More Australian help please

[Velma Dinkley]

Some of you might remember a few months back when I asked for help tracing Rebecca Guilford in Australia. Rebecca was the widow of my great great uncle Charles William Guilford who was killed in WW1. She went to live in Australia after the war and was found travelling from the UK to Australia several times between the 1920s and 1940s.

The recent release of incoming shipping lists has enabled me to discover that she finally returned to the UK in 1950, and a contact who is researching her family has found her death in 1961 here in the UK.

According to their 1915 marriage certificate, Charles was recorded as working at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, and being that he served in the Rifle Brigade, I had images of him making armaments in the years leading up to the war... However according to her death certificate, he was a chef! So those images are now dashed!!

Anyway, I've made a lot of progress with this couple in the last few weeks and some very kind members of the Great War Forum have supplied me with photos of his grave in Belgium, including a very poignant inscription by his wife which you can just about read -



I think that she must have been devastated by his death and moving to Australia was the way she coped. My contact believes that she went there because her brother was also there - Richard Fawcett (born 1881).

Please can someone with access to Australian records trace Richard for me. Rebecca lived in NSW, so I think that this would be the best place to start.

He has also given me these names - Thomas Gospage, John Gospage, David Gospage and George Gospage - I have no years of birth although it's a uncommon name. Can anyone find them in Australia please?

Many thanks for your help.

[Yvonne from Oz]

velma it goes number/date; surname; first name/s; father's name; mother's name; place.

V18532036 39B/1853 FAWCETT RICHARD Buy Now
8734/1891 FAWCETT RICHARD A JOHN JANE EAST MACQUARIE Buy Now
389/1908 FAWCETT RICHARD LANCELOT MARY SYDNEY Buy Now
1093/1904 FAWCETT RICHARD W FRANCIS MARY A DENILIQUIN Buy Now
7744/1944 FAWCETT CYRIL RICHARD RICHARD SANDFORD FLORENCE BOWRAL Buy Now
23050/1941 FAWCETT JAMES RICHARD JAMES FREDERICK LUCY SUTHERLAND Buy Now
6950/1918 FAWCETT RICHARD J RICHARD EUPHEMIA S GOSFORD Buy Now
16431/1939 FAWCETT RICHARD SANDFORD RICHARD JAMES SUSAN WAGGA WAGGA Buy Now
48826/1971 FAWCETT RICHARD ADOLPHUS FREDERICK EVA ST LEONARDS Buy Now
52579/1972 FAWCETT RICHARD EDWARD RICHARD GEORGE CATHERINE SUTHERLAND Buy Now

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm

This link will take you to NSW Births/Deaths and Marriages.
i have to go out but if you haven't woken up by the time i get back i'll hunt again.


No Gospage try Gos*page (* is a wildcard)

[Richard in Perth]

This could be Richard's death, on the Ryerson Index:

FAWCETT Richard Edward Death notice 06MAY1972 Death 91 late of Cronulla Sydney Morning Herald 08MAY1972

Ryerson Index


... the middle name ties in with this birth, too - which is the only Richard Fawcett birth in 1881 on FreeBMD:

Births Jun 1881
FAWCETT Richard Edward Mile End Old Town 1c 485

[Richard in Perth]

Yes that is him, as here he is in 1891 with sister Rebecca. According to this, their parents were Richard & Catherine, which ties in with the matching death entry from NSW BDM (52579/1972 FAWCETT, RICHARD EDWARD, father: RICHARD GEORGE, mother: CATHERINE, district: SUTHERLAND).

RG12; Piece: 536; Folio 151; Page 11
Civil Parish: Plumstead
Registration district: Woolwich
Sub registration district: Plumstead, West

Richard Fawcett 32 (Stepney)
Katherine Fawcett 33 (Whitechapel)
Richard Fawcett 10 (Stepney)
Katherine Fawcett 7 (Radcliffe)
Elizabeth Fawcett 4 (Lincolnshire)
Rebecca Fawcett 1 (Plumstead)

[Richard in Perth]

There are no Gospage in any of the online Aus indexes (wa, nsw, vic, qld) or in the current Australian WhitePages. However, this looks like your family, in Poplar England:

Marriages Jun 1906
Fawcett Elizabeth Mile End 1c 629
Gospage Henry Mile End 1c 629

(is this Elizabeth Fawcett the sister of Rebecca and Richard? - see 1891 census entry above)


Births Jun 1906
Gospage David Henry Mile End 1c 502

Births Jun 1913
Gospage Elizabeth A Fawcett Poplar 1c 938

Births Jun 1915
Gospage John Fawcett Poplar 1c 902

Births Sep 1917
Gospage George Fawcett Poplar 1c 581

Births Dec 1919
Gospage Albert Fawcett Poplar 1c 868

Births Sep 1922
Gospage Katherine M Fawcett Poplar 1c 712

Births Mar 1926
Gospage William F Fawcett Poplar 1c 6599

Births Mar 1928
Gospage Louise E Fawcett Poplar 1c 614

[Richard in Perth]

And some of them at least were still in England at their deaths:

Name: Albert Gospage
Birth Date: 21 Oct 1919
Death Registration Month/Year: Dec 2004
Registration district: Southend On Sea

Name: George Gospage
Birth Date: 3 Jun 1917
Death Registration Month/Year: Mar 2004
Registration district: Havering

Name: John Gospage
Birth Date: 1 Apr 1915
Death Registration Month/Year: May 2001
Registration district: Grantham

Name: William Frederick Gospage
Birth Date: 22 Dec 1925
Death Registration Month/Year: Nov 2001
Registration district: Andover

[Velma Dinkley]

Many thanks Yvonne & Richard, that's definitely the family

As for the Gospages - my contact thought that at least one of them had emigrated, but this doesn't now seem to be the case.

Previously, Rebecca could be found in the street directories - can anybody find Richard in them please?

[Richard in Perth]

The only Gospage emigrating between 1890-1960 is this one - he may be your David, but if so then he went to Canada, not Aus:

GOSPAGE David Adult M 1940 Liverpool Canada Halifax

[Richard in Perth]

Richard Edward Fawcett is on the 1930 NSW electoral roll, in Parramatta district - but I don't have world sub in order to get the address or to see who he was living with.

[Velma Dinkley]

Thanks Richard, I think that's probably our man then

That's does sounds like the Richard Fawcett I'm looking for - hopefully another kind member has access...

Thanks for all your help

[redtonyt]

Richard Edward Fawcett

Hi
Parramatta 1930 Electoral Roll
Richard Edward Fawcett was living in Park Avenue, Westmead - occupation mechanic.
Also living there was Alice Gertude Fawcett - home duties.

Wilma

[Velma Dinkley]

Thank you so much for that Wilma. This is the address Rebecca was recorded as living at on the CWGC's Roll of Honour register on their website, although must have moved on by 1930.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me uncover this couple's really sad story

[Richard in Perth]

Oh and here's his marriage - before he left for Aus:

Marriages Sep 1908
BIGG Alice Gertrude Malling 2a 1551
FAWCETT Richard Edward Malling 2a 1551

[Velma Dinkley]

That's great thanks Richard

[redtonyt]

Rebecca Fawcett

Hello again,

NSW 1930 Electoral Roll

Rebecca Fawcett at C of E Home, Forsyth Street, Toxteth, West Sydney - home duties.
Not sure if this is the correct Rebecca but is the only one picked up in the search. No others in NSW or any other years.

Wilma

[Velma Dinkley]

I think that's the one which was found previously, thanks Wilma.

Interesting though that she was in a C of E home - I'm wondering if she was a resident or a worker there

Does anybody know what the purpose of these were please?

If it was a type of refuge, then I'll be surprised that she was there especially as she had family nearby.

[Richard in Perth]

But surely she was rebecca Guilford by then???

There is one Rebecca Guilford on the NSW roll, in Wentworth, 1930.

[Richard in Perth]

And Richard's wife's death is on the Ryerson Index, too:

FAWCETT Alice Gertrude Death notice 03DEC1971 Death 88 late of Cronulla Sydney Morning Herald 04DEC1971

[Velma Dinkley]

But surely she was rebecca Guilford by then???

There is one Rebecca Guilford on the NSW roll, in Wentworth, 1930.

Of course, you're right Richard. It wasn't her after all :o

Thanks for finding Alice's death