Genealogy Chat

I am trying to find the following man:

William Blair
born c1911, (taken from his marriage certificate)

no other details other than his military number and prisoner of war number. He married Charlotte Mernagh : 2/7/1938 in Birmingham.

I have been trying to find him for a few years now, I had hoped with the release of the 1911 census, I might find a trace of him, but nothing.

We have a family nickname of "jock", also he signed his letters from the front link "jock", so hoping he might have been born in Scotland.

On his marriage certificate he names his father as : Andrew Blair, Carpet Salesman.

The WW2 records office have been kind enough to supply me with the DOB he gave on his military records, but this looks to bogus too. 21/4/1908.

TIA xx

For Scottish BMD,s you need Scotlands People website which isn't subs site . The 1911 census is also pay to vew on that site

he had two sons dont they know where their dad was born

Shirley,

No they can't unfortunately.

William came back after the war and only stayed with the family a couple more years.

After the birth and death of twin girls he left never to be heard from again, apart from a letter from a friend of his to his estranged wife saying he had died, from family memory about 1974, but again I can't find any record of this.

Try Scotlands People site If it finds anything it will tell you but you would need units to look at the ref.m then you would have to buy the cert through them at £10 for the full info

all I can see

Name: William Blair
Event Type: Burial
Event Date: 26 Sep 1997
Event Place: Uphall, West Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom
Cemetery: Loaninghill Cemetery
Birth Date:
Marriage Date:
Death Date: 26 Sep 1997
Maiden Name:
Latitude: 55.9301
Longitude: -3.49573
Affiliate Image Identifier: 3488039
Affiliate Create Date: 2013-04-07 00:27:00

Unfortunately, without some idea of where in Scotland he was born, and with a fairly common name, it would be an expensive search.

On ScotlandsPeople, for births since 1855, you can't include father's or mother's name in the search criteria.

Between 1908 and 1911 alone, there were 36 William Blair births in Scotland.
Father's name is only visible by viewing the image of each one, at 5 credits each, plus two credits to view the 2-page list of 36 births in the first place.

30 credits cost £7.

In the 1911 Scottish census, the only William Blair of approximately the right age, with father Andrew, is one in Ayrshire, but Andrew's a miner, not a carpet salesman.

Just in case this is the right family and Andrew had changed his occupation by the time William married, here are the details - but of course without an accurate year of birth for William it's impossible to know if it's the right family or not - I suspect not:

Andrew Blair head - 32 - coal miner - born Dalmellington, Ayrshire.
Kate - wife - 26 - New Cumnock, Ayrshire. Married 9 years, 5 children, all living.
Jane - 9 - Dalmellington.
Maggie - 7 - Dalmellington.
William - 3 - Dalmellington.
Mary - 5 - Cowie, Dalmellington.
Kate - 9 mths - Dalmellington.

Address: 14 Church Street, Wallacetown, Ayr.

There were 75 Andrew Blairs in Scotland in 1911, but I can't tell you more than that without spending lots of credits looking at each one.

These are all the William Blairs born in Scotland in 1908 - assuming the military record DOB is correct:

1908 BLAIR WILLIAM M POLLOKSHIELDS GLASGOW CITY/LANARK 644/18 0435
1908 BLAIR WILLIAM M BANNOCKBURN /STIRLING 488/02 0094

1908 BLAIR WILLIAM M COLINTON EDINBURGH CITY/MIDLOTHIAN 677/00 0064

1908 BLAIR WILLIAM M OLD MONKLAND (EASTERN DISTRICT) /LANARK 652/03 0004

1908 BLAIR WILLIAM COOPER M LANGHOLM OR STAPLEGORTON /DUMFRIES 839/00 0032
1908 BLAIR WILLIAM EDWARD M JOHNSTONE AND ELDERSLIE /RENFREW 573/02 0358
1908 BLAIR WILLIAM ERSKINE M HAMILTON /LANARK 647/00 0768

1908 BLAIR WILLIAM MCLEAN M PERTH /PERTH 387/00 0041

The one listed in 1911 census above was born in 1909:

1909 BLAIR WILLIAM M DALMELLINGTON /AYR 586/01 0039

Argyllgran,

Wow thank you for all the lovely info. I will have a look through later and post back. I'm currently having a meal out with the family.

Angi x

Six William Blair births in Scotland in 1911, if the YOB on his marriage cert is correct:

1911 BLAIR WILLIAM M IRVINE /AYR 595/00 0088

1911 BLAIR WILLIAM M OLD OR WEST KILPATRICK /DUNBARTON 501/00 1457

1911 BLAIR WILLIAM M PORT GLASGOW /RENFREW 574/00 0302

1911 BLAIR WILLIAM JAMES M CAMLACHIE GLASGOW CITY/LANARK 644/02 0719
1911 BLAIR WILLIAM MARTIN M MONTROSE /ANGUS 312/00 0165

1911 BLAIR WILLIAM YOUNG M COATBRIDGE OR OLD MONKLAND /LANARK 652/02 0573

In reality, Angi, you're never going to know which birth is his, no matter what year he was born, as there's bound to be more than one with a father called Andrew. You'd have to buy (or at least view the images on ScotlandsPeople) dozens of birth certs, looking for an Andrew who was a carpet salesman - and that's assuming he had the same occupation as when William married.

And you don't know if he was even born in Scotland - that may well be a red herring.

No William Blairs died in 1974 in England/Wales.
None in Scotland either, searching with birth year 1909 +/- 3