Thomas Back (Thomas Drake) and Elizabeth Mary Horn

Plymouth: Morice Square
cc-by-sa/2.0- © Martin Bodman - geograph.org.uk/p/688016

Thomas Back, son of Thomas Back and Mary Drake married Elizabeth Mary Horn (b. 1859 in Okehampton, Devon), daughter of James Horn and Elizabeth Bolt, on 23 Oct 1884 at St Paul's Church, Devonport. (The Anglican Church of Saint Paul the Apostle was situated on the east side of Morice Square.)

Born Thomas Drake (1850 D Quarter in STOKE DAMEREL Volume 09 Page 429), as he was named Thomas, it did seem likely that he was the son of Thomas Back, who his mother married two years later. He started life in Stoke Damerel Workhouse, where he was in 1851 with his mother and his older (half) siblings, Mary and George. He was subsequently known as Thomas Back and on his marriage certificate in 1884, as Thomas Back, Stoker RN, lists his address as 40, Cannon Street, Devonport - the very same address where we find both his parents and his sister in 1881, so we can be sure it's him - and names his father as Thomas Back, Labourer. Of course, this could simply be because that was the man who was around as he was growing up, but actually being named after him at birth, seems to confirm what we are being told.

Thomas Back, DOB 15 Oct 1850 (agrees with the quarter of his birth registration), enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in July 1865, volunteering at HMS Implacable (1805) - former Duguay-Trouin, turned training ship (exactly the same ship, on exactly the same day as my great-grandfather, David Jones). Thomas Back's naval career does not appear to progress at this point, there being no entries beyond enlistment. 

There is then a record of a Thomas Back from Devonport, with date of birth given as 14 Oct 1849 (one year and one day of difference and this time the year does NOT agree with his birth registration), but we know this is our man from other records (marriage, census), who joined the Royal Navy on 9 Jan 1873 and served for 21 years, until 27 Apr 1894. He began as a Stoker 2nd Class, moved up to Stoker, Leading Stoker and Leading Stoker 1st Class.

Both naval records list Thomas as having Black hair and Hazel eyes. He was 4 ft 10 in at 14 and grew to 5 ft 6 in as an adult, gaining a bunch of tattoos.

From May 1873 to Aug 1875, Thomas was with HMS Agincourt (1865) at Portland, Dorset and, during that time, spent 28 days in Dorchester Gaol (HM Prison Dorchester) - Pure Victorian detention in all it’s glory.

At the time of the census of 1881, Thomas Back (30) Stoker, was moored in Hong Kong aboard HMS Victor Emmanuel (1855), which ship he was assigned to from Jun 1880 to Jan 1882, Feb 1882 to Jan 1883 and again from Feb to Apr 1883 (transferring to HMS Pegasus (1878) for the month in 1882, also in China and HMS Albatross (1873) in Jan 1883).

Two days before his marriage, Thomas joined HMS Tamar (1863), commissioned at Devonport on 21 Oct 1884 and then, from 15 Jan 1885 until 22 Jan 1889, was with HMS Nelson (1876). She sailed for the Australia Station after commissioning and became the flagship there in 1885. She was in Sydney and Brisbane and at the Woolloomooloo Bay Regatta on 18 Apr 1885, remaining on station until returning home in January 1889.

Thomas and Elizabeth's only child was born later that year:

1. Lilian Mary Back b. 4 Nov 1889 D Q in STOKE DAMEREL 05B 340

Thomas spent time with HMS Magicienne (1888) in Portsmouth in 1890; HMS Goshawk (1872) took him to Gibraltar from May 1890 to Jun 1892 and while he was away, Elizabeth M Back (31) Wife Of A Stoker RN and Lilian M Back (1) were living in St Levan Road, Devonport. Thomas finished his career, from Dec 1892 to Apr 1894, at HMS Vivid II, the Stokers and Engine Room Artificers School in Devonport, before being pensioned.

In 1901, Thomas Back (50) Naval Pensioner was living in Avondale Terrace, Devonport with wife, Elizabeth M Back (41), daughter, Lilian M Back (11) and John Cornhill (29) General Labourer from Ireland, Boarder.

Thomas Back died in 1906 D Quarter in DEVONPORT Volume 05B Page 220. His age was estimated as 58 (he was 56), gaining yet another year on top of the one he added the second time he enlisted in the Navy.

In 1911, Elizabeth Back (51) Widow from Okehampton, Devonshire, was living in East Stonehouse. Living with her were recently married, son-in-law and daughter, Charles and Lilian Renshaw.

Elizabeth Mary Back was still living with the Renshaws (and their two daughters), at 7 Duckworth Street, Devonport, Devon in 1921.

Elizabeth Mary Back died, at 66, in 1926 M Quarter in DEVONPORT.

Archibald Carle Heckmann and Daisy Rhoda Day

Brick Lane in the East End of London
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © N Chadwick - geograph.org.uk/p/7049342

Archibald Carle Heckmann (b. 1883), son of Napoleon Joseph Heckmann and Susie Lane, married Daisy Rhoda Day (b. 10 Feb 1881), daughter of Arthur Stephen Day and Mary Ann Ray and sister of Arthur Wilton Day, at St Faith’s Church, Ebner Street, Wandsworth, in the first quarter of 1900. 

The couple had two sons:

1. Archibald Wilton Napoleon Heckmann b. 1901 M Quarter in WANDSWORTH Volume 01D Page 785
2. Cecil Arthur Heckmann b. 1903 D Quarter in ONGAR Vol 04A Page 537

In 1901, they were living at 60, Fullerton Road, Wandsworth, with Archibald Heckmann (21) - he was actually only 18 - Gas stove fitter from Loughton, Essex, Daisy Heckmann (20) and son Archibald Heckmann (0).

But in 1911, while Archibald Wilton Napoleon Heckman (10) and Cecil Arthur Heckman (7) were staying with their grandparents, Daisy R Heckman (30) described as "Married Deserted 7 Yrs", was staying with her brother.

Archibald Carle Heckmann must have left shortly after the second child was born and there truly is no sign of him after that: he's done a good job of disappearing, as I've not found him under that name, on any subsequent records, neither census, nor electoral rolls, nor death, nor passenger lists going abroad.

Son Archibald W N Heckmann died, aged 15, in 1916, in Marylebone, London.

On 25 Apr 1919, Daisy Rhoda Heckmann, daughter of Arthur Stephen Day, Photographer, married William Arthur Clancy at St Mary's Church, Leyton. 

One can only hope she knew of the death of her first husband, because I also haven't found a record of a divorce, which would have been rare at that date, and it was not until 1937 anyway, that desertion became a ground for divorce.

So far, I've found no further trace of William Arthur or Daisy Rhoda Clancy.

On 11 Mar 1921, younger son Cecil A Heckman (17) Motor mechanic, embarked on the SS Euripides, in London, bound for Melbourne, Australia, giving his last address in the UK as c/o A Day, Photographer, High Street, Ongar, Essex. 

Cecil Arthur Heckman married Bessie Henderson Soutar, in 1932, in Victoria, Australia, so we can probably safely assume he settled there. 

But whilst we don't yet know where Archibald Carle Heckmann went, we do have some information on where he came from: 

Firstly, we have the benefit of his grandfather's petition for Naturalisation in 1846: Johan Heinrich Heckmann of No 5 John Street, Chicksand Street, Brick Lane in the Parish of Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex, Fur Skin Dresser, states that he was born in Eissen, Warburg, then in the Kingdom of Prussia. He had been married for 13 years at that point, so married in 1833. His wife, also German, was Catharina Boss - the mother's maiden name on some of the children's births was Boss - and had lived in Tower Hamlets for 15 years, so since around 1831, when he would have been around 19 or 20. I've not found any record of his birth, or marriage so, we'll have to take his word for it.

In 1841, Johan Heckmann (30) Skin dresser, wife Cathe (30) and two of their daughters, Helena (4) and Sophia (2) along with four others who were described as fur dressers, were living at John Street, Christchurch, Whitechapel.

Johan Heinrich Heckmann was the victim in a case of theft heard at the Old Bailey on 18 Sep 1848. Some 180 rabbit skins that had belonged to him had been stolen from an outworker. The two suspects, Thomas Saul and Richard Bailey, were found guilty and sentenced to be transported for seven years.

In 1851, now listed as John H Heckmann (39) Skinner & furrier employing 20 men, still at 5 John Street, Christchurch Spitalfields, Whitechapel, with Chatherina (sic) (39) from Homberg, Hesse; Chatherina (sic) (18), Christina (16), Helena (13), Sophia (11), Margretha (10), Napoleon (5), Anna Sophia (3), Cleopatra (1) and Karl Boss (20) Brother-in-law, Fur skin dresser.

In 1861, J H Heckmann (49) Proprietor of houses, from Prussia Naturalized British Subject, had moved to 30, York Hill, Loughton, Essex, with Catherine (49), Catherine (27), Sophia (21), Margretha (17), Napoleon (15), Anne (13), Adelaide (12), Theodore (5) and Adolf Leity (33) Visitor from Berlin, Prussia.

On 4 Jul 1865, John Henry Heckmann of John Street and Samuel Street, Spitlefields and of Loughton, Essex, Skin Dresser and Brewer, was declared bankrupt. He was discharged from bankruptcy on 5 Dec of the same year.

In 1871, John H and Katherine Heckmann were still at York Hill, Loughton, as they were also in 1881. John Henry Heckmann of York Hill, Loughton, died on 11 Sep 1887. In 1891, widow, Catherine Heckmann was still living at York Hill, Loughton with two of her daughters, spinsters, Catherine (56) and Anna (43) and one servant. Catherine Heckmann died, aged 86, in 1898.

Lauriston Road, South Hackney
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Bill Boaden - geograph.org.uk/p/4925674
St John of Jerusalem Church is behind.

Napoleon Joseph Heckmann (b. 1846), son of Johan Heinrich Heckmann and Catharina Boss, married Susie Lane at St John of Jerusalem, South Hackney, in 1879. Susie subsequently claims to be from High Beach (or High Beech), Essex, but I've not found any record for her birth and cannot identify her parents. 

Dr Septimus Swyer

In 1871, Napoleon Joseph Heckmann (25) 'wife's brother', had been living in the household of Septimus Swyer (35) at 32 Brick Lane, Spitalfields, Whitechapel. Dr Septimus Swyer, General Practitioner, had married Napoleon's sister, Agnes Christina Heckmann, in 1857. Much has already been written about this contentious character, from his apparent partnership with a medical fraudster Edward Morass who went under a number of aliases and his second wife's alleged bigamy, but most of all, in relation to Jack the Ripper, as a person of interest and a possible suspect. Circumstantially, at least. It's relevant, I feel, to mention that Septimus Swyer emigrated the United States and one of his sons emigrated to Australia and changed his name. 

In 1881, Napoleon Joseph Heckmann (36) Living on income, Susie (22) and son Napoleon J (1), with a Domestic servant and a Nurse, were at York Hill.

Archibald Carle Heckman was their second son, born 1883 S Quarter in EPPING Volume 04A Page 223 and baptised at High Beech, Essex on 4 Jun 1889.

Napoleon Joseph Heckmann died, at 45, in the first quarter of 1891 and was buried on 3 Mar 1891 at the Church of the Holy Innocents, High Beach. 

At the time of the 1891 census, Susie Heckmann (30) Widow, was Living on her own means, still at York Hill, Loughton with her two sons, Napoleon (11) and Archibald (7). There's a record of Susie Heckmann remarrying in the 4th quarter of 1893, in Holborn, London, but I've been unable to establish to whom.

If one were to follow every line, there might be more clues, but it's already clear there's a laundry list of circumstances and events that might be motivations for disappearance in this family and they have practice: I'm not hopeful.

Charles Penfold and Mary Anna Tucker

View of St. Luke's and Christ Church Chelsea from Flood Street
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Robert Lamb - geograph.org.uk/p/4810123

Charles Penfold (b. 1865), son of William Penfold and Mary Ann Charlotte Gunn, married Mary Anna Tucker (bap. 29 Nov 1857 in Burlescombe, Devon), daughter of Robert Allen Tucker - an Innkeeper from North Curry, Somerset - and Mary Linton, at Christ Church, Chelsea in the last quarter of 1886.

Charles and Mary Anna had seven children:

1. Thomas Edwin Penfold b. 1887 D Quarter in CHELSEA Vol 01A Page 327
2. Rosalie Mary Penfold b. 24 Aug 1889 in CHELSEA Volume 01A Page 317
3. Mary Anna Penfold b. 1892 M Qtr in EAST GRINSTEAD Vol 02B Page 136
4. Josephine Grace Penfold b. 15 Sep 1893 in CUCKFIELD Vol 02B Page 159
5. Minnie Gunn Penfold b. 1895 J Quarter in CUCKFIELD Vol 02B Page 157, died in 1896 J Quarter in LAMBETH Volume 01D Page 272
6. Charles Edward Powell Penfold b. 4 Sep 1897 in FULHAM Vol 01A 260
7. William Robert Penfold b. 1899 D Quarter in FULHAM Vol 01A Page 322

In 1891, Charles Penfold (25) Bootmaker and Mary A Penfold (31ish) were living in Glenvue Road, East Grinstead, Sussex with their first two children, Thomas E Penfold (3) and Rosalie M Penfold (1).

By 1901, living at 48, Hugon Road, Fulham, London: Charles R Penfold (35) Civil servant postman bootmaker, Mary A Penfold (41), Thomas E (13), Rosalie M (11), Mary A (9), Josephine G (7), Charles E P (3) and William R (1).

And in 1911, at 68 Perrymead Street, Fulham, London, were Charles Penfold (45) Civil service Post Office Worker, Mary Anna Penfold (51), Thomas Edwin (23) Civil service Post Office Worker; Rosalie Mary (21) Elementary teacher for Surrey County Council; Mary Anna (19) Bodice assistant Dressmaking; Josephine Grace (17), Charles Edwin Powell (13) and William Robert (11).

There was a death of a Mary A Penfold, aged 23, in Fulham, in the first quarter of 1915. Also in the first quarter of 1915, Josephine Grace Penfold married Douglas Gordon Reich (right, presumably with Josephine), who served in the Middlesex Regiment, Royal Engineers during the First World War, also in Fulham. And on 26 Apr 1915, Charles Edward Powell Penfold (19) enlisted in the County of London Yeomanry.

NB: I'm also certain that both Thomas Edwin Penfold and William Robert Penfold also served in the First World War, however there's more than one person with those names, so I've not been able to isolate the relevant records.

Charles Penfold died, aged 51, in 1917 in Wandsworth.

Mary A Penfold, b. 1858, was still living in Wandsworth in 1921.

Mary Penfold died, aged 71, in Battersea in 1930.

In 1939, Rosalie Mary was a Head Mistress, living at 38, Hillside, Banstead, Surrey with her brother-in-law, Douglas G Reich, School master, sister, Josephine G Reich and their children. Rosalie died, aged 68, in 1957, in St Austell, Cornwall; Douglas Reich of Glamis, Fore Street, Bugle, Cornwall, died on 23 Oct 1970. Josephine Grace Reich died in 1977 at St Lawrence's Hospital, Bodmin, a mental hospital, originally built as the Cornwall County Asylum.

Charles Edward Powell Penfold (known as Edward Penfold) had died, on 5 Oct 1970, in Perth, Western Australia.

James Henry Tubb and Susannah Bussey

HMNB Portsmouth and HMS Victory
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Dixon - geograph.org.uk/p/4091430

James Henry Tubb (b. 1 Apr 1834), son of William Tubb and Sarah Ruff - brother of Edward Tubb - married Susannah Bussey, daughter of Benjamin Bussey and Elizabeth Bowen - and sister of Hannah Bussey, on 10 Nov 1857, at the second (built 1843), St. Mary's Church, Portsea. (Not for the first time among my relatives that two brothers had married two sisters.)

James and Susannah had six children: 

1. Sarah Elizabeth Tubb b. 1858 S Quarter in PORTSEA ISLAND Volume 02B Page 337, bap. 6 Feb 1859 at St Mary's Church, Portsea. (Sarah Elizabeth Tubb later married Alfred Burgess Tregurtha on 12 Feb 1883. Sarah died on 25 Feb 1946. They are both buried at Williamstown Cemetery.)
2. James Alfred Tubb b. 24 Dec 1861, GRO Reference: 1862 M Quarter in PORTSEA ISLAND Volume 02B Page 424, bap. 23 Feb 1862 at St Mary's Church, Portsea. (James Alfred Tubb married Evelyn Winch. James Alfred Tubb died on  23 Nov 1918 (aged 56) and is buried at Williamstown Cemetery, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia.)
3. William Henry Tubb b. 1863 D Quarter in SOUTHAMPTON Volume 02C Page 8, bap. 1 Jan 1865 at All Saints' Church, Southampton (regularly attended by author Jane Austen while she lived in Southampton and Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais was baptised there.) Not included in the family grave in Australia, there was, however, a William Henry Tubb of the right vintage, who may have returned to Portsmouth.
4. George Ernest Tubb b. 1866 J Quarter in SOUTH STONEHAM Volume 02C Page 65, bap. 8 Jul 1866, as George Emett Tubb, in Freemantle. He married Margaret Curtis, in Victoria, Australia in 1891. George Ernest Tubb, son of James Henry and Susan Tubb, died in Rylstone, New South Wales, in 1938.
5. Nelly Tubb b. 1868 M Quarter in PORTSEA ISLAND Volume 02B Page 471. (Nelly Tubb married Walter Beverley Wood in Victoria, Australia, in 1890. Nelly Wood died, aged 25-26, on 12 Apr 1895.)
6. Minnie Beatrice Tubb b. 1877 in Australia. (Minnie Beatrice Tubb married Henry John Manderson. Minnie died on 6 Jul 1967.)

James Tubb, from Landport, Hants, born 1 Apr 1834, 5ft 8in tall, with fair complexion, brown hair and grey eyes, had enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Boy First Class at 16, in 1850. James Tubb (16), Sailor was listed on the 1851 census in his parent's house, in Marylebone Street, Portsea.

James Henry Tubb's Naval Career: 

• HMS Victory - 15 Mar 1850 to 21 Jun 1851. Not the obsolete ship, but the Shore Establishment to which her name had been given.
• HMS Retribution (1844) - 22 Jun 1851 to 14 Dec 1851. A a wooden paddle frigate. [Naval Database] 21 Jun 1851 Orders received to prepare to take troops to the Cape of Good Hope with HMS Sidon (1846). 30 Aug 1851 Cape of Good Hope.

The Russian (Crimean War) War of 1854 - 1856:

• HMS Britannia (1820) - 15 Dec 1851 to 13 Mar 1855. Oct 1853 Circa. At the Dardanelles 970 men, Vice-Admiral J. W. D. Dundas. Captain T. W. Carter, with rest of Mediterranean Fleet. 17 Oct 1854 1st Bombardment of Sebastopol. Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)
• HMS Nile (1839) - 14 Mar 1855 to 20 Apr 1857. [Naval Database] Crimean War in the Baltic: On 18 September 1855, Nile's boats boarded and burnt some Russian vessels, reportedly near Hammeliski (possibly Humaliski on the island of Björkö, now called Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast) 20 Sep 1855 Nile and 3 gunboats detained the vessels Victoria and the Ottawa. 4 Feb 1856 Devonport. In Harbour. 24 Feb 1856 Devonport. 26 Feb 1856 arrived at Spithead from Plymouth to join the Baltic Fleet. 23 Apr 1856, Present at Fleet Review, Spithead; under Captain Mundy

This is the second of my relatives to have served in the Baltic during the Crimean War and also the second to have taken part in the 1856 Royal Fleet Review. At the review, the HMS Duke of Wellington was at the head of the Port line, while, according to the report in the The Illustrated London News, 26 April 1856, "Abreast of the Port line the Royal George led the Starboard [...] Then came the Nile ..." So not only were both sides of my family represented at the Review, they were on both sides of the line and their ships almost side-by-side.

• Still with HMS Nile until 20 Apr 1857, on the North America and West Indies Station. 29 Jan 1857 arrived Havana (Cuba) from Port Royal (Jamaica). 3 Feb 1857 departed Havana for Bermuda.
• On 21 Apr 1857 until 8 Feb 1858, James was assigned to HMS Excellent (shore establishment), the "stone frigate", sited on Whale Island near Portsmouth. (Again, not the only family member to have spent time at HMS Excellent.) It was while he was stationed here that James Henry Tubb had married Susannah Bussey.

HMS Marlborough in Valletta harbour, sometime between 1858 and 1864.

• From 9 Feb 1858 until 22 Mar 1861, assigned to HMS Marlborough (1855) which will have taken him back to the Mediterranean. Feb 1858 Commissioned, Delayed sailing 128 days due to a lack of men. 1860 Flag Ship, Mediterranean. 22 Mar 1861 Paid off.

In 1861, James Tubb (27) Seaman RN, is listed as living in Landport View, Portsea, with wife Susan Tubb (26) and daughter, Sarah Tubb (2).

• From 23 Mar 1861 to 14 Apr 1862 back at HMS Excellent.
• From 15 Apr 1862 through to 7 Aug 1866, James was with HMS Boscawen (1844), which from Feb/Mar of 1862 had been hulked as a Boys training ship in Southampton Water. (This explains son William Henry Tubb's baptism taking place in Southampton, in 1865.)
• A third stint at HMS Excellent from 8 Aug 1866 to 5 Oct 1867.

Taken at Williamstown, Victoria,
between 1870 and 1879.
Port broadside view of the wooden
steam battleship HMVS Nelson.

Then from 6 Oct 1867 to 14 Feb 1868, James was with HMS Nelson (1814). Given his history, I'd first thought they'd mean the shore establishment of the same name, but it was, in fact, an actual ship. Nelson was given to the colony of Victoria, and sailed for Australia in October 1867, thus James was on that handover voyage. Clearly, this also gave him the opportunity to see that part of Australia that the family would later make their home.

Back in Portsmouth between 15 Feb 1868 and 1 Mar 1869, James was, once more, assigned to HMS Victory shore establishment. 

James' final assignment, from 2 Mar 1869 until his retirement from the Royal Navy on 31 Dec 1870, was with HMS Duke of Wellington (1852) - coincidentally also my 2x great-grandfather's final ship in 1856 - at which time she replaced HMS Victory as flagship of the Port Admiral at Portsmouth (with Victory becoming her tender), her duties consisting of firing salutes to passing dignitaries, such as Queen Victoria on her way to Osborne House. As a Gunner's Mate since 6 Sep 1860, James may have helped fire those salutes.

In 1871, Susan Tubb (37) Seaman's wife, was living at 11 Besant Terrace, Portsea with Sarah (12), James (9), William (7), Ernest (5) and 'Millie' (Nelly) (3).

''Queen of Nations'' by Richard Ball Spencer

On 19 Mar 1873, Susan Tubb (38), Sarah E (14), James A (10), Wm Hy (9), George E (6) and Nelly (4), departed from Plymouth - the one in Devon, England, not America - on the clipper, Queen of Nations. They arrived in Melbourne after a journey of around 140 days. 

I've [so far] not seen a record of how James Henry got back to Australia, but I wouldn't mind betting he worked his passage as a merchant seamen.

Susan Tubb (née Bussey) died on 20 Aug 1912 and is buried in Williamstown Cemetery, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. She will have been 80.

James Henry Tubb died on 8 Nov 1922, and is also buried in Williamstown Cemetery, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. He will have been 88.

The Family Grave of J H Tubb at Williamstown Cemetery, Victoria, Australia Photo: Suzy & Rob

Alfred Morley Hayward and Eva Bridle

Parkholme Road, Dalston
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Chris Whippet - geograph.org.uk/p/4341743

Eva Bridle, daughter of Thomas Parsons Bridle and his second wife, Sarah Symons, a Teacher of elementary school, poetically calling herself Evangeline in 1891, by the census of 1901, is found, aged 37, as a Certified teacher, boarding at 68, Mortimer Road, Hackney in the household of Thomas Shorey (49), Solicitor's Clerk, whose daughter, Edith (15) was a Pupil teacher.

Then in 1909 in Hackney, London, Eva Bridle - then around 45 - married Alfred Morley Hayward. Born in 1874, in Eastbourne, Sussex, the son of Ebenezer Hayward a Jeweller from Ashford, Kent and his wife Ellen Morley (m. 1868 in Greenwich), he was therefore ten or so years younger than his wife.

In 1911, Alfred Hayward (37) Patent agents chief technical assistant, Eva Hayward (47) Head teacher and Emma Bridle (45) Sister-in-law, with Edith Baker (24) Domestic servant, were living at 27 Parkholme Road, Dalston.

On 7 Nov 1925, Alfred Morley Hayward (51) and Eva Hayward (62) leave Southampton on RMS Berengaria (The first Cunard "Queen") bound for New York, with Auckland, New Zealand listed as their final destination. They gave their last permanent residence as being Enfield, London. There was a death of an Emma Bridle, aged 59, the previous year, 1924 in Edmonton, who I believe may have been Eva's sister. That event may have made it the right time to travel. 

Then on 28 Jun 1932, we find Alfred Morley Hayward and Eva Hayward travelling from London to Sydney, Australia on the SS Orsova of the Orient Steam Navigation Company. The address where they were going to stay was given as c/o W. J. House, 12 Billyard Avenue, Wahroonga, Sydney.

Alfred Morley Hayward (77) Patent agent, of 36 Henley Road, Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand, died on 31 Mar 1952. He was buried, on 3 Apr 1952 at Purewa Cemetery, leaving his effects to Eva Hayward, widow. Eva Hayward died on 25 Sep 1957, aged 94. She was buried, on 28 Sep 1957, in the same plot, along with her husband. Both profess their religion as Brethren.

36 Henley Road, Mt Eden

Con Colleano and Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail

Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail and Con Colleano

My 2nd cousin, twice removed, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail, daughter of Herbert Fleming Trevail and Alice Maud Stanley Blazey was the wife of - IMDB is the only source to list a date for their marriage as 10 July 1926 - Con Colleano (Cornelius Sullivan), who was the most famous and highest paid "swashbuckling circus performer with matinee idol looks" of his time, known as “The Australian Wizard of the Wire”. A member of the Circus Hall of Fame, Con Colleano is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first person to prefect the forward somersault on the tight wire.

"Winnie Trevail began appearing on the stage in Sydney as a child [...]" (Er no, before that in New Zealand). "Mrs. Winnie Colleano (neé Trevail) was herself a well known Australian Vaudeville Soubrette", dancer and trapeze artist.

Con Colleano on a slack-wire, circa 1920

Con Colleano, born Cornelius Sullivan, on 26 Dec 1899 in Lismore, New South Wales, was of Aboriginal, Anglo-Irish and West Indian descent and adopted a Spanish persona and a costume of a ‘toreador’ or bullfighter. 

Colleano’s Indigenous heritage was unknown to his fans – which included one of history’s most infamous racists - "Few people are aware of the fact that in the 1930’s, Adolf Hitler issued an Aboriginal Australian tightrope walker with a German passport so he could come and go as he pleased."

Trevail abandoned her own career in 1924 to travel with her husband.

Passenger lists reveal that Cornelius Sullivan and Winifred C. S. Trevail left Southampton, England on 13 Sep 1924, on the RMS Berengaria (former SS Imperator), The first Cunard "Queen". This was their first trip to the US, so their port of arrival was the infamous Ellis Island, New York. Various sources tell us that, in 1924, Con made his debut at the New York Hippodrome before returning to the circus with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

There's also record of Cornelius and Winifred C Sullivan Colleano travelling from Southampton to New York, on the Berengaria, on 24 Feb 1937. 

On 7 Jan 1938, Cornelius and Winifred (Sullivan) Colleano, left Sydney, bound for California, on the luxury ocean liner, SS Mariposa (1931).

On 8 Sep 1939, Cornelius and Winifred Sullivan, listed as British, board the Italian ocean liner, SS Rex, leaving Genoa, bound for New York.

These, I'm sure are just the tip of a globe-trotting iceberg, but it was finding these records of voyages that led me to discover more of their story.

The former Albion Hotel (pub) at Forbes, New South Wales, Sheba, CC BY-SA 2.0

"Sadly Con and Winnie ultimately lost all their money indulging in a luxurious lifestyle, giving it away to friends and making a disastrous investment in a pub in outback Australia in the 1950s (what were they thinking?)." 

Con died, in Miami, on 13 Nov 1973, after which Winnie returned to Australia, where she died, in Sydney, in January 1986. They had no children.

Con Colleano home movie: circus preparations (1928)

Were they really married? Who cares?

IMDB is the only place to list a supposed date, but not place, for their marriage. I've [so far] been unable find a record of a marriage anywhere in the world, which, of course, doesn't mean there wasn't one. However, in all the articles I've read about the couple, including Con's obituary, not once is the date and place of their marriage ever mentioned, which I find strange. 

On the other hand, I did find a record of a marriage of a Winifred C Trevail, in Victoria, Australia, in 1919 to a Leonard Mendoza. It would take $20 AUS to obtain the certificate to see if there are enough clues to tell whether this is the same Winifred C Trevail or not, but several things occur to me: Just how many people named Winifred C Trevail are there likely to be? One source claims that Winnie met Con, in Melbourne, which of course is in Victoria, when she was 22. Not hard to imagine she may have been there when she was 19. Someone with the surname Mendoza even sounds like her "type". Who knows? 

I'm much amused by self-aggrandising family stories, but this one probably takes the biscuit - although no surprise perhaps among theatrical types. In several articles, it mentions that Winnie "claimed descent from the Earls of Derby" and it appears that the source of that quote is her own brother, Eric, so it may well have been a story perpetuated in the family. A claim doesn't make it true though! And through which side would that be, I wonder? The line we share to the 'illegitimate born' former dyer who downgraded to labourer in Norfolk, or the bankrupted tenant farmer in Cornwall? Lovely people, I'm sure, but Earls or any other type of nobs they were not!

Sources (many of these links contain images):

1. Con Colleano From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. “The Australian Wizard of the Wire”
3. AUSTRALIAN VARIETY THEATRE ARCHIVE
4. Inducted into the Ring of Fame: 1992
5. Meet the true circus wonders
6. Con Colleano: Australia's 'Wizard of the Wire'
7. Con Colleano: Wizard of the Wire
8. Colleano, Con (Cornelius) (1899–1973)
9. Circus pays homage to wire wizard
10. Interview with Eric Trevail, brother of Winnie Colleano
11. The Aboriginal tightrope walker who duped Hitler & Mussolini

Videos:

1. Con Colleano rehearsing his tight wire act at his home, circa 1939
2. COLLEANO, CON, Australia's tightwire wizard (USA, c.1929)
3. COLLEANO, CON, a life commemorated, (Australia, 2005)
4. COLLEANO, CON, mini-doco of tightwire artist (Australia, 1994)
5. Con Colleano home movie: circus preparations (1928)

Further reading: The wizard of the wire : the story of Con Colleano 

Herbert Fleming Trevail and Alice Maud Stanley Blazey

SS Miltiades (1903)

Herbert Fleming Trevail, son of Charles Trevail and Mary Flemming, married Alice Maud Stanley Blazey, daughter of Francis Robert Blazey and Louisa Susan Stanley, in 1898, in Kensington, London. My 3rd great-grandparents, Francis Stephen Blazey and Hannah Minns were Alice's grandparents, which makes her my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

In 1901, Alice (25) was at her father's household at 31, Sinclair Gardens, Hammersmith, Fulham, along with her daughter, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail, born 1900, while Herbert (24) Carpenter and Joiner, was alone at what was presumably their home at 83, South Lambeth Road, Lambeth. 

Various records point to Herbert and Alice having at least six children:

1. Daisy Trevail born 1899 in Lambeth (died 1899, aged 0)
2. Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail born 16 Sep 1900 in Lambeth
3. Eric Herbert Stanley Trevail born 29 Jul 1904, bap. 18 Sep 1904 in Welwyn, Hertfordshire
4. Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail born circa. 1911, in New Zealand?
5. Edna A S (if I was betting, I'd go for Alice Stanley), born and died in 1915 in Balmain North, New South Wales, Australia
   
6. Carmen Joyce Stanley Trevail born circa. 1917 in Australia

On 5 Aug 1908, Mr H Trevail (31), Mrs A Trevail (32), Miss W Trevail (7) and Master E Trevail (2½), embarked in London on the SS Miltiades. They were bound for Sydney, where they arrived in the September. 

There could well have been a seventh child, because there is a burial of a stillborn child, listed only with the surname Trevail, born 25 Oct 1908, at Linwood Cemetery, Linwood, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand. That would indicate that Alice was pregnant during the voyage. This pregnancy also fits neatly into the otherwise long gap between 1904 and 1911.

They were in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1909 - where Herbert's aunts, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden then lived - because reports in the Lyttelton Times in Oct 1909 detail that Miss Winnie Trevail was appearing in one of the principle roles in a production staged by the Garrick Juvenile Opera Company, at the Opera House there.

In 1911, Herbert Fleming Trevail, carpenter, and Alice Maud Trevail were listed on the New Zealand Electoral Rolls at 56 Stanmore Rd, Linwood, Christchurch. (Herbert's aunt, Jane Rundle Robinson, lived in Christchurch.)

Then in 1913, we find both of them listed on the Australia Electoral Rolls at Mount Victoria, Hartley, New South Wales, Australia.

Painting of the British ocean liner RMS Olympic by Fred Pansing

On 2 Feb 1927, Herbert Trevail (49), Alice (50), Lance (16) and Carmen (10) sailed from Southampton to New York on the White Star Line's RMS Olympic. They gave their last address in the UK as 62 Milton Road, Wallington, Surrey, the home of Herbert's parents. On 29 Aug 1927, they left San Francisco, bound for Sydney, on the RMS Tahiti. (Known for the Greycliffe disaster.)

Herbert must have made another visit to England, because on 1 Mar 1933, he sailed, on his own, from Southampton to Sydney on the SS Moreton Bay.

In 1935, Herbert and Alice Trevail are both listed on the Australia Electoral Rolls at 3 Griffiths Avenue, North Bondi, New South Wales. 

On 8 Jul 1949, Mr H. F. Trevail (72) Builder, and Mrs A. M. Trevail (74), travelled from London (Port of Tilbury) to Sydney on the SS Orontes. 

Herbert Fleming Trevail reportedly died on 26 Nov 1961 in Ashfield, Sydney NSW. I've been unable to find the record of Alice Maud's death.

• In 1923 Eric H S Trevail married Miriam E Tuppling, in Balmain South, New South Wales, Australia. They went on to have two children: Conway Eric Stanley Trevail who married Beryl Pearl De Berg and Lois Winifred Stanley Trevail who married Ross Munro Brown, both in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia in 1944.
• Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail married Nancy Mary Harris Matthews in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia in 1935. Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail, Casket Maker, died on 6 Sep 1947, in Bondi, NSW.
• On 30 Sep 1937, Miss C. J. S. Trevail (21) travelled from Wellington, New Zealand to Sydney on the MS Wanganella, her profession listed as Theatrical. Carmen Joyce Stanley Trevail married Leslie Earnest Hull in Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia in 1938.

Joseph Rundle Trevail and Gertrude Augusta Shepherd ... and two intriguing weddings with Eliza Thursby

Lambeth Palace, London SE1. 
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Hallam-Jones - geograph.org.uk/p/3972034
The redundant St Mary-in-Lambeth Church at the side.

Joseph Rundle Trevail, son of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, married Gertrude Augusta Shepherd (bap. 25 Apr 1845), illegitimate daughter of Eliza Shepherd, in the first quarter of 1871 at St. George Hanover Square, London, although that may refer to the district, rather than the church itself. Gertrude, as was her mother, was a Honiton lace maker, from Colaton Raleigh in East Devon.

At the time of the 1871 census, Joseph Trevail (24) Engineer Fitter, was living in Denbigh Street, Westminster with wife Gertrude (25), brother Charles (20) Engineer Fitter, sisters Amy* (16) and Jane (12), as well as a visitor, Selina Rundle (20). (* Joseph didn't have a sister called Amy. Kate, maybe?)

Joseph and Gertrude had five children:

1. Charley Thomas Trevail born 1871 (died 1871, aged 0) in Devon
2. Charley Joseph Walter Radford Trevail born 1872 in St Thomas, Devon
3. Annie Gertrude Trevail born 1875 in St. George Hanover Square
4. Kate Olivia Trevail born 1880 in Lambeth
5. Gertrude Augusta Trevail born 1884 (died 1885, age 0)

Mother's maiden name, in all cases, spelled Sheppard. 

In 1881, the family living at 6, Meadow Terrace, Lambeth, London, comprised: Joseph R Trevail (34) Engine fitter, Gertrude A (36), Charles J W R (8), Anne G (6), Kate O (0) and Eliza Sheppard (69) 'Relative' (Gertrude's mother). 

Joseph R Trevail and Eliza Trevail on the Australia, Victoria, Inward Passenger List

Then in the third quarter of 1890, Joseph Rundle Trevail married Eliza Thursby, in Lambeth. The marriage took place at the church of St Mary, Lambeth. Then, immediately, on 26 Sep 1890, Joseph R Trevail and Eliza Trevail embarked on the RMS Ormuz, bound for Victoria, Australia, where they arrived in Nov.

Which would all be absolutely fine and dandy, except ...

In 1891, Gertrude Trevail (46) wife, married, mender of fine lace, was alive and well, still living at the family home in Meadow Terrace, Lambeth, with daughters Annie G (16) and Kate O (10), as well as her mother, Eliza Shepperd (78). 

By 1901, Gertrude Trevail (55) Married [still], Honiton lace manufacturer, was living at 153, Kennington Road, Lambeth, with daughter Kate (20).

Meanwhile, Joseph Rundle Trevail, Engineer, was shown on the Australia Electoral Rolls in 1903, living in Market Street, New South Wales, Australia. 

Gertrude Trevail died, aged 58, in the 4th quarter of 1910, in Epsom, Surrey. 

Departure of the P&O RMS CHINA
Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons

Mr J R & Mrs Trevail then departed from London, on 17 Nov 1910, on the RMS China, this time bound for Sydney, via Freemantle, Adelaide and Melbourne, arriving in Fremantle, Western Australia on 20 Dec 1910. 

Then, in 1911, Joseph R Trevail married Eliza Thursby in Canterbury, New South Wales, Australia. Again. This time, non-bigamously! (I checked the National Archives for a divorce, though it would be very unlikely for ordinary people at that time, and of course there wasn't one.) Bigamy is a prison offence in both the UK and Australia, although the sentence length is lower in the latter. 

On 27 Feb 1921, J R and Mrs Trevail left Sydney for Wellington, New Zealand, on the SS Marama, as tourists. Joseph's sister Mary Ann had just died and his sister Ellen was still in New Zealand. Maybe they went to visit family?

Joseph R Trevail died on 20 Jan 1934, aged 86. The last will and testament of Joseph Rundle Trevail of 52 Market Street, Randwick, in the state of New South Wales, Gentleman, left the balance of his estate to his 'dear wife Eliza', after various other bequests and clues. Among beneficiaries were a grandson, Arthur Waymark (his daughter, Annie Gertrude Trevail had married Louis Charles Waymark in Lambeth in 1898); his sister Olivia Caldwell (Olivia Trevail had married Thomas William Colwill in 1886 in St George, Hanover Square); her daughter was Elsie Bates; a niece, Florence Wright; other bequests go to a John Edwards and to granddaughters, Amy Edwards and Edith Anderson (née Edwards) (daughter Kate Olivia Trevail had married Frank William Edwards in 1903). His estate was valued at £3,757 in 1934, worth £275,819 today.

52 Market Street, Randwick, New South Wales