I HAVE recently discovered from an 1891 Census entry that my maternal great grandfather, John Thomas Pitt, was born in Kidderminster in 1858.

When he joined the Wolverhampton Branch of the Amalgamated Society of House Decorators and Painters on September 8, 1894, however, he was 34 years and six months old, which gives a birth year nearer 1860.

John married a Hannah Gray from Wiltshire, between 1881 and 1884. They emigrated to Canada where their first child Maude Gray Pitt was born.

The family, with additional offspring Thomas James Pitt, Frances Pitt and Blanche May Pitt, returned to Walsall in 1890 where a daughter Florence Gertrude Pitt was born. They settled in Wolverhampton around 1892.

I wonder whether these names mean anything to your readers. I really would like to find out more about John's Kidderminster origins.

DEREK THOM

11 Northfield Grove

Wolverhampton

n I am trying to trace relatives of an Albert Joseph Smith, born on May 19, 1915 at 16 South Street, Kidderminster.

His parents were Albert Smith, who was a house painter, and Ada Gittings (or Gettings). Both were from the Sedgley area, in Staffordshire.

I would be most grateful for any information regarding these, as I have hit a brick wall in my research.

MRS WENDY BRISCOE

21 Eden Drive

James Reckitt Avenue

Hull HU8 8JQ