For queries within the area of Lancashire between the Ribble and the Mersey.
This board covers the areas of all our Groups - Liverpool, Southport, Warrington, Skelmersdale, Leigh and Widnes.
I have a Great, Great Grandfather called Thomas Reeves who appears to have died at sea. I vaguely remember my Grandad mention someone's father being killed in some sort of accident or something. Thomas William Reeves was born in Toxteth Park in 1860 to Charles Reeves and Alice Brookfield. He only appears on the Census as a single man ie 1861, 1871 and 1881 (occupation Seaman). He marries Sarah Jones in 1882 (occupation Mariner). On the 1891 Census he is not listed but Sarah is recorded as being married so he will be away at sea. On the 1901 Census Sarah is recorded as a Widow.
The only possible death entry I can find is from an 1891 overseas death index that lists vessels and page numbers (see below). He would have been about 30 if this is him but this Thomas Reeves is recorded as being 50 years old. The entry above it also says 50 so I'm wondering if it might have been recorded wrong. More information about his occupation comes from his son's marriage where he is recorded as a Stoker and on Sarah's death certificate her deceased husband is recorded as "a Fireman, steamship". Any thoughts on whether this is him?
I've often wondered about people being listed as Married when I've suspected they might already be widowed. I sometimes think that a woman may have given her name (perhaps especially if she was illiterate and the enumerator was completing the form for her) as "Mrs" and the assumption was made that the husband was still alive. I wouldn't discount any entry that you may find prior to 1891.
MaryA Our Facebook Page
Names - Lunt, Hall, Kent, Ayre, Forshaw, Parle, Lawrenson, Longford, Ennis, Bayley, Russell, Longworth, Baile
Any census info in this post is Crown Copyright, from National Archives
I've just noticed Thomas and Sarah had a son called John he appears on the 1901 Census he was born in about 1893 so the overseas death index from 1891 is definitely not Thomas. He must have died between 1893 and 1901. Another strange thing about this family is none of Thomas and Sarah's children's births appear to have been registered.
Hi Blue,
Like you, the only Marine death I could find 1882 - 1901 was the one you found and that has been ruled out by the finding of a birth abt 1894. If Thomas' death occurred on board a ship while in a British port it would be in the 'normal' GRO index.
Brian
DS
Member # 7743
RIP 20 April 2015
Emery, McAnaspie/McAnaspri etc, Fry, McGibbon/McKibbion etc, Burbage, Butler, Brady, Foulkes, Sarsfield, Moon [Bristol & Cornwall]. Census information is Crown Copyright http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
At Kew they have indexes of BMDS which occurred at sea I think they are on Find My Past (could be wrong) the ref no is BT153 - BT160 c1852-c1891 This series is called Wages and Effects of deceased seaman I have a entry from one of these registers and I cross checked the Marine deaths index with the list of names and they are not recorded on them.
Also BT334 Registers BMDs 1891-1972 (these are the one which I think are on Find My Past)
I've found out what happened to Thomas Reeves, Marine Fireman, he died at sea after his steamer, "SS Hydarnes", went down on it's way to South America in 1897. I found an article in the Liverpool Mercury with a crew list. I'll post the full article in "strays" it may help others to locate their missing people. Here is a link to some information about SS Hydarnes:-
Sad result for you Blue.
Thanks for sharing to help others.
fmp is down for maintenance as I write.
Tina
Tina
Cornthwaite,Milburn,Coll,Gaffney,Pearce,Singleton,Hazlehurst,Cuthbert,Mackintosh,McAllister,Morana, Corfield
Any census/bmd information within this post is Crown Copyright from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Blue
Going back to your first post. the terms 'marine fireman' and 'stoker' were interchangeable, with stoker used less formally. Trimmers also worked on shovelling the coal, and what work it must have been.
Sometimes the word 'marine' was left off, leaving us to think he was what we now call a firefighter.
I have been told that "Stoker" was a Royal Naval term and "Marine Fireman" was used by the Merchant Navy. I asked about this at the Maritime Museum and they confirmed this was the case. Although Marine Fireman sounds much posher.
The SS Hydarnes was posted as missing at Lloyds on Wednesday May 26 1897. Here is the Liverpool Mercury article of May 24 that lists a crew of 31 men:-
Thanks for that post on the "Strays" - some names there that may never have been known about if not for the newspaper.
MaryA Our Facebook Page
Names - Lunt, Hall, Kent, Ayre, Forshaw, Parle, Lawrenson, Longford, Ennis, Bayley, Russell, Longworth, Baile
Any census info in this post is Crown Copyright, from National Archives
The article was quite easy to find searching on the name Thomas Reeves and the time period. My local library has the free newspaper collections. I was using Ancestry at the library the other day and had some time to look at the library's other free stuff. Here's where I found the article about SS Hydarnes:-
Library Applications>Digital Library>Newspapers>Times Digital Archive>19th Century British Library Newspapers
I collect reports of deaths of seaman I have a few which I need to put in the strays section. It is a good resource especially as I said earlier on in this post not all seamen are recorded in the Marine Deaths.
The owner of the shipping line RP Houston was for many years the MP for West Toxteth. They had offices at 6, 7, 8 Seaton Building, Water Street. Here is more information about the line:-
You can get to quite a bit of the data available from the library computers at home if you have a library card for Lancs County libraries. I think L'pool is the same.
Unfortunately, Ancestry is not one that is available; you have to go to the library for that!
