Thomas Watson

On the death cert for Thomas his wife reports his age as 46, but ages are not always accurate... have you found any details on Thomas or his family in census  ?

Their marriage gives current address for Thomas as 'Barracks Kinsale', and his father also named Thomas (deceased) - occupation for Thomas snr.  boat-man

There are about 40 Thomas Watsons of about the right age (+-5) on the Irish 1901 census but have not found any where father is also named Thomas with occupation boat-man or similar.  It could be difficult to search for any army records due to the common name, and also since most of the WW1 era service records were lost in the blitz.

Thank you for your reply. As we don't know if Thomas Watson was born or even if his nationality is Irish or he even lived here in Ireland before he married Mary Keegan.
Where would I get the details of British Army houses given to soldiers? If he died so young and his widow Mary was left with 9 children surely she was getting an army pension..Where would I get that information? maybe these would give me the link to his army registered number and his past history?

Most of the Army records from this time are held by the National Archives in London (Kew), but I've not come across any specific records online relating to housing. The service & pension records (WO 363 & 364)  sometimes include details of next of kin, wife and children so although time consuming, since there's no other leads at this stage it may be worth checking these to see if anything shows up - the surviving records are on FIndmyPast & Ancestry. These records sometimes include a discharge address, which could help...

I've been looking though service records that might fit for your Thomas on the basis that is year of birth is reasonably accurate, i.e. born 1891 +-2 years, a few can be ruled out, i.e. did not survive the war, father's name or bride's name mentioned but not matching... etc, nothing promising so far...

p.s. do you have birth certs for the children ?
one of these might give his regimtment name...
 

Oh I never though of his children's birth certs ill try get their Date of births and check the certificate entries
Thank you

It's a long shot, but I have seen father's unit or regiment mentioned on a few birth certs so worth a go. The certs could provide other clues also, such as when Thomas retired, addresses the family lived at various times etc.

I found a mention of records for the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust at the National Archives (UK), it looks like you would have to visit to inspect these or employ a researcher near the Archives.

I was hoping that the occupation of Thomas snr. would help as it's something a little different to separate him from all the labourers etc, but no sign of him in Ireland in 1901 or 19011, and there are just too many in England/Wales/Scotland to check individually.. of course a sucessful search for him on census returns assumes he had the same occupation back in 1901/1911 and was alive at the time..

Hi Margaret

Have come across this thread - I'm compiling a tree for another of Thomas' grandchildren and wondered if you managed to find out anything further given the date when this was posted.

Many thanks  Tracy