James Alfred Hansell

This search was one which ended up coming full circle, not how I expected but the connection was three residents in one street.

I was first contacted by Rob who had received, through his family, a WWI trio awarded to 3320 Driver James Alfred Hansell, 2nd Battalion, AIF. Rob knew the medals came from a neighbour of his father's on the NSW Central Coast of NSW. The medals were handed to Rob's father in the early 1970s. What confused Rob and I was the name difference between the neighbour and those on the medals. 

After a lot of frustration, because I couldn't make the records fit the circumstances, I asked Rob the address where his father had lived. I was able to connected the neighbour at number 30 in the same street where Rob's father lived at number 15. Then things got really difficult.

After WWI, James married Mary Buchan Fife Moaut in 1921. James died in 1926 and his obituary was published in the local Narrandera newspaper. James' death looks to be the result of his war service.     

James came Narrandera and Mary lived there for a few years before moving to Sydney. Mary was easy to track through the electoral rolls until the early 1950s but then she disappeared. I couldn't find any record that she died, so more frustration crept into the search. 

Luckily, Mary had two distinctive middle names and this led me to find that in 1954 she married Edgar Lehman. Over the next 10 years Mary and Edgar lived in different locations across New South Wales and Queensland. In the late 1960s they settled in the Central Coast suburb of Saratoga. The electoral roll confirmed that they lived at number 36 of the same street as Rob's father. Finally, I had the connection.

What Rob and I think happened is at some point Mary handed James' medals to the neighbour then that neighbour gave them to Rob's father.  

I've been in contact with James' great great nephew, also a Central Coast resident, and will send him the medals, along with a returned from active service badge.

To add to the issues I faced with this search, the naming on the 1914-15 Star has been almost erased. However, there is enough information visible to know this was James' medal.

The returned medal tally is now 2772.  

 

Helping the Victoria Police

I have several searches going on at the moment that are waiting for responses via Ancestry and other message systems. Sometimes theses take a while to resolve which is why things have been a bit quiet recently. 

However, yesterday I was able to provide assistance to the Victorian Police and resolve a search for them in about 30 minutes. I was contact by a VICPOL property officer who had received three framed memorial picture and medal groups. The property officer was able to work out the family was from WA but couldn't make the connection with WA. I can understand why as the search was not linear but went on a zig-zag path due to name changes and using nicknames.

Where I started was with the name WX27725 Hubert Cecil Parrott. Hubert went by the name Bill but after enlistment he changed his name from Parrott to Parry. In 1943, Bill married Elsie Lillian Bishop. Elsie used the name Sally. They had no children. Sally died in 1978 and Bill in 1988.

Bill's family emigrated from the UK to Australia in 1923. The family consisted of father Hubert, mother Gwendoline Ann, daughter Gwendoline Edith and son Hubert Cecil. The family settled close to Busselton, however, all but Gwendoline Edith had moved to Perth by the 1940s.

Hubert's sister Gwendoline married William Darnell in 1933 and settled in Rosa Brook, WA. I found they had a son William Hubert Darnell and that there is still a family connection to Rosa Brook.

I provided all this information to VICPOL and shortly after I received a message to say that this was the correct family and that the medals in the memorial frames will be returned in the near future.

The retuned medal tally is now 2781.