Ancestry

By Barbara Thomas 

The study of your Ancestors and where it can lead you, if you are lucky, or in several places unlucky… 

It all began when a man turned up at a pub in the South of London claiming that it was his belief that the elderly man sitting there was his father: George William Glenham.

Hereby lies a tale:

So where do I start? 

Let’s begin here:

1 marriage 2 bigamist marriages to two sisters, 8 years apart.

2 children from a legitimate marriage 10 years apart after leaving and then returning years later. 

1 child by 1st bigamist marriage both mother and child died within a year of each other sadly.  Seven children from 2nd bigamist marriage then lived happily with that person until he died after years of “marriage bliss” 

As mentioned above this was a very complex case which included

change of names from George William Glenham to Samuel George Thomas illegally.

He married both sisters in church under the aka name of Samuel George Thomas, who had falsified Marriage certificates. 

Two birth certificates, 1 legal and 1 illegal.

Legal  ~ George William Glenham born Dec 1905.

Illegal ~ Samuel George Thomas  born Jan 1906.

Big mistake was putting different parents on each of the certificate’s. 

Though I found out that both George William Thomas parents were actually born in the East end of London

Samuel George Thomas’s falsified certificate of Parents supposedly born in Scotland.

What a pickle, one of the first things my husband asked me to solve when we met; knowing my hobby was (and still is) Genealogy. 

I stared confidently following all the clues of my husband’s dad’s certificates, as I thought they contained correct information.

When I came across a problem Tom my husband pointed out that he had vivid memories of his grandmother living in Bow in London

Where as I had his grandparents living in Scotland.

I did a U turn then, and back tracked with the new information he had given me. 

What a hornets nest I discovered, or should I say can of worms I opened. 

As mentioned before I found a marriage but no divorce papers then two more marriages in a different name from his birth name plus both fathers names and trades on all certificates were different 

What a malarkey as my Irish grandmother would have said.

The deeper I went the more I discovered… 

George William Glenham had a best friend George Clifton they had known each other since childhood. This friend had been the best man to all 3 marriages knowing that two were illegitimate.

I don’t know for sure but I have reason to think when Glenham, under the name of Thomas, married both sisters Rebecca and Alice neither had any idea that he was a married man as by then he had changed his name to Samuel George Thomas. 

George William Thomas and George Clifton both had joined the army before WWII but had deserted their posts and were court marshalled and told that if that had happened in WWI both would have been shot!

Later during WWII both men were conscripted into Churchill’s Home guard based in Wales at the Royal fusiliers’ camp. 

George Clifton lodged at George William Glenham’s parents home but in 1941 both George William Glenham’s. mother and best friend Clifton went away together and moved to Essex.

George William Glenham’s father William James Glenham was suffering from depression at the time and finding out what his wife had done he sadly took his own life drinking a whole bottle of Jeyes fluid…

William James Glenham had had a distinguished army career both in the boar war and WWI and had been mentioned in dispatches 

It all began to unravel as right in the beginning the man that had gone looking for his father was George William Glenham jnr. and apparently according to eye witnesses George William Glenham aka Samuel George Thomas, after being confronted said “I’ve been a naughty boy.”

When asked why the son after all these years wanted from his father. George William Jnr’s reply was now he had eventually met his father his only ambition was to have a drink with him, afterwards they shook hands and he walked, never to be heard from again.

Stranger still George William Glenham worked at the same place in South London all his working life where his lawful wife would take their son as a baby in a pram to wait at the firm’s gates on payday to collect her wages.

I kept finding more info, and again years later when my husband had his pub on the Harold Hill estate Essex. There was a terrible accident just down the road an elderly man was knocked down and killed outright by a lorry. 

That’s when I discovered the man’s name was George Clifton, George William Glenham’s friend who years before had moved in with his mother and set up home in Essex. 

Also strangely enough my husband told me that at his marriage to wife Sheila the sisters of George William Glenham’s were invited, but he told me he had no recollection even seeing them before or who had invited them. This was only discovered when I found a wedding photo of all 3.

Sheila sadly died as did my husband Alfie so as a widower I would be able to marry again. 

First meeting with the family was fun; I think not!!

I had discovered this huge skeleton in their families’ cupboard and it was my first time meeting them all, funnily enough at a family wedding.

Another tragic coincidence within the last 3 years that happened to both my husband and myself was that both our eldest son’s Stephen Gary Thomas and Daniel Patrick Quinlan from our 1st marriages died. Both Steve and Danny as they were known in the family will always hold a special place in our hearts. 

Whilst finding out about my husband’s late family I was contacted through Ancestry by cousins, nieces, and nephew’s all trying to collate George William Glenham’s chequered families past.

Again strangely all the male children of Samuel George Thomas have William as their second name.

 

Copyright Barbara Thomas