Q & A
Our team of experts offers tips and inspiration
EDITED BY CLAIRE VAUGHAN
DAVE ANNAL is a genealogist, author and lecturer
KATHERINE COBB is a member of AGRA based in Somerset
JAYNE SHRIMPTON is a professional dress historian and portrait specialist
ALAN STEWART is a family history writer, and author of Grow Your Own Family Tree
PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert and author
PETER TOWEY is vice-president of the Anglo-German Family History Society
Where do I search for Edith and John Robert Turnbull?
Q I’ve hit a wall with my great aunt, Edith Julia Hanham. I found her birth certificate (Dorchester, December quarter, 1897) but can’t find any parish records. In the 1901 census for Bere Regis, Dorset, she was Edith Julia Hanam, born in Sydling. In the 1911 census for Gussage All Saints, Dorset, she was Hannam, born Sydland, stepdaughter to head. She married John Robert Turnbull on 3 February 1918 in Horton, Dorset. After this, I can’t find them. Can you give me any pointers?
Treena Everett
A I, too, found this couple very elusive. There’s no evidence of a marriage anywhere in England except a reference on FamilySearch (familysearch. org) with the details you suggest. When I tracked it down, I found it was an entry in the register of banns at Horton, Dorset, published on 20 January, 27 January and 3 February 1918, between John Robert Turnbull, bachelor, of His Majesty’s Forces (R. Can. G) and Edith Julia Hannam, spinster, of Horton.
I would interpret this to mean “Royal Canadian Guards”. I see that there was a regiment in the Canadian Army designated 1st Regiment, Canadian Grenadier Guards from 29 December 1911. That might be his regiment, but it would involve research in the Canadian archives. I have not been able to find a John Robert Turnbull or John Turnbull in the Canadian military records who could fit. It does not help that we do not know how old he was.
As we cannot find the marriage in England, the likelihood is that it did not take place, even though the banns had been published on three consecutive Sundays.
Perhaps he got cold feet or was ordered to France, or maybe his military superiors refused permission, or there was an objection to the marriage in the Church. Possibly he was killed in France or Flanders.
I have Edith’s birth certificate from which I see she was born on 31 October 1897.
