Brummie Rose
proper brummie kid
Recently I have discovered what I thought was my grandfathers service record. His name was Frederick Russell of 2 back of 17 Oughton Place, Aston and he enlisted in Feb. 1916 and was sent to Chisledon for training. I was very pleased to find his service records on Ancestry until I starting reading them.
Firstly, I noticed a descrepancy with his age. Frederick had given his age as 19 years - but my grandfather was born in 1880 which would have made him 36 in 1916 not 19. Still, I was not too concerned as his son, my father, had lied about his age when he enlisted in 1938 but he made himself 'older' (he was only 17) not younger! But when I read further on I found that Frederick Russell was discharged on 1st July 1916 for miss-stating his age on enlisting. So, I thought, he had been found out by the authorities. But the authorities had found out that Frederick was not 19 and he was certainly not the 36 years old which the 'real' Frederick Russell of 2/16 Oughton Place was, the authorities had found out that he was actually only 14 YEARS OLD so, he could not possibly be my grandfather. So, it looks to me like this 14 year old kid had taken my grandfather's identity. He obviously knew quite a lot about my grandfather and the family as he stated on enlistment that his next of kin was his sister, Emily Russell and that his occupation was a Brass Polisher both which are true of my grandfather and the address in Oughton Place was the family home where my grandfather lived when he got married and where my father was born in 1921.
So, what do I do know? Was my grandfather, the real Frederick Russell b. 1880 implicit with this fraud? and who was the 14 year old kid who wanted so badly to go to war? My grandfather was the youngest child in the family so the kid was not a younger brother, so possibly he was a neighbour. I don't suppose I shall ever know but if anyone out there has a 14 year old in their family who desparately wanted to go to war and was found out and discharged in 1916, then I would love to hear from you.
Firstly, I noticed a descrepancy with his age. Frederick had given his age as 19 years - but my grandfather was born in 1880 which would have made him 36 in 1916 not 19. Still, I was not too concerned as his son, my father, had lied about his age when he enlisted in 1938 but he made himself 'older' (he was only 17) not younger! But when I read further on I found that Frederick Russell was discharged on 1st July 1916 for miss-stating his age on enlisting. So, I thought, he had been found out by the authorities. But the authorities had found out that Frederick was not 19 and he was certainly not the 36 years old which the 'real' Frederick Russell of 2/16 Oughton Place was, the authorities had found out that he was actually only 14 YEARS OLD so, he could not possibly be my grandfather. So, it looks to me like this 14 year old kid had taken my grandfather's identity. He obviously knew quite a lot about my grandfather and the family as he stated on enlistment that his next of kin was his sister, Emily Russell and that his occupation was a Brass Polisher both which are true of my grandfather and the address in Oughton Place was the family home where my grandfather lived when he got married and where my father was born in 1921.
So, what do I do know? Was my grandfather, the real Frederick Russell b. 1880 implicit with this fraud? and who was the 14 year old kid who wanted so badly to go to war? My grandfather was the youngest child in the family so the kid was not a younger brother, so possibly he was a neighbour. I don't suppose I shall ever know but if anyone out there has a 14 year old in their family who desparately wanted to go to war and was found out and discharged in 1916, then I would love to hear from you.