Looking for siblings & marriage

[Terrianne]

Looking for siblings of James Forbes b. 1799 Greenwich, Kent
Christened 1799 St. Alfege, Greenwich
Parent's Alexander Forbes and Jane

Also looking for the marriage of the above.

Any help much appreciated.

Sorry put this in the wrong place!

I have moved it to the Research section for you Terrianne.

[kylejustin]

forbes is a scottish name, do you have alexander and jane in any census? could they be from scotland?

[Bertie]

Whenever Greenwich appears I immediately think a Navy family is a possibility, thus I believe the following gives very useful information about your family (from TNA website):

James Forbes. When admitted to Greenwich Hospital School: Not stated. Parents' names: Alexander and Jane Forbes. Applicant born 13 September 1799. Parents married 6 July 1796. Father deceased 27 August 1807. ...

Collection: Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, Coastguard, and related bodies
Date range: 1728 - 1870
Reference:ADM 73/228/68
Subjects:Pay and pensions | Armed Forces (General) | Navy | Marriage and divorce

The link is: http://discovery.nationalarchives.go...?uri=C12738058


If you can get to TNA you can consult the record and find out more information including the 'section' under which James was admitted: e.g. son of a deceased RN man which may help to ID if Alexander was also in the Navy (quite likely). Depending on what is held in this file (poss. a range of docs.) there may be the original application which poss. sets out siblings for example

I had a quick look for a marriage but couldn't find one - but you may have better luck

[Terrianne]

Kylejustin - Yes they could be from Scotland. Afraid I haven't managed to find either on any census, they had probably both died by the 1841 census.

[Terrianne]

Bertie - thank you so much for the info. I have James baptism records - states father Alexander 'mariner', do you think he would have been called a mariner if he was in the armed forces?

[Bertie]

Yes he would. Can you go to TNA or buy the records? I think you might get lots of useful information.

[Terrianne]

Yes, I will buy the records. It seems his father died when he was eight so no doubt he went into the Greenwich Hospital then. I'm afraid I'm hopeless at finding my way round the National Archives site, would you be kind enough to see if he had any sibling also there. They would have been born between 1796 - 1799.

[Bertie]

His mother likely applied for him to attend the Royal Greenwich Hospital School to which many boys went prior to joining the navy proper. If you order the record I highlighted you'd get an idea of who his family members were. If you are lucky you might get the service record of Alexander and even maybe copy marriage record. The school would look kindly on the son of a navy person who died in service. You might also find out whether James was accepted into the school

[Terrianne]

Thank you once again Bertie.

[Bertie]

Let us know what you discover when you get the TNA copy docs! Good luck

[Terrianne]

Just to let you know how things have progressed. National Archives info arrived today, it has taken a month, but well worth the wait. Alexander Forbes served with the Royal Navy for 20 years, have a list of the ships he served on. He died in the Greenwich Hospital in 1807. James the son was admitted to the Royal Navy Asylum (why it was called an Asylum I don 't know). It states James Forbes aged 8 years, father dead, mother distressed. There is also a marriage entry for Alexander (widower) and Jane Beadle (widow) in 1796.
Thank you again Bertie for pointing me in the right direction.

Terri

[Bertie]

Good news! You now have two other marriages to find! Depending on which ship(s) he served in 1796 you may be able to track his likely whereabouts as newspapers often reported their whereabouts and some sites have research information (but 1796 can be a little early for widespread newspaper reporting) - do add any information about these ships here as someone might be able to help

[Olde Crone Holden]

Asylum = a place of safety with a duty of care. It is only recently (and wrongly) that we equate the word asylum with the insane.

OC

[Bertie]

The Royal Naval Asylum (in Greenwich) was an educational institution (which went under a different name prior to 1805) was founded as an 'industrial school' for "for the orphans of military and naval personnel killed in action whilst defending Britain's interests". It was relocated from Paddington Green to Greenwich in 1806/1807 to the Queen's House at Greenwich which housed the Royal Hospital School. In 1821, the Asylum amalgamated with the Hospital School.

Perhaps of more interest is: The Greenwich Hospital School records are held at The National Archives, within the following classes: ADM 72, ADM 73, ADM 161, ADM 163 and ADM 164. You may be able to find a record (say of admissions in 1807) which might well contain information about when the boy was admitted and when he left. From memory, the records are not indexed but, as you have a date, you can check whether records for that year (and later) exist and, if so, you can consult the archive (you'll probably have to go in person or find someone to do so for you)

[Janet]

Just a very slight addition to Bertie's posts is that the Royal Hospital School Greenwich is the forerunner of the world famous Greenwich College. The records for this institution are excellent, giving you all the information and more besides. One of my ancestors from Scotland went to this school in the 1830's and from the records I also gleaned the father's naval record, wonderful information. The records do give the date of admission and date of leaving, place and date of birth and where they move on to.

Janet

[Terrianne]

Thank you all for your replies.
It looks like a trip to Greenwich may well be on the cards. How ironic that when I was young I lived in Blackheath, not far from Greenwich, but now living in Dorset.

[Bertie]

Hi Terri - a trip to Greenwich would be worth it: the grandeur of the place is quite something! However, just to reiterate, the records I noted in #14 are in TNA at Kew. It's worth consulting the record series noted on their website first to ID the types of docs and the dates they have just to see if there is (e.g.) a record of admissions for the period you are interested in