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Who was George?

My genealogy mate Christine Clement isn't into social media, so has asked me if I could help find George. Many of you will know Christine from her many talks given around New Zealand, as the hostess of the genealogy website  Sooty  and author of   Migration to New Zealand . Back in April, Auckland Libraries hosted a Military week and Christine gave a talk about New Zealand's role in the Battle of Trieste. So I wasn't surprised when she emailed me for help in identifying George. "In April 2020 the RSA National Office received an email from Italy looking for ‘George’ who had been at the Liberation of Trieste on 2 May 1945 by the 22nd  New Zealand Battalion. The email continued “ It was during a concert or dance intended to bring together these two very different populations, that my aunt and uncles met an officer of the 22nd Battalion. His name was George. Despite numerous invitations to my family to travel to New Zealand, they were never able to visit for va

One Otton's Service

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

One Family's Sacrifice

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