Help! I've been stupid

Post by **AnneM** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:49 am

Hi all

This is a heartfelt cry for someone to try and dig me out of a hole of my own making!

The story runs thus: one evening possibly quite late I was googling away idly as I sometimes do and came across a site listing officers from the Royal Marines. Among them was the name of 2nd Lieutenant Whitfield Boorne Biggs. Now the combination of names means that he is a collateral of my husband's Corfe family with whom I am seriously obsessed. He must have been born around the mid C18. Indeed he figures as a beneficiary in the will of his grandmother Anne Boorne or Bourne.

What I did not do and I cannot think of any excuse for this is to bookmark the site or note the link anywhere....

I'm sure I can't even blame alcohol.

Now I can't find the site anywhere at all.

WBB does not seem to figure on TNA index so this is the only mention I have of his being in the marines.

Is there anyone out there who is better at searching than I am who can locate this site and poor old Whitfield for me?

My gratitude will be never ending.

Anne

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:13 pm

Hello Anne,

Getting nowhere fast on this one. Is it possible the full name was on an image rather than in a searchable text form? i.e. something like a newspaper, gazette or directory.

A Google for "biggs whitfield" brought up this Will reference, but it might be to do with the one you have. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/heritag ... p?id=39288

Alan

Post by **emanday** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:37 pm

I've tried every trick I know on Google and came up with nothing as well.

Like Alan says, if it was on an image it's "hidden" from the search engines.

Have you tried looking at your surfing history (if you haven't cleared it since then)? If you are using IE7 it is the gold star at the far left of the tabs.

Post by **AnneM** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:39 pm

Thanks for trying Alan. The infuriating thing is that I must have found it by searching on at least one part of his name as I had no idea he had anything to do with the Marines. I wonder if the site has closed down in the short time since I found and lost it again.

I've not looked at Whitfield's own will yet, as the Wiltshire Wills project has already been considerably enriched by me and I'm hoping for a trip down to the new facility for the Wiltshire Record Office, which is opening in Chippenham soon. Chippenham is nice and near Bath so I feel a break in Bath coming on possibly in the Spring. I've got so many records to look for there OPRs, MIs and all that I can hardly wait.

Whitfield Boorne Biggs is a cousin of some of husband David's Corfe family, and in particular his 4x great grandfather James Corfe an apothecary.

I've just found another Corfe, this time a more distant relative, who was born in Winchester and served as a surgeon with the Union Army in the American Civil War. That family got around.

Anne

alex19canteen · Post by **alex19canteen** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:40 pm

Got a snap with Alan's' find: http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/heritag ... n=Bramshaw

I'm honestly gutted I got pipped to the post

grannysrock · Post by **grannysrock** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:56 pm

Is this it ?

www.rmhs.co.uk/a-g.htm
This came up on msn search not google !

Sallt

Post by **emanday** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:00 pm

By George - I think she's got it! (Hopefully)

Maybe I'll start using MSN search as well for Google failures.

Post by **AnneM** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:34 pm

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. The page is now bookmarked so that I can't lose it again and I'll be looking into it some more!!

Anne

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:43 pm

Great find Sally,

I just tried that search on some of the other search engines and the only one, apart from MSN, that got the result was IXQUICK which is a Metasearch engine which apparently pools results from other search engines. It found the MSN UK one.

I’ll have to keep that in mind as a backup for similar situations.

Alan