Genealogy Chat

Hi there I am hoping someone out there will be able to help. I have managed to trace my family tree on my mum's side back to my GGD. I have found him on the 1901 census and found he was born between Oct-Dec 1897. I know he served in both the World Wars not sure of any other service so was probaly demobbed between the wars. Based on his DOB he would not have been eligible for service until the last 1/4 of 1915. I have done a name search on the National Archives and got a few matches, I have no idea of the reg. he served in but know he would not have been a commisioned officer. I know he never left Sheffield (except during military service), with the information I have is there any way of finding out where he served in the Wars and of any other service, and also if he earned any medals in addiotion of his service campaign medals. Thank you in advance Richard Details are Frank Senior DOB Oct-Dec 1897 Was born in Sheffield. He got married after WWI to a Mary (maiden name NK) His daughter Mary Senior was born 7/04/1921 Also had a son called Frank in the 1920's he died aged around 3yrs. Hope this helps anyone.

Not a military expert, but I think one thing I would say do is get that daughters birth cert - you have the full date, should be a doddle to look it up for the GRO ref (you can do it free on ancestry bmd index beta) and buy the cert for £7 - then you would know Marys maiden name. From that you can find their marriage and both fathers names and keep going backwards.

thanks for that Heather I will be doing that but will be requesting other things first. The ancestory isn't too much of a problem, as I have found the index listing for his birth, and can get the marriage stuff. What I want is service records. When I searched the national archives it gives me lots of matches, but only name, reg, rank and time served all are the matc hes are 1915-1920. It is £3.50 a medal card so would cost me about £70 to get them all and unless I can confirm from them which one is the Frank Senior who is my GGD not much point in getting them. The only ones I can elimite are the officers as he was from a very poor area of Sheffield and worked as a labourer building roads for the ever expanding city. What I need to know is how do I find his mililitarty records, he served in WWI before he got married.

I think it will be a trip to Kew or employ a researcher to look for him at Kew with all the details you have.

The MoD have some info on service records:- http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/service_recs/service_recs.htm Good luck

According to the Black Sheep Index there was an HF Senior, a Lieutenant in the RFA ,awarded the MC in 1918.

By the time daughter Mary was born the mother's maiden name is shown in the indexes - so if you know her mother was also called Mary you don't really need the birth certificate at this stage, you can go straight for the marriage. (Though it might be useful to help fill in the gaps of where they lived & what he did after the war)

Her name was Mary E Parsisson and they married at Sheffield A/M/J 1920 (9c 1315)

Mary was born in 1898: Name: Parsisson, Mary Elizabeth Record Type: Births Quarter: March Year: 1898 District: Sheffield County: South Yorkshire West Riding of Yorkshire Volume: 9c Page: 575

as far as the military side is concerned, there are lots of good websites about ww I in particular have you seen www.1914-1918.net loads of ideas how to get started As for medal cards, it might be worth trying to eliminate some by working out what possible regiments he might have joined. And if its any help, you get 6 medal cards on one page, so you might get the lot for £14 - though this is not much use if you don't know which is the right one! (At least this is a possibility - not like my hubby's Smiths!) You'd be able to eliminate any Killed in action, and probably (by age) any who were in the first batch overseas in 1914... etc etc [but he might have signed up right at the start, some boys lied about their age] dont suppose you have any of his medals, to match up with the card?

1901 census: 38 Woodside Lane, Brightside Bierlow Yorkshire Herbert Parsisson abt 1867 Sheffield, Head , Middler in sheet mill Annie E Parsisson abt 1867 Sheffield, Wife Alfred Parsisson abt 1887 Sheffield, Son, Spoon Filer Herbert Parsisson abt 1892 Sheffield, Son Hilda Parsisson abt 1890 Sheffield, Daughter John William Parsisson abt 1900 Sheffield, Son Mary Elizabeth Parsisson abt 1898 Sheffield, Daughter Samuel Parsisson abt 1894 Sheffield, Son

Thank you everyone for your help so far. It looks like a trip to Kew is in order. I haven't been to Kew for a while so my membership card has run out, and that was to research the Enigma Code for Drama School. I will check out the websites mentioned as well. Very special TY to Paul, even though this message thread was about military records, the information provided is useful, I will have to confirm your findings and crossmathc on the actual certs but thank you. Richard

If you order the birth certificate of his child, it will specify his regiment and maybe even roll number. My g grandfather was with the royal engineers in WW1, and his roll number and regiment are on my grandmother birth cert under fathers occupation. Should also be on his marriage certificate.

His regiment & number & MIGHT be on the marriage cert or birth cert, but only if he was still in the army at the time, [and might well depend on WHO registered the birth].