death cert .....

[margaretmccue]

Hello , can you help me please. I have two questions, first I have a war death, for 1918 at Duhallow, Thomas Stevenson, died 9th Jan 1918.
he was my Grandmothers half brother, been looking on SP for his death cert, not there, I have his birth cert, so if they die in the war abroad, dont
they appear in his home town, Prestonpans, I dont really need it but was interested, the second problem I have is, My 3xGrt Grandparents. appear on 1841 Dunbar census. with the whole family, but I cant find any birth certs for them, My 3xGr Grandad Robert Wood came from England,
but his wife Jean,is scottish and all the children came from Dunbar, I am really trying to find ,My 3xGrt Grandmothers maiden name, thanks to all the good sites you people help on I have found a 3rd cousin, related to this family, she thinks her name was Jean Craige, what does puzzle me, is
not being able to find a single birth cert, hope you dont mind me asking,

Bye for now Margaret

[AndrewP]

Hi Margaret,

He is listed on both the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website (where I presume you found the information that you have) and on the Scottish National War Memorial website.

http://www.cwgc.org
http://www.snwm.org

I agree there is no obvious sign of him on ScotlandsPeople. He ought to be there in the Service & War Returns - Minor Records (indexed with the deaths). Neither of the two Thomas Stevensons listed for 1918 in the minor records show the right date of death.

Do you know what age he should have been in 1918?

As the Service and War Returns are pages with a dozen or so deaths listed on them, one possibility is that his death in early January is on the end of a page of 1917 deaths and has been (wrongly) indexed as 1917. However, there are 9 Thomas Stevensons amongst these returns for 1917, so an epected age would be needed as a starting point, otherwise it could be an expensive exercise.

All the best,

AndrewP

[margaretmccue]

Hello, thank you Andrew. Thomas would have been 29yrs old , my problem with thomas is on his birth cert, he had 3 names, his mothers maiden name Fraser, the name of her late husband who drowned at sea,
Johnstone, and the name of Stevenson as his father, but his mother wasnt married at the time, he was down as illigitimate, which is why Its taken so long to find him, his mother did marry aThomas Stevenson 1896, 7yrs later, he is down as Thomas,s father.!!!!
I will now try SNWM.as you suggest, thanks again
Margaret

[nelmit]

Hello Margaret,

This looks like Jean/Jane in 1851.

There is a Jeanie Craig/Wood death at SP in 1875 who fits the bill for this lady.

Alternatively if you find Isabella's death it should give her mother's maiden name.

Piece: SCT1851/706 Place: Dunbar -East Lothian Enumeration District: 1
Civil Parish: Dunbar Burgh Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: -
Folio: 0 Page: 17 Schedule: 70
Address: Shore

Surname First name(s) Rel Status Sex Age Occupation Where Born Remarks
POTTER Lewis Head M M 32 Labourer West Lothian - Uphall
POTTER Isabella Wife M F 31 East Lothian - Dunbar
POTTER Jane Dau U F 2 East Lothian - Dunbar
POTTER Isabella Dau U F 2m East Lothian - Dunbar
WOOD Jane Ma-Law W F 56 Fish Dealer East Lothian - Dunbar
WOOD Ann Niece U F 13 Servant East Lothian - Dunbar

Kind regards,
Annette M

[AndrewP]

Hi again Margaret,

Alas, even with his age, there is still no sign of a Service Return for him.

As he is listed on the CWGC and the SNWM websites as Stevenson, I think it is fair to assume that is the name that the Army knew him by. So, any Service and War Return in the Minor Records should use that name. These returns are on Army stationery, so I would expect to see him listed there by the name he enlisted into the Army with.

Be aware that these records are not death certificates, but Service and War Returns. These do not contain the same level of information as a death certiicate. The columns of information are headed as follows:

• No.
  Rank
  Name in full (surname first)
  Age *
  Country of birth
  Date of death
  Place of death †
  Cause of death
  
  * The Age or approximate Age should be given in complete years. i.e., Age last birthday.
  † The Country should be entered if the actual place of Death is not known.

The overall title of the form is:

• RETURN of WARRANT OFFICERS, NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS and MEN
  of the _________________(name of unit)________________________ KILLED in Action
  or who have DIED whilst on Service Abroad in the WAR of 1914 to _______.

So if you were hoping to find any information regarding who his parents were, to confirm he was the right man, unfortunately you will not find that on any Service Return.

The end date of the War (or death abroad due to the War) is usually blank, presumably as the war was still going on, with no end date in sight when most of these records were written. One that I have seen has an end date stamped in at the end of the title information, and is dated 10 Jan 1920. I am not sure of the significance of that date. Was that the last date when service men were considered to have died abroad from injuries attained in the War?

All the best,

AndrewP