TOPIC:

Requesting help finding a missing father of a British Home Child.  In the child's file is a note that the father William Phillip Martin (known as just Phillip Martin)  “had deserted from the army but was arrested and sent out to the war in S. Africa."  He was never heard from again.

Phillip (William) Martin was born July 1870 in Poplar, London.

Any suggestions or assistance would be very appreciated.

Cheers

Hello and welcome,
The problem here is the name, if this man served in the Anglo Boer War, he would I am sure be on the medal roll in WO100, there are lots of P Martin's.
You need to know the exact name he was using when he enlisted into the army, any surviving service papers from the period in question are to be found at the TNA Kew London in WO96, WO97, WO363 and WO364, most, though by no means all, are available on line, but again, the mans name is all important.
For example, having looked at the index of births for the year 1870, I did see a Philip Martin born in Poplar, but not a Philip William, so you see the potential issues here, moreover, I did not see a Philip Martin in WO96 or WO97, lots of William's though.
Again welcome
Kind regards Frank

Galiano wrote: Requesting help finding a missing father of a British Home Child.  In the child's file is a note that the father William Phillip Martin (known as just Phillip Martin)  “had deserted from the army but was arrested and sent out to the war in S. Africa."  He was never heard from again.

Phillip (William) Martin was born July 1870 in Poplar, London.

Any suggestions or assistance would be very appreciated.

Cheers

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. It was our fear that we would have to know more than just "P Martin". Most of the records we can find about him (censuses, children's birth records, for example) he uses only 'Phillip Martin'. However, we have only the family stories in the Barnardo papers that he was a soldier or served in the Boer War. He was simply not heard of again after about 1900.

Cheers,
Helen

With further research, we now are quite sure that “our” Philip Martin survived well past the Boer War - whether or not he actually served. On Ancestry.ca we have found, in a list of UK Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, a “P Martin” who was in the 6th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, and earned medals for being in the war in both 1901 and 1902, regimental #5945. We have had no luck in matching that number with any record for a P Martin.

Realizing that this is a shot in the dark, is it possible to find any more about the man with what I have written above?

Thanks again,
Helen

Galiano,

The two places to look are FindMyPast for Service Records where you can search by regimental number and the Great War pension information/MICs to see is he served again.

Good luck!
David