Strange Memo . . .

[Christopher]

This is an intriguing thread

[mike175]

My thoughts are along the same lines as JAP's last post. That memo, together with the mother's death certificate, certainly implies that Thomas didn't die in childhood, as might have been the case if his mother had died of some infectious disease, say. Incidentally, their father died in 1904, some four years before the memo.

I'm in danger of becoming obsessive about this, but reading the memo in her own handwriting is beginning to give me goosebumps . . . these personal stories are what makes genealogy so fascinating.

Mike.

[Nutty1966]

Enjoying this thread, hope you get a result


Jane

[JAP]

Hi again Mike,

It's really weird, isn't it.

I see that Martha Priscilla (PRESS) FOSS (the mother of Martha, Winifred and Thomas) died in 1872.

And that their father Thomas re-married in 1879 to Katherine NORMAN, and had his 15yo stepson (Katherine's son) with him in 1881.  Along with his daughter Winifred, her husband, and their daughter - Thomas's granddaughter Winifred.

You certainly have to wonder what happened to young Thomas - 7yo in 1871 and living with his father Thomas and sister Martha.  Martha I take to be the unmarried Lady's Maid in a very 'superior' family in 1881.

Incidentally, do you have the death cert of Thomas snr?

JAP
PS: Did Winifred write other notes?  Do they give any clue as to the sorts of things she noted?

[mike175]

JAP,

Yes, you have all the right people. Katherine's son Alfred seems to have emigrated to Australia and died 4 Aug 1906 in Kanowna, Kalgoolie, Western Australia, assuming it's the same person.

It was actually Martha (the daughter) who wrote the memo, and sadly I haven't found anything else she wrote. She was indeed the lady's maid in 1881, although in later years she was financially independant as she bought 2 houses in Essex in 1894. She never married, and seems to have lived with her father for much of her life. She died in 1912, age 52, from Chronic Bright's Disease, and the place of death on the certificate is the Essex County Asylum! So now I'm wondering if that has any bearing on the memo! The plot thickens . . . although I read somewhere that Bright's can lead to severe depression, which might explain the asylum. Martha is the one on the right of the photo I posted earlier.

None of which sheds any light on the disappearance of Thomas Herbert . . . 

Mike.

[mike175]

Just a brief update . . . I now have the birth certificate for Thomas Herbert Foss/Fross, thanks to Casalguidi's excellent detective work 

FROSS must have been a mistake in the index as there is no doubt it is FOSS on the certificate, and the parents are correct. Unfortunately, still no progress in finding out what happened to him but I'll post anything I find.

I wonder if they'll correct the index, now it's been pointed out to them?

Mike.

[mike175]

I know this thread has been dormant for 6 years but I recently found these details and as there was a good deal of interest at the time I thought I should provide an update:

Crew list:4 Sep 1880 - 10 Feb 1881

THOMAS FOSS, Boy, b.1862 London
Vessel: Anchises of Liverpool, number:70974
Master: C JACKSON
Owner: Alfred HOLT, 1 India Building, Liverpool
Previous ship: Abdiel of Liverpool 1880

So it looks as if Thomas Herbert joined the Merchant Navy as a Boy, possibly adding a couple of years to his age, which would explain the small discrepancy. I could find no other Thomas Foss to match the above.

This would explain his absence from the 1881 census. I have searched newspaper archives for any reference to him in shipwrecks, etc, with no luck so far.

And still no further light on the mysterious memo . . . 

Mike.

[alpinecottage]

Looking on the Shipping Reports in the newspapers around these years shows that the Abdiel (though registered in Liverpool) was sailing from London to various European destinations eg Malta in 1880.  In 1880/1881, the Anchises was sailing to destinations in the Far East eg Singapore and Hong Kong.

Possibly Thomas went to sea from London, sailed to European ports to begin with, then changed ship to venture further afield....in which case, he could have ended up anywhere!

[mike175]

Thank you, that's very interesting. I hadn't yet got around to searching the shipping reports.

As you say, it seems he may have finished up anywhere in the world!

I was resigned to never finding out what happened to him, but a picture is very slowly forming.