Surrey Electoral Registers, 1918-1945 updated

I have updated the Surrey Electoral Registers on our website Link. The page now covers the whole period 1918-1939 & 1945. Previously it only covered the years 1930-1939. This took a long time as the Ancestry.co.uk index was not manually transcribed, but created using text recognition software. Most of the addresses were either missing, incomplete, or incorrect, so I added corrections to the site. I also corrected any errors in personal names that I found. Occasionally people were not picked up by the software at all. Working through the years 1918-1929 (inc) & 1945 I found over 1,200 additional entries - twice as many as the original number. Note: Not all of the Surrey registers were scanned as part of this project, especially parts of Surrey which became London boroughs, such as Kingston-upon-Thames. Registers for the years 1832-1915 are expected to be added to Ancestry.co.uk in the near future.

Egyptian Newspaper Article from 1936

I was looking through various newspaper reports and came across an interesting, if somewhat macabre article, from Cairo, Egypt in 1936 - (see below).

The article mentions a Head Constable in the Cairo City Police named 'Wellbeloved'. It does not give any Christian names for the policeman, or any further clues to narrow down his identity, other than he was an Englishman.

I looked through the available passenger lists and could only find one journey to Cairo, (Apr 24 1937). The passengers were Mrs S W Wellbeloved and  two male children aged 6¼ & 10¾. The ships manifest looks like it has been scored through in pencil and that the passengers may not have made the journey. However, the passenger details may give clues as to the identity of the 'Wellbeloved' policeman.

The mother's initials, 'S W', (her husband's), probably belong to Sidney William Wellbeloved, born 9 Nov 1899, Shepherd's Bush, London. Sidney married Ellen Maud Smith in 1925, and they had two children, Gerald J & Royston A, born 1926 & 1931 respectively. The birth years fit nicely with their ages as listed. They were probably intending to visit, or more probably live with Sidney while he was stationed in Cairo.

There is also an incoming passenger list to the UK from 1944 for Emily Maud, Gerald John & Roy Albert, (country of last permanent residence, shown as South Africa). Therefore, there seems a definite link to the African continent for this family.

The article:-

BODY IN TRUNK

MYSTERY

LEFT ON PAVEMENT OUTSIDE

HOTEL

A dissected corpse has been discovered inside a trunk which had been left on the pavement outside Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo.

The trunk was left by a well-dressed young Egyptian, in European clothes, who drove up to the hotel in a cab.

With the cabman’s help, he lifted the trunk out and placed it on the pavement. People standing on the balconies of a large building opposite noticed the incident.

The cabman was then paid, but before he drove away the Egyptian shook out the mat on which the trunk was stood. Those watching thought he was shaking out water. It was later found to be blood.

The young man stood for a few minutes beside the brown, battered trunk, and then walked away. The trunk remained on the pavement for an hour.

Then Head Constable Wellbeloved, an Englishman in the Cairo City Police, noticed a small crowd outside the hotel. He was shown the trunk. A trickle of blood was emerging from a corner.

He opened the trunk. The first thing he saw was a naked human leg. He shut the trunk down and took it to a police station.

Further examination revealed the dissected remains of a naked male body wrapped in sacking. The dissection had apparently been skilfully carried out by someone with a knowledge of anatomy. The head was missing, but a gold wedding ring on one of the fingers was inscribed “B Guriguis, 28/3/34”. A further clue was a wristwatch.

The police searched all public establishments in the vicinity and blood was found on the walls and stairs of a gambling den. Several arrests have been made on suspicion.

Dundee Courier 26 Aug 1936 p.6

Latest Updates to Wellbelove Genealogy Site

Created 1921 Canadian Census Page, detailing 'Wellbeloves' transcribed to-date. Link

Updated New Zealand Burials page. Link

1921 Canadian Census available soon

The 1921 Canadian Census is due to go online soon, with free access. I'm not sure at this stage whether it will be fully indexed initially, but the Wellbelove Genealogy website will be updated with any 'Wellbelove' entries.

Wellbelove Genealogy website update

Created page in 'People' section for John Wellbeloved, aka John R Wellbeloved (1862-1922). John is most notable for being the progenitor of the modern day Wellbeloved family in America.

To-date there is not much detail - mainly a list of life events, but I have created a Google map, where I plotted said events in England, Canada & the USA. I am hoping to create more maps for the site in the coming months.

Wellbelove Genealogy England & Wales Census Updated

The England & Wales Census pages have been updated. You can do a full search of any, or all of the 1851, 1881 & 1911 censuses in the Guild of One-Name Studies Wellbelove Archive

As an example try searching for 'Isaac' (there is only one!) in any year. It will return 3 hits for the same person. If you do a household search in the 1851 census, you will see him living with his mother Jemima and siblings. A household search in 1881 will find him living with his wife Racheal, and in 1911, as a widower.

A search for William will not only return anybody who's first name is recorded as William, but those where their middle name is William. It will also return anyone recorded as Willm, Wm, etc. Similarly, searches for Thomas will also return Thos, and Elizabeth will also return Elizth. You only need to enter the first 3 letters of a forename, so Ann will return any occurrences of Ann, Anne, Annie, etc.

Wellbelove Genealogy website navigation update

Updated website navigation. The top menu has not changed, but records are now accessed differently. If you click on the 'Records' tab the links to the various countries and their records are found in the main body of the pages, instead of from a second level on the main menu. I altered the navigation as the original menu structure had become unmanageable, especially as I continue to add data sets to the site. The new layout may not be prettier, but it will simplify updates to the site.