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Tracing Draft Dodgers

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  • Tracing Draft Dodgers

    Hi, Can anyone please give me advise on how I can trace my grandfather lineage back, who was put in prison for "draft evading".
    He moved to Hayes in Middlesex to evade "call up" to which service I do not know?
    When he arrived in Middlesex he called himself "John Leach" or "Jack" to his friends. He was a stone Mason/ Bricklayer by Trade. He never married while living in Hayes., but was with my grandmother from around 1940ish till he died in 1958

    The only info I have on him is; he was born in Yorkshire (somewhere around Halifax, Durham or Lancashire) between 1903-1906, He apparently had one sister. His real name is believed to be "John Sedgewick" or "Sedgwick" or "Sedjwick".
    I have searched the 1911 census for him, but until I can find out his father or mothers name... It has been unsuccessful.

    What I would really like to know is there anyway I can find out any info about the draft papers or which prison he done his time in.
    I have no living relatives on my dads side left alive to remember my grandfather other than my dad but sadly he was only 14 when his dad died, and does not remember much about him.

    If anyone could guide me in the right direction., I'd be very grateful.
    Thank you
    Mez

  • #2
    Hi,
    Welcome to FTF.
    You need to start by getting his full name. Is he named on your father's birth certificate? You say he never married your grandmother, how do you know that?
    Not sure whether you would find any papers relating to imprisonment and if you could you would need to know his proper name.
    Do you have any idea of his sister's name?
    The places you mention as to where he could have been born are vast areas of the country so it will be difficult to pin down his exact birth details from which you would find his parents names.
    Have you got his death certificate?
    Margaret

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    • #3
      If his death is the John Leach death registered Jan-Mar 1958 Uxbridge district then his age at death was given as 55, although of course that is only as accurate as the informant's knowledge. Do you know what day and month his birthday was?
      KiteRunner

      Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
      (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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      • #4
        Hi, I have just found out that he would of gone to prison around about 1947-48, a local prison.
        I have no other info on my grandfather other than where he was roughly born, and that it was between 1903-1906 as to the actual date & month i have no info on this.

        on his death certificate it does say that he died on 22 March 1958 age 55, but according to my uncle he was acctually 52 when he died not 55.


        I do know for sure that he never married my grandmother.

        On my fathers birth certificate the name of his father is written down as "John Leach" his chosen name, not his birth name.
        Thankyou
        Mez

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        • #5
          It might be worth looking to see if the newspaper for the area where he lived and was sent to prison has published any information about what happened. it would have been a good story to publish.
          If not maybe ask the local courts if they have any records they could open to you.

          It's going to be very difficult because of the name change to track his line back. For his birth place you give two towns in the Yorkshire area but then say Lancashire, do you have a town in Lancashire?

          How does your uncle know about the age discrepancy? is there anything left by way of family papers that could any clue as to his real name or place of birth.
          Margaret

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          • #6
            Just too young for WW1 and on the limit for WW11 conscription, he would have been 26 to 30 in 1939-40 and the limit was 27, I wonder if when he moved he pushed his age up to get out of being the oldest soldier on the field?

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            • #7
              I hoppe this doesn't sound rude, it's not meant to, but there is something a bit odd about this story.

              It would have been VERY difficult to avoid call-up during WW2, even living in a place like Middlesex. People would have been watching and talking, wondering why an apparently fit and able man hadn't been called up. Military Policemen and other patrols could have stopped and challenged him at any time. So unless he spent the whole war hidden in the attic, he was a VERY lucky man to have got away with it.

              I think your only hope at this point is to trawl through local papers and hope that something jumps out. It may not have been draft-dodging which sent him to prison!

              One tiny ray of hope - when people use aliases, they more often than not use a name which has some significance to them. Leach, therefore, might be his mother's maiden name - or perhaps the name of his legal wife?

              OC

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              • #8
                Probably stating the obvious, but have you looked on the Black Sheep index??

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Just Barbara View Post
                  Probably stating the obvious, but have you looked on the Black Sheep index??
                  Hi Barbara,
                  Thanks for posting this information I had not heard of this site before. A quick search doesn't reveal a John or Jack Leach, Sedgewick, Sedgwick or Sedjwick.
                  Margaret

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                  • #10
                    Margaret....................................

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