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A fact from Ernest Prestwich appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 May 2024 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that Harrogate War Memorial, by Ernest Prestwich, names 1163 casualties of the First and Second World Wars, of whom more than 300 have unknown graves, and the youngest was 15 years old?
This is based on primary records so we can't correct the article unless a reliable secondary source can be found to confirm it.
The genealogy site FindMyPast has made some errors in transcribing the marriage records for Chippenham Q4 1880 so has wrongly identified his mother. It looks like the Architects of Greater Manchester website which we have used has picked up this error. The people whose marriages are recorded on Vol 5A, page 123 are James Caldwell Prestwich, George Smith, Georgina Webb and Sophia Yeeles / Yules. The people whose marriages are recorded on Vol 5A, page 138 are William Colliss, Catherine Agnes Salter, Matilda Slade and Robert Weakely / Weakley. From later census records, we know his mother was Georgina.
The birth registrations of Ernest and his siblings in the new General Register Office index confirm that his mother's maiden name was Webb though the GRO has made its own errors, recording some of their last names as Prestwick.
Thank you. You are right. This is the reason why I am always suspicious of genealogical information repeated in secondary sources. They so often lazily calculate the birth year from the age at death (so it can be a year out) and copy wrong information from others, as you have said. And this is the reason why I now always put primary sources in the notes, just to check up on the secondary sources. As you will see from the edit summary, I have checked up on the GRO index for Prestwich's father's marriage and for Prestwich's birth, which as you say is listed under "Prestwick" on the GRO website. So now we have both sets of information on the article page, which should allow others to research further, should they wish to. I shall now go ahead and purchase the marriage cert of the father, and the birth cert of Prestwich. As far as I am concerned, that should cover it (the combination of James Caldwell Prestwich's unusual name with his profession, and the birth date of the son Ernest being unusual enough to confirm the facts, in my opinion). I shall put the results in the notes, only, as I have done today. I should add that I did also search for James Caldwell Prestwich's marriage in the British Newspaper Archive, without success. Storye book (talk) 15:54, 12 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
