Was my Gr.Grandad in Merchant navy in WW2 ?

[PrueM]

Hi Gary

The person who registered the death might be someone to follow up on.  They obviously knew Henry well enough to know (correctly!) who his parents were (unless they were told the info by someone else who knew him well, in which case they might be a red herring). 

Cheers
Prue

[Billyblue]

And, Gary, where was he buried?  Bulli or the Blue Mountains?  Or somewhere else?
Intrigued.  Glad to know it was the correct death.
Dawn M

[deebel]

When did White Star merge with Cunard?

Became Cunard White Star Limited in 1933 I think

deebel

[agoryliver]

Just a quick update,

The person who registered his death seems to have been the undertaker- W.G. Williams.
He is buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery, Scarborough. Bulli has been stamped in the section called "particulars of registration"
The cause of death was a vesical haemorrhage & hemiotomy.

I have a (incomplete) list of the ship names gleaned from a website that I was advised to look at by the lady at Southampton Archives.

So now I need to find out when he arrived in Australia, whether or not he joined the Australian MN and if his medal entitlement was for WW1 or WW2, or both. I will also try harder to find a record of his marriage in 1911/12 and his wife's subsequent marriage to Thomas George Verney, in I think 1947.

Again, thanks to everyone for your help.

Gary.

[Billyblue]

Hi Gary
Not sure about his cause of death.
Vesicle is the term for any sort of bladder, or bladder-like, even as small as a fluid filled blister.
In this case though it was probably a bladder haemorrhage.
Hemiotomy is not in my little medical dictionary but it seems to relate to a hernia of some kind.
Maybe he was in a fight on board ship??  These could be injuries.  Though in that case you would think there would have been an inquest.

If the story of him dying a couple of days out of port is true, and they brought him back to Bulli, it indicates Australian coastal shipping (to me) rather than international.
Not sure how you find out if he was in the Australian merchant navy apart from contacting various lines.  And as it was wartime...
The AUSN Co Ltd would probably be the largest.  They seemed to range up and down the east coast.
But there were lots more I'm sure.  I can remember ship names but not their lines.
If you think his Australian MN service was connected with war service, you might find something on the Australian War Memorial site?  www.awm.gov.au/

Dawn M

[seaweed]

It appears he has medals from both world wars.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8471759&queryType=1&resultcount=20
I would agree with Dawn. Re ship turning back after a couple of days. This would be highly unlikely unless the vessel was a Australian coaster. The cost would be prohibitive if she was an ocean going vessel, more likely he would have been buried at sea.

A post here may shed some light on his WW2 service
http://www.merchant-navy-ships.com/

"I have a (incomplete) list of the ship names gleaned from a website that I was advised to look at by the lady at Southampton Archives."

Which vessel/s are you missing?

[agoryliver]

  A few musings on Henry Hull.

  The 2 ships about which I've not been able to find anything about are as follows....
143283    18.9.20
129547    26.9.21
  I was wondering whether or not these may have been the first ships he served aboard as they have the earliest dates and they are listed next to his photograph on the C.R. 10 card.
  Also, I was wondering if all these dates beside the ships' numbers indicate the dates on which signed on or when he was discharged.

  Regarding the "vesicle haemorrhage", I agree that, with my distant knowledge of A Level human biology, vesicles are something to do with kidneys and bladders and urinary tracts etc. Not very pleasant I know. I googled hemiotomy and nothing descriptive came up, so I think that it may be an old term for something else. otomy sounds like lobotomy & hemi like hemispheres of the brain? I may cheekily ask my G.P. when I see him next week.

  My Mum has told me a few more anecdotes about him. Apparently, there were several mementoes that he'd "relieved" from the Mauretania including ashtrays, spoons, badges and plates. Unfortunately, these appear to have been sold cheaply during a house clearance that my grandad (Henry's son) had done in the 70's.  Also, Henry's wife (Rose Edith Hull) was very mean to him. This included branding him with flatirons when he'd come home on leave or was tipsy. While I don't know the whole story, I can't say that I'd blame him for wanting to spend his time at sea and moving to Australia to get away from her. Mum has said (and she knew her gran extremely well) that she was mean and horrible to everyone!

  I'm going to download the medal entitlement document from the national archives site. I was wondering that as I don't have a printer of my own, would I be better off to get someone else to download and print it (such as my brother).

  Thanks again everyone for your help.

  Gary.

[agoryliver]

  A message from my Mum.

  I've shared all the information about Henry George Hull with my Mum and told her about all the assistance that I've had while researching him. Henry died 27 years before I was born so is, in theory, a distant relative. However, he's my Mum's grandad,a closer relation, and although she never met him, had been told many stories about him. She'd no idea of what he looked like, not even the year in which he'd been born, married and died. ( I had reseached his birth, marriage year and names of Henry's parents and grand parents last year).

  When I was able to show Mum all the documents and the photo of him, she cried with great happiness. She'd spent about 60 years thinking about him, on and off, but was never shown any pictures or similar.

  Mum has asked me to thank everyone on her behalf for all the help I've received.

[Billyblue]

Great outcome!  Esp. for your mum.      

Dawn M