Can you tell me anything about my father’s family?
QI’m seeking details of the family of my dad, Anthony Rowland Dawson (born 8 January 1947). Both his parents, Ivy Rosina Dawson (born 27 March 1920) and Bertram Henry Dawson (born 7 December 1915), were orphans. They married on 11 September 1939. I also know that his paternal grandfather served in the First World War. Juli Timms
AWith their wide variety of sources, family history websites provide a useful starting point. Since their resources differ, using more than one can be beneficial; here I’ve consulted both Ancestry ( ancestry. co.uk) and Findmypast ( findmypast.co.uk).
Passenger lists show that your father, together with his mother and sister, left England for Nigeria in 1956. The following year, your grandfather, Bertram, came back to England on his own for three months. In 1959, the family returned home permanently.
Indexes to Essex marriages show that Bertram’s father, Edward, married Edith Mary Moles at East Ham in 1901. The couple’s four children were baptised at St Alban’s, Upton Park. Their baptisms show that by 1910 the family was living at 200 Wakefield Street, East Ham; the same property in which Bertram and Ivy lived in 1939. In 1910 Edward was a painter’s labourer, but, according to the census, in 1911 he was a night watchman for Barings Bank.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website cwgc.org
names Edward’s parents as William and Ellen Dawson. The 1881 census puts the family at Atley Road, Bow. William, a carpenter, was born in Norwich, where he married Ellen Burr in 1861. Findmypast’s image of the register shows that William’s father was John Dawson, a carpenter. William and Ellen had several children in Norfolk, then moved to London in the late 1860s, where Edward was born at Old Ford in 1868.
Army service records show that Edward’s First World War service was his second spell in the Army. Having previously worked as an engine cleaner, in 1887 Edward joined the Durham Light Infantry. Next-ofkin details confirm that it is the same Edward Dawson.
Katherine Cobb