Obituary For A Past National Grand Master ?

[Guest Rick Research]

Is there any data base/organizational necrology that might list the date and place of death of this fellow, who retired as Grand Master of Sierra Leone in 1953?

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=706

He was apparently still alive in 1964, and I suspect retired "back home" from Sierra Leone after being in that area since 1915.

[wm5806]

Is there any data base/organizational necrology that might list the date and place of death of this fellow, who retired as Grand Master of Sierra Leone in 1953?

<a href="http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=706" target="_blank">http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=706</a>

He was apparently still alive in 1964, and I suspect retired "back home" from Sierra Leone after being in that area since 1915.

Hi Rick

Not sure how much I can find for you, but the first mention I find is that Lt Col Frederick George Winward CBE was appointed as District Grand Master for Sierra Leone on 7 Dec 1949, resigning the office in 1953. He was, prior to this appointment, Grand Inspector for the District from 1938-1949, so I suspect that they just 'upgraded' the highest office for the District from District Grand Inspector to District Grand Master.

Winward is listed in the 1972 yearbook, but not in that for 1982-83, so he probably died (or resigned his membership) in the intervening period.

Will keep digging...

Regards

Richard

[Guest Rick Research]

That is GREAT information, THANKS! As a genealogist, I just can't sleep until I have the "conclusion" to an attributed item, like his tunic.

Since he was born in 1893, chances are in that 10 year gap he did die. Was there an address (City only) listed for him in '72? I just assume he finally left the west coast of Africa in '53, having lived there for almost 40 years.

[wm5806]

Hi Rick

Regret no address given at all.

Have checked the British records of births, marriages and deaths for the 1970s and 1980s, but cannot find a mention of him, so suspect that he died overseas. Cannot see any similar records for Sierra Leone on the web - do you have any genealogical contacts there?

I may have access to a full set of yearbooks in the near future and will check to see when he drops off the radar then.

Regards

Richard

[Guest Rick Research]

Only the Mormons and there's nothing with them.

[wm5806]

Only the Mormons and there's nothing with them.

Yes, their records are less than comprehensive for the UK, so wouldn't expect a great deal from them in S.L.

Any genealogical societies there?

R

[Guest Rick Research]

Not that I can see for scions of Britannia. Things have changed there.

[wm5806]

Winward is listed in the 1972 yearbook, but not in that for 1982-83, so he probably died (or resigned his membership) in the intervening period.

I may have access to a full set of yearbooks in the near future and will check to see when he drops off the radar then.

Hi Rick

Have just returned from our library where there's a good run of yearbooks for the period in which you're interested.

F.G. Winward continued to be listed in the United Grand Lodge of England's yearbook as a subscribing member right through to the yearbook for 1975, but he was absent from the 1976/1977 book. So, he either died in 1974, after the data had been collected for the book, but before the cutoff for the 1976/1977 book (most likely), OR he could have resigned his membership during this same period and died later. However, given his high rank and position within our Grand Lodge, I suspect that he would not have resigned, but this is only a guess.

Having narrowed it down a bit, I have just gone through the Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths for around then and found an entry for Frederick George Winward (born 20 Feb 1893), whose death was registered in the last quarter of 1974 at Cuckfield, West Sussex (between London and Brighton).

Hope that helps,

Richard

[Guest Rick Research]

Indeed it does!

That is just absolutely PERFECT--

a long, hard, incredibly interesting life is now completely accounted for, birth to death: Malta, to West Africa, to London (where his forgotten tunic came out of a military tailor's long term dead storage area) to West Sussex to the wilds of New England.

You've just provided the final chapter that's been missing for years.

MANY thanks! Rick