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Aston Parish Church WW1 Memorial

Not sure if you can see thie effects reg:
entry for L R J Tonks
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Mother's address in 1925 is Arthur Road Handsworth.
On 1911 census they are at 61 Carlyle Road Lozells
 
That is the Tonks I think is on the memorial , I don't think Ann does, My main concern with the names on the memorial are spellings mistakes and the initials how correct are they, the poor stone smith probably had to read of a list of names or individual sheets written by others who may not been able to write very clear or even spell, it was just as hard for him as it is for us ...
 
I admit to being unsure about L R J Tonks. The census entries for him use his name, Leslie, and I'm unsure why this wouldn't have been used on the memorial. Given that J R Tonks has some association with Aston (two of his children were born there) it leaves me undecided still about whether he could be the person. I am continuing to look in detail at both. Two of J R's sons were in fact from his wife Jane's first marriage, and in 1901 were with Jane and Jesse in Aston, and I am trying to see if the boys lived in Aston under either their birth name or Tonks. .
 
Hi Ann, I have to disagree with you to where Jessie and Jane were living in 1901, they was living in Wolverhampton and not Aston, I don't think they went back to Aston or the Birmingham area after 1900 to live.
 
aston lad said:
Hi Ann, I have to disagree with you to where Jessie and Jane were living in 1901, they was living in Wolverhampton and not Aston, I don't think they went back to Aston or the Birmingham area after 1900 to live.
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Sorry John, a bit of fatigue setting in. :rolleyes: I agree with you, they are in Wolverhampton in 1901. I meant to say that the two boys Oliver and Archibald were born in Aston, 1898 and 1900 respectively, so I imagine that the two older boys James and George may have been there too. Their birth name is Mitchall, their mother's maiden name is Bucknall, and they appear to be known as the latter in 1891 census. So, I was looking to see if they might have returned to Aston under any of these names, but I am not getting very far. They served during the war, and any trace I can find of them appears linked to Staffs. So, I think I can count that out. I'm now trying to see if any other family members might be in Aston.
Returning to Leslie J R Tonks, my concern is that he appears to have used his first name - even a photo of him in uniform in an Ancestry family tree has him as Leslie Tonks. I accept what you're saying about errors in transcription etc. which is why i am keeping an open mind.
 
A real puzzle. o_O
Both boys seem to have served in WW! as Tonks but with addresses in or near Lichfield.
 
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I have got another two from the duplicate list, James Sheehy reg 26076, and Frederick Stevens reg 14970, don't know if they are off the list or not
 

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Sheehy is a definite; he is Sheerey on the Memorial but he has to be our man.

Stevens is also a good possibility - he is Stephens on the Memorial, but an obvious spelling issue. We have a Frank Stevens, there are two F Stevens on the Memorial, but this is a different person.

I will do the detailed work on both, but thank you, I think we have another two off the list
 
I want to say it's a good job you found that card (Sheehy) because there is no way we would have found him otherwise. Born in Tralee, Ireland, but not really traceable (possible 1901 census still in Tralee) until 1911 census when he is in India with the regiment. Married Margaret May Porter in Alverstoke, Hampshire in 1915 (it was a barracks town used for embarkation to Europe). And that is pretty much it. I have no idea why she would be in Aston, but there we go! :joy::joy::joy:
 
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Just to confirm, I've found the details for Frederick Stevens. Born Wednesbury 1880, had moved to Aston with parents Paul and Lucy by 1901. Married Florence Emily Morris 25/12/1910 (banns read). Living separately in 1911 census, probably because Florence had given birth to baby in February 1911 and presumably they hadn't founda house yet. Baby Lucy died two months later. Two more children; will be using the address of birth of Elsie May in 1914 - Vine Street, Aston.
So thanks again John, another great lead.
 
Ann, I think I can give you the address for William Stacey, He was married to Emma Lily Tucker in early 1916, and the poor lad was killed in November 1916, I only have the address for Emma but I would expect that William could have lived there for a short while...Emma remarried and moved to New Zealand, 47, Park Street Aston is where Emma was living in 1911 and I would say when she and William got married ....I have attached the pension card
 

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Just found William Stacey's address in 1901, 60 Cowper Street , Aston........I have just found out that he is mentioned in my cousins family tree....
 
Ann, I think and only think that I may have found one of the Homer's , Ernest Homer reg 8292 born 1877, 1911 living on Long Acre with his wife Lousia Jane, I am not sure which one he could be, R Homer may have an incorrect initial
 
Hi John
Thanks for the recent information, I'll follow up and get back to you.
And fancy having William Stacey in a cousins family tree - small world. :)
 
pjmburns said:
I found the Wiggan name confusing but then all his other records seem to be Piper and there is an Aston connection. The other one bothered me because the death didn't seem linked to the war.
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Re Joseph Piper's alias Wiggan, a fellow researcher (Peter Rose), has identified that Joseph's sister's (Alice) married name was Wiggan, so it's likely that's where he plucked the name from. But Peter doesn't know why Joseph would have used an alias; Peter is a military historian, and he tells me none of the usual reasons for using an alias seem to apply to Joseph. Ah well!:rolleyes:
 
aston lad said:
Ann, I think and only think that I may have found one of the Homer's , Ernest Homer reg 8292 born 1877, 1911 living on Long Acre with his wife Lousia Jane, I am not sure which one he could be, R Homer may have an incorrect initial
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Having had a look, I've noted this, but for now will keep under review. The Uk war dead details give his residence as Bromyard.
 
Hi Ann......I think its a incorrect transcription, its should be Bromford, and not Bromyard, I have attached his pension record just confirm his address when he died,
 

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I must admit I am now struggling to find any thing about the others at the moment, I have found some address's of the unknown Aston address men, but none are in Aston area and all with no Aston connection at all, I am not going to give up just yet, but it is getting harder..
 
I was trying to trace J E Townsend.
The one which intrigued me most is Jack Vernon Townsend (I found an earlier case where the second intitials sounded similar - so vee and ee). He went down on HMS Invincible.
On CWGC his parents are given as
1650798934108.png
Although Mother's address is later given as Harrow.
I tried tracing them to see if any siblings had an Aston connection.
1891 census they are at Clifton Road with 3 children Edward b 1882, William b 1887 and Joshua b 1887
I then tried to see if any of these had a connection.
 
In 1911 Jack is living in Fraser Road with his Mother and a brother George.
As I have no notes I don't think I found him on 1901.

This could be a wild goose chasebut there are so few J Townsends that I felt it worth investigating.
 
aston lad said:
Hi Ann......I think its a incorrect transcription, its should be Bromford, and not Bromyard, I have attached his pension record just confirm his address when he died,
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Ys, definitely Bromford Lane, Bromford - in the Aston area. Just the intial. I now have four Homers which aren't the right initial, so it's hard to just pick one to go in. :confused: :rolleyes:
 
I cannot agree more that the going is now getting much harder. You've all done a great job of moving this listing forward, but I think 'breakthroughs' are going to be few and far between. I'll do the latest update to the online Memorial Listing in the next couple of weeks. And I'll be setting up some sort of scrolling list of names of those that remain unidentified (still trying to sort out the technicalities) so perhaps others may identify a relative. It's probably a long shot, but I need to try.

I'm running out of ideas to get these last few, but I might have to draw the conclusion that perhaps these remaining few didn't have a personal relationship with Aston. I am convinced, for instance, that I have the right D C Woodhouse (Disney Charles), and have included him, but neither he or his family lived in Aston. He was a chaplain, and perhaps a returning soldier who was living in Aston gave his name. So, are there others whose name was given by another soldier, perhaps a mate of theirs in the regiment? I can't imagine there was anything to stop this happening, and the Church probably never had the resources to follow up on names. If this is the case, we are trawling in a much bigger pool, and the chances of getting 'the right' name are much slimmer. I don't want to guess.
 
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