My grandfather is a complete mystery! He married my grandmother Elizabeth Williams in Pontardulais , near Swansea , Wales in 1913, he gave his age as 40 , said he was a bachelor , he was a labourer. He gave his father's name as William James warner , horse dealer. William was illiterate . There were no other Warners mentioned.
William and Elizabeth had 4 children, William James 1914 , Sophia Edith 1916 , Edward Francis born February 1920 and Walter Charles born 1917 died 1918. Elizabeth died in 1920.
My mother thought he said he'd been born in Banbury (no trace ), that he'd been a cook in the Boer war (no trace ). She said he had a strange way of talking - he said " come and get thy Vittles" when calling them for food. He found his surviving children jobs and lodgings when they were 14 and then disappeared. I cannot find record of his death.
Since first writing this journal I have been told that William's father , who's occupation on the marriage certificate was horse dealer , would have been a traveller , or gypsy , moving from town to town which will explain why William my grandfather signed his name with an X at his marriage and why they do not appear on censuses.