TOPIC:

I made it to Kew, a truely impressive establishment, but unfortunately left none the wiser with respect to BV.
After the process of registration I placed an order for group WO 126/8 Fitzgibbon's attestation papers. Forty minutes later a box containing the group WO 126/8, "E to G", 2nd Brabant's attestation papers arrived. I went through the papers and regrettably BV' were missing and I was later assured that it was not uncommon for papers to be lost, it was a bit of a let down.
The Catalogue stated that the FID papers, WO 354, were not available, as conservation work was required.
Finally the WO 127 records have not yet been transfered. I'm not sure what that means. It looks as if the saga of BV Fitz. is close as a brick wall looms ahead. Liam

Hello Liam,
I'm sorry to hear that, but, I did say to you, regarding his papers in WO126 "if they have survived" it is always a simple yes or no, I'm sorry it was the latter, much of WO127 is here, on this site, but, has to be ordered whilst at Kew, there are no FID papers at Kew, WO100/354 is the KSA roll and it is available whilst at Kew on line, so you don't actually order it, indeed, they are not very keen on producing any of the volumes unless, the on line copies are "covered" folios or you simply are unable to read them.
Moreover, that was always the case, before PC's you had to use microfilm copies!
Okay, so you have done all that, time to look at him from a differing angle, how much do you know about his direct family, parents and where they lived?
Regards Frank

Thanks Frank for you help,at one point I thought I was hot on the trail of Bernard Vivian but it seems the trail has gone cold. I did not think of looking at WO127 on line whilst in Kew, I doubt anyway that it would have revealed much, however, I have not given up and I will report back if anything of interest emerges. Best wishes, Liam

Hello Liam,
WO127 is merely a nominal roll as mentioned before, it is available to look at whilst at Kew but has to be ordered, it does not tell you anything that has not already been discussed on here in your thread.
This forum is about the War, now you have looked at him as far as the war was concerned and have only the entries in WO100 and WO127, you can now move on, if you know he was Irish, you should start with the National Archives of Ireland and then move your search to the Cape if you need to.
Regards Frank

Kyooma wrote: Thanks Frank for you help,at one point I thought I was hot on the trail of Bernard Vivian but it seems the trail has gone cold. I did not think of looking at WO127 on line whilst in Kew, I doubt anyway that it would have revealed much, however, I have not given up and I will report back if anything of interest emerges. Best wishes, Liam

Hi Liam

In the South African National Archives there is a record to a Bernard Vivian Fitzgibbon. Under records for the Transvaal as follows:(Google SA National Archives, go to NAAIRS search, choose Transvaal database (TAB), search Fitzgibbon, select top LHS after search to list all the results, 21 were found)


DEPOT TAB
SOURCE MHG
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 0
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 5746/60
PART 1
DESCRIPTION FITZGIBBON, BERNARD VIVIAN.
STARTING 19600000
ENDING 19600000
REMARKS PREDECEASED SPOUSE ELIZABETH ANNE FITZGIBBON.

This means an estate file, perhaps with an obituary ,will etc.
It also shows that his wife was Elizabeth Anne, and that he died in 1960 .
You can get a copy of this file by contacting a researcher, I can recommend someone to you if needs be.

Regards

Adrian

Hi Adrian,
It seems quite a few years ago since I commenced the search for the enigmatic Bernard Vivian Fitzgibbon. As you can judge I have reluctant to concede defeat. I feel that somewhere, in some archives there are pieces of paper that would unlock this mystery. Perhaps Frank has put his finger on the next move the research to the National Archives of Ireland. I have suggested to BV's grandson Rob that he consider engaging a professional genealogist in Ireland. In the meantime would it be appropriate for me to copy/paste my correspondence with this Forum and pass them on to Rob, maybe he might become a new recruit. www.angloboerwar.com/media/kunena/emoticons/smile.png
Liam