Welcome to the Family Tree of the
Allied Clans of Leader and Gurney
UPDATE SUNDAY MARCH 8 2020
I had the great pleasure on Monday of spending a few hours with one of my Canadian Cousins and Cousins-in-Law during their brief trip to New Zealand. It was great to re-connect and of course genealogy was part of the conversation! A lot has happened since the 2017 public launch of this website and I’d been meaning to update it for some time. In the end though, it was their refusal to believe me when I explained:
“It started with a cow...”
which prompted me to do this update. So here you are Cuzzies – I've added the Background and the cow which started it all off. 8-)
ANZAC DAY – APRIL 25 2017
After several rounds of consultation with our New Zealand-based family this website was approved for public release at Christmas 2016. I’ve spent the intervening time “tidying up” the site and today seems an auspicious day to honor our ancestors as both sides of the family served in “the Great War”. Clan Gurney was largely based in urban areas in Hertfordshire, England and many men went to front. Clan Leader had immigrated to Canada in the early-mid 1800’s and settled the frontier so was largely based on the land in Ontario and Manitoba Canada. Most continued to raise the crops and livestock which fed the war effort. The women in both cases maintained the “Home Front”.
Known Military Service
Clan Gurney:
• George Gurney 1885-1968 (Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Private, 1914-19, Egypt, Palestine, Salonika)
• Fred Horwood 1898-1954 (France, lied about age when enlisted – actually c. 14-15, gassed)
• Fred Hill b. abt 1891 (WWI service c. 1916; double amputee – legs)
• Roland Hill b. After 1891 (WWI service c. 1916; double amputee – legs)
• Stanley Edward B Cater 1897-1947 (Enlisted age 17, Royal Garrison Artillery, Gunner, 1914-1917)
Clan Leader:
• Henry George (Harry) Leader MP 1879-1946 (Canadian Army 1914-18)
• Gordon MacKenzie b. Abt 1900 (Europe)
• Frederick Tarn 1883-1957 (Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force - Railway Construction Company 1917)
Lest We Forget
INTRODUCTION – as at April 25 2017
You'll see a row of Tabs at the top of the page – each one of these leads into a different way of viewing the database. Each one starts with a short explanation of its contents. You move around the information by clicking on a letter, name, sentence, or picture. (Use the “Back” button or one of the Tabs at the top of the page if you get lost!)
• The “Individuals” tab lets you search for a particular person by name.
• “Surnames” groups individuals by their last/family/surname.
• “Media” is a list of all supporting materials – mostly photos at this stage.
• “Thumbnails” gives you a quick look at all the media in the database.
Most people have an “ancestry” or family tree at the end of their Individual page – clicking on an ancestor's box will take you through to their listing.
Where a picture appears at the top of an individual's page it has likely been cropped – the full original picture can be found near the end of the page under 'Media'.
In creating the pages I started with our own 'family history' documents such as written family trees and narratives – you'll see these listed under 'Sources'. I've then followed up by finding supporting documents such as Government Censuses – these are listed under "Sources". My research has drawn on the work of many other family historians when I needed to fill gaps etc. These family trees are noted as relevant.
The first/given names of the people in our direct line of descent have been CAPITALIZED for your convenience.
No names are listed for people still living – family members can probably work them out – you can contact me on the email address below for further information.
N.B.1. Children of the people born in the 1950s-1960s are not listed at all to protect their privacy.
N.B.2. Any names which start with a question mark (?) have good supporting documentation which makes them very likely but not proven, so should be treated as probable but speculative. If the people higher in the tree don't have a question mark it means that the upwards links are proven. If there are two question marks (??) the person has supporting documentation but it is more speculative.
This Family Tree has been created using “Gramps”, an Open Source Genealogy program.
Enjoy!
SJ Leader
leader AT leader DOT gen DOT nz