I've picked up my family history research again after a hiatus of several years and love digging deep to find out more than just names and dates to really get a feel for the people in my extended family.
This young man is William Alfred Douch, Private 203925 of the Bedfordshire Regiment, 1st Battalion, Formerly 225725, Northants Regiment, born on 11th July 1896. Scrawled on the back of the photo is : "Killed on active service in World War I on 26th October 1917, aged 21".
His parents had a tragic family history. His mother, Isabella Jane Douch nee Sands, my great-great-grandfather's sister, had three children in total : William was the eldest, Robert in 1899 who died aged 1 and Grace in 1902 who also died in her first year of life. After losing William in the fighting in Flanders in World War I, both Isabella and her husband William were killed during the bombings in World War II.
(If you've found this page because you have a connection, you can find out more on my family history blog at http://goingbacktomyrootsfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2016/04/my-gx2-grandfathers-sister-isabella.html but it's very much a work in progress !)
oh how very tragic, I bet it makes you feel sad when you find family history like this. It's so fascinating though, my partner likes to look up about his family but I can't because I don't even know the names of my grandparents on my paternal side, and only the name of grandmother on my maternal side. I have no-one to ask to get me started.
ReplyDeleteThere's a wealth of information out there - genesreunited or familysearch are great (and free) and allow you to link up with other people's research. Also if you have someone (like your grandmother) who might be on the 1911 census, that will give you the names of everyone in the household which usually opens up a lot. It's very addictive ! :)
DeleteI am an addicted amateur when it comes to family research. I have a series on my blog on how to get started but now I've read the comment above I will write another post on how to do it if you have no-one to ask. I have relatives too who died in the great war. Such a waste of human life. I'm going to pop over to your blog and have a look #MySundayPhoto
DeleteWhat a great photo to treasure and a sad back story
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking up
What a series of tragic losses through war. 21 is such a young age.
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful photo to have. how very sad and tragic for that family to lose everyone. he looks like a splendid fellow..
ReplyDeleteHe is very young when he died. Such a sad family story too. #MySundayPhoto
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fascinating. My mother has got over 13,000 people on our family including the Royal family, David Cameron, Bing Crosby and of course the family murderer!
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