A small correction and extra info.
Maurice Green first became a boy on the training “ship” Ganges on 4 Oct 1910 when he was almost 3 months short of his 17 th birthday. Ganges was a fixed station at Shotley near Ipswich. On December 20 1911, his 18 th birthday, his official navy service began as an Ordinary Seaman at Chatham. Shortly thereafter he became an Able Seaman. Throughout his 12 years he had no significant disciplinary issues.
PS the B in ChB may stand for Basin rather than Boatyard.
Dave
Hello Terry, thanks for your reply and your comments, I did find a death for a Maurice in Perth in Australia , March 1969, but I couldn’t convince myself that this was the right person.
Regards
Les
Hello Dave T, Thanks for your reply and your clarification about the Royal Fleet Reserve etc.
I know that his mother died in 1902/3 and as a result he along with a brother Colin and two sisters, Hilda and Elizabeth ended up in Fulwood Cottage Homes.
He is on the 1901 census at H.M.S Antrim, Gillingham, in training, I’ve seen about the tattoos and scar on his service papers.
Interesting about what you’ve said about him being on reserve and possibly serving again in 1939.
Many thanks
Regards
Les
LesG,
The HMS Antrim was docked (specifically) in Chatham No2 basin at the 1911 Census. Gillingham is the (wider)registration District.
There is a death for a Maurice Green in Perth, W. Aus in 1987 but he was 79. Whoever reported the death did not know Maurice very well because that person could not give his parents' names. Perhaps they got the age wrong? (yours would have been 94 at the time).
Dave
Les, when Maurice was discharged from the navy in 1923 he was suddenly without his regular income, his free accommodation and his free (or sometimes subsidised) food. All he had was his war gratuity, a lump sum of £29. He was still a young man with thirty or more years of potential earning and he had no pension
He needed to find work quickly. All he knew was being a sailor and effectively he had no family ties In take him back to Sheffield.
The obvious thing was the merchant navy. In post WW1 years uk unemployment was high and the uk merchant navy paid low wages. He could earn nearly twice as much by finding work on ships based in USA or Australia and many discharged sailors made that transition.
This would allow him to travel to either or both of those countries, perhaps regularly and over a long period, and he would not appear on any passenger list.
If he died abroad he would be death registered there and if he died at sea his death would be registered in the ship’s country of origin.
Dave
PS I now have strong circumstantial evidence that IF he remained in Uk he would have appeared on the 1939 register
Hello Dave T, thanks for your message,17th Feb and the bit about H M S Antrim, also the death of a Maurice Green in Perth, W Australia, I had also found one, whilst I cannot convince myself, I just have a feeling that one of them could have been our man.
Re your further message, I think you could well be right about him being in the merchant navy, good thinking, that would account for him possibly settling in Perth and passing away there.
Regards, Les