07 September 2020

Challenge: John Daniel Lockery

Solve this one for bragging rights!

Private John Daniel Lockery (33389), serving with the  Medical Corps of the CEF was killed by a train at Mornington Crescent tube station on 27 February 1917. He died with his (ex-?) fiancee Katherine Mawn in what was either a double suicide, murder-suicide or accident. The image is via a tweet from Kev Barnes of the CWGC.

His service file gives birth as 2 November 1888 in London. Ontario, a Roman Catholic. 

His next of kin, who they were unable to locate after his death, was James Callaghan of Brandon, Manitoba. 

Also mentioned to be informed was Celia Grace of RR3, Lucan Twp. In the 1921 census, she is in Biddulph Twp and a Roman Catholic. Lucan and Biddulph townships, in Middlesex County, are now amalgamated.

Lockery is mentioned prior to enlistment in a border crossing record in 1909 as a farm labourer with Canada residence Biddulph and stating he had no relatives.

There are neither obvious candidates for him in records prior to 1909 nor in the 1911 census. 

There are Lockery deaths in Lambton county who could be relatives. 

There's a death of 84-year-old Bridget Lockey (or Tookey), Roman Catholic of Irish origin in Biddulph in 1890.

The challenge is to find prior records for John Daniel Lockery.





2 comments:

K said...

So, If I understand you correctly you are looking for a record created prior to John's enlistment - so I am assuming you have tried ancestry.ca and could not find a record of birth for him?

JDR said...

"There are neither obvious candidates for him in records prior to 1909 nor in the 1911 census."