I now have in my possession the Saul GRO indexes for births and marriages covering the years 1901 to 1925. Many thanks to Tony and his gallant band of helpers. Work is ongoing and we will eventually have them covering all years from 1837 to 1950. As we knew they would, these indexes have proved invaluable and you will see references to the indexes are a recurring theme throughout this report.

One major advantage of the indexes is that it enables me to respond much more positively to enquiries, particularly those that have only limited information. A recent example would be an enquiry I received from Paula Saul who wrote, “My husband is trying to trace his family tree and we have little or no information. About all we know is that Harry Saul (the name may have been altered) came from England and married Gertrude in New York and settled in the Chicago area”.

After checking the GRO birth indexes and finding the most likely entries I was able to respond as follows:

“Dec 1904 quarter, Harry Saul, Registration District Warwick, Vol 6d Page 659

This entry appears to relate to a Harry Saul born at Leamington Spa, Warwickshire on 3 October 1904, the son of Henry Saul and Emily (nee Busson). If this turns out to be your husband's ancestor then I have a family tree that will take the pedigree back many generations.

There was another Harry Saul in the March 1903 quarter in the registration district of Preston, Lancashire. I am not immediately able to tell you who this Harry is but the Preston Sauls have been substantially researched and it would not take to much further research to tie him into one of the family trees”.

Lloyd Saul has joined the Society. Lloyd first came to my attention from a message that he posted on the Saul Family Genealogy Forum. This web site is largely USA dominated but I monitor messages and pick up on those where I can assist.

Lloyd, who lives in Saskatchewan, Canada, enquired about an Albert Saul who emigrated to Canada in 1904, and returned to England in 1910 to marry Jane Gorton at Walton-le-Dale, Lancs. A newspaper article indicated that Arthur was born at Preston in 1880. This information makes it fairly certain that Albert was the Albert born in 1879 at Preston the son of William Saul and Alice Sumner. This would mean Lloyd was related to Trevor Saul who is a descendant of Albert’s brother William. Another strong indication of the connection is that Lloyd has a note about a Thomas Saul who died in France in 1916 (though relationship to Albert was not known). From Trevor’s information I was able to advise that William had a son Thomas Pemberton Saul who had died on 9 August 1916 from wounds that he had received at the Battle of the Somme on 31 July 1916. I have given Lloyd the GRO references for Albert’s birth and marriage to make absolutely sure that we have the correct Albert.

An interesting enquiry was received from Nicholas Saul who was following up on research done by his cousin Roger. The family tale is that their Sauls are of Hugenot descent and Nicholas is keen to establish if this is correct. Nicholas grandfather was Francis Jonathon Saul born in Stamford Hill in 1896 and who died in Enfield in 1950. He was the eldest of eight children. His parents were William Jonathon Saul (1870 – 1939) and Rose Thornton (1862 – 1945). I found this William as a 10 year old in the 1881 census at Bethnal Green. His mother was shown as Annie, a widow aged 30. Nicholas had told me that William’s parents were William James Townsend Saul (1846 – 1937) and Ann Axford ( 1849 - ?). Clearly there is a discrepancy here as to the date of death of the father. The GRO death indexes show a possible entry for Annie’s husband William in the June 1876 quarter.

The GRO birth indexes showed a William James Townsend Saul in 1846 in the Shoreditch district. This ties in with a Shoreditch household in 1851, which includes William (age 5). William is shown as a grandson of the head of the household Jonathon Saul, aged 50 years, a butcher’s assistant. All are stated as born in Shoreditch. It is not clear from this who William’s parents are though Nicholas tells me that on his marriage certificate (1869 Bethnal Green) the father is given as William.

Nicholas is now trying to fill in the missing gaps and hopes to take the ancestry back further, to prove or otherwise the Hugenot connection

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