Some might recall my attempts to trace the movements of my great grandfather Archie Dunkley around the Hanborough area in the late 1800s and early 1900s - with the help of folk here, I made some advances and in the following months a great deal more. I'm now coming up with a couple more general queries on ideas where to try next ... I now know that in June 1894, Archie Dunkley left Manitoba in Canada for England. Neither I nor others I corresponded with could find him on a ship sailing for the UK (there are strong suggestions he came direct, not via some other country). I've failed thus far to work out whether there are records that are yet unscanned (thus there is not yet a record of his travel available, but it might exist) or whether everything that is known to exist has been documented and is on Ancestry or similar (and thus I'm chasing something I am unlikely to find). Does anyone know? Second, at some point between his arrival in England (when presumably he went to his family's home in Market Harborough) he obtained work in Hanborough. He was a clerk in Canada and was one again in Oxfordshire, but I can't place him in the Woodstock area until late in 1899, when I presume that he was employed there (he certainly was in the 1901 census). My question here concerns how people at that time might have learned of employment opportunities. Possibilities that I can think of include personal recommendation, but I know of no family connections between Market Harborough and Woodstock before Archie arrived; he was a staunch member of the Temperance movement so it could have been a recommendation within that, but it seems unlikely to draw someone 'unknown' from further afield ... Or could he have responded to an advertisement? That's my real question: I have failed to find any such adverts being placed, so were such things done in the latter part of the 1890s? And if so, not having found such an advert in the Times (which would have reached outside the county of Oxfordshire), where best to look? My two current brick walls then, if anyone has ideas of where to look. Chris Howes

Hi Chris There may be more passenger lists yet to be made available (or found for that matter) but I doubt it, perhaps a mail to the National Archives will confirm Many earlier lists were destroyed and I suspect other batches were too Could he have worked his passage rather than come as a passenger? In other words is it worth checking crew lists As far as acquiring jobs is concerned, certainly jobs were advertised in newspapers, although I very much doubt a clerks job would be placed in the likes of the Times, then as now it was expensive to advertise in , more likely if advertised at all it would be inserted in an area where it was known there were people to fulfill a given role Although adverts were placed for household servants and more specialised jobs, I would be surprised if a clerks job would be At that time I think far more jobs were from word of mouth or passed message, one worker in Oxfordshire may have known of the vacancy and sent a message to that effect I have people working far and wide around that time and you wonder how on earth they got to know of the vacancy, more often than not a check of the census finds people from the same village or local area or the employer was from that area, or just owned property there Your mention of temperance movement sounds worthwhile following up, I could see an enthusiastic member being sent to another area Is there a reason for seeking the information particularly Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > Possibilities that I can think of include personal recommendation, but I > know of no family connections between Market Harborough and Woodstock before > Archie arrived; he was a staunch member of the Temperance movement so it > could have been a recommendation within that, but it seems unlikely to draw > someone 'unknown' from further afield ... > > Or could he have responded to an advertisement? That's my real question: I > have failed to find any such adverts being placed, so were such things done > in the latter part of the 1890s? And if so, not having found such an advert > in the Times (which would have reached outside the county of Oxfordshire), > where best to look? > > My two current brick walls then, if anyone has ideas of where to look. > > Chris Howes

> Could he have worked his passage rather than come as a > passenger? In other words is it worth > checking crew lists Thanks loads for the ideas. Can't ignore that thought of working his way, certainly, though it looks like he was well enough off to have paid his passage so I doubt he crewed. > As far as acquiring jobs is concerned, certainly jobs were > advertised in newspapers, although I very > much doubt a clerks job would be placed in the likes of the > Times, then as now it was expensive to > advertise in , more likely if advertised at all it would be > inserted in an area where it was known > there were people to fulfill a given role Sounds very reasonable ... I only looked at the Times to get a feel for the sorts of things advertised, and because I had access ... > At that time I think far more jobs were from word of mouth or > passed message, one worker in > Oxfordshire may have known of the vacancy and sent a message > to that effect Sounds perfectly reasonable ... > Your mention of temperance movement sounds worthwhile > following up, I could see an enthusiastic > member being sent to another area I'd always assumed that the temperance link was of importance in this context, but that's all it has been - an assumption. I've found repositories of freemason information but this didn't help during the relevant time period. I've yet to find where any records might still exist of the Independent Order of Templars, which was seemingly then strong in Oxfordshire - does anyone have knowledge of anything relevant here? > Is there a reason for seeking the information particularly No more than the usual - trying to learn more of the who behind the name ... Archie was my GGrandfather and I'm working on a detailed history of his family, so trying to find exactly more about where he was and what he was doing during that period between 1894 and 1899 is of great interest as he was taking life changing decisions. Thanks for the ideas. Chris