Henry Ellis Hoad

[desperance]

Damn. This is further to my last:

arkessian checked the 1901 census, and found a Henry E Hoad born in Westgate in 1897: exactly the right age, exactly the right location. Hurrah!

Prompted by papersky, I checked records of soldiers killed in the First World War.

And found a record of one Henry Ellis Hoad, of Newcastle on Tyne. The site wouldn't tell me anything more without I paid up money, which I am reluctant to do; but even so...

Sigh.

Comments

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

Oh, the poor things! If it was him, no wonder the envelope was preserved in the family bible.

I'm glad that you found it, though. It's touching, to know that people's thoughts are with him again, after all this time.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, man! That's a sad end to the story!

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

As you say: Damn.
Name: HOAD, Henry Ellis

Regiment, Corps etc.: York and Lancaster Regiment
Battalion etc.: 8th (Service) Battalion.
Last name: Hoad
First name(s): Henry Ellis
Initials: H E
Birthplace: St. Philip, Newcastle-On-Tyne
Enlisted: Newcastle-On-Tyne
Residence:
Rank: A/L/CPL.
Number: 34262
Date died: 07 June 1917
How died: Killed in action
Theatre of war: France & Flanders
Supplementary Notes: FORMERLY 24257, NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS., M.M

[desperance.livejournal.com]

God, you're good. Thank you.

[timill]

Probably at Messines

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I was afraid of that.

He would be dead now anyway. Born in 1897... And yet, he had such expectations. He could draw. They must have been so proud of him. They must have put his reference up in that family bible. Perhaps they put it there when they found he wasn't coming back? Perhaps more carefully because they had no grave to tend? So many lives, so many people just as real as us, so many threads of life, that do not touch.

[embryomystic.livejournal.com]

He would be dead now anyway. Born in 1897...

Dead or somewhat famous. There are a few people born in 1897 or thereabouts who are still around.

[kythiaranos.livejournal.com]

I don't blame you for being intrigued. I've been following your posts on the subject with great interest. But this last bit *is* sad. Maybe there's a story in it?

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Young Harry Hoad was an excellent lad
His conduct was good and his schoolwork not bad,
He was good with his drawing since he was just small
But he's nobody's grand-dad at all.

He was somebody's pupil and somebody's son
He was well recommended, he worked and he won
They must have been proud, he was grown up and tall,
But he's nobody's grand-dad at all.

He was Corporal Hoad, he went over the top
In the war in the trenches that no-one could stop
He was brave and determined, he answered the call
Now he's nobody's grand-dad at all.

Now all that remains is his headmaster's word
And a cross in a field, and the fact that we heard
What we're learning today of his life and his fall,
For he's nobody's grand-dad at all.

[possumqueen.livejournal.com]

*groans sadly*

As others pointed out, multiply this story by how many millions?

Well .... as an alternative .... you could give him a different life ending entirely through fiction?

I wonder if any other family members are left in your area who might be interested in this discovery. Can they be contacted through the military?

I lost an older cousin in Vietnam way back when (helicopter pilot) -- we still act as if he is present with us at large family gatherings. He probably is. :) Many of us have had indications of his continuing involvement in our lives, if you can accept that sort of thing. Almost all my uncles were WWII and Korean war vets... so yeah, this hits home pretty hard. I'll never forget the face of my uncle, sobbing like a child, at his son's funeral. I was twelve years old.

-Alyson-

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

Genealogy is fascinating stuff to me, even when it's people I'm not related to.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

A boy of promise. Oh that's painful.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

They're all boys of promise. That's the thing.

K. [who link hopped from Jo, desperance]

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I wonder if he might have other family who would want that letter. They might be traceable through the census and a bit of determination.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Is possible. Also, I guess the letter and the photos go together. I might poke about a bit.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

'Jolly young Fusiliers, too good to die' - Robert Graves, in 'The Last Post' (June 1916).

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yup. Graves is to the point, often. (An awful thought occurs to me: if he had died, like so many of the WWI poets, d'you suppose they would have called him Robert 'War' Graves?)

[timill]

On a possibly brighter note, ancestry.co.uk shows a Henry E Hoad getting married in Q1 1916. Probably not our guy, but could be...

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Could well've been, I'd imagine. He'd have been what, nineteen, with that young man's urgency redoubled by a soldier's poor prognosis...

Maybe he left family. I'd like to think so. I think I'd like to think so: some part of him surviving.

May or may not be him but here's the reference

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

The marriage of a Henry E Hoad to Margaret A Brook was registered in the first quarter of 1916 3a 223 in Brentford. The number would allow ordering a certificate.

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

A friend posted a link to your journal and mentioned your Bible discovery. What an amazing glimpse of the past! (And I've seen you on nin90 :))

I hope it's okay with you if I add you to my f-list? Thanks! :)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hi, and welcome, and yup: it's amazing. And brain-eating, apparently...

[volterra.livejournal.com]

You know, at 20 ... he might've already married before he went off to war. In other words, he might be somebody's grand-dad! Time to check the local church records!

Although, papersky's song is very good as was the musical rendition of it.

I guess after suffering through "Atonement" this weekend, that I'd like Harry to have a little happiness before he went off to war.

[oldsma.livejournal.com]

I couldn't stand not knowing, so I signed up for a subscription.

Henry E. Hoad was born in Dec. 1896, son of Henry A.R.F. Hoad and Sylvene. In 1901, he lived with his parents and his 2-YO brother Walter at 75 Campbell St. in Newcastle on Tyne, Northumberland. His father was a tailor.

Henry A.R.F. Hoad was born abt. 1870, son of Henry Hoad and Mary Jane.

Our Harry married Margaret A. Brook in Q1 1916 in Brentford, Middlesex. In Q1 1917, Dulcie E.B. Hoad (mother's name Todd) was born and died in Brentford, "age 0".

Walter G. Hoad married Marion Todd in Q1 1920 in Luton, Northumberland. Walter J. Hoad (mother's name Todd) was born in Luton in Q2 1921. I couldn't find any records for him after his birth.

Henry A.R.F. Hoad appears in a private family tree tagged "Anthony Tench" on the site. I sent a message to the tree-holder asking if our Harry or his brother has any modern descendants in England. Meanwhile, I googled Anthony Tench and found a Fiat owner in Washington, "near Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne". (I have the email address he put in that directory listing.)

I also found a memorial page and some news articles about Pvt. Michael Anthony Tench of the Light Infantry, born in 1988 and killed 21 Jan 2007 by an IED near Basra, Iraq.



MAO

[oldsma.livejournal.com]

I now know that no Henry or Walter Hoad immigrated into Australia or Canada between the wars, and none of them entered the USA through Ellis Island.

I think I found Harry's sister. Sylvene Hoad was born in 1902 in Newcastle Tyne. That's all I know about her so far.

Harry's grandfather Henry died in 1916 at age 83. (This is a "seems likely", since this Henry Hoad would have been born in 1833 and would have been 36 when Harry's father was born.)

I should be sleeping.

MAO

[angelsasha.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a touching story. I love genealogy, it's amazing what you can find out if you have the time and the resources. It would be lovely if you could find a living relative to pass those things on to. Good luck if you keep searching!