S08EP03 - "The Collier" with Adam Simpson-York

It's a special delivery in today's episode from Series Eight, as host Andrew Martin meets family history and military history researcher, champion eBayer, and postman, Adam Simpson-York. Andrew finds out how Adam got hooked on researching family history, how he has honed his research skills that enable him to buy family heirlooms on auction sites and then trace their living relatives, allowing him to reunite them with their descendants, and hears about his letters from a Queen.

THE LIFE STORY - DAVID EDWARD ELLIS
Adam has chosen to tell the story of his Great Grandfather David Edward Ellis, who was born in Shotton Colliery, Durham, England in 1907.

David's father William was a coal miner, originally from Wales, and this was an occupation that was synonymous with the village of Shotton Colliery - David's brother worked in the mine, and David followed suit. At the time of David's marriage in 1929 in London, he's still noted as a coal miner.

David later served in World War Two as a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps' 18th Division Transport Company. He was captured and was forced to march with 7,000 men a distance of 290km during the wet season to Songkurai, Thailand, where he contracted cholera and died of this and tropical ulcers. His remains were exhumed and re-buried in Burma (now Myanmar).

News of his death took a very long time to reach home, and whilst a lack of letters may have hinted towards his demise, the eventual news deeply affected his son for the rest of his life.

THE BRICK WALL - THOMAS TYLER
It's a research puzzle involving his wife's Great Grandfather Thomas Tyler that has Adam stuck for ideas.

Adam knows when Thomas died, and when he married, but there's ambiguity surrounding his date of birth (circa 1910-1912), and there's also a family rumour that Thomas Tyler wasn't his real name, and a rumour that he was a minder for London gangster Jack 'The Hat' McVitie. Tantalising isn't it?

Adam's mother-in-law is going to take a DNA test to try to help solve this, but can you help Adam to identify a birth record for him? Was he really 'Thomas Tyler' or was that a pseudonym to protect his real identity during or after a potential gangster involvement? Was his father, as stated in marriage records, also 'Thomas Tyler' or did he simply not know who his father was and made it up? Can you help solve this brick wall?

If you think you can help Adam with a research clue or idea, then you can contact him via his Medals Going Home profiles on Facebook, Twitter, or BlueSky, or alternatively you can send us a message and we'll pass it along.

Meanwhile, Adam has concerns that despite their offer of help, Andrew and Sándor won't be able to deliver him to the church on time...

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Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Adam Simpson-York - Guest
• John Spike - Sándor Petőfi

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:55 The Interview - Adam Simpson-York
• 18:21 The Life Story - David Edward Ellis
• 28:32 The Brick Wall - Thomas Tyler
• 37:07 The Departure