R. Dubery had a daughter in Bad Lippspringe, but he had to return to England.

Hello everyone, I'm looking for my wife's father, who is most likely deceased and virtually unknown. He was stationed as a British soldier in Bad Lippspringe near Paderborn in 1946 and 1947. His name was R.... Dubery (Ronald, Reginald, or something similar). Shortly after my wife's birth, he had to return to England. Apparently, he was an officer and originally from Manchester, or at least the surrounding area. Since I haven't been able to obtain any information about him through the British Army, and "R" is presumably no older than 116, I'm trying to find out something about him via various genealogical websites, or even to find him in the first place. Unfortunately, it's far too late for anyone to know him personally, but perhaps there are still documents from his time in Bad Lippspringe. Or can one of you give me some tips on what options there are to help me further in my search?

Best regards
Bernd

 

Welcome aboard,

Historic Steve is the member with knowledge about the deployment post-war in West Germany. Meantime if you search with the word Lippspringe it id's several threads on units posted there.

The name Dubery appears here, but they are all dead people during the war at a glance.

There was a possible match, Francis Reginald Dubery (121577), The Glider Pilot & Parachute Corps, Territorial Army; awarded the MBE in 1951 New Year Honours. From: 1951 New Year Honours - Wikipedia Big snag born in London 1893 and died there too in 1974. Too old for the photo and no Manchester link.

 

As he was an Officer his Commission should be listed on The Gazette.
The Gazette | Official Public Record
I did a search for his surname in date range 1939-1950.
There were a few hits. One of them might be him, which will give you a service number to work on.
Remember that officers had a different numbering system to Other Ranks.

 

Sadly, I've seen many similar enquiries on here over the years, relating to all nationalities, from service both here in UK and abroad. (Unfortunately some folks don't even have a surname to search for; sometimes the names could have different spellings/variations; sometimes names were possibly ... pseudonyms!)

However, news articles in recent years have referred to many successful searches using the DNA route - via the usual genealogy sites offering such services. Of course, any success depends on relatives, no matter how distant, not only also putting their results up on the systems but also being willing to get in contact or exchange information. This does, however, manage to circumnavigate any problems with traceable names, with lack of access to official records, etc.

I take it there's nothing otherwise helpful even in Familienstammbuch?

Good luck with your research.

 

Thanks David, I'd take him even if he wasn't from Manchester. But I've already found a photo of Francis Reginald. He looks completely different from my "biological father-in-law."

 

Thanks Owen, Here, as everywhere, you'll meet the lovely Francis Reginald.

 

Danke DBF,
das Problem mit ähnlichen Namen kenne ich auch.
Manchmal heißen auch Brüder im Stammbaum Dubery und der andere Dewbery..... Okay, aber irgendwie muss ich anfangen. Einen Dewbery habe ich im Zusammenhang mit Armee und Bad Lippspringe allerdings noch nie gefunden.
Über die DNA schiene gehe ich natürlich auch. Es gibt einige vielversprechende Spuren, die mich bereits bis Australien und wieder zurück geführt haben.
Trotz aller widerigkeiten macht es aber viel Spaß
Und wie man hier sagt: das Glück ist mit den Tüchtigen.....

 

sorry for the german reply.....
now once again:
Thanks DBF, I know the problem with similar names too. Sometimes brothers in the family tree are called Dubery and the other Dewbery..... Okay, but I have to start somewhere. I've never found a Dewbery in connection with the army and Bad Lippspringe, though. Of course, I'm also going down the DNA route. There are some promising leads that have already led me to Australia and back. Despite all the adversities, it's a lot of fun. And as they say here: fortune favors the hard-working.....

 

Genau

 

I don't know how far your research is, but there are apparently detailed confiscation lists for 95 houses in which British soldiers were housed

WWW.HIERGEBLIEBEN.DE
Maybe you can use them to find another clue about the officer you are looking for
I would also try my luck in the city archives in this regard

 

Thanks Itdan,
That's actually a new approach. Let's see if it works. I'll be back in Bali in about two weeks...