Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Can anyone please help solve a long-standing mystery regarding Frederick George Campbell, AKA Reynolds?

Fred was born in Dublin in 1887 and married Alice Mary Moore (born in Dublin in 1890) in Dublin in 1915. He was a private in the British Army (Royal Irish Rifles up to 1915 at least, but I can find no military records for him apart from a possible WW1 medal card).

Sometime thereafter they moved to the Liverpool area and (I believe) were living in Halewood in the early 1930s. At some point they changed their surname to Reynolds, but why is unknown.

A record from around 1934 gave Alice's address as Stanley House, Halewood, and she used the surname Reynolds. It's thought Fred may have died about this time but I can find no record of his death with either the surname Campbell or Reynolds. Alice never remarried but kept the surname Reynolds until her death in 1986.

Fred was Church of Ireland, Alice was Roman Catholic and they married in a Catholic church so I imagine any subsequent church records would be RC, but I have found nothing. They had no children.

It might be helpful to find any additional evidence of where and when they were living in Liverpool/Halewood, and under which surname. Also any indication as to when Fred might have died, and whether Alice continued to live in the area. I know that after WW2 she lived in Hampshire for the rest of her life.

Any help/clues/ideas would be much appreciated!

Hi

Welcome to the forum. I'm including the link below to show efforts to resolve this enquiry elsewhere. I know Find My Past are working on the 1939 National Register and that collection may be useful in the future to you with the uncertainty over the surname used:-

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=711232.0


Stanley House, Halewood:-

http://maps.nls.uk/view/102339579#zoom= ... &layers=BT


Blue

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Thank you Blue for the link to previous research, it does waste time if we duplicate.

Can we assume that you have the marriage certificate of Frederick and Alice and which surname does it give.

If they had no children how do you know you have the correct couple and what is your interest?

You can order a copy of the 1939 National Register using the address which might help.

The Electoral Registers, as are street directories, are held at the Liverpool Record Office, Third Floor, William Brown Street library.

Just as an afterthought - I disagree that obtaining a birth certificate is unlikely to be helpful, there is always a chance there is some detail on it you don't know about, after all in England we consider 4 Euros for a photocopy to be negligible in comparison to what we pay here and so worth the chance of some extra information.

Halewood is now in the Borough of Knowsley. They have a local history section who may know where the old electoral rolls for Halewood are, if they have survived locally. This is their email address info@history.knowsley.gov.uk

Is it definitely known that Fred became Reynolds or is it only known about Mary becoming Reynolds?

My suspicious family history mind wonders if just Mary moved and changed her name to that of someone she lived with.

Just a thought if someone has a directory for the 1930s it might be worth seeing who is the head if the household at Stanley House.

Halewood doesn't appear to be included in Kelly's 1938 Directory I don't think there's any coverage of the area in the online directories.


Blue

Archibald Halsall was late of Stanley House, Halewood when he died in 1921:-

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/iss ... 1/data.pdf


Blue

Burial

Name: George Reynolds
Abode: Stanley House Halewood
Birth Year: abt 1890
Age: 42
Burial Date: 20 Feb 1932
Parish: Halewood, St Nicholas


Blue

Well worth looking further into that grave and thinking seriously about Hilary's suggestion.

This is the death index for the George Reynolds of Stanley House, Halewood, he died in Liverpool:-

Name: George Reynolds
Birth Date: abt 1890
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1932
Age at Death: 42
Registration district: Liverpool
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 8b
Page: 126

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/


Blue

Thanks everyone for your comments so far. To answer the various points raised:
- Fred was one of my mother's uncles. My mother went to join them around 1930 and I have a photo of them all together. It's annotated 'Halewood'
- yes, I do have the marriage cert of Fred and Alice and there Fred's surname is Campbell (his true surname)
- family recollections confirm that both Fred and Alice (not Mary!) used the surname Reynolds. (It was said that Fred changed his surname to join the army under-age, but that makes no sense as that would have meant that he joined about 1902, yet he was still using the Campbell surname in 1915)
- I have both Fred's and Alice's birth certificates but they only confirm what I already know from other sources
- regarding the RootChat thread, I was the originator of that!
- I agree that the 1939 registration should be helpful - I'm looking forward to it coming on-line.

The death of George Reynolds at Stanley House is certainly interesting and I will investigate further. I will also follow up Hilary's suggestion.

Thanks again to all - please don't hesitate to let me have any further suggestions!

MaryA wrote: You can order a copy of the 1939 National Register using the address which might help.

You don't need to wait for it to come online, it is already available http://www.hscic.gov.uk/register-service

MaryA wrote: The Electoral Registers, as are street directories, are held at the Liverpool Record Office, Third Floor, William Brown Street library.

I suspect this would be worth following up to see who lived at the house for the years you are interested in.

MaryA wrote: I disagree that obtaining a birth certificate is unlikely to be helpful, there is always a chance there is some detail on it you don't know

There are obviously some details of certificates you aren't sharing, eg whether the informant to the birth is relevant, also the witnesses to the marriage.

I'd get the death certificate for George Reynolds to see who registered his death and what relationship they were to each other.

Mary will Halewood electoral registers be in Liverpool as it's now in Knowsley? I have suggested in an earlier post contacting the local history people at Knowsley to ask them.

Have you tried these for Army records?


https://www.royal-irish.com/research
... currently contains the names and details of over 15,000 soldiers who served in The Royal Irish Rifles up to 1922. ...


Just a thought but how do you know he was in the Royal Irish Rifles?

I believe the Electoral Registers will be held in Huyton, although a phone call or email should confirm. http://www.knowsley.gov.uk/residents/li ... brary.aspx

Thanks Mary, I'll give it a try.

Thanks Hilary. Fred stated his rank and regiment on his marriage cert.

I've looked at the Royal Irish site previously (and again today) but I can't see a definite match under either Campbell or Reynolds. There are a few 'possibles' but I'm reluctant to commit £28 x N to check them out! I have ordered the death cert for George Reynolds of Stanley House and I'll wait and see if that helps first.

FYI, the National Archives have medal cards and medal rolls for two Privates called F G Campbell in the Royal Irish Rifles. One was killed in action in 1916; the other one might be 'my' Fred but I've been unable to confirm that as yet, mainly because the service records appear not to be available. In any case, the service numbers of these soldiers do not appear on the Royal Irish site, which suggests that the list is not complete.

Thank you again for everyone's helpful comments.

I now have the death cert for George Reynolds of Stanley House, and although it's not 100% conclusive, I think it's pretty certain to be the cert of 'my' Fred. The informant was his widow, Alice Reynolds, which fits (Alice kept the Reynolds surname though the rest of her life). The cert gives his occupation as Domestic Gardener at Stanley House.

His age is not correct - he would have been 45, not 42 as on the cert and on the burial record found by Blue, but there could be numerous reasons for the discrepancy.

I also followed up MaryA's suggestion and contacted the Huyton Library to ask about electoral records. Their response was that I should contact Archive Records Knowsley (ARK) based at Kirkby library. I haven't yet done so but will in due course. There's no rush as I live in France and I don't expect to be over in the Liverpool area until the end of the year.

There is an article about Kirkby Library and their archives in this month's Journal, they have only begun holding archives since they moved to their new premises and it's difficult to know where anything might be as all used to be held at Highton. Always worth asking before you visit so you don't have a wasted journey.

One nice sunny day I had a walk around St Nicholas Church Halewood's graveyard. I'm pretty sure there is no gravestone there for George.


Blue