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Does anyone have free access to the "UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 Passenger Lists"?

I can see the heading to a particular name which may be of interest to me, but cannot drill down to see if it's a likely match. The name is shown as Mr Le Marshe, leaving from England. If anyone can supply the date and cities of departure and destination, I'd appreciate it.

Hi Gerry

Yes, I have now trawled through a lot of articles mentioning Marshe in Cobar, but that Sept 1903 appearance seems to be the first so far. Many are just mentions (to do with business, legal and the hospital board), but one gives quite a lot of info, including that he'd initially thought of going to Broken Hill, also liked the idea of opal mining... so who knows?

I have a letter from another source which puts  sighting of him in South Africa in October 1903, with the thought that he may have got on a boat to England. At this point, I'm just trying to summarise what I've gathered from the Aus. sources into my document, and over time will try to put together a chronological summary of what I've found so far.

I think that this is probably as far as I can go in Australian records at this point. I may post something in (or transfer this thread (? not sure how that works - will need a moderator)) to) a UK or South African forum, but I need some time to process what I've got first.

It's unfortunate that Trove doesn't seem to allow me to specify an exact match on "Marshe", and brings up thousands of unrelated material on "Marsh" - I sent them a query/suggestion about that one - and I'm not going to trawl through every last one...

Thanks again for your help and interest.
Mel

Hi,

In 1914 the recruitment age restrictions for the 1st AIF was 19-38 and 5'6''.

The failure rate for recruitment for this period was very high.

June 1915 they age was lifted to 45 and the height reduced to 5'2".

April 1917 the height was reduced to 5'0", Railway and Mining Corps could take medically fit men as old as 50.

I read in one of the newspapers that he had tried to enlist a few times which wasn't unusual and he had to lower his age to meet the 45 year limit.  Not bad to be able to reduce ones age by 12 years and get away with it, his former commissioned rank of Major may have helped him although he enlisted as a private.

Gerry

Thanks again, Gerry. That's interesting - having just ploughed through all of those records, I saw that he was only 5'5". Was it the obit. that said that (about him reapplying several times)? I will have another look at the Trove articles and incorporate them into my notes.

G. Marshe, appears September 1903 newspapers playing in billiards tournaments in Cobar.

Gerry

Oh, thanks Gerry, both this and the previous one are very helpful. Are those publicly available at all? I didn't spot them on Trove but could have missed them if they were listed below a lot of irrelevant ones. I'll have another look tomorrow, anyway.

This is a curious one which I started researching as a favour to someone last year, and once on the trail it turned out to need a nose for detective work and many hours of trawling though records, and I couldn't put it down until I found at least some of the answers!

The short story is, that this man started life as Frances Gerhard Myburgh (Frank) in South Africa, went to school in Shrewsbury in Shropshire, returned to Cape Town and became a successful businessman, then later fought on the side of the British in the Boer War (1899-1902). He then disappears (later several of his siblings get involved in trying to track him down), but turns up in Cobar, NSW, in 1906, as George Marshe. Gets married, has 4 kids, then signs up (lying about his age) when he's about 55 to go off and fight in WW1, and gets killed in Belgium.

That's the back story, and I've already found quite a lot of evidence of the various stages of his life, including an obit. in a Dubbo newspaper via Trove. It sounds as if he was well known and ran a successful business in Cobar.

What I haven't been able to establish is how he spent the years 1903-1905, although there is evidence that he must have been in Cobar by Jan 1906, already with an established business. I would like to know at what point he took on the new name, whether he went to England before Australia (possible, as he'd been to school there and some of his siblings lived there). But he was last sighted near Durban, South Africa, in late 1902.

I came across an index entry for a G Marshe on a passenger list to NSW in 1906 - but this seems a bit late (and I couldn't see the actual record). I think that I've now looked on all freely available records and search engines, but if anyone has any additional ideas, I'd be grateful. I think at this stage, all I really need is some evidence of arrival in Australia as Marshe (or Myburgh, but this seems unlikely). I suppose it's possible that he worked his passage as crew?

(If nothing else turns up in Australia, I'll try moving on to South Africa and England.)

[Edit: I have also just found a listing which says that a Mr Le Marshe appears on the UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 - no date, but this is a tantalising lead too, as he gives his (fictional) birthplace as "Le Marsh, Essex" on his enlistment form - and there is a real place in Essex called Lamarsh, so I suspect that this might have been the origin of his alias. Also found a Mr A Le Marshe incoming to Liverpool, no date.]