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

Paul Not sure if you have checked but I think that the logical route would be to apply for his will which is listed amongst the soldier's will on https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills Regards John Hanson, researcher, the Halsted Trust, www.halstedresearch.org.uk -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Howes via Sent: 20 March 2016 20:05 To: [email protected] Subject: [G] Military help, please 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 _____________________________________________ RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message