To all who were kind enough to help with my recent research regarding my Great-Grand-Father, Arthur Sydney Seaborne.
Just to add a little closure to the story, and in the hope that it might serve to help others who link to this Seaborne line in the future, my sister has come up trumps. She has discovered military records for Arthur Seaborn, born Ipswich, which states 'an apparent age of' 27 years and 7 months. This is clearly the Arthur who married Laura Lavinia Elliston and, therefore, the same man who abandoned his children to the work-house following her early demise. However, he hadn't died or disappeared as we surmised, he had joined the army!
My initial excitement faded slightly when I read that he was not discharged from the army until 1897, i.e. two years after he married my G-Gran, Alice Clara Prentice, and a year after the birth of their first son, Hadleigh Sydney Seaborne. However, closer scrutiny revealed that on the 12th February 1889, Arthur had been transferred to the Reserves, apparently at his own request.
Another small, but intriguing snippet was that although the records show that he had enlisted into the Medical Staff Corps (Aldershot, 17th March 1886), the only qualification achieved was that 'he was qualified to act as Cook in a military hospital' (3rd Feb 1888). Bearing mind that on the 1911 census, 'our' Arthur is cited as being the Manager of a Soup Kitchen in the Salvation Army, we are now more convinced than ever that the 'two Arthurs' have to be one and the same.
Again, sincere thanks to all.
Frank J.
