Bureau families UK….. any connection?

[ShaunJ]

I’m just wondering about the death certificate as I’ve not been able to find any record of one

The death was outside British waters (somewhere off the coast of Portugal I think) so no death certificate would have been issued.

[clarecuba]

Many thanks to Shaun J and LouB for the above info. I've been looking for many years without success. This explains a lot. How horrific an ending for the 30 year old Charles, and for his poor young wife and young son at the time. And then for his son too, later on, that he was disabled. Presumably he met with an accident as well? Having read the article about Charles's dreadful accident on board ship, i have again searched RN records, but still cannot find him! Why not??  Re his purported parents, yes difficult, as Bureau in France and Quebec as common as Jones in Wales! Your suggestions are feasible. My question would be, who was he named after, if anyone, as I am under the impression that sons were usually named for their father or grandfather. Charles is of course both a French and English name, but Abraham, i suspect not French [?]. Maybe further information and confirmation will be forthcoming. Thanks once again.

[clarecuba]

Hi, again. Just read Shaun J latest post on reason for no death cert being issued. Guessed the accident happened in foreign waters. Presumably RN issued some kind of document? His widow subsequently married my great great grandfather, also in RN, but they lived together for 18 years before they actually tied the knot. Might this reason have been because she couldnt produce a death cert to prove she was a widow?

[Mabel Bagshawe]

She didn;t need to produce a certificate to prove she was a widow when she remarried (many women said they were widows on marriage when they weren't!). It might be she has some sort of allowance as a result of  her husband's death in service which would have been stopped if she remarried

[clarecuba]

Thanks very much for this info. I'm not surprised Jane didn't have to supply a death certificate as I guess the authorities were not hot on bureaucracy then! Your explanation for why she was late remarrying makes perfect sense, and something I'd never considered.
The most curious point is that I still cannot find any reference to Charles in RN records. I certainly don't get that! Thank you again. Most helpful. It's been a brick wall for so many years for all us descendants! Now we know the truth about his awful death.

[ShaunJ]

The most curious point is that I still cannot find any reference to Charles in RN records

There are no surviving records for the other sailors who died in that accident either. I know that the army routinely (after a period of years) destroyed records of soldiers who had died in service - my guess is that the navy did the same. No need to keep them for pension purposes.

[clarecuba]

Thanks for that very important info. I think that's disgraceful! It's like they never existed!! They still served. But maybe it's typical of the way this country treats its service people...
You may have seen a post yesterday from a lady who suggests that Charles's pension would have been paid to his widow until such time as she remarried, which I thought might explain why Jane didn't do so for 18 years? But maybe that wasn't the case if he disappeared from their records? Thanks again.

[ShaunJ]

In other newspaper reports of the 1853 accident his name is given as Charles Burreau.

Now the plot thickens ! There's a Royal Navy allotment declaration for Quartermaster Charles Burreau in 1848 (1 June), HMS Howe, Sending money to a Jno Swarton as trustee for a child Charles Burreau aged 7 months. 58 King Street, Portsea

https://www.familysearch.org/search/ark:/61903/1:1:68W7-L78C

Also see this account of the accident: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_United_Service_Magazine/ONoRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22charles+burreau%22+1853&pg=RA1-PA455&printsec=frontcover

[ShaunJ]

Child's name. age (on 1 June 1848) and place of baptism. Is that St John's Portsea?