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 Richard James Sheppard (or Shepherd)
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| jp |
Posted on 12/07/2009 21:28
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 New Member  Posts: 2 Joined: 19/02/2009 |
In the Navy List June/September 1876 he is shown as Chief Quartermaster i/c cruizer 'Mary' attached to HMS Warrior at Portland. The List forJanuary/April 1877 (corrected to 20 March 1877) shows him as second mate on the cruizer 'Victoria' to HMS Valiant at Shannon. He is not on the List for July/October 1877 (corrected to 20 June 1877) or subsequently so far as I can discover. He then seems to have vanished. His wife was shown as a widow in the 1881 census. What happened to him? Would there have been a widow's pension and where do I get information about it? Any comments would be welcomed by his great-grandson, John Poole |
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| crimea1854 |
Posted on 13/07/2009 08:42
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 Administrator  Posts: 906 Joined: 09/07/2007 |
Hi John, and welcome to the Forum. You seem to have drawn most of your information from the Navy List, so I wondered whether you had looked at the Seamen's Service records available at the National Archives website? I did find a Richard James Shepherd, born 1840 on the Isle of Thanet (link below). I believe this to be your man, because the 1871 census has a Richard J Sheppard born Isle of Thanet on the RC Mary in Cornwall. http://www.nation...ultcount=8 Unfortunately there is a gap in the CG records for the period you are interested in, which means the only way to trace a mans service is through the above records. If he died in service, it should be shown on his record. Regards Martin Edited by crimea1854 on 13/07/2009 08:47 |
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| jp |
Posted on 13/07/2009 18:39
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New Member Posts: 2 Joined: 19/02/2009 |
Thank you Martin for quick response (this is my first use of the forum so I just have to hope that this reaches you) Assuming it does, yes you have identified him as from the Isle of Thanet. He lied about his age - his actual date of birth was in 1842. I do have the ADM/188/21 document which shows him as " 'Valiant' as second mate 22 March 1876"......... and that is the very last item on his record! I hoped to get somewhere by pursuing the widows' pension idea and also the 'died in service' possibility. It has always been asserted in my family that RJS was lost at sea. He agreed to a further 10 years of service from 31 January 1870. You can see I've got a problem. Any further help would be welcome. Regards, John |
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