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Topic: Treasure Ship Tragedy - The Royal Charter (Read 2566 times)
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justmej
RootsChat Member
Posts: 230
Grandma Janet 1912
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I am in the middle of reading a book, about the awful tragedy of the steam clipper, the Royal Charter, which broke up against rocks, in a hurricane force 12 gale, when over 450 passengers died.
Most on board, were returning home from the Australian goldrush, with their small personal fortunes on them, as well as a consignment of gold, which was stacked below in the strongroom of the ship. They left Melbourne, on 26 August, 1859 and were due in Liverpool in under 60 days.
During the night of 25/26 October, 1859, only a handful of passengers were to survive, when all, including families with young children, were thrown into the sea, as the ship broke up within yards of the coast, at Moelfre, Anglesey. On board, were two of my ggg.uncles, brothers, James (aged 31) and Richard Oliver (aged 27), both miners, returning home to their families; they were amongst the hundreds of poor souls who never returned and who lost their lives.
The little church of Llanallgo became the morgue and some are buried in the churchyard there, others were buried in the churchyards nearest to wherever their bodies may have been washed ashore.
I know this is probably a crazy quest to go on, but would dearly like to find out, if and where they were ever buried. So far, I have been unable to find a death registration, for either of them, although, not knowing which registration districts I am looking for does not help. Would their deaths have been registered if their bodies were never recovered?
I would welcome any suggestions that might possibly help.
justmej
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BRUMBY; CHEESEMAN - Louth, Lincs
BRUMBY; CLARK; SMITH; YOUNG - Sunderland, Durham
COWING; FOSTER; HUDSPITH; KILGOUR; PATTERSON; PATTINSON; PRINGLE; ROBINSON - Northumberland
DOUGLAS; LAURENCE; MOFFAT; McQUEEN; PRINGLE - Scotland
HALL, HARDING, MAUGHAN(M); McQUEEN - Whickham, Durham
OLIVER; STARK - Durham; Northumberland & Scotland
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millymcb
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1313
Three Brothers Knight out on the road...almost!
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I don't think it sounds like a crazy quest at all....it sounds fascinating.
Have you seen this website? You might find some useful links there.
http://www.theshipslist.com/Research/Resource.htm
I'm thinking maybe there was an Inquiry or inquests or something. It might list the names of those whose bodies were recovered. A long shot of course but you never know 
The site may point you in the right direction for finding those.
Milly
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McBride (Monaghan & Manchester), Derbyshire (Bollington,Cheshire), Knight (Newcastle,Staffs), Smith (Chorley, Lancashire & Ireland), Tipladay (Manchester & Yorkshire) ,Steadman (Madeley,Shropshire), Steele (Manchester & Glasgow), Parkinson (Wigan, Lancashire), Lovatt, Cornes & Turner (Staffordshire) Stott (Oldham, Lancs). All ended up in Ardwick, Manchester - in Cotton Mills, Iron Works, or running pubs and corner shops. Census informatio is Crown Copyright http://www.nationalarchives.g |
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millymcb
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1313
Three Brothers Knight out on the road...almost!
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And this site..
http://www.archivesnetworkwales.info/cgi-bin/anw/desclist1_nofr?inst_id=27
Welsh archives - in particular the Anglesey County Records Office
Milly
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McBride (Monaghan & Manchester), Derbyshire (Bollington,Cheshire), Knight (Newcastle,Staffs), Smith (Chorley, Lancashire & Ireland), Tipladay (Manchester & Yorkshire) ,Steadman (Madeley,Shropshire), Steele (Manchester & Glasgow), Parkinson (Wigan, Lancashire), Lovatt, Cornes & Turner (Staffordshire) Stott (Oldham, Lancs). All ended up in Ardwick, Manchester - in Cotton Mills, Iron Works, or running pubs and corner shops. Census informatio is Crown Copyright http://www.nationalarchives.g |
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justmej
RootsChat Member
Posts: 230
Grandma Janet 1912
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Hi hiraeth
Many thanks for the link - I have seen it before and printed it off, although it seems to have had some more added into the article, which I have not previously seen.
Although, I have not looked for the brothers in quite a while, I have previously searched a long way after the event, for their death registration, without any success so far.
justmej
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BRUMBY; CHEESEMAN - Louth, Lincs
BRUMBY; CLARK; SMITH; YOUNG - Sunderland, Durham
COWING; FOSTER; HUDSPITH; KILGOUR; PATTERSON; PATTINSON; PRINGLE; ROBINSON - Northumberland
DOUGLAS; LAURENCE; MOFFAT; McQUEEN; PRINGLE - Scotland
HALL, HARDING, MAUGHAN(M); McQUEEN - Whickham, Durham
OLIVER; STARK - Durham; Northumberland & Scotland
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wilcoxon
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 862
Barry Sheene 1950-2003
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http://www.royalcharterchurch.org.uk/wreck.html
You might find this interesting.
There are tales that many passengers had their gold on their persons, and because of the weight they perished, others who managed to survive lost it on the way to safety on land.
It`s said that many local families became very rich from this tragic event.
But 28 very brave men from Moelfre helped rescue many survivors.
The stretch of beach where this happened is a most lovely spot , as is most of Anglesey .
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justmej
RootsChat Member
Posts: 230
Grandma Janet 1912
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Hi wilcoxon and thank you for the very interesting link about the tragedy.
Have read the book The Golden Wreck the Tragedy of the Royal Charter, by Alexander McKee, which gives great detail on the events that happened. Did read that many passengers were carrying their gold and how much of it was also washed ashore with the wreckage.
Have seen pictures of the area and it does look lovely and it's therefore difficult to imagine the terrible scenes, that the locals must have witnessed, following the storm in 1859.
My G.Grandfather was born in 1860, not long after the tragedy and was given the names 'James Richard', in memory of his two uncles that perished.
justmej
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BRUMBY; CHEESEMAN - Louth, Lincs
BRUMBY; CLARK; SMITH; YOUNG - Sunderland, Durham
COWING; FOSTER; HUDSPITH; KILGOUR; PATTERSON; PATTINSON; PRINGLE; ROBINSON - Northumberland
DOUGLAS; LAURENCE; MOFFAT; McQUEEN; PRINGLE - Scotland
HALL, HARDING, MAUGHAN(M); McQUEEN - Whickham, Durham
OLIVER; STARK - Durham; Northumberland & Scotland
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justmej
RootsChat Member
Posts: 230
Grandma Janet 1912
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Hi meryll
Welcome to RootsChat!
It sounds possible that your William Pritchard could be the one mentioned amongst the twenty-eight. As for the Matthew men mentioned, as one had the unusual name (surely!) of Israel, that might help you find if he was related to your GG.Grandmother.
Since my original posting, I have found that James Oliver, did have children when he died. I did know that he was married but not that they had any family. I have been in a touch with a decendant from his side, although she knew nothing about the tragedy of the Royal Charter, so was able to give her the information I had.
I found the info, to get me started, from a hand written family tree that a late cousin of my mum's had done, many years ago. It has been a great help and so interesting (as well as sad!) to find out what happened to this family.
As well as these two brothers dying in such awful circumstances, their parents also lost another two sons, within three years of each other, both at the age of two years........tragic!!! Mind, their mother went on to live well into her 90's, even after all the grief she must have suffered.
Hope you manage to find if your Pritchard and Mat(t)hew families were connected.
justmej
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BRUMBY; CHEESEMAN - Louth, Lincs
BRUMBY; CLARK; SMITH; YOUNG - Sunderland, Durham
COWING; FOSTER; HUDSPITH; KILGOUR; PATTERSON; PATTINSON; PRINGLE; ROBINSON - Northumberland
DOUGLAS; LAURENCE; MOFFAT; McQUEEN; PRINGLE - Scotland
HALL, HARDING, MAUGHAN(M); McQUEEN - Whickham, Durham
OLIVER; STARK - Durham; Northumberland & Scotland
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trynfindit
RootsChat Pioneer
Posts: 1
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hello - I have a good friend who is a member of the St. Gallgo church and may be able to give you some help in your search. St. Gallgo will celebrate next year the anniversary of the wreck of The Royal Charter. Email me privately and I'll give you her email address. --Julie
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« Last Edit: Thursday 03 July 08 20:48 UTC (UK) by trynfindit »
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Valda
Global Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 9747
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A much more modern case where no body was found and so no inquest and possibly no death registration
http://archive.thisisbradford.co.uk/2003/7/29/109824.html
In the past no body literally did mean no inquest or death registration since without the body a cause of death couldn't be established. However if you look at the end of any death registration quarter you will find, particular in Victorian times, large numbers of unknown people whose deaths were registered each quarter, so even if a body washed up sometime afterwards, if it couldn't be identified the death was registered but as an unknown. With deaths out at sea if a body was washed up it might be many miles away and sometime later.
If you put in the December quarter 1859 in FreeBMD and chose the Anglesey registration district but don't enter a name and then search you will see a list of unknown death registrations appear. There are about 30 males.
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl
Even today in modern day death registration quarters it is surprising to see just how many unknown peoples' deaths are still being registered.
Regards
Valda
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justmej
RootsChat Member
Posts: 230
Grandma Janet 1912
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A much more modern case where no body was found and so no inquest and possibly no death registration
No body so seven years before a certificate can be issued ! 
Thanks for the links Valda - very interesting.
Not a death at sea, but when I was trying to find the death cert of my late brother, who died in a road traffic accident, I had trouble locating the registration, although I had his date of death. This was due to an inquest being held, and a court case, so it was not registered until the following year.
justmej
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BRUMBY; CHEESEMAN - Louth, Lincs
BRUMBY; CLARK; SMITH; YOUNG - Sunderland, Durham
COWING; FOSTER; HUDSPITH; KILGOUR; PATTERSON; PATTINSON; PRINGLE; ROBINSON - Northumberland
DOUGLAS; LAURENCE; MOFFAT; McQUEEN; PRINGLE - Scotland
HALL, HARDING, MAUGHAN(M); McQUEEN - Whickham, Durham
OLIVER; STARK - Durham; Northumberland & Scotland
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IRT
RootsChat Pioneer
Posts: 1
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hello
I'm a new member and have only just caught up on the "Royal Charter" thread. My 3xgt.uncle, James Russell, was one of the returning gold seekers on her final voyage in 1859. He and his family featured fairly prominently in McKee's book "The Golden Wreck". He survived the wreck but lost his wife and 2 young daughters, one of whom was washed ashore at Moelfre and buried locally (and so her death was able to be registered). To compound the tragedy, James' father died 6 weeks later in West Lothian. In 1884 he returned to Australia, where 3 brothers and 2 sisters had settled, and also to the farm in central Victoria that he had "selected" before returning to Scotland. He also pursued some more gold mining ventures before dying at his sister's (my gt,gt.grandmother's) neighbouring farm in 1897.
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Pages: [1] 2
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