While researching the Australian police case the Somerton Man, I became interested in the offspring of the 5th Earl of Aldborough, Mason Gerard Stratford, particularly one of his sons with Mary Arundell, Edward Stratford, who was exiled from Leghorn (Livorno), Italy in 1852, along with his older brother Henry Mason Stratford. Both arrived in Australia per Rip Van Winkle in November 1852 (PROV).
Another brother, Charles Alexander Stratford, arrived one year later in Nov 1853 per Sea Ranger. He married Louisa Wilhelmina Reither and lived with their 11 children at Avon Plains, Victoria, until his death in 1892.
One of the children (not his biological child) was Alice Stratford, who married John Comber Robertson, the parents of Dorothy Jean Robertson, who became the wife of Carl Webb, aka the Somerton Man.
Henry Mason Stratford lived in Victoria (Castlemaine diggings, Bealiba, Avon Plains, Hawthorn, Buln Buln East), married Mary Ann Lawrance "Marian" Taylor and died in 1911 at Hawthorn.
I couldn't find anything about Edward Stratford. He probably had a middle name, and maybe was known by it, or maybe he died shortly after arriving in Victoria, probably at the gold digging fields.
His brothers Henry and Charles were storekeepers, postmasters and registrars at Avon Plains c. 1870-1884, when their partnership ended.
Charles bought the Royal Hotel and managed it with an adjacent store until his death, while Henry managed the post office until his presmises caught fire in 1889.
The Royal Hotel (then known as Stratford's) also caught fire in 1896, under Charles' son, Alfred Edward, management.
Charles Alexander's children had the same first or second names of his parents, brothers and sisters, so maybe Edward had one of these names.
They were: Alfred Edward, Charles Frederick Byron, Henry Mason Gerard, Ferdinand, Martin Harold, Lawrence Conrad, Powis Lorraine. The girls were Jane Arundel, Florence Olivia, Louisa May Georgina.
Alice was probably adopted or a granddaughter raised as a daughter, her birth registration is missing, but her age at death, 84, in 1980, gives us the approximate DOB 1896, four years after her alleged father's death.
The 5th Earl of Aldborough had a complicated marital life. His children with Mary Arundell, one of his alleged 4 wives, were: Henry Mason, Edward, Charles Alexander, Olivia, Georgina, Jane, Byron, Charlotte Florence, and Mary. They were born at different countries and all christened at Leghorn around the same time, after the Earl's death in 1849.
Any information or clues are welcome. Thank you.
