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A tiny crack appeared in the wall yesterday. While hunting for records for a different family member I came across two pleas for insolvency for William Archibald Smith. One for 1883 and the other for 1874 which is 4 years earlier than previous records of his life in India. The interesting point is that in 1883 he is listed as European, but in 1874 he is listed as West Indian. I have found a possible baptism record for a Wm Archibald Smith in Jamaica for the right date give or take 2 years. Still no record of a marriage to Caroline. Now to work out when he moved from the West Indies to India and why.
Thank you Sylvia for those hints. I’ve been back for another dig with little progress. However I did find a record of William Archibald Smith as a Freemason in the Sukkur Lodge in 1873. Unfotunately it doesn’t aid tracking his origins. I also came across a marriage registered in Karachi, Bombay, India in 8 Mar 1916 between Reginald Smith and Millicent Ethel May Baker, listing William Archibald Smith as father (though it doesn’t mention he is deceased). As Reginald is also a driver on Indian Railways I’m guessing he may be another child that I didn’t know about and who isn’t listed in the birth records I’ve discovered so far.
Of Caroline Louisa I have discovered nothing of her marriage or life either before or after the birth of her children.
I have been previously been working on the fact that their daughter Clara Elizabeth married another Smith William Hulme Smith. His family line traces back easily to England and I was hoping William Archibald would appear somewhere along that line and that William Hulme and Clara Elizabeth were distant cousins, but that has born no fruit.
The name combination William Archibald seems strangely rare which has made records easier to find (unlike many of the other Smiths). There is one born in America at the right time, but he appears to die in America in 1932. There is possibly one in Canadian Census records. I have a William James Smith married to a Caroline Louisa in England, but the middle name is wrong and he doesn’t appear to leave England.
I shall try following the army line next.
