Chapelgirl

Hello all!

Are there any budding Sherlock Holmes's living near Seville?

We are living in France and I have started to trace my family tree. One branch of the family moved from Yorkshire to New Zealand in the late 1800s but I have come across a newspaper cutting online which says that one of the sons was missing for the last 4 years but his parents had had a letter from the British Consulate in Seville Spain to say that he had accidentally drowned there in May 1908!

None of my other contacts have so far been able to find out what he was even doing in Spain, let alone how he drowned, or where he is buried.

I have emailed the British Consulate, and I have had a look online for old Spanish newspapers (I speak a bit of Spanish), but other than that I do not know where to start.

Do any of you know if there are British cemetaries or anything in Seville? Although he was born in New Zealand it is likely he was buried by (and therefore with) the British. Is there an equivalent of the Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths which I could make inquiries with?

Nige

May be a 'red herring' but one of the largest employers in the area at the end of the 19th beginning of 20th C was Rio Tinto. They had big mining operations west of Seville in Huelva province. There was a large 'expat' population and in fact football came to be introduced into the Iberian peninsular because of the Rio Tinto activities. I presume that there was a company record made of all employees during those days - maybe this may help ?

jackytoo

There are Archives of the Foreign Office which would probably include any incidents such as that. Normally they would be in the public records dept. Maybe try googling.

Carol&John

There is a British cemetery in Huelva.

olivia

Also the British community at Bellavista where the mines are. There is/was an English Church. Not sure if there is a cemetery there. The old hospital is the museum it has some records. Could he have drowned in a mine? It was open cast, but primative and subject to flooding.

jackytoo

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...accessmethod=0


Says here the records are held in the national Archives at Kew.

olivia

[QUOTE=jackytoo;8442980]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...accessmethod=0

A long Shot but try it!

Chapelgirl

[QUOTE=olivia;8443006] Thanks for the links. I have had a go, but sadly no luck. However, I will try and follow up some of the other leads you have all given me. Many thanks to all.