An Ordnance Survey Map showing Weymouth, Dorset
Last week using census records, I was able to track the first moves of the Chubb family as they left Evershot in Dorset. A little colour was added through a newspaper account of the 1865 fire which destroyed a large part of the village. This week military records add more information to the family's movements.
If you remember, the 1861 census showed William Chubb, a cooper journeyman at 2 New Town Place in Weymouth, Dorset. With him were his wife, Eliza, a straw bonnet maker, and his children Henrietta, 12, and William J.S., 6. Also in the household was a boarder, Thomas Philips, a carpenter journeyman. By 1871 William and Eliza Chubb were the only two people enumerated at 2 New Town Place. They didn't even have a boarder any more. Where had the children gone?
A search for the younger William Chubb in the 1871 census was the easiest to under take. His name wouldn't change, but Henrietta might have married. His two middle names helped to pinpoint his records, as they were usually included either in full or as initials. In 1871 he was still in Weymouth, but as it was a port, it was not a great surprise to find that he was included as a Boy 2nd Class on the training vessel Boscawen.
The training he received there would have prepared him for a life in the navy. Sure enough, I was able to find his naval records on the National Archives Discovery site. He signed on for 10 years in January of 1873. His record only continued until 1877 when he was discharged as an invalid.
As for Henrietta, so far, I've been unable to find her in the 1871 census. I did, however, find a record of her marriage. She married William McKay, a Corporal in the Royal Engineers, on September 18, 1869 at Hope Chapel in Weymouth. Her occupation was given as a domestic servant.
Here was another military connection. How had she met a Corporal in the Royal Engineers? Was it in Weymouth or was she living elsewhere at the time? The Hope Chapel records also included baptisms. William Henry McKay was born to William and Henrietta McKay July 27, 1870 and baptized in April of 1871. My quest to find Henrietta's children had its first result. Unfortunately, William Henry McKay wasn't one of the children included on the family tree that Harold Chambers drew for his daughter. I wonder what other surprises my quest will turn up.
Harold Chambers' Family Tree of his Aunt's Family
Sources:
Chambers, M.C. Letter to Mrs. C.E.B. Cavanagh written Good
Friday, April 8/55 from Soldiers Point
Family Search film 1517715 for Hope Chapel, Weymouth, Dorset
Find My Past, 1861 & 1871 England, Wales & Scotland
Census Images for Weymouth, Dorset
The National Archives > Royal Navy Service Records 1853-1928 https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/royal-navy-ratings-service-records-1853-1928/
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