The search goes on

Iam writing regarding my quest to try to locate any Hull relations of Albert Anderson. I acquired his wartime diary after clearing the home of our aunt.

Apparently, Albert had enlisted in the Royal Navy at Devonport in 1912, together with our great uncle (Alfred Charles Rowe), who we learned had been lost on HMS Goliath at Gallipoli.

However, I have discovered that Albert survived the war, though often very sick with chest problems due to the weather at sea.

Albert kept a diary from 1912 to 1914, when they were not supposed to write anything else. He wrote about initial training, fun with friends at Dartmouth, sport, Plymouth United and visits home on leave.

Of particular interest to me, he was apparently a fine singer, so performed as a soloist and in a choir and also on the BBC. I can’t, unfortunately, locate any of his recordings.

After the war, Albert did return to Hull and we know that he married a girl named Alice May Tanton. They had three children – Mary, Betty and John.

Unfortunately, that is the extent of my searches so far.

In this centenary year of the end of the war, I thought it would be a satisfying and interesting thing to do to see if I could locate any more descendants of Albert who may be living in Hull.

I have located some of his Sheffield relatives. Unfortunately, his three nephews have now died.

Joan Rowe.