Re: Ancestry of Raoul Moat

On 10 Jul 2010 at 13:10, Frank Erskine wrote:

On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:36:06 +0100, "Roy Stockdill"
<roy.stockdill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Like everyone else, I imagine, I have been following the drama of the
hunt for the gunman Raoul Moat, which ended with him shooting
himself. I was particularly interested because I had ancestors from
Rothbury, the little Northumberland town where it all unfolded.
Specifically, a gt-gt-grandmother called Frances Rachel Potts (b
c1834) and her father, David Potts, who was a baker in Rothbury for
many years.I've never been there but I gather it's a lovely little
town surrounded by beautiful countryside. What the residents must
have gone through in recent days hardly bears thinking about.

I'm interested in this too; a fourth cousin of mine married an Allan
Moat in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1919. Perhaps they were his
grandparents.

No doubt his (Raoul's) full history will emerge in due course. >

I only delved into the online GRO indexes and have not followed up with certificates -
not had the time and I'm not sufficiently interested, anyway, to justify spending the
money.

However, I have reason to believe from the indexes that his grandparents were
probably ATHOL EDWARD MOAT and ELSIE ISABEL ROLLO, who were married in
the March quarter of 1935 at Newcastle. Both can be found in the 1911 census, Athol
having been born in 1902 and Elsie in 1909. Athol seems to be a somewhat unusual
forename and Moat's mother named her eldest son Angus Athol Moat.

If you find Athol Edward Moat in 1911 you will also see Raoul Moat's presumed great-
grandfather Roger, who was born at Newcastle in 1848 - so where the alleged French
Connection came from I have no idea. The Daily Mirror even reported that it was
feared he had fled to the Continent as he had a French mother. So much for the
quality of news reporting today! It seems to have declined sadly and I blame the
internet - there is so much pressure on young journalists to get the news onto the
website long before it goes in the paper that they don't bother to do checks any more.

Oh - and just in case anyone feels compelled to raise the issue of privacy and living
people (one person did with me privately, albeit very politely) I should point out that
Josephine Moat, the mother, invaded her own privacy by giving extensive interviews to
the media and supplying them with copious copies of photos of her sons.

--
Roy Stockdill
Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about."
OSCAR WILDE



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Ringby and the "same city effect"
    ... mother does not love. ... I hope Mr Moat doesn't shoot me for getting his first name wrong. ... Apparently Paul Gascoigne thinks he's a friend of Mr Moat. ...
    (uk.railway)
  • Re: Ringby and the "same city effect"
    ... mother does not love. ... I hope Mr Moat doesn't shoot me for getting his first name wrong. ... Apparently Paul Gascoigne thinks he's a friend of Mr Moat. ...
    (uk.railway)