My one name study into the surname Sarginson has revealed a number of soldiers with the surname variant Sergison/Sergesson, many of whom were born either in Ireland or Scotland. During my research I have disentangled two individuals: Francis Sergison a Roman Catholic baptised in Barony, Glasgow in 1851 aged 3 and Thomas Francis Sergison, probably Church of England, born apparently in Witton Park, Durham. A summary of what I’ve been able to find out about him so far is included in the following descendant chart:

Clues to his birth have so far not led to finding out about who his parents were. No attestation record has been found for when he enlisted in the Royal Artillery (RA)  in 1875 and the RA establishment books which are available on FindmyPast only start in 1883. One military record for him dated 1882 suggested he was then aged 24, indicating his birth was about 1858 not 1853 as indicated on his census records. When he married Kate in 1883, he gave his father’s name as Francis, a house steward. Despite extensive research I’ve so far been unable to find either a birth certificate or baptism record for him. In both the 1891 and 1901 censuses he gave his birth place as Witton Park, Durham, a village which at one time had extensive ironworks. It gets a brief mention in Lewis’s 1848 topographical directory of England as follows:

I am interested in knowing more about Thomas Francis, also known as Frank, do contact me if you have any further information which you are willing to share with me.

Bibliography

Births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/  : accessed December 2021.

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Witton Park, in Wear Valley and County Durham| Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL:  https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/23211 accessed: December 2021.

Lewis, Samuel. (1848) A Topographical Directory of England. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp636-639 : accessed December 2021.

London Electoral Registers. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/  : accessed December 2021.

Military Records. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/  and https://findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed December 2021.