Mohamddin Peterson of Liverpool

[sgrollitt]

My partner never knew her grandparents on her father's side. Her elder sister says that their grandfather was an Indian merchant seaman. He married a Danish woman and took her surname. He was hero in New York when his ship got into trouble and he dived into the sea several times (River Potomac?) to save lives. (Was one of those lives saved his future Danish wife?). That would have been about 1920. They married and settled in Liverpool

Looking at the records, Mohamddin Peterson (also seems to be known as John Peterson) married Margaret McLachlan in West Derby in the Dec quarter of 1922 at St Margaret's in Walton.

It is also said that although my partner's grandmother's father was Danish, there was some Scottish ancestry too, which would tie in with the McLachlan surname. There were several Peterson children born in Liverpool between 1923 and 1932 with McLachlan as the mother, including my partner's father.

Can anyone see what became of Mohammdin (aka John?) Peterson and his wife Margaret?

[avm228]

Hi

Mohamddin Peterson's name appears in a Report and Manifest of shipwrecked crew, saved in the North Atlantic, from S/S "Sea Rambler", owners Dover Nav. Co. Ltd, London February 10th 1940:

[in a list of 12 names]

Mohamddin Peterson, aged 49, Fireman, nationality Indian

ETA: the manifest of the M/S Mosdale, which rescued the 12 men, gave a few further details about Mohamddin Peterson when it reached New York on 16 Feb 1940:

 - 25 years' service
 - engaged 6 January 1940 at Swansea
 - height 5ft 11in
 - weight 65 kilos.

Anna

[sgrollitt]

Anna,

That's a marvellous find! Thank you very much.

Simon

[avm228]

Hi again

It appears 13 other men from the Sea Rambler were rescued by the Norwegian vessel M/T Kaia Knudsen "in a raging snow storm in the North Atlantic":

http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/kaiaknudsen.html

Anna

[avm228]

I'm a bit confused about the Danish connection.  Mohamddin/John seems already to have had a Danish surname (Peterson) before he married Margaret.  I wonder whether:

1. Mohamddin had been married before to a Danish Miss Peterson (whose name he took), or
2. the generations have been mixed up, and Mohamddin was in fact (though born in India) half-Danish - his father having married a Dane and taken her name?

"It is also said that although my partner's grandmother's father was Danish, there was some Scottish ancestry too, which would tie in with the McLachlan surname. There were several Peterson children born in Liverpool between 1923 and 1932 with McLachlan as the mother, including my partner's father."

Are you saying here that Margaret also had some Danish blood, or was she straightforwardly Scottish?

I also wonder whether Mohamddin's heroics were not in the 1920s after all, but were connected with the 1940 shipwreck? (After which he was taken to New York).

Anna

[sgrollitt]

Yes I'm sure the family story about the heroic Indian grandfather that got passed down was a little confused. He was a fireman and probably did rescue some of his fellow sailor's lives, but that was before the ship Mosdale rescued his. And the New York connection was that the Mosdale was heading for New York and took the rescued sailors ther.

The family story is that Mohamddin married a Danish woman, and that it is normal practice in Denmark for the husband to take on the wife's surname. If this isn't the case, then I wonder if Mohamddin used the name to help him gain British citizenship.

Being 49 in 1940 at the time of the rescue, Mohamddin must have been born about 1891 in India. And with his name he was probably a Muslim.

[avm228]

Yes I'm sure the family story about the heroic Indian grandfather that got passed down was a little confused. He was a fireman and probably did rescue some of his fellow sailor's lives, but that was before the ship Mosdale rescued his. And the New York connection was that the Mosdale was heading for New York and took the rescued sailors ther.

I agree - though just for clarity, a fireman on a steamship was not a firefighter - he was a person who stoked the fires which generated the steam.

The family story is that Mohamddin married a Danish woman, and that it is normal practice in Denmark for the husband to take on the wife's surname. If this isn't the case, then I wonder if Mohamddin used the name to help him gain British citizenship.

But was this Danish woman Margaret, or some previous wife?  From what you said earlier - "my partner's grandmother's father was Danish" it sounded as though you thought Margaret was half-Danish.  But she doesn't seem to have brought the Peterson name into the picture - and Mohamddin didn't take her surname of McLachlan...

Also, his nationality remained "Indian" on that 1940 manifest, so it doesn't look as though he was naturalised as British.

ETA: obviously the 1922 marriage certificate ought to help clarify some of these points.


Anna 

[ShaunJ]

He arrived back in Liverpool in March 1940 on the Georgic. "Gas masks issued to all passengers and DBS as necessary". What was DBS I wonder? Mohamed Din Peterson, 90 Upper Canning Street, fireman.

There is a WW1 medal card for his army service in the Liverpool Regt (5602) and Manchester Regt (203899) British War Medal and Victory Medal.

[ShaunJ]

It may be just a coincidence but there is a short story by Rudyard Kipling called "The Story of Muhammed Din" . It's in Plain Tales from the Hills which was published in 1888.

It opens with a quotation from Munichandra, translated by Professor Peterson.

"Who is the happy man? He that sees in his own house at home little children crowned with dust, leaping and falling and crying."