled
round the country finding out more about their antecedents – a sort of Who
Do You Think You Are? with genes..
I
have to say it was really interesting – I’ve seen them
many times on TV, sometimes in the same programmes, but this time they weren’t
acting. The only thing that spoiled it for me was the expert who took them to a
Registry Office: in England the correct designation is Register Office.
Save on Who Do You Think You Are? magazine
Would
you like 6 issues of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine for
under £10? I’m afraid this offer is only available in the UK, but there are
also discounts around the world:
UK - try 6 issues
for just £9.99
Europe - 13 issues (1
year) for €74.99
Australia - 13 issues (1 year)
for AU $125
Rest
of the world -
13 issues (1 year) for US $89.99
To
take advantage of any of these deals (and to support LostCousins) please follow
this link.
The
Ancestry DNA test is the only one that I can whole-heartedly recommend – and
I’ve taken ALL of the tests from ALL of the major
companies. But it’s a bit more expensive than some of the competitors tests, so
it makes sense to place an order when there’s an offer on.
You
can currently save on DNA tests at ALL of Ancestry’s main sites, so whether you’re
taking the test yourself or asking cousins to help out,
now’s the ideal time. True, you might save a few dollars more by waiting for
Black Friday, but that’s 6 weeks away and there would be zero chance of getting
the results back in time for Christmas.
Please
use the relevant link below so that you can support LostCousins with your
purchase (if it doesn’t seem to work first time log-out from Ancestry then
click the link again):
Remember
that you don’t need to name the person who will be testing when you place your
order. And do make certain that, whoever is testing, you not only read my DNA
Masterclass, but follow the steps set out there – otherwise you’ll be
wasting your time as well as your money!
Currently ALL of the censuses from 1841 to 1911 seem to be free at Findmypast - quite unexpectedly -
including the transcripts of the Scotland censuses (Findmypast doesn't have images).
It is a particularly good opportunity to check the 1841 Census entries on your My Ancestors
page using the grey 'checking arrows': you only need to click one arrow per household so it won't
take long to check all of the entries. Remember that if what you have entered doesn't match the census
it can't match with your cousins either!
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2024 Peter Calver
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