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Hi Rory,

I have gone back and taken a look at the Registers of Soldiers' Effects and I'm going along the line that it is the letter "T", due to before the name of Albert, I believe that the letters "Fa" are referring to the word Father.


Trev

So here goes - how is this for a hypothesis?

Alfred Ford Ackroyd(e), born Leeds, 1858 marries an Elizabeth Roberts in 1877. He is a Cab Driver by occupation. Elizabeth passes away in 1885 and, after a decent (very) period of mourning, he remarries - on this occasion a Mary Temple in 1892. (see 1891 census below where Alfred, now widowed, lives with his mother. He has his children from Elizabeth with him - including 9 year old ARTHUR ACKROYD(E) who would have missed out on the 1881 census being born a year later.



Fast forward to the 1901 census (remember Arthur enlisted in 1900 so may not have have at home and may have been overlooked and was not included) I include the 1901 census to show that Mary is now Alfred's wife. They have several children of their own. Arthur, by dint of his 1882 birth and 1900 enlistment, appears only in the 1891 census and, at that, with the corruption of his surname as Ackroyde.



Because he was only 10 when his father married Mary, it would be logical for him to regard her as his mother.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it unless something better comes along. Any and all comments appreciated.

Regards

Rory

Of the nine men killed in the railway accident, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 12.6.1901, lists eight of them with their service numbers and home addresses. The one who isn't listed is A. Ackroyd!. "The list from the War Office also gave the names of Private A. Ackroyd as killed, and Private J. Rowan as injured, but the regimental numbers given refer to other men."

Hi Berenice - that's because they had mistakenly transcribed his number as 5851 - his number was in fact 5871.

Reference Arthur Ackroyd, the family trees on Ancestry cannot specify his actual date of death.
See example.

Couldn't find a date of death on any family tree reference Arthur and the Alfred Ford Ackroyd link.
Perhaps they are all unaware that their relation Arthur may have been killed in South Africa.
I would have expected someone in the long lost family would have had some knowledge of Arthur's death if it occurred in the UK.


Dave....