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.

Updated South African pages at Wellbelove Genealogy

Main changes/additions:- Added baptism, burial and obituary pages. Burial page has tab for photo gallery of gravestones, South Africa Graves  where you can find several new images, not previously available. Updated and tidied up South African pages generally with information supplied by Joy Wellbeloved, Tammy Wellbeloved and others.

Major Updates

Link Created a youtube channel to host audio and video files relating to our surname. There are just two audio files at present. One of the files - 'James Wellbeloved', was already on youtube under my old personal channel. I thought it would be better to have a specific channel just for Wellbelove Genealogy, so moved the file to the new account. The audio file had received nearly 2,800 views on the original channel.

Link Created a 'Wellbelove Genealogy' facebook group. Facebook, like the mailing list and blog, has proved a useful medium for communicating with fellow Wellbelove researchers. There are several fellow Wellbelove researchers who are subscribed to the facebook group who are not subscribed to the mailing list.

Also added clickable icons to the bottom left of the 'Home' page of the Wellbelove Genealogy website. These icons take you directly to our blog, facebook group and youtube channel respevtively.

Latest Wellbelove Genealogy website updates

Here are the latest updates to the Wellbelove Genealogy Website:

Canada Deaths  added photo of Jean Emily Wellbelove's grave.
New Zealand City & Area Directories 1866-1955,  page created.
New Zealand Deaths  added press announcement of death of William Welbeloved from 1890.
New Zealand Burials  added press announcement of funeral of William Francis Welbeloved from 1890.

The British Newspaper Archive

The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership between the British Library and Brightsolid online publishing (aka FindMyPast) to digitise up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British Library's vast collection over the next 10 years. So far almost 7 million have been done. You can access the collection several ways :-
British Newspaper Archive
Find My Past
Genes Reunited
All require either a subscription or the purchase of a 'Pay to View' package.

There are already quite a few Wellbelove(d) entries, although a number are the the use of the word as a descriptive term. An example of what is available is an unfortunate Wellbelove entry :-

Western Times - Monday 10 Jan 1905

 

What a sad story.

There are some rich pickings. I have found a number of my ancestors, including my g-grandfather and g-g-grandfather being charged and jailed for theft. Earlier this week in the latest batch added I found my ancestor Thomas Warwick's inquest report - he was crushed under the wheels of a wagon loaded with 2 tons of manure! The coroner noted that the deceased was under the influence of alcohol at the time.

So it's worth checking out all your British ancestors including your Wellbeloves.

Simon

Canada Voter Lists 1935-1980

I have added a page to the Wellbelove Genealogy website for Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980.

Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980

Note that the list will not necessarily include all Wellbelove voters eligible to vote in any single election year, especially as the indexes were created by OCR rather than transcribed by hand. I did find some mis-transcribed entries and advised Ancestry of the correct details.  

Updates to Wellbelove Genealogy Site

Coverage of the London Electoral Registers, 1847-1965 has been increased from 1847-1911 to 1847-1939.
London Electoral Registers 1847-1965
A new page has been created for British Phone books 1880-1984. Coverage to-date is for 1880-1945.
British Phone books 1880-1984

Further US Updates

Over the weekend several updates were made to the American records on the 'Wellbelove Genealogy' Site

1910 US Census - Wellbeloved family, using 'Wellby' alias added.

US City Directories - Over 50 additional entries, mostly for Michigan, but also including states of Florida & Kentucky.

US Marriages - Ohio Marriages, 1970 & 1972-2007 added.

1940 USA Census

The 1940 USA Census images have recently been made available. Indexing is in its early stages, but with a finding aid and a little detective work I found the known unindexed 'Wellbeloved' families in Illinois & Michigan. Click on the link below to access the US Census page directly.

http://www.wellbelove.org/uscensus.html

I will wait till the Census is fully indexed before even attempting to find any other families.

Update to Wellbelove Genealogy Website

The UK Railway Employment Records, 1833-1963 page has been updated. The page can be found via the following link:

http://www.wellbelove.org/engemprail.html

The original page was just a simple listing of the records available. It now shows a detailed breakdown of the individuals employment record.

Update to Wellbelove Genealogy Website

I have added a page for the London Electoral registers, 1835-1965. The page can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.wellbelove.org/engelectlondon.html

The page includes the register entries for 1835-1911 inc. The entries for 1912-1965 will be added in due course.

Update to Wellbelove Genealogy Website

Watermen page added to the England & Wales employment  records on the Wellbelove Genealogy website.

It can be accessed via the following link: http://www.wellbelove.org/engempwater.html

Recent Updates to Wellbelove Genealogy Website

• Added burials page for Scotland.  http://wellbelove.org/scoburials.html
• Added around 70 further entries to the Australia Electoral Rolls page. Coverage increased from 1903-1954 to 1903-1980. http://www.wellbelove.org/auselectalpha.html
• Added British Postal Service Appointment Books, 1737-1969. http://www.wellbelove.org/engemppo.html
• Added UK, Railway Employment Records, 1833-1963. http://www.wellbelove.org/engemprail.html

Wellbelove Genealogy Website Re-Launch

Hi all,

I have been working on a new layout for the 'Wellbelove Genealogy' Website over the last few months. I ran various drafts by Simon the original webmaster, for his input, and the new site went live Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

The new site essentially has the same content as the original, although some of the pages still need finishing off, but all the original content and more will be available over the next few weeks.

Any old links to the site stored on your PC should still work, but click here http://www.wellbelove.org/ if you have any problems accessing the site. 

Alan