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Thread: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

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    Default Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Hello,
    My great grandad James Henry Wood joined the merchant navy in 1920. He lied about his age as he was only 15. His DOB on his CR10 is 01/04/1904, in real life it was 01/10/1904. He was born in Liverpool. I have his CR10, but I’m not sure of his discharge number, so struggling to find out which ships he was on other than the first one (Cufic/American). On Find My Past there are a few James Wood’s born in 1904, and I’ve paid for two records for James H Wood in case that’s him but there’s no DOB and I can’t make out the place of birth. I’m really stuck on where to go next. Even if I buy all the records for all the James Woods on the site it won’t tell me it’s definitely HIS record. Can anyone please offer me any advice as to how I can cross reference or check I’ve got the right discharge number? I’m finding advice on the archives sites really hard to follow so need a dummies guide from experts.

    I’m making a book for my 93year old grandma on her family history and I’d love so much to give her this information and feel confident it’s accurate.

    Thanks so much for your expertise and suggestions. All the best

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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Hang in there Jessica there are some really good researchers on this forum.
    Senior Member

    UK003715

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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Quote Originally Posted by Jessica Dutton View Post
    Hello,
    My great grandad James Henry Wood joined the merchant navy in 1920. He lied about his age as he was only 15. His DOB on his CR10 is 01/04/1904, in real life it was 01/10/1904. He was born in Liverpool. . Can anyone please offer me any advice as to how I can cross reference or check I’ve got the right discharge number? I’m finding advice on the archives sites really hard to follow so need a dummies guide from experts.

    I’m making a book for my 93year old grandma on her family history and I’d love so much to give her this information and feel confident it’s accurate.

    Thanks so much for your expertise and suggestions. All the best
    official school leaving age in those days was 14, but they could leave at 13. Royal Navy would take boy seamen at 15.
    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 21st February 2023 at 08:40 PM.

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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Hello Jessica
    I know you say you are not sure about his Discharge Number, but have you possibly got any lead on it at all, like the possible one beginning with the letter R ------ , may be you can make out some of the numbers , if so list them in exact position eg" R 65--97- tHIS MAY HELP !
    Cheers

    Normally on a CR10 there is a full list of a Seamans Service with Ship Numbers etc, so there should be a lot more info on it ??
    Thanks

    This site in Canada has a Crew List for that Ship, around the time he may have been on it my guess about 1917 to 1923 ?? or have you a date. He would be listed , so this could be a start. ?
    Cheers

    Crew List Index Search Results (mun.ca)

    And this site had Crew for the 1918 Voyage

    Extracted Logs: Ship's Name Kashing Official Number 104869 Dates of Voyage 5 March 1917... | The National Archives

    Looking at the FMP Site it looks as if this one is the person in question, but would have to look at the actual Entry. Pay per View Site



    Think this would be the correct one Jessica ??

















    Ship Number Matches as well.Ship: Cufic; Official number: 105345

    By this it looks like there was only the one Ship, but that is something you may have to look into. The Number shown on the Document is his ID Number.
    Cheers
    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 21st February 2023 at 08:44 PM.
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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Quote Originally Posted by Jessica Dutton View Post
    Hello,
    I’ve paid for two records for James H Wood in case that’s him but there’s no DOB and I can’t make out the place of birth. I’m really stuck on where to go next. Even if I buy all the records for all the James Woods on the site it won’t tell me it’s definitely HIS record. Can anyone please offer me any advice as to how I can cross reference or check I’ve got the right discharge number?

    I’m making a book for my 93year old grandma on her family history and I’d love so much to give her this information and feel confident it’s accurate.
    Welcome Jessica,
    Don't go shooting in the dark - I have found his records up until the mid 1930's anyway. I will get back when I have some more time.

    Regards
    Hugh
    "If Blood was the price
    We had to pay for our freedom
    Then the Merchant Ship Sailors
    Paid it in full”


    www.sscityofcairo.co.uk

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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Hugh! Oh my goodness thank you! And thank you all incredibly kind souls who have helped me so much so fast.

    Yes that is the correct record I purchased for him but I couldn’t upload it onto this forum for some reason. This is all I have to go on and for a novice it’s quite confusing so I’m so grateful for your knowledge and willingness to help me.

    I am confused about an identity certificate number and a discharge number. I know they must be different as I can’t find records using the identity certificate number.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Taylor View Post
    official school leaving age in those days was 14, but they could leave at 13. Royal Navy would take boy seamen at 15.
    Why might someone change their age do you think? Might he have just wanted to appear older or would there be a benefit to being 16? I am thrilled to have a photo of him. There was only one photo of him in our family, now there’s two, so his CR10 is a real treasure. I’ve applied for his birth cert to see if I can get his lost medals reissued one day too. It’s a big job and as grandma gets older I really feel that time pressure.
    Last edited by Jessica Dutton; 22nd February 2023 at 12:03 PM.

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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Hi Jessica,
    There is quite a lot of information on the cards (ship numbers and dates) and I am sure the guys here will help you transpose them in due course. You could also do it yourself via the CLIP site https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/vesselsnum

    Firstly a word about the Fourth Register of Seamen. The cards contain mistakes and omissions so what you see is not every ship or every voyage he did. The CR 10 card only came into force between 1918-1921 and again there may have been omissions or he could only have had the one ship during this time. You would need to dive deeper using known crew listings to have a complete record.
    I have found 3 CR1 cards and importantly his CR2 - all attached below [I am assuming the site owners and moderators are happy to have this copyrighted content shown]. This cards shows foreign voyages, in his case up until the mid 1930's, ships names being replaced by official numbers.

    His WW2 Merchant Navy service record called a CRS 10 is held at Kew in piece BT 382/1992
    https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ls/r/C10990216 This file is held in a block of up to 60 other names so is more expensive to obtain on line. If you can visit Kew, you can copy it for free or if you have a researcher who would copy it for you. If unable to use any of those the last resort would be to request a paid search for the file – https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...a-paid-search/ I can tell you this would cost about £52 unfortunately which is really expensive for this document. However, It would list all his ships including ports of engagement and discharge from the year 1941 until leaving the service.
    His WW2 medal file is here: BT 395/1/106797 - https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/D4371990 This can be downloaded for free if you sign in to the National Archives site. He was awarded the 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star, Burma Star, Italy Star and the War Medal.

    I am confused about an identity certificate number and a discharge number. I know they must be different as I can’t find records using the identity certificate number.
    The pivotal reference for a merchant seaman is his Dis.A number - guys keep banging on about 'R' numbers and this is a case in point why you should refer to it as a Dis.A - he never had an 'R' number because they, as I have reported on this site already, did not come into service until 1925. Prior to that they were numerical only with no prefix 'R'. James Henry Wood has a numerical Dis.A- 1042294. An ID number sometimes called an R.S.2 is less useful but can help in some cases.

    Any questions - please feel free.

    Regars
    Hugh
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Hugh; 22nd February 2023 at 12:54 PM.
    "If Blood was the price
    We had to pay for our freedom
    Then the Merchant Ship Sailors
    Paid it in full”


    www.sscityofcairo.co.uk

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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Just resizing this one so as all can see the Ship Numbers,
    Will help list what we find
    Cheers

    Jessica, if you go to the following Link and put the Numbers in the Search Box, it will come up with the Ships name , its a long list so may take some time
    EG 118101 Comes up with Baltic
    Cheers

    Crew List Index Project

    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 22nd February 2023 at 07:18 PM.
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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    Hello Jessica
    In case you cannot download his Medal Card , i have done it for you , hope that OK.
    cHEERS



    Merchant Navy campaign medal records 1939-1945 - The National Archives
    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 22nd February 2023 at 08:22 PM.
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    Default Re: Please help me surprise 93yr old grandma with info on her dad

    As far as i am aware on past Enquiries to the National Archives, most all of these kind of Documents are not Copyright Material, as one can see on the Site when searching, it states Public Domain!

    Public domain is a designation forcontent that is not protected by any copyright law or other restriction andmay be freely copied, shared, altered and republished by anyone. Thedesignation means, essentially, that the content belongs to the community atlarge.

    Thank You
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