Donna Rutherford

I was reminded a few weeks ago that it has been 136 years since the sinking of the Princess Alice at Gallions Reach, a stretch of the Thames between Woolwich and Barking Creek, on 03 September 1878

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Princess_Alice_(1865)

The SS Princess Alice was a passenger paddle steamer.  She was sunk in a collision on the River Thames with the collier Bywell Castle off Tripcock Point in 1878 with the loss of over 650 lives, the greatest loss of life in any Thames shipping disaster.  Two of these lives were my 3rd Great Grandmother, Emma FRITH (nee SLATER), and her daughter 21 year old Rose FRITH.

Emma SLATER was listed in the Census documents as having been born in Berkshire.  She was born before Registration in England (1837), which means there will not be a birth certificate for her.  To find details of her birth I have been searching using Parish Registers to find her baptism. Various genealogy sites have parish registers, but I found Emma on familysearch.org (a great source for parish registers). https://familysearch.org

It is interesting to note, that in the parish registers (and I’ve only seen the transcriptions) Emma is listed with the last name of SLATTER (two T’s), whereas in later documents her family name is SLATER (one T).  Changes in spelling of names is a common occurrence in family research – in fact looking through the birth certificates of Emma’s children, some have her maiden name as Slater and some as Slatter.  It’s worth understanding the level of literacy in the 1800’s was not that of today.  Names were often written as they were said, this leads to many modern idioms of old surnames.  Slater is the accepted modern idiom of the older “Slatter”. (reference:http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Slatter).

Emma was baptised in the Parish of St Laurence, Reading, Berkshire on the 11th April 1819.  Her parents were John SLATTER and Ruth BROWN.  In the 1841 Census Emma was married to William FRITH, both of them were 20 years old and living in Bunhill Row, Finsbury, London.  I don’t know why the came to London from Reading, but William was a bootmaker (later listed as a Bootmaker “master”) and there was probably a chance of more work in London.  William and Emma married in Reading on the 26 February 1837.  Again, this was before registration, so no marriage certificate exists, but they can be found in the Parish Registers. Emma & William were married in St Laurence Church Reading, the same parish in which Emma was baptised.

According to family history William & Emma had 13 children, so far only 10 have been found in the records.  All of them were born between 1838 and 1863, and  living with William and Emma in the censuses of 1841, 1851 and 1861. By 1871 William, Emma & family were living in Wenlock Terrace, in Shoreditch, the historic East End of London.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_End_of_London

Wenlock Terrace doesn’t exist any more and that part of London has changed considerably since the Victorian era.  The Wenlock Basin area is recognisable in old maps of London and the 1871 census includes instructions on where the enumerator had to walk.  Wenlock Terrace was in amongst Shepherdess Walk, Wenlock road, Windsor Street and Cross Street.  These streets can be clearly seen on an 1863 map of the area.

Still surviving today is the Wenlock Arms public house (1855)

http://wenlockarms.com.

According to the census returns, and the addresses recorded on the birth certificates of their children, Emma & William lived in various places around the  Shoreditch vicinity.  Around the 1870’s Shoreditch was populated with furniture & textile traders, but sadly the area declined along with the industries and by the end of the 19th century Shoreditch had become a byword for crime, prostitution and poverty.

However in September 1878 William must have been earning a good living as he was able to pay for his wife and daughter to go on a pleasure cruise to Gravesend and back. This was a routine trip from Swan Pier, near London Bridge, to Gravesend and Sheerness. Tickets were sold for two shillings and hundreds of Londoners paid the fare for the 3rd September cruise.  It was billed as a “Moonlight Trip” and many were visiting the Rosherville Gardens in Gravesend.

At the time of the trip, Emma & William Slater were still living in Shoreditch, but were now at 2 Cottage Lane, just off City Road, between Shoreditch & Islington.  Only 4 years later Cottage Lane (no. 21) became the home of James Kelly, James was one of the Jack-The-Ripper suspects.  William Slater had left Cottage Lane before the time of the Ripper murders but James Kelly had been living there for sometime.  I wonder if they ever crossed paths!  James Kelly’s story can be read on casebook.org.

 http://www.casebook.org/suspects/jameskelly.html

On Tuesday 3rd of September 1878 Emma and Rose would have left Islington on the train, for a 10:30 am departure from Swan Pier.  Many of the passengers on that train would have been thinking about the recent terrible rail accident at Sttingbourne in Kent. They were probably excited about spending their day by boat rather than rail. The happy crowd at Swan Pier were welcomed aboard the Princess Alice by Captain William Grinstead, who was a respected captain employed by the London Steamboat Company.  The ships ultimate destination was Sheerness, but newspapers reported that William said Emma and Rose were disembarking at Gravesend.  Many passengers had the same plans, Gravesend (although not by the sea as was Sheerness) offered many of the same attractions.  Other passengers would disembark at Northfleet to visit the famous Rosherville Pleasure Gardens.

The return journey left Gravesend at 5:55pm with Emma & Rose onboard, and by 7:40pm they were nearly at the North Woolwich Pier – by all accounts a pleasurable and fun day out.  Reports say that the band had been playing and people were up on deck singing and dancing.  Further along the Thames, at Millwall Dock, the collier ship “Bywell Castle” was making her way out of the dock and was heading to Newcastle for supply of coal.  The Princess Alice had to change her course for various reasons and was now directly in the path of the oncoming, and much larger, Bywell Castle.  It was too late and disaster struck – SS Princess Alice was struck on her starboard side, she split in two and sank within four minutes.

Disaster!

As the Princess Alice was rammed, passengers started falling into the Thames, although many were trapped within the wreck and drowned.  To make matters worse the outfall from the Abbey Mills Pumping Station was near by, and one hour prior to the collision 75 million gallons of raw sewage had been released into the Thames. The heavily polluted water would have contributed to the deaths of those who went overboard.

The passengers were mostly women and children, wearing constrictive clothing of the era, long skirts, boots and other Victorian attire, it is unlikely that many of them could swim.  It has been reported that eyewitnesses said the Princess Alice took around 4 minutes to sink, and not much longer for hundreds to die.  Apparently 20 minutes after the collision there were no survivors remaining in the water.  Of the estimated 700-800 people on-board, only between 69 and 170 people were rescued, over 650 died.  The site was now a floating mass of shawls, hats, cloaks, umbrellas, and toys. The tragic news would start to spread across London as anxious relatives, probably including William, were waiting at Swan Pier for their loved ones.  As bodies were being retrieved from the Thames rumours were reaching the relatives who then desperately went to search for surviviors.

The terrible job of identifying the dead would begin.  Early newspaper reports show that Emma was identified by William, but initially Rose was still missing.  Emma had drowned she was 58 years old.

Later reports show that Rose’s body was identified by her brother in law, John Gardner.

“James Gardner 2 Cottage Lane City road – I identify Rose Frith, my sister in law aged 21. She was with her mother, who was drowned, but whose body has been found.”

It was unfortunate that some bodies, mostly women, were never identified and they were dramatically buried on “Burial Monday” in Woolwich.

To date I have not been able to find the final resting place of Emma & Rose, however I have visited the Woolwich Old Cemetery, where 120 victims were buried in a mass grave. A memorial cross was erected to mark the spot, “paid for by national sixpenny subscription to which more than 23,000 persons contributed”.

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Robert William LACY is my 3rd Great Grandfather.  He is related on my Mum’s paternal side of the family and, well, he just looks like a big character with a lot of stories to tell!

From previous research I know that Robert William Lacy was born 1824 in Devon, UK.  I know this from census documents where he has given his age, but also from a newspaper clipping of his death in New Zealand (from the New Zealand website “Papers Past”).  From the newspaper clipping it was clear that this was a man with an interesting naval career.  So I’ve been on a mission to find out what his naval career was, and what his medals were for. I do not know where those medals are now.  From my knowledge there was no next of kin around at his time of death and he was living at the Veteran’s home in Auckland. Robert’s wife Maria (my 5th Great Grandmother)  had died seven years earlier (1903) in Ashurst, New Zealand.  We know she is buried there, but have not visited or seen the actual grave. Robert is buried in Waikaraka Cemetery, Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand.  link to find-a-grave  I’ve never visited the cemetery but a memorial was erected to commemorate the veterans who “fought in defence of the Empire and died at the Veteran’s Home”.  Robert’s death certificate calls him an “Imperial pensioner”.

Prior to 1837 there was no registration of Births, Deaths & Marriages in England, so the next bit of research I need to do is to see if I can find him in the Parish records for Devon where he says he was born.

This morning I checked the parish registers on findmypast.co.uk and I have found Robert’s baptism recorded.  He was baptised in the Parish of St Andrew, Devon on 30 September 1824, son of William & Catherine who were living in Stonehouse.  I have noticed now that he was baptised with an ‘e’ in LACEY.  Frankly this additional ‘e’ is frustrating – on the other side of the family (Dad’s side) we have LACEY with an ‘e’, but Mum’s side of the family it is more often than not spelt LACY with no ‘e’.  However this is the way it is in research, old documentation can often have spelling mistakes or different spelling.  In some cases this can be a transcription error but it can be just spelt different based on what the person writing it heard, and it may never have been checked.

It was only last Saturday that I was discussing Robert Lacy at National Archives with a group of genealogists.  I had found through census documents and birth/death/marriage certificates that Robert was not only in the Navy but was later a coastguard.  All I knew of his coastguard career was that he was stationed at Beachy Head when the 1861 census was taken.

Apart from the newspaper clipping above and census documents with a ship name on them, I’ve not found out much about his naval & coastguard career.  A brief search at TNA (The National Archives) turned up nothing of interest … then this week an email arrived from Ancestry.co.uk

“be the first to enlist with new UK naval records – Does the sea run in your blood? Find out in UK Naval Officer and Rating Service Records, a detail-rich collection compiled for Royal Marines, Coastguards, Dockyard workers, Sea Fencibles, and Convict Guards”

I opened the record set and typed in Robert Lacy – I got a hit immediately.  It’s important to be sure you have a match when researching, as so many people out there had the same name, from the same area, at the same time!.  I knew immediately it was him as the ship names & coastguard entries matched to census papers I’ve researched and hold for him.   Interestingly his name was again spelt LACEY with an ‘e’.

So now I can start to put together the picture of his life, what he did and where he went.  Robert started his service at the age of 16 (20 Dec 1837) and he first served on the “Megaera” – his last date of service was 31 May 1865 when he was serving as a Coastguard.

Back to my earlier note about a discussion with a group of genealogists at The National Archives last Saturday.  Well one of them (Richard S) has been an absolute star this week and has provided me with information on the Coastguard stations that Robert was at.

But first his naval career – this is where his medals would have come from.  Following is a list of the years he served and the ships he was on.

• Dec 1837-Feb 1838 – HMS Megaera (1837) was a wood paddle sloop launched in 1837 and wrecked in 1843.
• Mar 1838-Feb 1842 – HMS Hastings was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
• March 1842-Oct 1843 – HMS Thunderer (1831) was an 84-gun second-rate launched in 1831, which fought in Syria 1840.
• May 1844- July 1848 –  HMS Collingwood (1841) – An 80-gun second-rate battleship, converted to screw propulsion in 1861, and sold in 1867.
• July 1847 – Feb 1850 – Robert was a Rigger at Devonport Dockyard 
• March 1850 – Aug 1850 – HMS Agincourt (1817) was a 74-gun third-rate launched in 1817. She was used for harbour service from 1848.
• Aug 1850 – Jan 1851 – HMS St George was a 120 gun first rate, launched in 1840 and sold in 1883.
• Jan 1851 – Jan 1855 – HMS Sampson was a wooden paddle frigate launched in 1844 and sold in 1864.
• Feb 1855 – May 1856 – HMS Hasting (again) – this time to the Baltic during the Russian War
  
• May 1856 – Aug 1856 – HMS Algiers in the Crimean War (1854-1856)

So I matched up these details up with another search in the Ancestry databases – this time the Naval Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1972).  I found the following medals (quite exciting).  Unfortunately none of the photos we have of Robert, have enough detail to be able to recognise the medals on his chest.  It would be amazing if these medals had been passed down through the family, but I’m hoping that maybe he was buried with them – that would be a fitting choice.

• Naval General Service Medal whilst serving on the HMS Hastings in 1840-41, for the campaign in Syria.
  • [updated:  from Forces War Records – Robert was awarded a clasp for Syria]
• St Jean D’Acre Medal whilst serving on HMS Hastings 1840-42 for service in Syria
• Naval General Service Medal for Syria and China whilst on HMS Hastings 1840-42
• Crimea Medal (1845-1855) for the Crimea War Campaign serving on HMS Sampson

In September 1856 Robert’s service record shows him as a boatman on Coastguard service.  The record doesn’t show where he was stationed, but thanks to Richard, mentioned above, he’s found Robert in records that he has access to and sent me a copy (thanks again Richard!). This is what I can make out so far.

• Sep 1856 – Sept 1857 – Boatman at Dungeness
• 1857 Eastbourne – then to Birling Gap in 1859
• Nov 1859 – May 1861 – Commissioned Boatman
• May 1861 – Jun 1862 – Boatman
• Jun 1862 – May 1865 – Pevensey Station – Commissioned Boatman

In the 1861 Census the family are living at Beachy Head.  Richard was not able to find a Beachy Head station, so I’m not sure if this is somehow related to his time at Birling Gap (according to the records he was moved there in 1859).

“BIRLING GAP, a depression and an artificial cut in the bold high coast of Sussex; 1½ mile W of Beachy Head. The cut was made to afford means of escape to shipwrecked mariners; and was, for some time, defended by an arch and portcullis, vestiges of which still exist.”

In May 1865 Robert William LACY left the service with a Long Service Pension.

The next time I find him in the records is in the 1871 Census living at 17 Beresford Street, Woolwich – with his wife and 4 of his children (Maria Jane, John Henry, Emma & Alfred) – he is listed as a Greenwich Pensioner.  Henry appears to be missing from the family, he was in the 1861 census, but perhaps he died before 1871.  I cannot find any further records for Henry since 1861.

In 1874 at the age of 49 Robert William Lacy, his wife Maria, and 3 of their children (Robert, Emma & Alfred) left England for New Zealand.  2 years prior in 1872 John Henry had sadly died when he was only 16.   The family sailed on the “Golden Sea” leaving London 29th January 1874 – arriving Wellington 1st May 1874.

An account of the journey from London to Wellington

Strangely they missed their daughter Maria Jane’s wedding by about 2 weeks, but a year later in 1875 Maria & her husband Humphrey Ezekial HANCOCK also emigrated to New Zealand.  Their eldest daughter Caroline had married William DAVENEY and also later emigrated to New Zealand in 1879.  Sadly that same year Emma, who had since married, died of Typhoid Fever in New Zealand aged 20.  At this point the Lacy’s were living in Feilding, New Zealand.

It appears the Lacy’s lived in this area for the next 20 years – Robert’s wife Maria then died in 1903.  At this time only 2 of their 8 children were still alive – Robert William Lacy (Jnr) who I’ve never found a marriage for, and Alfred James Lacy who was married to Florence BIRKENSHAW and died a year after his father.

Robert William LACYJnr first born of Robert William LACY and Maria PIPER outlived all his family and died aged 74 in Greytown, New Zealand.

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I started researching my family tree many years ago – helped out considerably by two uncles, one on either side of the family. Over the years I have dipped in and out of research, but the family tree has never been far from my mind.

My tree is split between Scotland, England & New Zealand and I often describe myself as a Scottish Cockney Yorkshireman (well Yorkshire-woman to be more precise).

Within the tree are many characters that really start to come to life when researching them – I have grandparents who have been blacksmiths, coastguards and military men.  I have women who have been left destitute, have died in a well known Thames accident, have had their husbands commit suicide – some have died very young, some have lived to very old.  Researching means finding the good with the bad, there are black sheep and it can be a grim day when you find out about them.

I’ve started this blog at a point where I’ve picked up researching again in earnest – it all started by joining a facebook group and a few people getting together to visit The National Archives.  I consider myself lucky to be currently London based where I can access more information than ever before.  Although a lot of my past is in New Zealand and some of my family were pioneers/settlers, further back they were all from England or Scotland.  On some sides of my family I can get back to the late 1600’s but more often than not my ancestors have not left a paper trail.  But more on research sources in another post.

A lot of research has already been done, and sources confirmed, but this blog is about picking up new leads and adding more to my tree.  Posts might be about Grandparents or a cousin by marriage 3 times removed.  It will be about whatever I stumble across.  Feel free to follow along if you are interested.

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