Talk:George Yeomans Pocock

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Kusskedp in topic Birthplace of subject

Middle name of subject edit

As the original author of the article I wish to thank Unknowntouncertain and others who have repeatedly changed the middle name of Mr. Pocock from "Yeomans" to "Yeoman." Most of the popular literature refers to his middle name in the singular. However, as his grandson-in-law, I can attest that his middle name is actually "Yeomans." (We have a copy of his birth certificate.) This fact is also mentioned in a youtube video "Jim Pocock Presents: The Boys in the Boat... The Rest of the Story." (Jim Pocock his great grand nephew)

If this video were to be referenced in changing the name of the article despite the preponderance of conflicting references, would this be in accordance it Wikipedia standards? Kusskedp (talk) 02:55, 16 August 2017 (UTC)kusskedpReply

WP:SOURCES tells us to "Base articles on reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy." That YouTube video might not qualify as "third-party." Can you find other, more reliable sources that give his middle name as "Yeomans"? Phlar (talk) 11:52, 16 August 2017 (UTC)Reply

Interesting that his birth certificate says Yeomans. If this turns out to be correct, the first line of the article would need changing to Yeomans as well (they were different before). Unknowntouncertain (talk) 18:09, 18 August 2017 (UTC)Reply

Yes, several wikipedians have changed the name within the article over the last couple years, and I kept changing it back but finally just left it as it seemed kind of futile since "Yeoman" is so prevalent in books, articles and literature. You were the first to actually change the name of the article. I sort of feel like maybe it would be best to change the article name to "George Y. Pocock" as I think people would keep changing it based on their reading of "The Boys in the Boat" and other references. The video I mentioned above is at [1]; the sound isn't really great so you have to turn it up, but Jim Pocock discusses this matter at about 12:30 into the video. Kusskedp (talk) 16:25, 19 August 2017 (UTC)kusskedpReply

If you do change it back to Yeomans, perhaps adding a short explanation regarding the spelling & a picture of the birth certificate would put the issue to rest. Simply using "Y." might be an invitation for editors to change it back to Yeoman. Unknowntouncertain (talk) 16:22, 21 August 2017 (UTC)Reply

Here are a few other sources that use the "Yeomans" spelling. Only the last one focuses on the subject, the other two just mention him in passing: ptleader.com, murdocktrust.org, pocockfoundation.org Phlar (talk) 19:49, 11 November 2017 (UTC)Reply

References

Birth Certificate of George Yeomans Pocock edit

Kusskedp (talk) 07:16, 29 August 2020 (UTC)https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COL463034_2020-1-GEORGE_YEOMANS_POCOCK.pdfReply

Birthplace of subject edit

A few years ago someone changed Pocock's birthplace to "Teddington" and I changed it back to "Kingston Upon Thames" as that is what is stated in the popular literature. I note that his birth certificate shows Teddington; I believe that was the family home at the time. However George's own memoirs state "I was born in Kingston, England..."

I have never been to the U.K. and am thus unaware of the local distinction between Kingston and Teddington. Can anyone shed light upon this question?

Kusskedp (talk) 17:56, 17 July 2021 (UTC)Reply