Another mystery unravelled

Sometimes it takes a long time to uncover a mystery and it's always a thrill to finally discover the truth, especially when it's been something you've wondered about for many years.

During our research for Charles Gabriel Baker's fateful trip to Australia in 1867 with his wife Susan (nee Sawyer), ending in his death six months later, we discovered that on Susan's return to England, the couple's four sons were separated.

While Frank, the youngest, at only 3 years old, stayed with his mother, the others were sent to different orphanages and schools. (Read the tragic story in my article A Death Down Under, published in Family Tree Magazine in May 2016.)

Missing brothers

By 1881 the two youngest brothers, Frank and Harry Morris (aged 5 when his father died), had been reunited and were living with their mother. But I could find no record of Edward and Alfred on the census. What had happened to them?

The last piece of information I had was that Alfred (full name, Charles Alfred), had left school in 1873, aged 15, to join the navy. My blog post Lost at Sea? considered what his life might have been like on board at this time and I speculated as to whether he'd disappeared under the waves.

Then a couple of months ago, I was contacted by an Australian lady through this blog. I was delighted to learn that she was a descendant of Charles Alfred Baker. She'd been unaware that Charles Gabriel and Susan had come to Australia and was intrigued to hear their story. In return she was able to pass on what she'd researched about Charles Alfred and his brother, Edward.

Alfred in the navy

As I'd discovered all those years ago, Alfred joined the navy on the training ship St Vincent in October 1873. His service record, which I've accessed recently, lists each ship on which he served.

It also describes his appearance – 5 foot 5¾ inches high, brown hair, blue eyes, fair complexion and with a scar on his right wrist.

(Prior to joining the navy, Alfred spent a period of time as a shoemaker – and not a very good one, judging by the comments we found in the records. Perhaps he sustained the injury to his wrist with one of his work tools!)

Remarks on his naval records about his character range from 'very good' and even 'exemplary'  – until, that is, the very last entry when he's serving on HMS Penguin.

Here the assessment is only 'Fair' and in the next column, labelled If Discharged. Wither and for what

HMS Penguin
(courtesy of wikimedia.org)

cause, is written the word 'Run' and 'Rio de Janeiro.'

Deserter

So it seems, that after four years service, Alfred decided he'd had enough of naval life and jumped ship in Brazil.

Given his past excellent record, I wonder what happened to change his mind and take such a drastic step. Desertion was an extremely serious offence and those found guilty were subject to court martial and potentially a death sentence.

Tellingly, his name appears on a list published in London's Police Gazette in March 1878, under the heading, DESERTERS FROM THE MILITARY. 

But Alfred clearly didn't intend to hang around waiting to be picked up by the authorities. If indeed he did abscond in Rio de Janeiro, he somehow made his way back to England and tracked down his brother Edward, as two years later, both of them are recorded as crew members of a ship called the Durham, travelling to Sydney in March 1880.

Crew & passenger list for the Durham

New life

A year after arriving in Australia, Alfred married Charlotte Neil in Adelaide, and went on to have 5 children.

As for his brother Edward – well... his story, one with a tragic end I'm sorry to say, will be the subject of my next post.

Lost at sea?

As one of the comments left during the Midwinter Blog Hop confirmed, families being forced apart in times of hardship was not uncommon. When Charles Gabriel Baker died in Australia in 1868 (read his story here) and his wife Susan returned to England, their four sons were separated. The youngest, Frank Chittenden Baker was only 3 years old and stayed with his mother but the other boys were sent to different orphanages and schools.

Later records suggest that Frank and his brother Harry Morris, two years older than Frank, remained in contact in later life, but the whereabouts of the two elder brothers is still not clear.

I found the eldest brother, Charles Alfred Baker (known in the family as Alfred) on the 1871 census, 3 years after the tragedy, aged 12, listed as an inmate of King Edward's School, in Godalming, Surrey. His place of birth was recorded as Stevenage, Hertfordshire, though the family were actually living in Lambeth at the time. He was baptized at St Mary's the Less, as his father taught music at the school there. Whether his mistake was because he'd been too young when the family moved to Stevenage to genuinely remember where he'd been born or whether he had other reasons why he'd given Hertfordshire as his place of birth, is impossible to say.

King Edward's School was originally founded in 1553 and was known as Bridewell, after Edward VI gifted Bridewell Palace to be used to house destitute children in London. Initially the school provided trade and domestic skills to boys, and later girls. Spinning and weaving along with other skills were taught, as well as basic education of reading, writing, grammar and music. It also had a strong naval tradition.

A few years before Alfred joined, the boys' school had moved to Surrey (the girls stayed in London) and was renamed after its original benefactor, though the principles of the school remained.

I was given permission by the school to access their admission book in The Guildhall Library in London. It showed that Alfred had arrived at the school in February 1871, having spent the previous two months working in an ironmongers shop. His character on admission was noted as being "difficult to control", though on a positive note, he was reported as a "good shoemaker".

Alfred's stay at the school lasted two years until he was 15. He was discharged on October 6th 1873 and sent to join the Royal Navy, training on HMS Vincent, in Portsmouth.

Training ship similar to St Vincent (commons.wikimedia.org)

The tradition for giving orphans and poor boys the opportunity to pursue a naval career dates back to the mid 18th century when the Royal Navy found itself short of volunteers at the start of the Seven Years' War. With the rise in population and an increase in poverty and destitution in the 19th century, there was no shortage of suitable candidates to fill similar roles, at a time when Britain was reliant on its ships for both trade and defence.

Poor Alfred would no doubt have found life hard on HMS Vincent. At the time he became a "trainee", the navy's reputation for excessive discipline, especially with the dreaded 'cat' (cat-o-nine-tails), was notorious. Statistics for HMS Vincent showed that there were 14 floggings on board in 1864, the highest number amongst the training ships listed.

The Cat-o-nine-tails

Concerned at the Navy's poor PR, and perhaps conscious of a recent scandal of excessive punishment of boys aboard the Trident in 1861, the Admiralty appointed Commander Ryder to investigate a year later. In contrast to the increasing discomfort of politicians and reformers, comments and letters from ships' captains to Ryder clearly show that such discipline was considered vital in keeping control of the boys and to ensure the appropriate 'motivation' in their becoming worthy seamen.

Boys on HMS "St Vincent" in 1868
courtesy of Colin Farrell www.corpun.com

Nevertheless, Ryder's report did result in discipline being standardised and use of the 'cat' being forbidden on young boys. However regulations only applied to instances of formal punishments. Casual or on-the-spot discipline was not covered and anecdotal evidence suggests the use of alternative instruments of flagellation continued. Would Alfred, once described as "difficult to control" have found himself subjected to such punishments?

To date, I have no information as to what happened to Alfred afterwards. How long did he remain in the Navy? Did something befall him at sea? So far I've not located a death certificate for him.

As usual, as one part of the story is told, there is more is yet to uncover...

*

Information on discipline in the Royal Navy can be found at World Corporal Punishment Research, www.corpun.com

The history of King Edward's School can be found here.