Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Can anyone help me identify a WW2 soldier or airman called H Brimelow, and put me in touch with him or his family? All we have to go on is a photograph sent to the Oxfordshire family who befriended him in the hamlet of Sarsden, near Chipping Norton, some time in 1943, and that he sent it from Sicily in 1944. Warrington seems a likely place to look for him but he could be from the surrounding area or even further afield. His memories could well help further the knowledge about an 18thC diary I and two colleagues have been researching as a hobby for many years. You can see the photograph here:
http://www.annehughesdiary.co.uk/photo-jeep-sldrs.html

and there is a little more here:
http://www.annehughesdiary.co.uk/hssldr.html

Any help appreciated,
Ian Shankland.

Hi Ian
Welcome to our forum. I'm sure you will get a lot of help here.
Do you have a first name for H ??
Best wishes
Tina

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Just a name, especially without a forename, and no real idea of location is going to be very difficult, especially at the date you are looking at.

I would like to suggest that newspapers might be a good place to search and perhaps to advertise for either H Brimelow himself or descendants. At least he doesn't show up on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site, so presumably he came through the war - fingers crossed.

If you think Warrington is a good place to start we have a list of newspaper holdings held at the Warrington Library

One of those still in use today is the Warrington Guardian which may have a section for searching for Old Pals.

There is also a My Warrington site where it might prove useful to check for names.

I'm sure there should be a local Warrington forum somewhere but I can't find it at this minute - can anybody local help there?

Added Found one http://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/f ... um.php?f=2

Obviously these are suggestions to help spread the word of your search as the more postings you make as wide as possible, then the more people know about your quest.

Good luck

Hello and thanks for the very fast response. In short, Tina, no, all we have is the initial H and then Brimelow. Possibly it was his signature. Thanks for the suggestions Mary, I'll look into them. I ran the photo past the specialists at the REME Museum at Arborfield and while it was felt that the men could be in REME it was also possible they could be RAF aircraft maintenance men. The lack of a uniform is a problem.

Ian.

Hi Ian
Something or nothing
birth William H Brimelow 1920 Warrington
maiden name Brookes
So sad death for the little fella 1920
0 years.

Tina

My aunts sister, Florence Magdalene Enright, married a James Brimelow (b1905) @ Christ Church, Latcford in 1931. They had 2 sons Derek & Peers (may have had more children as well) If this is of any help - I can possibly contact Peers

Hi,
Assuming H Brimelow was at least 18 in 1944 that would put his latest birth year at 1926. There are 14 male H Brimelow births in Lancashire from 1926 back to 1900. There are only 3 registered in Warrington.

Births Jun 1910: BRIMELOW, Herbert - Warrington - 8c - 273.
[appears to have died in Birkenhead, Cheshire, 1985]

Births Mar 1917: Brimelow, Horace L - [Flatt] - Warrington - 8c - 393.
[Appears to have died in Blackpool, Lancs, in 2004]

Births Sep 1921: Brimelow, Harold - [Brooks] - Warrington - 8c - 374.
[Believed to have died young.. Deaths Sep qtr 1921: Brimelow, Harold - 0 - Warrington - 8c - 165].

A death search for male H Brimelow from 1945 to 2005 produces 18 in total and all but 3 are in the North West, so it is a local name. Only 9 of the total have a birth year that would put them in the frame for service in WW2, 1900 to 1926. None of the 9 died in Warrington, so there is a slim possibility he is still alive if he didn't die in Blackpool or Birkenhead and was born outside Warrington. I have 'connected' the above 3 Warrington births to probable deaths based on name and YoB.

If you would like the full details of the search results I can PM them to you because they would take up too much space here.

As most of the 'local' weekly papers in the area have a 'Looking for...' feature it would be worth writing in with details of H Brimelow, probably ex-RAF WW2.

Dickiesam