Update on the Hunt for Kenneth C. Howard

N.B. See my February 12, 2017 blog for a break in the search for Kenneth C. Howard

Two small notebooks are contained in one of the Josef Jakobs folders (KV 2/27) at the National Archives in Kew, England. Both notebooks seem to be the property of one Kenneth C. Howard from Birmingham. They were sent to MI5 by the Birmingham Police in June 1941, but the only spy connection seems to be a reference to Karl Theodore Druecke. Nowhere in the MI5 files on Josef Jakobs is there any mention of these notebooks nor any questions around Kenneth C. Howard. Unfortunately the Druecke files were heavily weeded - so no help there.

I've done several blogs on Kenneth and his little notebooks:

Who is Kenneth C. Howard?

The Mystery of the Two Notebooks and a Boy named Kenneth C. Howard

The Mysterious Diary of Kenneth C. Howard

Kenneth C. Howard's Little Black Book

A few weeks ago, a couple of comments were left on the second blog offering some genealogical threads that might help track down Kenneth. The most promising seemed to be the idea of looking at the electoral lists for Birmingham and examining the address of 17 Evelyn Road - the address given in one of Kenneth's notebooks.

I did some digging and pulled up the electoral registers for 1930, 1935 and 1939. The registers are definitely not well indexed but after a bit of hunting, I found 17 Evelyn Road:

1930 Electoral Register - Birmingham - 17 Evelyn Road

1935 Electoral Register - Birmingham - 17 Evelyn Road

1939 Electoral Register - Birmingham - 17 Evelyn Road

Alas - 17 Evelyn Road had different occupants for each sweep of the Electoral Register - none of which included any Howards. Unfortunate.

It is, of course, possible, that the family have lived there in between those snapshots in time. Or even that they moved into the house after 1939.

So, this appears to be a dead-end. On the other hand, it made me think of the 1939 National Registration database. Apparently though, one needs a name as well as an address to get information - all for the princely sum of 43 GBP.

So the hunt for Kenneth C. Howard continues...