Alan Carr Army Record Police Gazette 1911 Census
The comedian and presenter investigated the name change of his maternal great grandfather Henry Carter, who was also known as Edward Mercer. Alan discovered that his ancestor changed his name because he had deserted the British Army during the First World War
Henry’s service record, which stated that he had deserted the Royal Field Artillery, was found online. All of the surviving service records from the First World War can be found on the commercial sites Findmypast ( findmypast.co.uk) and Ancestry ( ancestry.co.uk), the website we used. If you’re a member then you can see it in the collection ‘UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914–1920’ at bit.ly/anc-henry-carter.
Henry’s desertion was published in the Police Gazette in 1915. The Gazette was launched as The Quarterly Pursuit by chief magistrate John Fielding in 1772, and the commercial website the British Newspaper Archive has a number of editions that were published between 1773 and 1918. If you subscribe you can look for deserters in Police Gazettes at british newspaperarchive.co.uk/ titles/police-gazette.
The 1911 census of England and Wales showed Henry listed with his birth name and living with his future wife Annie Laing in Camberwell in London. Annie was listed as his “boarder”. All of the major commercial family history websites have the 1911 census including Ancestry, Findmypast and TheGenealogist
( thegenealogist.co.uk). If you subscribe to TheGenealogist you can see the record via tinyurl.com/thegenealogist-henry-carter.