As you already know I love finding an old photographic postcard with clues on the back and I recently struck lucky with this fantastic photograph as below – on the back is written ‘Auntie Edie & Uncle Steve with love from Clifford Owen MESNEY 3 years, 8 months June 1910’ – could I discover more?
I started by looking at the birth registrations online and found that Clifford Owen MESNEY was born in the October quarter of 1906 and his birth was registered in the St Thomas District in Devon.
Moving on I then found Clifford on the 1911 census, as below, aged 4 living with his parents Robert Locke and Ethel MESNEY aged 33 and 35, his Aunt Catherine MESNEY aged and a brother Keith Lionel MESNEY aged 6 months. His father’s occupation was a General Store Dealer and he had been married to ethel for five years. their address was The Square, Uffculme near Cullompton in Devon.
Source Citation: The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911 Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1911 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Robert Locke MESNEY had married Ethel HOOPER ON 28th September 1905 at the Ebenezer Chapel in Budleigh Salterton in Devon and I found a newspaper report of their marriage, as below:
Source: Exmouth Journal 30th September 1905
Clifford Owen MESNEY served in the Navy, as per the record below and this confirms his date of birth as 24th October 1906 and that he was born in Exmouth in Devon. He married Dorothy L ALLEN in the April quarter of 1936 in the Tiverton registration district in Devon.
Source Citation: The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, London; Admiralty: Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services; Class: ADM 362; Piece: 49 Source Information: Ancestry.com. UK, Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services, 1848-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Clifford Owen MESNEY died aged 84 in November 1990 in Devon.
The postcard had been sent Auntie Edie and Uncle Steve and these are relatives of his father Robert Locke MESNEY who had a brother Stephen MESNEY who married Edith WIDDICOMBE in 1896 in Devon – they had three sons Stephen, Robert and William.
Do you have a connection to the MESNEY or HOOPER families in Devon as it would be great to reunite this smashing old photograph of Clifford with a family member if possible – if you do please message me via this blog post or send me an a email.
Many thanks
Simon LAST
charnwoodresearch@virginmedia.com
charnwoodgenealogy 