Help Wanted Please.
Posting this query on behalf of a colleague,
Belgian WW1 historian and retired educator, Claire Dujardin.
In 2016 Claire was contacted by Carolyn Webber, who stated she was an archivist and professional genealogist. She had seen an advertisement Claire had placed in Australian newspapers seeking access to photos, letters, diaries, postcards held by descendants of Australian servicemen billeted in Belgium post Armistice. Carolyn provided Claire with a photo of her grandfather, Lewis James Garfield FORD, 6676, of the 18th Battalion Band, and asked if Claire could help her identify the Belgian family he had posed with, and if possible locate any descendants.
Claire initially published in French, to share the results of her many years of research and the material kindly supplied by descendants of Aussie servicemen and their Belgian billeting families.
A few years later "Never Forgotten: The Australian Diggers in Charleroi, Belgium December 1918 - May 1919" was published in English in Perth WA in 2018 and the photo supplied by Carolyn, was used on the cover.
It was this 2018 edition, which Eric Bairiot saw on Armistice Day 2019 in Charleroi, Belgium, and recognising his Grandfather sitting beside the Aussie soldier, he advised Claire of his Grandfather's name: Oscar Bairiot.
So now having finally found a grandson of the Belgian family who billeted Aussie Digger Lewis James Garfield FORD, both Eric Bairiot and Claire Dujardin are keen to make contact with Ford's grand-daughter, Carolyn Webber, so the two families can reconnect after 100 years.
Sadly the email address Carolyn Webber used in 2016 and 2017 is no longer operable, and she gave no address or phone number to Claire.
The photograph supplied to Claire can be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2799941626690820&set=gm.2493051897683959&type=3&theater&ifg=1
CONTACT :
If any members of the archivist or genealogy profession know CarolynWebber,
could they please forward this message to her
and ask her to contact Claire Dujardin
Posting this query on behalf of a colleague,
Belgian WW1 historian and retired educator, Claire Dujardin.
Claire initially published in French, to share the results of her many years of research and the material kindly supplied by descendants of Aussie servicemen and their Belgian billeting families.
A few years later "Never Forgotten: The Australian Diggers in Charleroi, Belgium December 1918 - May 1919" was published in English in Perth WA in 2018 and the photo supplied by Carolyn, was used on the cover.
It was this 2018 edition, which Eric Bairiot saw on Armistice Day 2019 in Charleroi, Belgium, and recognising his Grandfather sitting beside the Aussie soldier, he advised Claire of his Grandfather's name: Oscar Bairiot.
So now having finally found a grandson of the Belgian family who billeted Aussie Digger Lewis James Garfield FORD, both Eric Bairiot and Claire Dujardin are keen to make contact with Ford's grand-daughter, Carolyn Webber, so the two families can reconnect after 100 years.
Sadly the email address Carolyn Webber used in 2016 and 2017 is no longer operable, and she gave no address or phone number to Claire.
The photograph supplied to Claire can be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2799941626690820&set=gm.2493051897683959&type=3&theater&ifg=1
CONTACT :
If any members of the archivist or genealogy profession know CarolynWebber,
could they please forward this message to her
and ask her to contact Claire Dujardin
either via email on
or via Facebook Private Messenger on
https://www.facebook.com/claire.dujardin
Any assistance would be gratefully received.
Thank You.
Alison McCallum
BA DipEd (Macq) retired
Brisbane, Australia.
e-mail: mccallumalison8@gmail.com
MOB 0400 063 718
https://www.facebook.com/claire.dujardin
Any assistance would be gratefully received.
Thank You.
Alison McCallum
BA DipEd (Macq) retired
Brisbane, Australia.
e-mail: mccallumalison8@gmail.com
MOB 0400 063 718
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