1861 census mystery Royal Marine on Vancouver Island?

[overlandermatt]

I'm investigating a GG grandfather William White, a Royal Marine from Wiveliscombe in Somerset born in November 1835.My research feels a bit untidy at the moment...

I can't seem to find him in the 1861 census - there is a William White RM private of the correct age but listed as being from Devon. Perhaps this is him but I am having a few doubts...

If it is then there is a mystery - the census return is from HMS Jasper travelling between Bermuda and England. However, there are 3 pages that relate to Jasper and after a blank page, two pages that relate to a Royal Naval Hospital on Vancouver Island. His name is listed there along with various other navy and RM personnel. Firstly, I wonder if that was him and secondly, why would the records be mixed up like this?

I have the ADM157 attestation papers for a William White from the national archives that may correspond to my GG grandfather but I am not convinced I have the right guy. There are a couple of areas of the service record that I cannot read that may provide clues - the line below his name reads '1 xxx xxx' and then the date 29th April 1861. He potentially was in Canada on the 7th April... Later on near the bottom it reads 'not xxxxx'.

He signed up for 12 years in 1858 and only completes 3years service. There must be a reason for that...

The ships he was linked to - HMS Wellington did very little of interest but HMS Topaze went to the Pacific and had links to Vancouver Island - including assisting in building a lighthouse there. I've not really checked out the dates it was stationed there but it would appear that it was there a long time after William Pope left the RM in 1862 - perhaps the ship came back or perhaps he came back on another ship.

The more I think about it, I have reservations that I have the right William White from Somerset. I have the right William Pope getting married in East Stonehouse in June 1861 and then appears again in the 1871 census as a Royal Marine.

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

 

[AlanBoyd]

I think the bottom line reads ‘Not entered’.

[AlanBoyd]

26 December 1861: Cork Daily Herald

There is an article in which describes an account of an officer of HMS Topaze writing a letter dated September 30th 1861 to a friend in Plymouth. Much of the article is about Topaze having encountered two men in a sloop who had been lost at sea having left "Fenning's Island" (possibly Fanning Island or Tabuaeran?) on June 9th, 90 days earlier.

Anyway, the letter apparently begins by describing the Topaze's 43 day passage from Callao [Peru], arriving at Esquimalt Harbour, Vancouver Island on  the date of the letter, September 30th 1861. The date of the census was apparently April 7th 1861, which would make it before Topaze had arrived. But was the census at the hospital really carried out on that date I wonder?

[mckha489]

Is the first xxx

1 Mark fine?

[Raybistre]

Think its
1 xxxx since 29th April 1861
Ray

[mckha489]

Think its
1 xxxx since 29th April 1861
Ray

. Oh yes, since is better.

[overlandermatt]

I think the bottom line reads ‘Not entered’.

Probably refers to 'not entered in defaulters book' that I see on later records.

[overlandermatt]

I've got to conclude that this is not the right William White - the one I am looking for would have served for longer than this one if the census return is to be believed. The fact he was later a RM pensioner suggests he did a longer term than the 3 years this William White did...

The 'wrong' William is not in the right place at the right time to match up with the other records so back to the drawing board - the National Archives on this occasion.

There are just 4 William Whites from Somerset in the National Archives. The next best option is someone who claimed to be 18 an enlistment rather than 22 which I believe him to be but he did at least serve a full term which would qualify for a pension.