No GRO registration or parish register: the birth of William Molien Morgan
Richard Morgan explains how he traced the birth of his great-grandfather without the benefit of a birth certificate or parish register entry
In 1828 William Molien Morgan’s father Alexander Morgan was a Scottish merchant living in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, capital of Indonesia). His firm had links to London and Singapore. The London end had gone bankrupt in London in February 1828 and, as it was a partnership, Alexander and the other partners were personally liable. So Alexander and his wife travelled to England.
He succeeded in being personally discharged from bankruptcy in May 1828, though his brother John Morgan, who was also a partner, was not discharged until 11 August 1828. I suspect Alexander was kept in London in order to deal with his brother John’s affairs, John himself being in Singapore.
Miles from the nearest land…
On the way back to Batavia, Alexander’s second son, my greatgrandfather William Molien Morgan was born at sea on 15 December 1828. The name of the captain of the Swedish ship, the Calcutta, was
C. H. Molien, hence the baby’s unusual second name.
The ship had left Stockholm on 18 August 1828, bound for Batavia at Lat 38o 24’S Long 74o 58’. 15” E, which I calculate to be in the extreme south of the Indian Ocean, not far from the French islands of Amsterdam and St Paul – about as far from land of any size as it is possible to be. The position implies that on rounding the Cape, the ship went in a more or less straight line due east for Batavia, not stopping at any intermediate port, presumably driven by a trade wind. The Calcutta arrived at Batavia on 6 January 1829.
By good fortune I have a certified copy of the ship’s log. It is a fairly remarkable document. It has the co-ordinates of the ship and details about the course of the voyage (East South East ¾ by East, to North East by East. All sails set) and the weather (variable light breezes with fair weather. Winds East). It is signed by the Chief Officer (ie Mate) Jehr A Boman and states as follows:
8.02 my watch being ended, turned in to bed. 9.02 at 10 o’clock awakened by a strange shrill sound. 10.02 was upon inquiry informed, that Mrs Morgan has just been delivered of a Son!!!
Did the Swedish ship’s officer write his log in English?
Note that the son is unnamed, Mrs Morgan is not identified by anything except her surname, and there is no mention or identification of Mr Morgan, though he was on board.
My father (who was born overseas and whose father was also born overseas) used this to prove that he was a British subject and first obtained a passport in (I think) the 1930s. Imagine the difficulty of obtaining a passport on the strength of this today!
My copy has an endorsement pasted onto it:
I have examined this copy with the original Certificate and find the same to be correct Dated this 28th day of March 1890 Geo. P. Haworth, Solicitor 27 Brasenose St Manchester England.
William had died by then, so it must have been something to do with the winding up of his estate. Howarth was the solicitor who proved his will.
William Molien Morgan eventually inherited his father’s business in Batavia and lived there until 1879, when he returned to England and set up an import/export business in Manchester. He died in Ashton-uponmersey on 29 June 1887.