Paul The Register of Soldiers Effects says which you mention says place of death was the "War Hp, Norwich " on 27.12.1917. So he doesn't appear to have died 'at home' The column which has "OSB" for him is that giving the name of the person who is authorised to receive his effects. For all the other people on the page a person is named. I have noticed OSB is also applied to a soldier who is listed a few pages later with again a marginal note naming a young daughter. I'm not a Latin scholar but might the first two letters of OSB be Obit Sine Bxxx , meaning something like Died without Beneficiaries? After 1911 the Birth Registers do not (normally) give a child's second name, just an initial, There is a birth registered in St Faith's District in Q4 1918 (4b 147) for a Dorothy M HOWES which even though more than 6 weeks after Dorothy's date of birth given in the Soldiers' Effects document might be her. Mother's name was listed as GREEN, though I can't find a HOWES-GREEN marriage in England/Wales which seems to fit. Might he have been married Overseas, or perhaps not married at all? Nick Member 4108 Chesson and variants On 20/03/2016 20:04, Paul Howes via wrote: > A correspondent today sent me a photo of a gravestone for a G Howes > buried in Norwich (England). He died in service of his country from > wounds on 27 Dec 1917, aged 29. The Commonwealth War Graves site > lists him as Gordon Howes but Ancestry and others have him as George > all identifiable with his service number, 14301. > > Because he was a Private with the West Yorkshire Regiment, some years > back we had associated him with a George Howes, born in Scarborough > and living in Leeds in 1911. That may well be true but we have no > positive proof and had left a cautionary note on the man's record. No > relatives were listed on any of the records we could see at the time. > I cant find this man's enlistment papers. So it appears that his > records were among those burnt. > > Since I last looked at this man, some extra information has come > online, viz, the Register of Soldiers' Effects at Ancestry. These > records can sometimes show the name of a survivor to whom any payments > were made. In this case it shows "OSB". I'm not a military expert > and have no idea what OSB might mean in that context. Officer > Selection Board does not seem appropriate. Anyone have any idea? > > Then in the right hand column, it says "Dorothy May (Daughter) born > 1.6.18" and "Child as above". I can't find a birth of a Dorothy May > Howes in 1918. > > And just to confuse things a little farther, perhaps, FMP has a > transcript of Soldiers of the First World War which identifies the > same man by Service Number and Regiment, says he enlisted in York but > was born in Norwich! > > He clearly died in Norfolk and there is a death registration for him > in Q1 1918. Has anyone obtained a death cert for a serviceman who > died "at home"? Does it list his home residence? I expect his death > was certified by an Army surgeon and he was buried locally and people > may not have known his home address. Were servicemen's bodies sent > home for burial if within the UK and thus I should look harder among > potential Norfolk men, and buy the death cert because there's a higher > probability that he will have been local? > > Anyone have any clues about how to confirm this man's family, please? TIA. > Paul > > >

Hi Nick. My query was long enough and I didn't give all the details I had. Just enough to get responses to the key questions. By "at home" I merely meant in blighty rather than overseas like most war casualties. Your OSB translation makes sense. So I'm very intrigued to get a copy of that will when it arrives. It may be the only link to another relative. We'd seen the birth registration for that Dorothy M. She is in our database, the daughter of a John Robert HOWES who had married Lily Martha GREEN in 1908. Thanks to you and others for your helpfulness Paul On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 2:44 PM, Nicholas Spence <[email protected]> wrote: > Paul > > The Register of Soldiers Effects says which you mention says place of death > was the "War Hp, Norwich " on 27.12.1917. So he doesn't appear to have died > 'at home' > > The column which has "OSB" for him is that giving the name of the person who > is authorised to receive his effects. For all the other people on the page a > person is named. I have noticed OSB is also applied to a soldier who is > listed a few pages later with again a marginal note naming a young daughter. > I'm not a Latin scholar but might the first two letters of OSB be Obit Sine > Bxxx , meaning something like Died without Beneficiaries? > > After 1911 the Birth Registers do not (normally) give a child's second name, > just an initial, There is a birth registered in St Faith's District in Q4 > 1918 (4b 147) for a Dorothy M HOWES which even though more than 6 weeks > after Dorothy's date of birth given in the Soldiers' Effects document might > be her. Mother's name was listed as GREEN, though I can't find a HOWES-GREEN > marriage in England/Wales which seems to fit. Might he have been married > Overseas, or perhaps not married at all? > > Nick Member 4108 > Chesson and variants > > > > On 20/03/2016 20:04, Paul Howes via wrote: >> >> A correspondent today sent me a photo of a gravestone for a G Howes >> buried in Norwich (England). He died in service of his country from >> wounds on 27 Dec 1917, aged 29. The Commonwealth War Graves site >> lists him as Gordon Howes but Ancestry and others have him as George >> all identifiable with his service number, 14301. >> >> Because he was a Private with the West Yorkshire Regiment, some years >> back we had associated him with a George Howes, born in Scarborough >> and living in Leeds in 1911. That may well be true but we have no >> positive proof and had left a cautionary note on the man's record. No >> relatives were listed on any of the records we could see at the time. >> I cant find this man's enlistment papers. So it appears that his >> records were among those burnt. >> >> Since I last looked at this man, some extra information has come >> online, viz, the Register of Soldiers' Effects at Ancestry. These >> records can sometimes show the name of a survivor to whom any payments >> were made. In this case it shows "OSB". I'm not a military expert >> and have no idea what OSB might mean in that context. Officer >> Selection Board does not seem appropriate. Anyone have any idea? >> >> Then in the right hand column, it says "Dorothy May (Daughter) born >> 1.6.18" and "Child as above". I can't find a birth of a Dorothy May >> Howes in 1918. >> >> And just to confuse things a little farther, perhaps, FMP has a >> transcript of Soldiers of the First World War which identifies the >> same man by Service Number and Regiment, says he enlisted in York but >> was born in Norwich! >> >> He clearly died in Norfolk and there is a death registration for him >> in Q1 1918. Has anyone obtained a death cert for a serviceman who >> died "at home"? Does it list his home residence? I expect his death >> was certified by an Army surgeon and he was buried locally and people >> may not have known his home address. Were servicemen's bodies sent >> home for burial if within the UK and thus I should look harder among >> potential Norfolk men, and buy the death cert because there's a higher >> probability that he will have been local? >> >> Anyone have any clues about how to confirm this man's family, please? >> TIA. >> Paul >> >> >> > -- Paul Howes Chairman, Guild of One-Name Studies www.one-name.org www.howesfamilies.com Researching House, Howes, Hows, Howse & Howze worldwide