James Edward Morgan born cira 1884/85

[DozyDora]

It does seem a real muddle!
IF this letter is from Edward (who you say was known as James) then it is strange that the brother Henry Joseph was also known as James.

James Edward Morgan thought Henry's second name was James, not Joseph, and he even left his estate to Henry James Morgan.

[DozyDora]

Oh I see what you are getting at!!  All I know is my partner's Dad Edward William Morgan, who is one of Henry Joseph Morgan's sons has a letter written by James Edward Morgan from Shanghai (he was Chief Inspector, Public Works Department, Shanghai Municipal Council) saying how glad he was to have met Henry at their uncle George's house because he never knew he had a brother!  I don't have the letter to hand but I do have others written by him and they were written cira 1930's.

In a letter dated 28.03.1932 he states:

"Dear James I wonder if you could spare the time and call at Somerset House and look up the Register of Births and let me know the exact year and date I was born in.  I would like you to try and get me a duplicate copy of my Birth Certificate, if possible, because I will have to produce it before I can leave the Municipal Council on a pension.  If you should manage please don’t forget and Register the letter, if not please don’t forget to send year and date when I was born as I am a little mixed up – been too long out here.  When you write, please let me know what expenses you have to go to and I will forward with return mail.

Well James, old boy, there is not much more to say, except we have had a week quietness around the fighting line as both parties, Chinese and Japanese are holding meeting at the British Consulate to try and fix up peace times, so far no result but we are all in hopes they will end the meetings in peace.  Nearly all the houses around the Settlement are blown to pieces, also Railway Stations and the Forts at Woosung, the entrance to the River and to Shanghai, a few houses in the Northern part of the Settlement where the Japanese troops were allotted to look after are damaged either by fire or shell, including my house.

Well I must close now with the very best of wishes and kind regards to you and your Good Wife and Nellie.  So cheerio and best of luck.

Please try and get me the copy mentioned, if not I will have to write after I receive your answer to this.  Cheerio.

I remain Yours Sincerely Brother Edward"

The family did try and get a copy of his birth certificate and my partner’s Dad still has a copy of the application, but they stated that Harriet’s maiden name was Calier, not Kalaher.

Although Henry was christened Henry Joseph, when James Edward died in 1948 he left the residue of his estate to his brother Henry James Morgan in his Will, so we think this is why he called him James.

I went to TNA yesterday to continue my research of the pension claims against the Shanghai Municipal Council.  I was very successful and managed to find James’s entries, which I have taken photographs off (about 20 pages) and these will arrive in my Inbox in a day or so.

James didn’t have a Birth Certificate but overcame this by getting someone who knew him to sign a “Declaration of Existence” form made by the Shanghai Municipal Council.  However, I also found an earlier pension claim made by him and the records have a certified copy of the details of his passport issued in Shanghai in 1935 (pre-photocopiers) and it states his date of birth as being 13th February 1880!  This cannot be so, or else Harriet Morgan nee Kalaher is not his mother, because Harriet was born in 1867 and this would make her just 12 when she became pregnant.  This would also put a 13 year gap between James and his next brother Thomas, when there was no birth control!!

So my thinking is he probably made this date up – said he had lost his birth certificate and passport during the war, not knowing it would throw a spanner in the works.  I have looked at births for 1880 and 1879 and there is nothing conclusive.

What do you think?

[KGarrad]

I was confused by this, as it seems to be a follow-on from another thread?

I think this is the previous thread
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,547832.0.html

Ignore this - threads were merged while I was posting!!

[ShaunJ]

A birth date of Feb 1880 would be consistent with:

Passenger list of the Kashgar dep London 25 January 1925. Passenger James Morgan, 44, for Shanghai, insp public works. (Address The Lawn, Shepherds Bush)

Passenger list of the Malwa dep London 7 August 1930. Passenger James Edward Morgan for Shanghai, works inspector, aged 50. (6 Kildare Terrace W2 - which seems to have been a boarding house).  There is also a James Morgan 51 chief inspector, Shanghai, of the same address on the passenger list of the Morea on 4 September 1930 but that is (struck through)

Passenger list of the Strathmore arr london from Shanghai in April 1946 - James Morgan aged 66.

[ShaunJ]

There's a picture of The Lawn in 1925 on page 18 of this document http://www.hfusc.org.uk/heritagetrails/images/teacher_8.pdf

[ShaunJ]

Aged 65 in 1945 per Captives of Empire http://www.rootschat.com/links/0gl9/

[DozyDora]

Thank you very much for all your help, especially the passenger lists; I can only access those arriving back in England.

Please have a look at his supposed father Edward Morgan (coal porter) in the 1881 Census (RG11/198) staying as brother-in-law at 10 Seymour Mews.  Please have a look at Sophie and William Darvell and where it says "Condition as to marriage", compare theirs to that of Edward - to me they look the same, so could Edward have been married at aged 17?  I have been looking for a marriage for him around that date, not necessarily to Harriet Kalaher and I cannot find any.  His father was George James Morgan (artificial florist or flower maker) and he died in 1869.

The only other explanation would be that James Edward Morgan was born under a totally different name and then adopted by Harriet and Edward.

Regarding getting engineering skills, in order to work in the Public Works Dept of the Shanghai Municipal Council, I found a passenger list for 4 July 1917 on board the SS "Fushimi Maru" where it states that a Mr J E Morgan was on board - profession Marine Engineer - country of permanent residence Shanghai, China, which is feasible, but it also has Mrs E Morgan 30 - Wife.  The Mr J E Morgan has been struck out.  It could be our James but, as far as the family knew, he never married.

Regarding getting training as an engineer, what options were there around 1896 onwards?

Dora

[ShaunJ]

I looked at Edward Morgan in 1881 and to me his marital status is "unm" - see other examples on the previous page.

Next door at number 11 there's another Morgan family - William and Julia - and they have a son Edward aged 1, born St Pancras.  But he was Edward George, born 25 January 1880.

Not sure about the marine engineer. I wonder how many J E Morgans there were in Shanghai at that time

[DozyDora]

The 2 Morgan families next to each other in the 1881 Census are of the same family.  George James Morgan (artificial florist or flower maker) and Mary Ann Kemp's first born was William George Kemp Morgan, who married Julia Ann Jones.  In another Census I have 4 Morgan families living next to each other all belonging to the same family.

William and Julia went on to have 10 children but none of them were named James Edward Morgan.

There is a James Edward Lock who was Harriet Morgan’s (nee Kalaher) sister Julia Eliza Lock (nee Kalaher) and Charles Henry Lock’s 3rd born out of 15 children!, but I have his birth certificate born 1878 and, what’s more, he married Jane Rumsey and had 3 children that I know of.

Edward Morgan, William George Kemp Morgan’s youngest brother was stated to be a coal porter in the 1881 Census aged 17 and was so until he died in 1910 but, apart from the 1891 Census where he is shown with a Harriet and son Edward (not James Edward), there is no trace of him in the 1901 Census and I can only find a Harriet Morgan working as a nursemaid, which I find hardly plausible since she abandoned Henry on somebody’s doorstep and we don’t know what happened to Thomas George Morgan, Henry’s older brother.

All I know is my partner’s Dad, one of Henry’s sons has 3 letters written by James Edward Morgan to his supposed brother Henry (whom he called James) and in the first letter he writes that he was overjoyed to have discovered he had a brother when they met at their uncle George’s place.  This George would most probably be their father Edward Morgan’s older brother George James Morgan born 1861, who was also a coal porter or coal hawker in the Census’s.  If James Edward Morgan is Henry’s brother and was born in 1880, then there is a 17 year gap between them and a 13 year gap between James and the next born Thomas George Morgan and, with no birth control, this is ludicrous!  My Morgan/Lebby Family Tree is public so you are free to look at it any time.  Most of it I have been able to back up with records.