I am completely new to the subject of genealogical research so I hope that I can be excused for any errors made in the following, relating to my search for relatives and ancestors of my father John Leonard Nicholls. He was born in Cornbury Street, Southwark, London (which before being closed in 1947 was on the west side of the Old Kent Road), about 1900-1901. Four dates of birth have been offered:- (i)16 October 1900: (ii)16 October 1901: and (iii)17 October 1901. I have today written for his birth certificate and believe it will show (iv) although I suspect (i) is the true and correct date. I have been told that his own father HARRY never registered the birth of his children within the required legal time and so when he did register them, he supplied a later date than the actual one for the birth dates of all of his children, who were: born between (about) 1895 and 1910. (1)JOHN LEONARD (2)CARRIE (3)MARY ANNE (4)HARRY (5)JANE (6)ADA (7)EDWARD/TEDDY (8)WILLIAM/BILLY (9)GEORGE (10)HAZEL My father's mother CAROLINE (Nee Banks) died in about 1910 while giving birth to her eleventh child who also died, whereupon the children, including my father JOHN LEONARD lived for some time by eating food left in the street by the market traders as the father HARRY could not control them after the death of the mother. The family saying was that 'the children made mud pies in his Oxford boater' suggesting that the father HARRY was a Oxford graduate and unable to deal with wayward children who were now little more than waifs. My father JOHN LEONARD and his younger brother BILLY (WILLIAM) (born 24 October 1902) were committed at Tower Bridge Court in London on 20 September 1910 under the Protection of Childrens' Act ('children found wandering and not having any settled place of abode or visible means of subsistence...'). They were on the same day placed in the 'Home for Destitute Boys Not Convicted of Crime' at the corner of Regent's Park Road and King Henry's Road in Camden Town, London, NW1 (The Home was a 'certified industrial school' and closed in 1920, but the building was still there when I visited it in the 1980s). As far as I am aware all the other children were also placed in childrens' homes. JANE was in the same home as Charlie Chaplin. HARRY, who was the oldest or one of the oldest children, may have escaped being taken into a home as I understand he worked as a miner in Wales for a short time before joining the army and going to India. On 11 January 1916 my father JOHN LEONARD was placed in the British Army as a 'band boy' and after some time went to serve in India where his older brother HARRY was already serving. BILLY was also placed in the British Army as a band boy on 10 May 1917. My father's older brother HARRY married while in India and had three sons - HARRY, LLEWELLYN and another whose name I do not know. HARRY divorced and then married KITTY on returning to England and lived in Hereford until he died during the 1970s. I do not know for how long my father was stationed in India but I suspect only until about 1930 as his driving licence shows the following places - in England - where he lived. 1931-32. 71st Field Battery, Royal Artillery, Larkhill, Wiltshire. 1935-36. Drill Hall, Pentre, Glamorgan, Wales. 1938. 40 Field Battery, Royal Artillery, Bulford, Wiltshire. 1939. 409th A.A. Battery, Royal Artillery, Aerodrome Office, Marham, Norfolk. He was injured while serving (as a Lieutenant) and was invalided out of the services in 1942. From about the early 1940s, my father lived in Nottingham and possibly Birmingham, and then, according to his driving licence, he was at Bulford again in 1947 and the address was something like 'Altonbury Road'. He then moved to South-East London and married. My father's brother HARRY died during the 1960s (in Hereford). His brother BILLY, an accomplished musician who played the trumpet outside Victoria railway station in London as a 'busker' for some years, died on 9 April 1973: he was buried in a public (pauper's) grave in Southwark, South London. He lived in North London at the time. My father's sisters ADA, MARY ANN ('NAN') and JANE died during the late 1970s-early 1980s. My father died in 1978. The problem is that my father never mentioned anything about his family or life before 1950 and all of the above I have put together from scraps of information that I have been able to ascertain. I believe that some of the places of residence listed above are related to his family. If anyone recognises any of the people in the above, and has information about their own families and ancestry, I would be very grateful to hear from them. Thank you. D. J. Nicholls (Dr) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com