Harry Chedgzoy

Birth registered Jul-Sep 1896, Aston registration district. GRO ref 6d/307 [FreeBMD, Chedgzoy spelling]. b.28 May 1896. [Census] 1901 census RG13/2880 f65 p34 sched.212, Aston (Erdington sub-dist), Saltley St Saviour, Birmingham - household of John Chedgzoy #10 + wife Mary A.; recorded "Barry" age 5 (transcription of Harry). 1911 census RG14 piece 18242, 7 Bk of 8 Gt Francis St, Duddeston, Birmingham - John Chedgzoy #10 (brass polisher) + wife Mary Ann; recorded "Harry" age 15. Direct line - existence confirmed in both censuses. Son of John James Chedgzoy (#10, b.1861 Islington) + Mary Ann Durber (#1728). Died 31 Oct 1956 Birmingham (Death Index; Find A Grave). A Canada Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A, 1919-1924) record for a Harry Chedgzoy b.Birmingham suggests a possible post-WWI trip or emigration attempt - worth confirming. [Ancestry]. {MARRIAGE} Harry Chedgzoy married Edith Annie Clifford, registered Apr-Jun 1917 in the Aston district, Birmingham; GRO ref 6d/50 [FreeBMD, >99% spouse match; also a Birmingham C of E Marriages/Banns entry]. He married at 21, mid-WWI, while still a serving soldier (discharged Oct 1917). {WWI SERVICE} Medal Index Card found. Pte Harry Chedgzoy, ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT (No. 9241), transferred to the LABOUR CORPS (No. 311839). Entered the theatre of war in FRANCE on 3 Dec 1915. Awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal (the full trio = overseas service from 1915). Received the SILVER WAR BADGE on discharge 6 Oct 1917 - the SWB was given to men discharged due to WOUNDS or SICKNESS, and the move to the Labour Corps fits a medically downgraded man, so he was very likely invalided out. [Ancestry, WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920; TNA WO 372]. {WWI SWB} Silver War Badge roll found (badge no. 358167). ENLISTED 16 Nov 1914 (an early volunteer, aged 18) into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment; later Labour Corps. DISCHARGED 6 Oct 1917 under King's Regulations para 392 (no longer physically fit for war service); served overseas YES. The Sick/Wounds sub-cause on this row is a ditto mark and is not certain from the roll alone - the WWI Pension Ledger record is the one that should name the actual disability. [Ancestry, Silver War Badge Records 1914-1920; TNA WO329]. {WWI PENSION} A WWI Pension record exists for Harry (Labour Corps, No. 311839; Western Front Association pension ledgers; ref 37234/Os/M; 041/0144/Cha-Che; classed Other Ranks Survived). This collection is specifically pensions for men INJURED or killed - so Harry was disabled or injured enough to be pensioned, consistent with being invalided out. The ledger CARD image (which would NAME the disability) is hosted on Fold3 and needs a separate subscription not included in the UK-Records tier, so the specific condition is not readable from here. [Ancestry index; image on Fold3, paywalled]. {1939 REGISTER} Birmingham (St Martins, ED Qaxu), schedule 13, the Harry Chedgzoy household: Harry (head, b.1896, CARPENTER (Heavy Work), at 72 Leopold St); Edith A (wife, b.~1896, unpaid domestic duties); children Dorothy (b.1918), Dennis (b.1920, son), Phyllis (b.1923); son RONALD (b.1932, at school - Chris's father, aged 7); son Derek (b.1939, infant) and Annie (b.1876, an elder relative). Image attached to Harry #6, Edith #1727 and Ronald #2. [Ancestry/TNA 1939 Register]. (Family memories of Harry - a possible carpentry trade, the ice cream shop, the post-war "mental stress", and the divorce from Edith - have been moved to a planned blog tribute and are preserved in research/blog-drafts/family-memories-source.md.) {OCCUPATION - CONFIRMED} The 1939 Register gives Harry's occupation as CARPENTER (Heavy Work), at 72 Leopold St, Birmingham. This DOCUMENTS the family memory that Harry was a carpenter (previously only a recollection). So the carpentry trade is now a sourced fact. {ICE CREAM SHOP - lead, 18 Jun 2026} The family story that Chris's father Ronald was partly brought up in an ice cream shop is supported by a documentary trace, though the exact trade is paywalled. Birmingham trade directories (Ancestry colls 2583 "Midlands & Various UK Trade Directories" and 3145 "UK City & County Directories") carry MULTIPLE listings for the family: about six "Harry Chedgzoy" entries (likely his carpentry business) AND several separate "Mrs Edith Chedgzoy" / "Edith Chedgzoy" entries across different years, plus two bare "Chedgzoy" trades-section entries with long business addresses. A wife listed repeatedly in her OWN name is the classic footprint of a woman running a shop - consistent with Edith (Ronald's mother) keeping the ice cream / confectionery shop, most likely in the 1940s (after the 1939 Register, which still shows the family at 72 Leopold St with Harry a carpenter and no shop). The trade word, street address and years are all behind Ancestry's premium "All UK & Ireland" tier on the current membership, so not yet readable. ROUTES to confirm: (1) the premium Ancestry tier or FindMyPast (both hold Kelly's Birmingham directories) would show Edith's trade + address + years directly; (2) the Library of Birmingham holds the original Kelly's directories for a free lookup of the Chedgzoy entries; (3) Albert Thorne's occupation on the 1957 marriage cert (GRO 9c/804) would test Chris's separate hunch that the shop was actually the second husband's. Points toward the shop being EDITH's, not Harry's (Harry = carpenter). {EMIGRATION - Canada round trip, index-confirmed 19 Jun 2026} Ancestry passenger/arrival INDEXES show a Harry Chedgzoy, born Birmingham, making a post-WWI round trip to Canada (consistent with the family memory and the previously-flagged Canada lead): an arrival INTO Canada at St John, New Brunswick (Canada Incoming Passenger Lists, and a Form 30A Ocean Arrivals 1919-1924 entry), and a RETURN voyage departing Montreal, Quebec, arriving Liverpool (UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960). The detailed record images (exact dates, ship, age, occupation, who he was joining) sit behind Ancestry premium/Worldwide tiers not on the current membership, so only the index entries are read so far. Identification is strong: 'born Birmingham' on the records is the discriminator, and Harry #6 is the only Birmingham-born Harry Chedgzoy of emigrant age in 1919-24 (the only other family Harry of that era, #89, was born at Stoke St Gregory; George Harry #21 was Birmingham-born but aged 55-60). The 1901 census confirms #6 is the Harry Chedgzoy born Birmingham 1896. The exact manifest age/birth-date that would make it certain is paywalled, but birthplace plus age plus post-WWI timing point to #6 and to no other person in the tree. Montreal departure ties to the wider Montreal Chedgzoy branch (Phyliss May #8 b.1924 Montreal). [Ancestry index, retrieved 19 Jun 2026] {1921 index} Harry #6 does NOT appear in the 1921 England census; his father John James #10 (b.1861) heads a 1921 Birmingham household (with wife Mary Ann #1728 + dau Doris) but Harry is absent. Consistent with Harry being in CANADA on census night (19 Jun 1921) during his 1919-24 emigration window. (1921 image paywalled; from free index.) {BMD} Birth reg Q3 1896 Aston, GRO 6d/307 [FreeBMD, 22 Jun 2026]. [2026-06-25 FamilySearch] CANADA EMIGRATION CONFIRMED: Harry Chedgzoy, age 24, married, b.~1897 Birmingham, immigration 1921 arriving MONTREAL, Quebec (Canada Immigration Records 1919-1924; FamilySearch ark:/61903/1:1:68ZG-Y53V). Explains his absence from the June 1921 England census; family in Montreal ~1921-24 (daughter Phyllis May #8 born Montreal 1924), later returned to Birmingham (d.1956).