Portsmouth Garrsion Hospital Records - Page 2 - Genealogists' Forum

ElizabethHerts · #11 17-04-22, 07:03

I've been trying to find him in the missing censuses, with no luck so far.
But I have found the baptism of his son William Emanuel on Ancestry:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...&pId=152325337

12 February 1874
He is a Private in the Army.

ElizabethHerts · #12 17-04-22, 07:08

For reference, his marriage is on Ancestry.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...rue&pId=129971

Merry · #13 17-04-22, 07:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Congratulations on finding the notice! No wonder we didn't. OCR at its best!

I wonder who inserted the notice? Charlotte? If so, why isn't she mentioned? Do you know wat happened to her? And did Rose die in the same quarter? That double blow is curious.

Rose was buried on 3rd Jan 1876 at Leckhampton.

Phoenix · #14 17-04-22, 07:40

Charlotte is in service in 1871, and back with her parents in 1881.

I wonder if William deserted her, and that death notice, inserted as soon as Rose had died and couldn't contest it, was a way of providing respectability?

Merry · #15 17-04-22, 07:50

It's possible the death registration information didn't make it to the GRO, but was registered at Portsea register office in the normal way.

It might be worth contacting the local register office to attempt to purchase a copy of the certificate from them rather than the GRO. If the newspaper notice is accurate then you have the date and place of death to help them in their search. Portsea had 10 different sub-districts, pne of which was called Portsea Town and that seems to be the correct sub-district for the hospital.

Phoenix, this is the address I found for the hospital on the 1881 census - does it look like the rght place to you?

Full address "Military Station, Hospital" Lion Terrace Road, Portsea, Portsea Island, Hampshire.

I'm assuming the records for Portsea District (closed down in 1900) would now be with Portsmouth registrars. Phoenix, I expect you know this for certain?

Portsmouth Register Office, Milldam House, Burnaby Rd, Portsmouth PO1 3AF

email: [email protected]

I don't know about Portsmouth, but some local register offices are not keen to do family history certificate copies and will try to direct you to the GRO. They also may not be keen to look for something if you tell them the GRO don't have it!! Just bear these things in mind when contacting! (Phoenix, do you know if they are friendly at Portsmouth??!!!)

Phoenix · #16 17-04-22, 07:56

Yes, that's the address for the hospital. Don't know the currect details for the registrar as we dealt with my aunt's registration over the phone.

But they wouldn't have chucked his body into the Solent. He ought to have been buried somewhere. His family appear to have little money, so he should have been buried in Portsmouth. Mine would usually be in Mile End, or recorded in St Marys, possibly buried in Kingston Cemetery. I don't know that the other churches would have had working graveyards at that time. They are all on Find My Past, and I can't see anything.

Merry · #17 17-04-22, 07:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Charlotte is in service in 1871, and back with her parents in 1881.

I wonder if William deserted her, and that death notice, inserted as soon as Rose had died and couldn't contest it, was a way of providing respectability?

Rose had been dead over two months though.

Charlotte only seems to have had the one child. (some trees have another called Rose Grace, b 1875 d 1876, but that baby had a different mother, I forget the mmn now - may have been Miles or similar?). Should we be worrying about William Emanuel's paternity?

Merry · #18 17-04-22, 08:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Yes, that's the address for the hospital. Don't know the currect details for the registrar as we dealt with my aunt's registration over the phone.

But they wouldn't have chucked his body into the Solent. He ought to have been buried somewhere. His family appear to have little money, so he should have been buried in Portsmouth. Mine would usually be in Mile End, or recorded in St Marys, possibly buried in Kingston Cemetery. I don't know that the other churches would have had working graveyards at that time. They are all on Find My Past, and I can't see anything.

I'm very concerned that he wasn't actually dec'd.

Maybe I've just realised that's what you meant when you said about Rose 'not contesting it'?

Charlotte might have been left with a child and no husband and whispering and she knows Wm isn't coming back for whatever reason so she places a newspaper notice??

Too far-fetched? Have I watched too many soaps?!!

Olde Crone · #19 17-04-22, 08:26

1876 was the year that death registration, supported by a medical death certificate, became compulsory, in order to prevent fraudulent registrations of death (for insurance claims) or murder cover ups, so it is indeed a worry that the registration isn't apparent - but would an ordinary member of the public have known this?

OC

Steve Bridges · #20 17-04-22, 08:39

William's mother Rose died in the quarter before William (29/12/1875) in Leckhampton, GLS, aged 67.

The question of why Charlotte would not mention herself in the death notice is open to speculation. Perhaps she had gone back to her birthplace of Didmarton/Oldbury on the Hill with their son William Emmanuel (b.1873) - she is there in the 1881 Census as a widow; and died in the Tetbury Workhouse in 1912. By then, my g-grandfather William had emigrated to Australia.

So perhaps someone like William's sister Jane (Sessions) or sister Anne (Butt) did the notice, as they both lived in the Cheltenham area. Only brothers are often quite cherished by their sisters...

It is my suspicion that William & Charlotte's marriage was a difficult one if he was away on some sort of military service...