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Joseph Henry Dagwell and John Dagwell
Edward
Hello to you all,

I have been attempting to track three of the 8 sons born to Joseph and Sarah Dagwell of Itchen Ferry, Southampton.

They are:

Hugh Dagwell, born 1813, who is the subject of a separate thread on this site and the following, two other brothers:

1. Joseph Henry Dagwell (may also have been known in his early days as Henry)

Born in Southampton about 1831. He appears as Henry on the 1841 Census household return in Itchen Ferry, Southampton aged 10. He does not appear in the 1851 returns.

According to a family oral history recorded over 30 years ago, he was a member of the crew of HMS ‘Herald’ during the conduct of survey work in the South Pacific (New Caledonia, the Solomons and Fiji) in 1854-1855.

Around 1855/6, he apparently paid off in Sydney and joined the NSW Navigation Department together with someone named Hickson, supposedly, the assistant master of the ‘Herald’ during the deployment.

Joseph Henry is purported to have received letters of commendation from the Admiralty and/or other sections of the British government for certain of his actions during a tropical storm in 1854-1855.

He remained in NSW until about 1858 when he returned to England.

He married Martha Elizabeth Cantell in Southampton on November 27 1859

A son, Charles Ephraim Dagwell born in Southampton in late 1860.The family appears on the 1861 census.

Martha Elizabeth died in 1862 and Joseph Henry returned to NSW in 1863. He is well-documented as a gunnery instructor, harbour pilot and coxswain of the lifeboat, Victoria 1 in Newcastle, NSW from 1863 until his death in in 1899.


2. John Dagwell

Born in Southampton in about 1829. He is listed on the 1841 Census in the home at Itchen Ferry, Southampton as age 12. He does not appear on the 1851 returns.

Apparently, he also joined the Navy, date unknown but one would imagine around the middle to late 1840s.

He is on record in South Australia in 1859 as working for the lighthouse service. It is believed that he arrived in South Australia somewhat earlier in the 1850s. He married in South Australia and worked as a lighthouse keeper and subsequently as a harbour master until at least 1888. He died in South Australia in 1908.

My limited online searches of the records held in the National Archives have given no information on either of them.

As I previously explained in the thread for Hugh Dagwell, my problem is that I'm an Australian who lives and works in China...I’m not going to be able to get to the Archives in the foreseeable future.

My initial request in the thread for Hugh Dagwell was for guidance in conducting online searches of ADM 175 and associated ADM but Martin very kindly undertook the searches on my behalf, as did Tony.

I’m loath to impose on them or anyone else and remain very happy to conduct my own online searches, if someone can tutor me in the intricacies of it all.

Any assistance of any kind in locating the history of the early years of Joseph Henry and John would be gratefully received and acknowledged.

Edward
 
crimea1854
Hi Edward

It's a typical autumn day here in England, cold, wet and windy, so with nothing better to do I was surfing the net and came across the following, which might be of interest if you have not already found it yourself.

The South Australian Observer newspaper apparently has an obituary for John Dagwell, Lighthouseman. This appeared on the 19th December 1908, on page 34a. I thought if you had not seen it, it might provide clues as to where to search, particularly for his past RN service.

The other item is with regard to Capt. Charles E Dagwell, and appeared in the New York Times, concerning the loss of his ship to a Uboat attack in 1918 - quite a story!

http://query.nyti...8383609EDE

Regards

Martin
 
Edward
Hi Martin,

It's a cold, wet but not too windy Saturday evening here in China and I'm fossicking around on the net trying to find leads om the early days of these two brothers.

Sunday in my OZ hometown, they're going to have a sunny 26 degrees!

Thank you for highlighting the references you found but I had located them both some time ago.

The Irish Charles Ephraim Dagwell is quite well documented one way and another... yes, it is quite a story but I'm given to understand that he had three run-ins with submarines during WW1...this was just one. On each occasion he lost his ship.

Having two men called Charles Ephraim Dagwell in one generation, caused a lot of confusion until it was clearly established that they were in fact cousins. One the son of Hugh the coastguard in Antrim and one the son of Joseph Henry in Newcastle.

I have located some online records for John Dagwell in South Australia but the BMD there cannot be searched online. I've sent out an APB within the family, for any friends in Adelaide who might be prepared to undertake a physical seach of records for him. That includes the Adelaide Observer obituary.

There is a 2 Volume book called A Biographical Index of South Australians 1836 to1883, which I think might also give a few leads. Locating that will have to wait until mid 2009 until I take my vacation.

Thank you once again for your interest and your help.

Kind regards,

Edward
 
crimea1854
Hi Edward

I did a bit of digging around at the National Archives today, and although singularly unsuccessful in finding anything on John Dagwell, I did find some information on Joseph Dagwell.

Checking HMS Herald’s description book (Ships No.29) I extracted the following:

Born Itchen Ferry, Hants.
5’ 4.5’’ tall, fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.
Had smallpox, single, and trade brought up to was ‘fishing’.

He joined Herald on 25 February 1852 and was discharged (paid off) on 30 June 1857.

Previous naval service:

HMS Excellent (Ships No.185) – Boy 1st Class, 22 Nov 1847 – 6 August 1848
HMS Southampton (Ships No.74) – AB 7 August 1848 – 20 January 1852.

What is remarkable is that he progressed from a Boy to AB in a single change of ship, also, if I’m reading Herald’s description book correctly, he was rated Second (?) Master, which is very rapid series of promotion.

If you wanted to know more about his time on Herald there is a book by Andrew David – The voyage of HMS Herald to Australia that covers the period 1852 – 1861.

Regards

Martin
 
Edward
Hello again Martin,

I can't thank you enough for locating the naval record of Joseph Henry.

Like his brother Hugh, there were large gaps in the knowledge I had of him for the period from 1841 to about 1854. Your efforts on my behalf have filled that gap; thank you so much.

From the information about him in the oral history recorded by his grandson, he seems to have been a remarkable man. Your comments about his seemingly rapid promotion at a relatively young age, bear that out.

Thank you also for the book reference. I'll add it to my 'to find' list for July - August 2009. That now makes three I've got to locate and read. At least I can't complain that I've got nothing to do.Wink

Once again, thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Edward
 
koasts
This is an old thread but here are their baptisms (all at St Mary Extra, Southampton)

Hugh 3rd October 1813
John 13th September 1829
Joseph Henry 13th Novemebr 1831

sons of Joseph and Sarah
 
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