Can anyone help with a resident of Guilden Sutton, surrey.

Discussion in 'Surrey' started by Demelza, Jun 17, 2015.

  1. Demelza

    Demelza Member

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    Having been helped with my g/grandmother Mary Williams, I wonder if anyone can help find this Doctor. He was called Robert Sydney Steele Cathcart Smith. B. 1890 in Guilden Sutton, parents Robert Cathcart Smith and Mary Ann Garnett.
    In 1917 Robert was Probationary surgeon, on HMS Bergamot. Bergamot was commissioned in July 1917 only 4 weeks before she was sunk by a German Uboat on 13th August 1917. Robert S.S. Smith saved two people after the Bergamot was hit and was awarded the Albert Medal for saving lives.
    I have found out that Robert S.S. Smith was living in Bournemouth in 1964 when he died 8th June 1964 in the Royal Victoria hosp, Boscombe. I also found out that Robert S.S. Cathcart Smith left a wife Pamela, sorry no other details. I cannot find his marriage, or where he was when he left the RNVR. My own Father in law served on the same ship as Robert Smith, I am intrigued as to where he went after 1918, he was then serving as surgeon on HMS Wolsey. I understand that in the early 1960s, Robert Smith with other members of his family visited Guilden Sutton, they owned several houses in the area. He seems to have been a very brave man.
     
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  2. Daft Bat

    Daft Bat Administrator. Chief cook & bottle washer! Staff Member

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    It looks like this could be it:
    September quarter 1922, Willesden Registration District
    Robert S S SMITH
    Pamela PARLETTE
     
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  3. Demelza

    Demelza Member

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    Wow! I never in a month of Sundays thought I would get such a quick reply. Thank you so much Daft Bat, this must be a winner.
     
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  4. Flook

    Flook A True Gentleman. Rest in Peace.

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    Via British telephone directories and The Medical Register (both on Ancestry) I've managed to trace a little bit about R.S.S.C. Smith's career.

    He qualified as a 'Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery of the Society of Apothecaries' in 1927 and was entitled to use the post-nominal letters L.M.S.S.A. This appears to be his only qualification and was a less than common way to becoming a qualified doctor.

    In 1931 and 1935 his address is given as Caterham Mental Hospital, Caterham, Surrey. In 1939, '43, '47 and '1951 his address is given as 253 Coulsdon Road, Caterham, Surrey. As this house is only about a mile away from the hospital I suspect that he spent his career as a doctor just in that one hospital (although there used to be a clutch of mental hospitals just outside the area at the time he was working).

    There is a description of the hospital here>
    http://ezitis.
    myzen.co.uk/stlawrence.html

    The next time I have found any trace of what I believe to be him is when he appears to have retired to Corfe Mullen, just to the north of Poole and not far from Bournemouth. I suspect it was a village when he first went there though it is now a suburb of Poole.His address in telephone directories from 1951 to 1964 was "Redroofs, Wareham Road, Corfe Mullen".

    This all seems to fit in nicely with the information you gave in your post. There are a couple of other things but they will keep until tomorrow.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2015
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  5. Demelza

    Demelza Member

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    Dear Flook,
    Thank you so much for taking the trouble to find out all this information regarding Robert S.S. Smith.
    Regarding his qualification as L.M.S.S.A in 1927 and the only qualification that he appeared to have, I know that he was serving in the RNVR 1917/1918 as a probationery Surgeon in 1917 and again on HMS Wolsey in 1919. How would he be made a Surgeon during WW1, I think we must be missing something somewhere.
    I have now, thanks to you, found hin in the following electoral Rolls for Caterham.
    Robert smith/wife Pamela 138 Croydon Rd, Caterham
    Robert Smith/wife Pamela Place of abode, medical Off. quarters. Caterham Mental hosp.
    1931 Robert and Pamela. ditto
    1932 Robert and Pamela ditto
    1933 Robert and Pamela ditto
    1934 unknown
    1935 unknown
    1936 Robert and Pamela 253 Coulsdon rd, Caterham.
    1937 Unknown
    1938 Robert and Pamela 3 Coulsdon Rd, Caterham.
    1939 Robert and Pamela 28 Milner Rd, Caterham
    It may be that I have missed an entry because of a change of name on the electoral roll.
    I tried to click on the http://ezitis, but failed to get onto the site.
    All the info on his death, I certainly think is correct.
    I now feel I at least know where he got to after his marriage in 1922, but still do not know if he was demobbed and when.
    I have a great deal to thank you for.
     
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  6. Flook

    Flook A True Gentleman. Rest in Peace.

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    Hello Demelza

    http://ezitis.
    myzen.co.uk/stlawrence.html

    Just copy both lines of this as if they were on the same line and then just paste into your browser. We break URLs like this on the site in case the site is selling something.

    Another way of showing this is like this>
    http://ezitis. myzen.co.uk/stlawrence.html

    Copy this into your browser and then close the gap between ezitis. and myzen.

    The only time we don't break URLs is when the site is obviously non-commercial such as The National Archives or Government departments.

    Well done on your finds. I'll be back later with another couple of things you may not have seen.
     
  7. Flook

    Flook A True Gentleman. Rest in Peace.

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    I see that the link to Robert Smith's Albert Medal citation on the HMS Bergamot Wikipedia page isn't recommended!

    I'm not sure if you've seen all these mentions of him but if you go to this page**> https://www.thegazette.co.uk/ …..then put

    robert sydney steele smith

    into the search box, the first 4 hits are about him. The first is his Albert Medal citation; the second and third are the same thing - citation for a Mention in Despatches; third his appointment as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1940.

    The Mention in Despatches was clearly a precursor to his Albert Medal award.

    ** I can use this URL as it is because it's an official Government publication.
     
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  8. Flook

    Flook A True Gentleman. Rest in Peace.

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    I see from the Royal Navy Officers Medal Roll that Surgeon Sub Lieutenant Robert S S Smith was awarded the>

    1914-15 Star
    Victory Medal
    British War Medal
     
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  9. Daft Bat

    Daft Bat Administrator. Chief cook & bottle washer! Staff Member

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    Also known as 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred' :)
     
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  10. Flook

    Flook A True Gentleman. Rest in Peace.

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    As he was awarded the 1914-15 Star he must have volunteered to join the Royal Navy in one of those 2 years rather than having been conscripted. I see from the 1911 Census** that he was an undergraduate at Cambridge University. I think the college named is Trinity but it's rather indistinct. The handwritten note on the return says 'Medical Profession" so that shows when he was studying medicine.

    Presumably he was a Probationary Surgeon in the navy because he had completed his studies by 1914 or 1915 although he had not necessarily been awarded his diploma by then (as he was born in 1891 he would have been quite young to have completed medical studies by then - but who knows?).

    It would be worth your while contacting the Worshipful Company 0f Apothecaries to find out when he was awarded his LMSSA >

    http://www.apothecaries.
    org/contact-us/archives-contact-us

    **RG14 PN21864 RG78 PN1302 RD450 SD2 ED14 SN374
     
  11. Flook

    Flook A True Gentleman. Rest in Peace.

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    I've found him in 1925 on Ancestry's London Electoral Registers at 10 Ashby Road, Islington. I have a hunch that the Robert Sydney Smith entries for years before this are also him but I can't be certain.
     
  12. Flook

    Flook A True Gentleman. Rest in Peace.

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    I see that living in the same house with him in 1925 is Fergus Yourell who, if it is the same person, has 3 medical qualifications all awarded in 1918 according to the 1923 Medical Register on Ancestry.
     
  13. Demelza

    Demelza Member

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    Wow!, what a lot of information, I really cannot thank you enough. Tomorrow, I will go through it all again. I just cannot believe that in a few days, you have helped me find such a lot of information that I have been seeking for a long time. I am so grateful to everyone who has had an input.
     
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  14. Sis

    Sis Rootles out resources!

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    They are a clever bunch here, aren't they:)
     
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  15. Demelza

    Demelza Member

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    Yes indeed, I am full of admiration. Many thanks to Cornwall Family History for showing me how to contact the site.
     
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  16. Demelza

    Demelza Member

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    Am unable to do any research for Robert S.S. Smith at the moment, my other half is poorly. I hope I replied to everyone that is helping me. It has been such a help so far.
     
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  17. PaulDoodson

    PaulDoodson New Member

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  18. PaulDoodson

    PaulDoodson New Member

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    Hi I've haven't posted on a board for about 10 plus years, so I think I just made a mistake with the above. *sorry* I have a link for a photograph of Robert Sydney Steele Cathcart Smith. I don't know if anyone has seen it. I did read about putting a gap in between so hope I've done it right. I am a second cousin of Mary Cathcart Smith (nee Garnett) Roberts Mother, and a third of Robert and his brothers and sisters. There are other photographs of his family on there, just put in Cathcart or Smith to search. The photograph was taken in 1915 and has Robert Sydney Steele Cathcart Smith, Wilbraham (Willie) Freemantle Smith (who died in 1916) and I think that the lady is Catherine Selina Cathcart Smith. I have uploaded the picture too in case the link doesn't work.

    http://www.guilden sutton.org.uk/Guilden%20Sutton/GS%20history/Photo%20album/Vol%203/page/image45.html
     

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  19. Gina Tessaro

    Gina Tessaro New Member

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    Hello all,
    My mother Betty is the daughter of Robert Sydney Steele Smith and is currently residing in Canada, just outside of Vancouver, BC. She is the surviving child of my grandfather's two daughters. She is 97 years old and has full faculties. She would be delighted to answer any questions regarding her father's life.
    Best regards, Gina
     
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  20. PaulDoodson

    PaulDoodson New Member

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    Hello Gina, I have a Pamela E b1920 and a Margaret C b1922 on my tree is Pamela your Mother? I got stuck here and couldn't find any further records, I sent away for your Grandfather and Grandmothers Marriage certificate and got that back, but that is all. I would love to find out further details, my name is Paul Doodson and I live in Warrington Cheshire in the UK where your GGG Grandfather had his furniture business, Garnetts Cabinet Works. I have traced your Grandfather Robert's family lineage extensively, back nearly a thousand years. I am related to your Great Grandmother Mary Cathcart Smith nee Garnett.
    Kindest regards
    Paul
     
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