Can you help me ? With my mystery man; Harry Lambert?
Things I know about
him:
1881 Census of England & Wales:
He is 2 years old and the
son of William Lambert & Elizabeth Lambert in Hurst, Ashton Under
Lyne
1891:
He is 12 years old and the son of William Lambert &
Elizabeth Lambert in Hurst, Ashton Under Lyne
1901:
He is not in the family home, and I have been unable to locate an entry for him.
The problem:
There is no
birth certificate for Harry Lambert, or Harry Dickinson, his mother's maiden
name. The "parents" married in 1873 so there should be no reason for it to be a
Dickenson entry in any event.
The Parish Register, suggests that Mary was
the first child of the couple born in 1883 !
He went to Hurst British
School, I have seen references to prizes he won in the School Minute
book
There is no death certificate
for a suitably aged Harry Lambert between 1891 and 1911.
There is no
marriage certificate for Harry Lambert in this area as far as 1911.
He
was not killed in the Boer War according to the Boer War Deaths Index, and he is not on
the CWGC web page as a WW1 casualty.
My father always talked of Uncle
Tom, and his Uncle Bill, but never an Uncle Harry.
Harry is not a name
which runs in the family. We are all William Joseph James and Thomas
If you know Hurst, you might have
heard of Billy Lambert, he's Harry's brother according to the census.
So
any takers for discovering anything of Harry?
My thoughts:
Apart from the obvious suggestion of illegitimacy, there are a few pointers.
William & Elizabeth Lambert are buried with William Simpson in Hurst Cemetery. William Simpson served in the Boer War. Might Harry have been there too?
There is a birth in 1878 for Harry Simpson in Dukinfield who I cannot spot in 1881. I have this Harry's Birth Certificate.
In 1904, Harry was given given board and lodgings at the expense of His Majestey. for six months. He was attempting to sell a stolen butterfly collection which he claimed he had brought back from South Africa;-a somehat flimsy defence if he hadn't been!
After this nothing is know at all of Harry.
A mystery I'd love to solve.