Anne Stewart, I had a nearly identical problem and I was able to at least find my ancestor in the Navy Records, which among other things confirmed his enlistment, showed the "adult" who signed him into service [he was only 16 yrs old at the time] and I learned his abode at the time of enlistment and the ship to which he was assigned. I have yet to learn where he jumped ship, but probably in a Canadian port as he married a Canadian woman and wound up in San Francisco. The source for this on film, and there is an index of names also on film, is the LDS Family History search site on-line at http://www.familysearch.org/ The Name of the film series is, "Continuous Service Engagement Books". Use the Family History Library Catalog tab and do a Title search for the for the series and get the film # for the index. If you located Henry, and since you know his birth date that should be likely, you will have his Navy service # and you then rent the film which has his enlistment. They used these book[s] and as the title suggests as the lads came in to "join" they were assigned a number . . . the next lad in got the next number, no alphabetical application here that is why the index must be checked first. Good Luck, Earl Harvey [if you'd like to see an example of the information, I'll be glad to forward, off-list a jpeg picture of the service entry Anne, let me know. ekh] ----- Original Message ---- From: Anne Stewart Walsh <annestewartwalsh@yahoo.com.au> To: isle of thanet <isle-of-thanet-l@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 4:58:19 PM Subject: [Isle-of-Thanet] Police records for Thanet? Dear Listers, Are there any police records for Thanet which can be researched? Would police records have navy deserters listed? I will make a visit to Margate in March next year so could look them up then, if they cannot be researched from Australia. My oral family story is that my great grandfather deserted the Royal Navy about the early 1860s. I think he was Henry Samuel Brown, born 8 February1840, of Margate, He then came to Australia and changed his name to George Fox. Fox was his mother's maiden name. I have asked a military researcher to look for his name in British Royal Navy records but he politely refused, as looking for a Henry Brown, among the hundreds with that name, was a task he did not want to undertake. Anne Stewart Walsh, Melbourne, Australia. Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ISLE-OF-THANET-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message