patientgenie

Just off the phone from my cousin Warrick - he is the third generation to serve in his family and has been the ANZAC Day march leader in Bega for some years. I had intended on blogging about his grandfather's service this year, but as most of you will have seen I blogged about my husband's HAMBLYN family. Wok had questions about his grandfathers service, which I could not quickly answer over the phone, so dearest Warrick, this is the start of an answer for you. We are lucky in Australia that the only bombing we experienced in WWII did not destroy our early military records as they did in countries Up Over. The National Archives of Australia in Canberra have digitised the records they hold of Australian Military service during the Great War. Back in 2002 I visited my Uncle Keith Edward OTTON and was fortunate to be able to scan the images he held of his father, Edward Thomas (Ted) OTTON - the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Bessie) OTTON (nee JAUNCEY). Henry & Bessie...

It has been some time since I have posted, focused as I have been on volunteering for various genealogy society activities. Yesterday I had the privilege to chair the AGM of Te Puke Branch of the NZSG and gave a presentation called Digging for Treasure in Online Newspapers . One of the images I use in this talk comes from the Taranaki Daily News and is of relevance this ANZAC Day 2015. It struck me after giving the presentation that I should look further into this branch of my mother-in-law's family. So who were "The HAMBLYN Soldiers"? The war service records show that they were the sons of Charles John & Mary Ann HAMBLYN (nee HOSKIN) According to the book Hamblyn Family History, Plymouth to New Plymouth by M N Shaw pub 1976 "Four Sons: James Edward, Harry John, Thomas Day and William Charles Hamblyn all lost their lives during World War One and their names are on the Monument at Inglewood, in Taranaki." How could one come close to unde...