Genealogy Forum UK

I have a Herbert Thorns b 1889 Nuthurst, Sussex.
Census entries for 1891 (with parents), 1901(with sibling) & 1911 (in the Army in India).
MIC for his army service ending circa 1915 with a discharge: Sgt in the KRRC with the usual WWI plus the DCM.
Possible travel from Malaysia in 1926 & 1927.
Then I have a possible death in 1956 in Chatham, Kent with a Probate record granted to his widow Rose May and his niece Edith Irene (daughter of Albert & Edith).

But I can't find his marriage to Rose May, nor any reference to her birth, remarriage or death apart from that probate record.

I suppose they may have married abroad, if the passenger lists do refer to him it may have been in Malaysia, but don't have a clue as to how to find that out.

Can anyone find them for me, either here or abroad? Source citations would be appreciated.

Thanks.

He was in the militia as well.

British Army Service Records 1760-1915 Transcription
First name(s): Herbert
Last name: THORNS
Calculated year of birth: 1891
Parish of birth: Mannings Heath
Town of birth: Hastings
County of birth: Sussex
Age at attestation: 17 years 9 months
Attestation date: 3 November 1908
Attestation corps: ROYAL SUSSEX REGT
Attestation soldier number: 9833
Discharge rank:
Discharge corps: Royal Sussex Regiment - 35th & 107th Foot
Discharge soldier number:
The National Archives reference: WO96 / 639 / 284

That transcription is wrong.

He attested on the 3rd November 1906 so his birth year would be 1889

He put down his older brother Thomas as next of kin and was transferred out of the militia to the HRRC on the 3rd January 1907.

This is no record of his marriage in the overseas BMD held by GRO.

Civil Registration event: Marriage


MarriageFinder: Herbert Thorns married Elsie S Stevens
Name: THORNS, Herbert
Registration district: Leeds
County: Yorkshire
Year of registration: 1927
Quarter of registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Spouse's last name: Stevens
Volume no: 9B
Page no: 594

Name: STEVENS, Elsie S
Registration district: Leeds
County: Yorkshire
Year of registration: 1927
Quarter of registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Spouse's last name: Thorns
Volume no: 9B
Page no: 594

I was just thinking that Rose Thorns would be an unfortunate name....

Name: Rose Jane Thorns
Birth Date: 11 Feb 1888
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1977
Age at Death: 89
Registration district: Worthing
Inferred County: West Sussex
Volume: 18
Page: 2328

Looks like he travelled to Singapore and maybe Australia at least twice.

In 1917 he says he is an Assistant Manager and intends to live in B.N.Borneo.

In 1926 he says he is a planter living at Garrick Hotel, Charing Cross Rd. Intends to live in F.M.S. which I assume is Singapore.

Aha....on his return to England in 1927 he was living in the Federated Malay States (F.M.S) and departed from Singapore.

His proposed address in England is Chartered Bank Of India, Australia (some word I can't decipher)......Bishopsgate St.

He plans to live in England as his permanent state of residence.

London, England, Electoral Registers, 1847-1965 about Herbert Thorns
Name: Herbert Thorns
Electoral Year: 1933
Parliamentary Division: Bermondsey
County or Borough: Southwark


London, England, Electoral Registers, 1847-1965 about Herbert Thorns
Name: Herbert Thorns
Electoral Year: 1939
Parliamentary Division: Dulwich and North
County or Borough: Southwark

In both years there is an Edith Thorns in the same electoral division and borough.

Might be the wife when he is away...


London, England, Electoral Registers, 1847-1965 about M R Thorns
Name: M R Thorns
Electoral Year: 1935
Parliamentary Division: Twickenham
County or Borough: Richmond upon Thames

Thanks a lot. The detail of his attestation is useful confirmation and I have from elsewhere that he transferred to the KRRC the following January.

I hadn't found his outgoing trips to the Far East which suggest that he tried it, liked it, got on well (assistant in 1916 and planter in 1927) and went back. He'd served in India before WWI so wouldn't have been daunted by the journey and climate out East so when he was discharged from the army (in 1915 I think) after winning his DCM the opportunity of work away from war torn Europe may well have seemed attractive.

I'm not convinced about the 1927 marriage in Leeds, it's almost exactly when he returned from his second stint in Malaya unless he came home to get married, in which case using his London bank (incidentally the bit you can't read is "& China" I think) as poste restante seems a bit odd if he was going up North. Add that there was a certain Herbert Broadbent Thorns who was born in Leeds in 1891 and it looks fishy to me.

The Rose Jane Thorns probably isn't her, there's a 1927 marriage of a Raymond F Thorns and a Rose J Hurst.

The Electoral Registers may well be him, as you say the possible presence of niece Edith is a contributing factor. That R M Thorns also looks promising, if we could find him out of the country in 1935 it would help.

Can you find electoral registers for him in Chatham?

I still think he married out East, Rose May might well be a Far Eastern combination, maybe she wasn't of British descent? and may have returned after his death in 1956, especially if she had inherited a fair chunk of his estate.

But I can't find a suitable entry for a Rose May Thorns into or out of England. There is a Rosie May Thorn and her husband who live in Plymouth and travel a lot between the West Indies and the UK.

Maybe she was an illegal immigrant.

I think that's about all I'm going to get, thanks again Mark

This can be archived.