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Hi,

Thanks for all the suggestions and I have written them all down and are sending messages to museums and internet searching. Keep the suggestions and ideas coming because the more ideas and thoughts the better.

Many Thanks, to everyone!

Jet,

Do you have a rough idea when your Great Grandfather was born. If you are trying to track him down this is a very valuable piece of information (and can be sometimes estimated from the dates of birth of a person's own children). He may have been born in Woodstock but nobody by that name appears as living there in the 1911 Census (though there are 20 odd Willis's in the area at that time), so do you know where his family may have moved to after his birth? Names, ages and areas of residence of children can also be useful.

I'll probably be going back up to the National Archives on Thursday of this coming week. If you want me to do some digging on your behalf while I am there do let me know and the more information I have the better chance I'll have of turning up something useful.

WD

FreeBMD is showing an Edward Willis born in Woodstock in 1881.

FreeBMD Entry Info

I found this one of my Grandfather, James Tiberius, who I was brought up to believe was a Captain however his uniform clear indicates this is not the case - can anybody help?

WD

There's an Edward Willis in Oxfordshire on the 1901 and the 1911 censuses. Sounds like he was only in Woodstock as a baby and then moved elsewhere in the county.

Originally Posted by jet1357

The man on the far right is my Great Grandfather Edward Willis born in Woodstock, Oxfordshire (England). He was in France in 1915 but this is all the information I have

It surprises me in a way that the gentleman standing on the far right is British. If I had had to guess, I would have thought French/Belgian/Italian, not British. The gentleman standing on the far left even more so.

Originally Posted by jet1357

The man on the far right is my Great Grandfather Edward Willis born in Woodstock, Oxfordshire (England). He was in France in 1915 but this is all the information I have

How do you know that your Great Grandfather was in France in 1915?

Originally Posted by WorriedDad

Jet,

Do you have a rough idea when your Great Grandfather was born. If you are trying to track him down this is a very valuable piece of information (and can be sometimes estimated from the dates of birth of a person's own children). He may have been born in Woodstock but nobody by that name appears as living there in the 1911 Census (though there are 20 odd Willis's in the area at that time), so do you know where his family may have moved to after his birth? Names, ages and areas of residence of children can also be useful.

I'll probably be going back up to the National Archives on Thursday of this coming week. If you want me to do some digging on your behalf while I am there do let me know and the more information I have the better chance I'll have of turning up something useful.

Hi WorriedDad,

His Father Frederick Willis and mother Eliza Timms where married in 1856 in Parish Church Wootton, Oxford. The moved their in 1881 and didn't leave Old Woodstock until their deaths in 1899.

Also, he had a sister born on 18th Oct 1872 in Woodstock and died there. Edward Willis overall had 7 brothers and sisters James, Emma, Frederick, Annie, Ellen, John and Sarah but he was the youngest . The family believe that he didn't move outside Old Woodstock due his family never moving from the small town.

I would really appreciate your help in digging around at the National Archives.