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.