Thread: William John GREEN

William John GREEN was my Ggrandfather. In 1891, 1901, 1911 censuses he is given as born in Durham, Durham. His marriage cert of 1891 gives his father as Samuel (deceased by 1891), soldier. He was an orphan according to well-remembered family history. He was on the Sunk Light Ship off Harwich in 1891, shortly before his marriage to Clara CAVILL.
There is no clear sign of him in 1881 or 1871. A scrap of paper written by him suggests he was born on 19 Feb 1868, but there isn't a Durham birth record that adequately matches. I can't seem to find Trinity House records; a pity as they might give his background before becoming a lightshipman. Of course, being an orphan, he might have taken the surname of the family who brought him up. Nobody knows.
Any ideas?

Yes, definitely. He married soon after the census.
Birth date from scrap of paper written at time of his marriage, headed "Family Register". It had been completed on 18 May, 1891 the day William Green and Clara Cavill were married.
It states William John Green born 1?9th February 1868 Durham, Trinity Service, married etc. etc. (So he was 23, not 22, at census) Possible fib because bride Clara was younger?

Marriage: 1891
Apr-May-Jun District: Tendring County: Essex Volume: 4a Page: 635
On "Sunk Light Vessel" in census 1891, single
YOB from Marriage Certificate.
Several William Greens born in Durham in abt 1869.

General Municipal Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union: Harwich branch
GB/NNAF/C1319 (Former ISAAR ref: GB/NNAF/O63089)
The National Archives | National Register of Archives | Corporate details | Archive Details
Essex Registry Office

Yes, about a year ago, and again recently. no reply received so far. I'm going to the London Met Archive next week to see what I can find.