Hi All This is my first message to thought I'd tell you about my Holmes connection. My mysterious great grandfather, Frederick Montague Seymour HOLMES, came to Australia in 1852. He had been a clerk for the Great Western Railway Coy in London for 3 years, stationed at Paddington. He was twenty. I have letters written on his behalf to Governor La Trobe here in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia asking for employment as a clerk. Consequently he was given a position as clerk for the Gold Commission, but soon threw it all in to become a boundary rider and groom on country stations. When we tried to discover his roots it was as if he had deliberately destroyed all traces. We finally tracked him down on the 1851 census living with his parents and siblings in Hanover Square, London. His father Henry HOLMES was a hairdresser in the same area, but gave his birthplace as GREAT YARMOUTH. >From his age this would have been in 1793. His mother was Mary, born in Kingsbury Green, Middlesex, but no maiden name given. Family was as follows: Henry (1821) Laura (1828) Edward (1830) FMS (1832) Charles (1836) George (1838) Francis (1841). Neither George nor Francis appear in the St Cath's indexes, and a London researcher has been unable to find any of the baptisms in or near St George Hanover Square. The gap between Henry and Laura would suggest a second marriage do you agree? Another interesting aspect of the mystery is that on the 1841 census Mary was in Middlesex with the younger children while Henry was in Hanover Square with the older ones. Well, that's the gist of the story. Looking forward to suggestions as to where to go next, especially as I'll be going to London in May and hope to look up some of the less obvious sources. Regards Beryl O'Gorman Greensborough, Victoria, Australia