Can you help me trace my grandfather?
QMy grandfather Robert Allen was born in 1888 in Liverpool and can be found on the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses. He later appears on electoral registers from 1929 up until his death in 1964.
However, I have been unable to find him in either military or conscientious objector records. I know that he was a corporation gardener all his life, so I assume that he would not have had a reserved occupation.
What other records could I use to try and find him between 1911 and 1929? Bob Ord A Your ancestor has a fairly common name, but one that can be spelt in a multitude of different ways. Before giving up on military records or those of conscientious objectors, make sure that you have tried every variation including using ‘R.’, ‘Rob’, ‘Robert’, ‘Alan’, ‘Allan’, ‘Allen’, ‘Alen’ and all combinations of those terms.
Until the 1921 census is released in 2022, you won’t be able to find the rich information about Robert that you have enjoyed from earlier censuses. However, all of the main commercial genealogy sites provide a variety of other information sources – searchable by name or keyword – that might shed light on Robert’s life between 1911 and 1929.
If, for instance, he married or had children in the period, then you should be able to find details of those events using civil birth, marriage and death indexes and then applying for the relevant certificates from the General Register Office ( www.gro.gov.
uk). These certificates will also provide Robert’s addresses and details of employment.
Historic newspaper records available at findmypast.co.uk and britishnewspaperarchive.
co.uk can throw up unexpected references to an ancestor. A quick search of newspapers covering the Liverpool area for Robert Allen (with that exact spelling) showed 89 results between 1900 and 1949.
Digitised versions of local telephone and trade directories list business names and addresses in different localities, although these may be less helpful if you are searching for someone like Robert who worked for a large corporation.
Since Robert lived in one of the greatest ports in the world, is it possible that he ever sailed from Liverpool for business, pleasure or temporary emigration at any point? It’s worth checking online passenger lists.
Also, you should ask yourself if Robert is likely to have spent any time as a seaman in the Merchant Navy. Among its ‘Education & work’ records, Findmypast includes three million men in such employment between 1918 and 1941. Among them is one Robert Allen born in Liverpool in 1888. Ruth Symes