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I’m searching for information on my Father  Kenneth Walter Clarke. I’m 76 and never met him. Info I have so far. Early sixties could have been the manager of the Variety club. An old friend of mine who has now sadly passed used to sing at the Variety club, Sam Souter. Sam married his wife Beryl, Sam told  me my Father sorted the reception out at the Variety club. I went down to the club this was years ago, the guy who opened the door to me was a big guy with a beard, he told me Ken Clarke had left and gone to Bristol. I have searched a long time with many dead ends. I am told he was a very smart man, always suited up and had pure white hair.

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This may or may not be your man , the timing seems about right (in 1944) but its a fairly common name so could be anyone.
 
 
Nottingham Man for Trial At Nottingham Guildhall yesterday.
A  former - Nottingham grocery stores manager. Kenneth Walter Clarke, now a sergeant In the Army, of Haverhill. Suffolk, was committed for trial at Birmingham Asslzes on a charge of bigamy.....he said "I realised I have done wrong and I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience I have caused " Pleaded guilty. 
03 March 1944 - Nottingham Journal - Nottingham
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Vic if you feel the above reply may be your father and you would sooner it not be public , I am sure an admin can remove the reply 

 

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Vic you seem to indicate that the Kenneth W Clarke in the court case mentioned above is yours . 

 

There was another report of the same case that said Kenneth was aged 26 ( in 1944) . 

This computes to him being born in 1918 .

 

Moving forward to the wartime 1939 Register there was a Kenneth W Clarke , a grocery manager living on Carlton Road with a Skellington family .

This register doesn't give any relationships between residents within a property and he may have just been a lodger there ? (His occupation does match the later court case.)

Fortunately the Register does give a date of birth .12th Feb 1918 .

 

I am sure you realise that given this date of birth it's  likely your father may have passed on .

 

Indeed there is a death in the registers for a Kenneth Walter Clarke in the 4th Qtr of 1987 in Truro district , quite a way further West than Bristol that you mentioned in another message .

However the death record does give his date of birth as 12th Feb 1918 , matching that given in 1939.

 

Of course this is all circumstantial , the "Kenneth W" in 1939 could have had a different middle name and the "Kenneth Walter" in 1987 could have jetted in from some other place on the planet and just happened to have the same date of birth. 

 

Sending for his death cert may give further details such as where he lived and who reported the death but there's no guarantee it's the right man .

 

Good luck !

 

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This is certainly turning into a fascinating story. You've got to watch these grocery managers, haven't you? 

 

I have always thought that, certainly in an age before computers and data sharing, bigamous marriages must have been fairly common. 

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1 hour ago, DAVIDW said:

Moving forward to the wartime 1939 Register there was a Kenneth W Clarke , a grocery manager living on Carlton Road with a Skellington family .

 

That's a fairly unusual surname, but there was a Skellington family in Gedling/Carlton who've been mentioned quite a lot here.

 

https://nottstalgia.com/forums/search/?q=skellington

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Yes Cliff Ton ,I  thought the same thing when I saw the Skellington name .

It's been mentioned elsewhere  I.e. the barbers in Gedling.

Actually there was also a Wilkins name within that Carlton Rd address and one of the Wilkins names had been amended to read Skellington .

Whether those names will mean anything to Vic I don't know .

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On 11/4/2019 at 7:32 PM, DAVIDW said:

Vic you seem to indicate that the Kenneth W Clarke in the court case mentioned above is yours . 

 

There was another report of the same case that said Kenneth was aged 26 ( in 1944) .  This computes to him being born in 1918 .

 

Moving forward to the wartime 1939 Register there was a Kenneth W Clarke , a grocery manager living on Carlton Road with a Skellington family .

This register doesn't give any relationships between residents within a property and he may have just been a lodger there ? (His occupation does match the later court case.)  Fortunately the Register does give a date of birth .12th Feb 1918 .

 

I am sure you realise that given this date of birth it's  likely your father may have passed on .

 

Indeed there is a death in the registers for a Kenneth Walter Clarke in the 4th Qtr of 1987 in Truro district , quite a way further West than Bristol that you mentioned in another message . However the death record does give his date of birth as 12th Feb 1918 , matching that given in 1939.

 

Of course this is all circumstantial , the "Kenneth W" in 1939 could have had a different middle name and the "Kenneth Walter" in 1987 could have jetted in from some other place on the planet and just happened to have the same date of birth. 

Thank you, my birth certificate does show the army reference and indeed storekeeper.

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