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Topic: Captain Robert MENHENNETT of Cornwall (Read 1442 times)
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Billie Mendav
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 28
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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My ancestor Captain R L Menhennet was a merchant seaman born in 1818 and married in St Clements, Truro, in 1839 to Mary Ann Scott. He sailed on various ships in the home trade, and moved with his family to Hartlepool around 1855 although he continued his sea-going career. We believe he died between the years 1861 - 1870, but have been unable to find a record of his death. Family stories suggest it may have been an accident at sea.
If anyone can help I'd be most grateful, any information about the Menhennets of Cornwall and Hartlepool would be welcome.
Thanks, Billie
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« Last Edit: Monday 25 June 07 03:31 UTC (UK) by krisesjoint »
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syd13
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 13
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Hello Billie,
We are not related in any way but over the years I have been helping a lady with this family. Her husband is desended from his daughter Elizabeth Ann bn 1847 died about 1920 Hartlepool. She married a Edward Clark Young at the Independant Chapel, Hartlepool in1867.
I also have other bits if you want them.
syd reed
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Billie Mendav
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 28
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hello Syd,
Thank you for your reply. I and several others are trying to find out more about this Robert Menhennet, we have details of his life up to about 1860 - 70 and then he just disappears from the scene. His wife described herself as a widow on the 1871 census.
He has no death certificate, unless his name is so badly miss-spelt that none of us can recognise it. It's believed he may have died in a shipping accident, but if so there should have been an enquiry of some sort, but none has been found.
It would be interesting to share some information with you.
Thanks, Billie
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syd13
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 13
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Hello Billie,
I'll have a dig around this week end to see what I have got.
Just as an aside I think Mary Scott's sister Tomasina born 1811(lovely name) was a nursemaid to the Ropner's who were ship owners in Hartlepool.
regards Syd.
P.S. you are right about the Reed.
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« Last Edit: Monday 23 October 06 09:57 UTC (UK) by syd13 »
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Billie Mendav
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 28
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Thanks Syd, I think we are on the same wavelength. I agree with you about the name Thomasina - Tamsin. The name was used for generations, the last my grandfather's sister who sadly died as an infant around 1900.
I think Thomasina's sister or sister in law and her mother Mary Ann Scott also worked for Ropners in Hartlepool.
Thanks, Billie
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syd13
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 13
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Hello Billie,
Have located the tree of sorts that I had built up. I'll give you bits as I go down.
Did Robert have a brother?
Alfred Menhennet bn 1833 Cornwall H/of Elizabeth they had a daughter Elizabeth Jane bn 1855 Cornwall married Holy Trinity, Hartlepool. 1887. George Clarke(Wid)34yrs. bn 1853 Suffolk(Railway Signalman)
.....................................
Daughter of Robert I Menhennet.
Elizabeth Ann bn 1847 died 21/04/1920 Hartlepool.
Married: Independent Chapel, Hartlepool 11/10/1867
Edward Clark Young bn 1847 Newcastle(Bricklayer)
Died 21/05/1908. 7 Howard St, Hpool.
....................................
Son of Robert I Menhennet
Robert Isaac Menhennet bn 1844
Ships Captain
Married 1871
Died accident Sunderland 1939
.................................................
Daughter of Rbt I Menhennet
Mary Ann bn 1849 Truro
Died 1920 Hartlepool
Married: J Armstrong one child Mary J. bn 1875
he died and she married Nicholas Holman.
................................................
More later.
Some was taken from local Church records other from the local Hartlepool paper.
Syd
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syd13
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 13
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Hello Billie,
A bit more.
Son of Rbt I Menhennet
Wm Thomas Menhennet bn.1855 Truro dd 1922 Glasgow.
married:
Elizabeth Outhwaite Hartlepool 1873 she dd 1932 Glasgow.
.................
Son of Rbt I Menhennet.
Wm Henry Scott bn 1842.
.................
Daughter of Rbt I Menhennet
Emily bn 1851 Truro married a Bavage
.................
Daughter of Rbt I Menhennet
Tomasina bn 1857 Hartlepool married a Cousins.
.................
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Billie Mendav
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 28
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Thanks Syd,
Yes William Thomas Menhennet was my great grandfather, his wife Elizabeth (obviously) my great grandmother. We were thrilled earlier this year to find their grave in a cemetery in Glasgow. It had been overgrown for many years but has now been cleared, to some degree.
I'm still curious about the death of Robert Isaac (or Lally) Menhennet, and something that you mentioned in your previous message could be of significance. You wrote that Robert Isaac Menhennet born 1844 died 1939 in an accident at Sunderland. Now I'm sure that date is wrong, I have it that he died in 1884 of heart disease. So is the person who died at Sunderland his father, also Robert, born 1818? He was a ship's captain and his death is rumoured to have been the result of an accident or other mishap on a ship.
No death certificate has been found for him, but perhaps his name was so badly mis-spelt, perhaps by shipmates, that we are all failing to recognise it.
We believe that this man (born 1818) was christened Robert Lally (or Lilley) Menhennet, and that the name Robert Isaac was erroneously attributed to him by his grandson Alfred Menhennet when he registered the death of his father William T Menhennet in Glasgow in 1922. Alfred was only born in 1902 (in Hartlepool) so any information he had was second or third hand.
The mother of Robert Menhennet (born 1818) was Mary Lilley, I'm sure he was christened Robert Lally (or Lilley)Menhennet, after his mother.
Are you able to tell me the source of your information that "Robert Menhennet died in Sunderland in an "accident"? And do you have a definite date for this event? It could be that this is the information I am looking for.
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post these messages, it's very helpful, and it would be great to be able to solve this mystery at last.
Billie
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lizdb
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 9415
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i have no connection with this family but thought it an interesting thread, so I hope you will forgive me 'butting' in! I guess it sparked my interest as I had a seafaring rellie from Sussex who regularly sailed to and from Sunderland to transport coal.
I too would be interested to hear more about the death of Robert Menhennet in 1939 in Sunderland. I looked through the death indexes (currently free to search on ancestry) and there is not a death registered.
So it would be good to hear where this info came from - if it is just family 'hearsay' then it could well be that it was the OTHER Robert who died in this way.
By the way, there are 2 or 3 Menhennet deaths around that time that I noticed, mainly in Cornwall.
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Billie Mendav
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 28
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Thanks Liz, but I'm sure the date 1939 is not correct. That would mean he was 95 when he died on a ship in Sunderland, still working! I know that he died in 1884.
If it was his father he would have done even better, born 1818, died 1939. possible, but unlikely.
The family story is that Captain Robert died of poisoning from the verdigris off the ship's bell. But there is no certificate, no inquest, no will, nothing. The trail just goes cold. But with a story like that, you can't help feeling that there is a grain of truth........like perhaps ...poisoning........but source unknown.
I had a few ancestors who sailed in and out of Sunderland as well, the north east of England was hugely important for shipping in the last century.
Thanks for your reply.
Billie
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lizdb
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 9415
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I think we are agreeing that 1939 must be incorrect!!
It will interesting to hear from Syd where that info came from.
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jorose
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 4671
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Remember that if it was a death at sea it would be registered possibly on the overseas registers (currently on 1837online.com but not on Ancestry) which are seperate, or sometimes not properly registered at all.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=131 - have you gone through the merchant seamen records - list of officers records - at the National Archives? There won't necessarily be a date of death but there should be lists of voyages taken and if these end abruptly in 1864, for example, then you'll at least know you're probably looking at a 1864/5 death for him.
I have an ancestor, Peter Rowe, who along with his son William Henry Rowe and most of his crew died of yellow fever in Bathurst, The Gambia, while away at sea in 1845. His other son, Peter Rowe Jr, was one of only two to survive the epidemic and had to hire a new crew to sail the ship back to England. There is no official death record that I know of for either Peter Rowe or son William Henry; there is a memorial in the church at Mylor that mentions them, and a relative pieced together the rest from records in the National Archives.
... interestingly enough this didn't put Peter Jr off sailing, as we know that two years later he was travelling back to Africa as first mate on the Medora, writing an extended letter back to his sweetheart in Cornwall in the form of a diary which he gave to her on his return, copies of which have been given to us via the same relative. That trip was not without incident either; a large part of the crew caught food poisoning after deciding to go ashore hunting to supplement their diet and catching a wild pig - widely believed among the crew to be due to letting the meat hang in direct moonlight.
When he returned, the Captain - who during the journey under the influence of the food poisoning became strange and delusional and claimed to have thrown some gold overboard and that 'they' were going to kill him for it - was hauled into court for theft, having been found with gold dust belonging to the owners of the ship cleverly sewed into his belt.
I wonder what my ancestor, Peter's sister Grace, made of her brother's antics at sea? Perhaps because of the death of their father and brother, her other living brother, James (two more died young) went into carpentry instead - all things considered a much safer idea!
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Billie Mendav
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 28
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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What a fascinating story, Jorose, and how wonderful that you have all those details because they could so easily have been lost in all those turbulent events.
Captain Menhennet did sail to Ireland sometimes, and also France, so there is a possibility that he died in one of those places. That would make it harder to find a death certificate.
I think that some of Sunderland's archives were lost in either a fire or wartime bombing, but I should ask the archivist if there he has anything. But I know that others have looked before me and found nothing. Another hope is that several newspapers actually carried columns dedicated to loss of lives at sea, and not necessarily only for their own area. I found Liverpool losses in the press and journal, which covers the north of Scotland.
Anyway I shall keep looking, and I do appreciate the replies I am receiving on this topic.
Thank you,
Billie
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syd13
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 13
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Hello Billie,
I am sorry if I misled you about Menhennet 1939 but I did have the year and accident penciled in. I have had a look through the local paper for 1939 again which is were I get most my info from and as sods law would have it's not there. However I shall keep my eyes open.
Syd
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ged cousins
RootsChat Pioneer
Posts: 1
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Robert Menhennet's daughter, Thomasina Menhennet, married my Great great Grandfather William Cousins on March 3rd 1878.
My family Bible records the death of Robert Menhennet as Sept 27th 1862 at sea.
His wife Mary Ann Menhennet died Jan 7th 1893.
Hope that answers your queries.
Ged Cousins
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