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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: leccy on Monday 15 February 10 12:27 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone help with the attached occupation details? The scan has chopped off the bottom half of the word :(
I can read Marine Captain [???] Merchant
Any guesses?
Thanks
L.
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Arundel?
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I keep seeing Asundel, but that doesn't sound like a proper word.
Looks like an "A" finishing with "del" though .... :-\
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Arundel?
It does look like that, doesn't it? But what on earth would an Arundel Merchant be?
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Yes, Arundel makes more sense. And if you google it, surprisingly you get some hits. :) Still can't work out what it is, but there are a few mentions of "arundel merchant". Have you checked his occupation on any censuses?
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Maybe it's where he was living; - I've googled and got some hits that suggest there was a place called Arundel Merchant. Got some that suggested there should have been a comma between Arundel and Merchant, too.
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One of the google hits gave someone's occupation as "wealthy Arundel merchant" :-\ Is this related to the place?
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Ooooh! Just saw that!
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I saw that too!
I wonder if one bought arundels by the hundredweight or by the yard? :D
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Great minds think alike! I was just wondering whether arundel might be/have been a fabric of some description. :)
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Could Arundell be the name of the ship he sailed in , a merchant ship.!!
Big Al
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I think it says Marine Captains ??????? Merchant. As in ships chandler or somesuch
aberdein
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I think it says Marine Captains ??????? Merchant. As in ships chandler or somesuch
aberdein
That's what I thought as well, that they were a marine captain's [something] merchant. Have no idea what it says though...
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It may be the name of the ship - there was a "Chepstow Merchant" which regularly sailed out of that port.
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Marine Captain
Arundel Merchant.
Arundel is a town in Sussex, so probably he retired from being sea captain and became a merchant (selling chandlery - for ships etc?)
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Is this a death certificate? If so are we saying that Margaret whatever was a ships captain? Be nice to hear from Leccy about this
aberdein
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Arundel is a place in West Sussex?
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Is this a death certificate? If so are we saying that Margaret whatever was a ships captain? Be nice to hear from Leccy about this
aberdein
Nothing quite so exotic, I'm afraid.
It's from a birth certificate from 1855 registered Pocklington, Yorkshire.
Margaret Windas "late Groundwater formerly Hunter" was the mother. The father (one William Windas) was the Marine Captain and whatever merchant.
The Arundel bit still throws me. When he was married the previous year (in Liverpool) he listed his occupation as "Master Mariner", so that bit's fine. If he retired he must have done this soon after.
I can't find any trace of him in the 1861 census (Margaret and the son are living with he father in London), which suggests he's either at sea or has died by then.
I also can't find him in post office guides for either Pocklington, Yorkshire or Arundel, Sussex in 1855.
Thinking Arundel might be the name of the ship, I've checked the Lloyd's Register for years around 1855. Up to 1853 there is a William Windas master of a ship called the Henry Woolley, which I guess could be him. There is a ship listed for 1854 and 1855 called Arundel but Windas isn't listed as the captain. Nor can I find him scanning all the ships listed starting with 'A'.
So unless someone else has a brain wave, I think we can mark this one as officially 'stumped'.
L. :(
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I wonder perhaps if for some reason they may not have included his first name, in otherwords Arundel is his surname. Being Mariner Captain Arundel, Merchant (as in merchant seaman). Perhaps the thought was since he was a Captain, & for the sake of space, just give his title & surname. Maybe maybe not.
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I was wondering how on earth a mariner met a girl from Pocklington which is halfway between York and the Port of Hull on the River Humber. I had a look on genuki for a list of traders/professions in Pocklington to see if Windas name was mentioned but it wasn't, but it did give the information that it was an easy to get to Hull where my guess is she met the mariner:
Conveyance by Water,
* From Pocklington Canal Head,
* To Hull, Vessels, every ten days
* To Leeds & Wakefield, Vessels every three or four days, Mark Swann, agent, Lock house
I see on an Arundel history site that there were quite a few rich merchants in that place and one of the trades in the timespan was dealing in timber amongst other things. Hull at that time was doing a roaring trade building fishing trawlers, etc and needed timber, etc.
So my tuppennyworth is:- if there's no evidence that Windass was a merchant and actually (part)owned a ship; then he was engaged by a rich merchant in Arundel to captain one of his ships. Quite often a few rich men got together and bought shares in ships, maybe that's why no specific employer's name is mentioned.
I'm following a line where the rich branch has left a lot of documentation and it's an eye opener seeing how many connections with various places their merchant business took them. Their houses would be in one town and their office in another town and they'd have a few shares in other businesses which were in other towns.