Death at sea - Greenock MI

[pamhi]

I have found a burial of my GGG-Grandfather in Greenock Cemetery - after many years of looking...
GREENOCK CEMETERY, Renfrewshire
Geo HEPBURN shipmaster d at sea 11.11.1840  49, Eliz Jameson 12.4.1857, 62.

Is there a record of deaths of sea which can be consulted - am completely at a loss to know more about him ie parents...
Some family info had him as a Captain in the Royal Navy!
I know he married twice - first to Helen INGLIS - family history says that it was a 'runaway mge' and she was of the INGLIS family of Kingsmill, Inverness - however my research, so far, proves that to be unlikely - the family connection I mean!
He had six children - all born Renfrewshire (Port Glasgow & West or Old Parish) from 1814-1825 (1st mge)
Would love any help I could get on this one... 

[Grey Seagull]

I have just checked on the scotlandspeople website for deaths at sea.

Under deaths, there is a section on Minor Records which includes an Air Register, Foreign Returns, Service Return, War Returns, and Marine Returns.

The Marine Returns (from 1855) include deaths on British-registered merchant ships at sea where the deceased was normally resident in Scotland.

War Returns cover the Royal Navy in WW1.

The index for Minor Records is searchable on-line but the images are not (possibly by the end of this year).

As your dates fall outwith the ones given, I searched the Royal Navy site and it directed me to the PRO where at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search/quick_search.aspx?search_text=Royal+Navy&go.x=0&go.y=0 you should find a couple of links to try to find info on your ancestor.

[pamhi]

Grey Seagull,

Thank you very much for your reply.  Will certainly take a look on the site you suggested, though my gut-feeling is that he was the Royal Navy at all, but it's worth checking it out.
Thanks once again :-)
Pam

[Grey Seagull]

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/RFW/Greenock/index.html will give you details of church records in Greenock.

http://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/Economic_Development/index.php?module=article&view=264 will give you pics and info about the West Kirk, the parish church and burial grounds in west Greenock.

If you go to http://bbc.cpdn.org/ and click on 'my details' (not sure if you will be able to do this unless you are part of the experiment) at the bottom of the page, you can enter longitude and latitude to find a place.  Try  the following (cut and paste) for the old site and new site respectively:

OLD: 55.95090587967244       -4.758013486862183
NEW: 55.95606564173967      -4.767186641693115

[pamhi]

Grey Seagull,

Thanks so much for your help and suggestions.  Great to see the pictures.
I have a vague memory, having read somewhere, that the librarian at one of the Archives/Libraries in Greenock is very good genealogy wise - so might see if I can track her down.
Thanks again for all your help - it's taken me years to get this far - but I will get there :-))

Pam

[weemary]

that the librarian at one of the Archives/Libraries in Greenock is very good genealogy wise - so might see if I can track her down.

That would be Lesley Couperwrite -  Lesley retired a few years ago, not sure who has taken over

[Allanfearn]

This may be very out of date, but there certainly was a marriage between Helen Baillie Inglis (born Inverness 16 July 1799, daughter of George Inglis and Helen Alves) and George Hepburn.   Details of the marriage settlement are, or should be, in the Inverness museum, among the papers of Helen's father, George Inglis, latterly of Kingsmills, a Demerara planter, and former partner in St Vincent of two of the Alves brothers from Inverness and the financier George Baillie).  I have also see a New Zealand posting suggesting it was a runaway marriage - she was certainly very young.   You probably have all this by now, but just in case......

[Skoosh]

This site may be of interest,  http://www.spanglefish.com/slaveandhighlanders/index.asp
The Greenock Telegraph archive is available via the Watt Library I think

Skoosh.

[Skoosh]

Unable to modify the above, should be "slavesandhighlanders".