Sir,
My grandfather, William Cassell was a British subject who worked in India,
specifically - Kolar Gold Fields, South India. As the name suggests, this
is a mining town and he worked there as a covenanted officer. The company
was handed over to the Indian Government in the mid 40's and official
records on my grandfather's employment and UK contacts are impossible to
find. My mother, Gladys Cassell born in 1923 was the child of his union
with a Tamilian lady Kanickamarie. Apparently my grandfather travelled to
the U.K. sometime around 1930 - supposedly on holiday after many years when
she was about 7 or 8 yrs old, leaving her as a paying boarder under the
care of nuns at St. Joseph's Convent in Bangalore for the sole reason that
she had a western upbringing with my grandmother free to visit her whenever
she wanted. My grandfather died in the U.K. and the company paid my
mother's fees and took care of all my grandmother's fees as directed by my
grandfather, but his contemporar!
!
y officers and friends at the company did not give out any information due
to my grandmother's lack of English and my mother's youth and I by the
time my mother grew up to ask questions his colleagues had left, the war
began and she got into army nursing. There were just vague details for us
to fall back on. My mother died last year and now my sister and I as well
as our children and grandchildren are keen to know their ties - my younger
son is making up a family tree of sorts. Would it be possible to track
down the last days or months of my grandfather's life? I have been working
in Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf from 1976 and would like my grandchildren to
know their roots, if possible.
I would appreciate any help or advice you can give me on how to go about
this search.
Thank you
Pamela C. Ambrose