Hi Sarah I don't know if any of the following will help you, but it may help someone else who is stuck or prompt more suitable suggestions. I'm also trying to trace my relative's birthplace, but timing is different with my gg grandfather arriving by 1851 when he married in the eyes of the RC church but not of the GRO. I think you may have different documentation available to you if your relative was born approx. 1871 in Italy. You've obviously got several London addresses, but do you know approximately when he arrived in England or how he travelled? I'm thinking of port/ships records (including ones in France or wherever he sailed from), as well as his age. Who did he already know in London? (was your g grandmother British or Italian - from the same area?) It's likely he came as part of the pattern of chain migration. (See T. Colpi, 1991, "The Italian Factor: The Italian Community in Great Britain") Who were the god parents and marriage witnesses and where do they come from if from Italy? If your father's involved in the Italian community - would he know people from the same village or did he get involved with no introductions? Did your g grandfather naturalise? PRO records. Have you tried to obtain his Italian conscription record from the state archives? I am not sure if anyone on this list has done this, but the records are described in Trafford Cole's book (and too late for me as they are of men born from 1855). Your g grandfather would have been liable for Italian military service at 18, so if he emigrated after that they should exist. I see (from GENS) that Rapetti is a reasonably common surname in northern Italy so I realise he may be difficult to find with only one (common) Christian name and no precise birthdate. His parent's names may be helpful for this but I presume you don't have them? My Italian immigrant's parents were named on the recent copy of his church marriage (1851) certificate (but not his mother's surname), although the priest omitted baptism details, for which there is a space on what I take to be a modern form. What sort of details can you get from your g grandparents marriage in 1914 - at the GRO and at the church? My grandparents married in 1915 and both their fathers' names, surnames and occupations are given. Hope this triggers some ideas. Daphne Dashfield (GERADINE) GHIRARDANI + 14 other spellings > My great grandfather, Luigi (Louis) Rapetti, came to London from Italy > (Torino, I believe although no documents can be found to back this up) and > lived in various addresses including, Warrington Street; Wells Street, Soho > & > Little Bath Street, Holborn. From the British documents I have, he would > have been born around 1871/2. He married my great-grandmother AFTER the > birth of their three children (which seems strange) and they weren't married > in the Italian Church but St Aloysius in Euston in 1914. > <snip> > Sarah Lucia RAPETTI