A Norwegian Daughter Search For Her Father

Hello.
My wife has a british father who was soldier i Norway after worldwar two. She was born 19.4.1946. Her mother lives near Bergen and is 90 years of age. She has never talked of her father, whose name was Taffy James. The british soldier was in Norway later after the war to see his daughter, but was not alowed to meet/see her.
My wife, Vigdis, has always had a hidden wish to meet her father. Since it is 60 years since Vigdis was born, her father probably is dead, but at least a grave could help her.
Is it possible to find this man or his family.

Greeting from
Arvid Torsvik

 

Arvid, "Taffy" is a nickname which was given to Welsh people by the English. It is very unlikely to be his real given name. Any idea what that might be, or any other details, like his home town or army unit?

James is not a particularly uncommon surname.

 

angie999 - The name, Taffi, is written on the official papers. James was probably an officer, but we don't know the army unit he served. He was born in 1917 - so he is an old man if he is alive.
Arvid

 

Hi Arvid,

You say this gentleman was born in 1917... Do you know his exact date of birth by any chance? If you do PM it to me or post it here and I will look up his birth. I, like angie999, have my doubts as to the Taffy name and, as James is a common surname, it would help a lot of you could be sure of the first name.

Allie

 

Arvid,

I do not know of any instance of anyone with the name Taffi (with an "i"), but I suppose it cannot be entirely ruled out and may be a rare Welsh name unknown to me.

What official papers? If you mean birth registration documents, then I would have to ask the question whether he was present at the registration and whether the details are as provided by him.

 

I'm sorry I wrote the name Taffy with <span style="color:#33CCFF">i </span>instead og <span style="color:#003333">y</span>.
We will try to fing out more about mr. James date of birth. vigdis has never talked about her unknown father, but she will try to get more information next time she visit her.
ato

 

Welcome to the boards, and good luck withyour search.

I had similar requests when I was doing PR for the US Antarctic Program in Christchurch...women and men trying to find their natural father, who they were convinced was an officer/pilot, named Fred or Ted, and he came from "a very large city, New York or Los Angeles." With that information, could I find him in our records?

I goggled at that one, because even if we had records of American military personnel fathering New Zealand kids, with that limited information, there was nothing I could do.

A few years later, a bunch of these kids launched a class action suit against the US government, demanding garnishment of these fathers's salaries and Social Security money, to which they were indeed entitled by law.

But I suspect that on the night those kids were conceived, the least of the lies spouted in the hotel was "Yeah, babe, I'm a pilot, my name's Ted, I'm not married, and if you do this, I'll marry you."

 

Hi Arvid,

I have a somewhat comparable situation in my family tree so I can understand why your wife would like to know more of her father, and I expect it would be a positive experience for her to be able to do that too.

Go away and see what information you can gather on your Taffy James. Whilst that name alone is not much to go on I feel, if you could just get a little more info, it may well be enough to go on, to uncover some further info from records that are available.

The sort of info that might be useful to go on at this stage is his real full name, his date of birth, and the area of England he was from.

Allie

 

(allondon @ Jan 30 2006, 03:18 PM) [post=45061]The sort of info that might be useful to go on at this stage is his real full name, his date of birth, and the area of England he was from.
[/b]

Or Wales perchance?

 

(angie999 @ Jan 30 2006, 04:28 PM) [post=45065][Or Wales perchance?
[/b]

Indeed Angie, as soon as I posted I realised I should have written UK not England, as he could indeed be Welsh or Scottish or maybe even Irish, but then I couldn't work out how to edit my post!!!

 

Hi,

Just looked at 1917 Birth records for England and Wales.

A Teify W L James was born in the Jan - March quarter of 1917. He was born in the Llanelly district and his mother's maiden names was also James (i.e. he was probably born to an unmarried mother I think).

Allie

 

Hi Arvid,

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your quest.

There seems to be some results coming forward.

 

Arvid,

I think the first line of information gathering should be to determine who the British Army units were who were based in the Bergen area from May 1945 and particularly there in July 1945 assuming that Bergen was the place where your wife's mother met "Taffy" James.The Norwegian authorities should be also aware of the identity of British Army units based in Bergen at this time and should be able to help.Another source of help might be a Norwegian welfare group although I would have thought that you would have already thought of help from this type of organisation.

You need to get information from your mother in law for your wife's peace of mind and any other information you can get from people who remember "Taffy" James returning to Norway and the date he returned..No doubt you have researched this before but do not give up.Does the Norwegian birth certificate give any information regarding your wife's father?

Then I would look further at those identified units and pinpoint them regarding unit activities,reunions and other informal reportings including researching the official web site of the unit if they have one and assuming the unit has not been disbanded as many were,searching for "James"Bare in mind that official records will not carry any identification relating to a "Taffy"James.

("Taffy" may not be completely helpful in that some Welshmen having left Wales tend to be addressed as "Taffy" no matter their home address so Taffy James might have had a home outside Wales at the time of his British Army service.

Assuming you find a number of James you can then follow the advice that Allie has given.You will have to search the birth register for 1917 but I would restrict it to South Wales as "Taffy" appears to be used for South Wales Welshmen more than other Welshmen from North and Central Wales.The other point here is was "Taffy" really Teify which I assume is a Welsh christian name.I think the answer to the background to "Taffy" James is within the four quarters of the birth register of 1917.From there, the Registration District of birth,address and identity of mother and child together with the identity of the father (but not always) may be identified.You then have to connect your "James" with the situation in Bergen.

Wishing you every success in your search for "Taffy" James.

 

I will thank you all for answers and even a name. With the help og so many investigators, perhaps we will find the person we search.
My wife has decided to ask her mother some questions tomorrow - she has got the currage after all the activity here in this forum.
If she gets som answers from her mother, I'll come back and bring it to you - UNKNOWN DETEKTIVES.
Arvid

 

The last information I've got in this case is: Mr. James was in the Navy (he was on a ship).
Arvid

 

Arvid,a little lead which requires further research.

From 8 May 1945, HMS Bangor a minesweeper of the Bangor class was used with 4 other minesweepers of the Bangor class to conduct minesweeping operations in Norwegian home waters.Later the minesweepers were loaned to the Royal Norwegian Navy and by 11 November the RNN had taken the option of buying HMS Bangor which was renamed as the Glomma.

I think there should be something in the Norwegian naval archives recording which were the other RN minesweepers involved and their ports during the operation.From there it might be able to research the RN crew for each minesweeper, looking at the crews of minesweepers who operated out of Bergen.

Bangor is a town in North Wales but I do not know if this has any significance with the naming of the minesweeper.

 

Norwegian authorities tried i 1946 to identify this person. The only thing they got hold of was:
Taffy James was born in 1917 and lived in Southall.
Is this of any help for further investigations?

 

There is Southall in Ealing in London. Does anyone know if there is a Southall anywhere else in the UK? I'll check the birth records again then, and see if there are any James births near any Southalls.

 

Here's what I found on another forum:
My name is Clifford James. I use to live in Tamney Crescent,My father was called Thomas,but was better known as Taffy and my mother is Eileen(maiden name was Beare). My father worked at Clarke's,in Upperlands,but cleaned the windows around Maghera town every Saturday. My Uncle also lived in Tamney Crescent, his name was Henry Beare. We left Maghera when i was about 7 or 8 yrs old,but still i would catch the bus down to Maghera on a Friday after school to stay with my Uncle, for the weekend. My friends at that time were Alan Winton and Trevor Anderson. I would like to hear from anyone who might know me, or my parents, or the friends i use to run around with in Maghera. Some of the shops i remember were Hugo Kane's(toy shop) Peggy Black (newsagent) Conways (sweetie shop beside the picture house)McKEE's (butcher) and Speer's (grocery shop atthe top of the town). By the way, i am now 46 yrs old

Can this be a trace?

 

A leter was sent to:
11404963 Taffy James
19, Westerley Park Road
Sauthall, Middlese....
In my 27. 1947. The letter was undelivered because Taffy James was "gone away".
The War Office, Whitehall in London wrote:
"I am directed to inform you that the enclosed letter has been returned to the Department from the last known address of 11404963 Taffy James.
In the circumstances, it is regretted that the Department is unable to assist further in the matter."
In my opinion very little was done to find the man in 1947 - he had moved to another place so ..... There must be a place in GB where Taffy James, born in 1917, and had this identification in Norway: C. 11404963, H.Q. Bty/634 Reg. B.L.A. Zone 6 , can be found