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Some Wikipedia errors

Started by Max Turner, 24 March, 2024, 12:28:12 AM

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Max Turner

Lin Johnson's DOB should be 5 September 1913 in Quirindi, NSW. His full name was Lindsay Adolphus Johnson. He was the brother of Dick Johnson.

Tom Haywood should be Hayward. He was born 14 July 1913 in Tweed Heads, NSW, and died on 20 August 1989. His full name is Thomas William Hayward. Tom Hayward and Percy Fairall were brothers-in-law.
↪ His name is sometimes Tom Haywood, but I'd say the majority of sources are Hayward, including the genealogy records. I'm curious if he is 'Haywood' in Whiticker's work as the Wikipedia page references it without mentioning the discrepancy.
↪ And perhaps an interesting note for his page because Google brings up a handful of results for his father: Son of skiff champion William "Billo" Hayward.

Charles Rice was born 14 March 1909 in Bexley, NSW, and died on 1 April 1962. His full name was Charles Frederick Rice Jnr.

Stan Robinson was born 4 April 1911 in Brisbane, Qld, and died on 28 April 1995. His full name was Stanley Herbert Robinson.

Robert Grotte died on 15 December 1964. His full name was Robert Michael Grotte.
↪ Just a comment on his DOB: A DOB of 11 December 1913 was added to his Wikipedia page by an anonymous user on 27 March 2020. This now also appears on the NZRL site, but I fear the Wikipedia addition pre-dates it... Would it be possible to put something like "DOB uncertain, circa 1912 or 1913" onto his profile? (His age is slightly inconsistent between being 26 when the Kiwis toured in June 1938 and 51 when he died in December 1964). I haven't found Robert's birth record so it makes it harder to combat the potential misinformation by putting the correct date on RLP.
↪ Robert's parents were likely Michael Grotte (or Grotto) and Alice Sulikova (or Suslicova), both Russians, who were unmarried and faced difficulties being 'aliens' in NZ (see here, here and here). Their other son William was born in 1916 but his birth was not registered until 1930. Robert's birth could either be unregistered, or under some spelling variation which makes it difficult to find (the NZ BDM site doesn't seem to allow wildcard searches to catch spelling variations, which is a pain).
↪ Anyway, there's definitely an interesting story to be told there. But it might require putting some $ into buying records to learn more. There's an editor on Wikipedia who is prolific for writing NZ RL biographies, but he hasn't really added much for Robert. Perhaps they're struggling to find information too.

GregRLP

#1
I have updated these.

Whiticker's Encyclopedia & Collis' AtoZ both list Tom as Haywood also I added a note about his father.

Robert Grotte I have added notes that his DOB is uncertain also the story about his parents.

Also a W Grotte probably Robert's brother William played with him for the Marist Brothers team against the touring Combined Sydney City team in 1939 at  Auckland.

Max Turner

#2
Yes, good catch, W Grotte (William) would be Robert's brother. William was born 29 June 1916 and died 16 April 1976.

Also with the note you put on Robert's page, I apologise for my typo. It should read "Alice Suslikova (or Suslicova)" instead of Sulikova.