Did my wife’s grandfather change his name from Michael to Joseph Francis?
Q
Was the Joseph Francis Purcell who married my wife’s grandmother Ivy Smith, on 5 October 1911 at St Thomas’ Catholic Church, Canterbury, also known as Michael Purcell? The marriage certificate states that Joseph was in the 9th Lancers in Canterbury. The family believe he was born in Ireland. I can’t find any record of him except on his children’s birth certificates. On the 1911 census, Michael Purcell was at Lydd, Kent, at a 9th Lancers training camp with someone named as a witness on Joseph and Ivy’s marriage certificate.
An article in the Whitstable Times dated 3 August 1912 reveals Michael was arrested in Chartham, Kent, near “Mill Lane”. I can’t find this address, but Joseph and Ivy were living at Mill Row in 1914.
I can’t find records of his trial. How can I confirm that Joseph was also actually Michael? Graham Smith
A
The war memorial in Chartham records the death of JF Purcell in the First World War, where he appears in the Royal Navy section. The key to solving this problem was to find his death among the war dead. He drowned in 1914, as revealed in the collection ‘British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials’ searchable on findmypast.co.uk, which covers 1891–1972. His death was recorded by the Registrar General
‘Michael Purcell was arrested for taking a bicycle from Canterbury’
of Shipping and Seamen, indicating he had joined the Merchant Navy.
He drowned at sea in Reggio, Italy, between 17 and 18 October 1914 while serving on the merchant vessel Trefusis. He was 29, and claimed to have been born in Canterbury. His address was given as 12 Mill Row, Chartham.
The age of Joseph Francis Purcell at the time of his death accords with the only Purcell found in the area in the 1911 census. This was Private Michael Purcell found serving with the 9th Lancers in Lydd, Kent. In addition to this, Joseph Francis was a groom on the occasion of his son Bernard’s baptism in Chartham in May 1912, and Michael Purcell was a groom when he enlisted in the Army in 1902. Joseph Francis was in Canterbury Barracks when he married a girl from Mill Row, Chartham, and Michael Purcell was arrested for taking a bicycle from Canterbury and leaving it outside a cottage in Mill Lane, Chartham. This was reported in the Whitstable Times in August 1912. Both were said to be in the 9th Lancers.
These parallel facts suggest they are the same person. There is a sequence of events from the occurrence of Private Michael Purcell in 1911, his dismissal from the Army for theft and a civilian life for Joseph Francis between 1912 and 1914, prior to becoming a merchant seaman, that also suggests this.
Between 1858 and 1913 no merchant service records were kept. A Central Registered Index was introduced in 1913, but all of the entries up to most of 1918 were destroyed. Fortunately, the printed death index states the Port of Registry, St Ives, and the Trefusis’ official number, 98249. So you may be able to trace surviving crew lists or agreements via the website of the Crew List Index Project (CLIP) at crewlist.org.uk.
In 1911, Michael gave his birthplace as Johnstown, Kilkenny, matching his attestation papers in 1902 when he gave his next of kin as Mary Dillon, his stepsister. In the 1901 census of Johnstown Michael and Mary Purcell, a brother and sister aged 18 and 14 years respectively, are living with their uncle John. They were born in County Tipperary, but it is worth investigating to see if they are orphaned step-siblings. Stephen Thomas