William was born in 1808; we can derive this from his age on three censuses and his death certificate. His place of birth is more problematical, census returns give just Ireland. However, also on the census data and on his childrens' birth certificates, he gave his occupation as 'Mariner'. From this lead, searches in the PRO Merchant Seaman records at Kew for a William Henry born in 1808 in Ireland, revealed just one entry which fitted; it was for a seaman sailing out of Waterford in 1843 and who deserted from his ship, the Hippocampi, in New Brunswick, Canada, of that year.
The PRO document records that William was born in Dungarvan in county Waterford and this data is recorded in BT 98/510, the crew list for the Hippocampi's voyage from Waterford in May of 1843. It is this document that records William's desertion at Miramichi on 20th July 1843. To view a copy of this document:
No records of the Hippocampi exist in the maritime archives, the name is unusual and it is to be supposed that the original ship's owner(s) had a classical interest for it is based on ancient mythology.
Miramichi is a port on the southern shore of the Miramichi river where it widens to form Miramichi Bay, on the northern coast of New Brunswick in Canada. In the 1840s the town had a flourishing port on one of the estuary creeks, exporting timber, an industry which had been active in Miramichi since 1773, having survived the disastrous Great Fire of Miramichi on October 7, 1825, which destroyed 6,000 square miles and took almost 200 lives. This had put an end to the masting industry but trees in unburned areas and the Juniper which sprang up furnished material for shipbuilding.
Timber was cut in the woods each winter, driven down the Miramichi and its tributaries in the spring and sawn into long lumber at the mills which dotted the shores on both sides of the river. Much of the trade was with Britain and berthed in the harbour with the Hippocampi in 1843 could have been a number of ships, perhaps one of them was London-bound and with a spare berth.
What we know from Poplar parish records is that William's second child, Charles, was born to his wife Elizabeth in August of 1843 while William was in Canada. Perhaps her pregnancy may have been the reason for William to desert from the Hippocampi, which was bound back to Waterford for its return voyage. We also know that Elizabeth herself registered the birth (unlike most of the other children which William registered) due to William's absence at sea, presumably London bound out of Miramichi on another ship.
We can speculate that William must have met Elizabeth Folkes on one of his voyages to London prior to 1837 (the date of their marriage at St Anne's in Limehouse) and after disembarking in the East India Dock at Poplar. This dock is a likely one as Cruchley's map of the district in 1829 (below) shows it is close to Ashton Street where Elizabeth's family was residing at number 36 as recorded by the census of 1821 when Elizabeth would have been 3 years old. Elizabeth's father, William Folkes, was also a mariner and may have been an acquaintance of William.
The church tower of St. Anne's, Limehouse, where William and Elizabeth married in 1837.
The church and tower, built by Hawksmoor between 1712 and 1731, was a landmark for vessels sailing up-river and, with the highest church clock in London, was probably the first view that William had of that city on his first voyage there from Ireland.
Research in Co. Waterford for any relevant records for a William Henry has revealed a marriage entry early in 1832 at St. Marys, Dungarvan, William's birthplace, between a William Henry and Mary Maher. Neither that nor any other records can define what age this William Henry was but we have to speculate on the improbability of there being a second William Henry of a typical marrying age in a small community. Five years later in 1837 we know that 'our' William married Elizabeth at the age of 29 but we also know that he was back in Waterford in 1843 signing on for the Hippocampi voyage, clearly showing that he had kept his connections there.
Perhaps the Ann (the ship that he previously sailed on, according to the Hippocampi crew list) plied regularly between Waterford and London, giving him a chance for a double life. This seems to have ended with William's voyage to Canada on the Hippocampi after which, he settled with Elizabeth and their children in Poplar. He also appeared to have become a sailmaker, according to his son Robert's marriage certificate, perhaps between voyages if his earlier desertion had not proscribed that occupation.
To the census enumerators of Poplar in 1861, 1871 and 1881 William never gave the county of his birth in Ireland and perhaps this was because he had a past to hide; not just a ship deserted in Canada but also a wife deserted in Ireland. Unless, between 1832 and 1837, Mary had already died, otherwise the likely case is that William was a bigamist as well as a deserter.
Poplar, where William and Elizabeth lived for all their married life, was a rapidly growing area of housing bounded by London Docklands. To read comtemporary accounts of the London docklands where William lived and worked:
William and Elizabeth had their share of problems, their fifth child, Anna Maria, later known as Ann, is recorded in the 1871 census as an "imbecile", and, in the 1881 census, still living with her parents at age 32.
William died at 49 Augusta Street (next to Grundy Street where he and Elizabeth had lived since he settled in Poplar) in February 1883 at the age of 74, from Apoplectic Fit Hemiplegia. This complaint is a form of cerebral palsy, the symptoms being similar to alcohol epilepsy or rum fits as they called it in those days; perhaps the certifying doctor was being kind to the bereaved. The informant was Sofia, the wife of William's son Robert, who had been present at the death.
William's wife Elizabeth died six years later on the 21 January, 1889 in the Union Infirmary at Battersea. Her cause of death was Cellulitis of Leg, Cardiac Failure. The former can be associated with deep vein thrombosis and this may explain the cardiac failure. She was quite alone and the hospital authorities knew nothing of her or her family to enter on her death certificate. One can only wonder why she was not closer to Poplar where she had been born, spent her life and raised her family and what happened to Anna Maria, now 40, with no one to look after her.
Robert and Sophia Temperton were living in Shadwell at the time of their marriage, a docklands district, with both of their fathers employed with ships. Robert could have been working with Sophia's father, a shipwright, and have met her that way. A sawyer would produce the planks for the wooden ships of those days.
Sailing ships were still predominant during the 1870s and with Robert's connections through his father and father-in-law in sail and wooden ships, it would have been likely that it was under sail that he eventually crewed, thankful to leave the grinding toil of pushing a saw handle every day. It could have been on board one of the many Thames Barges which would have had the advantage of relatively short trips and the chance to be home in Poplar at regular intervals to father the five children that he and Sophia had, because these ships plied their trade mainly between the coastal ports bounded by Norfolk to the north and the Thames river to the south. Of course, this is pure speculation, by 1860 the neighbouring Royal Victoria Dock was handling 2'600 ships a year and the possibilities of a position aboard another sort of vessel would have been many, including steamships.
Robert and Sophia settled at 68 Ruby Street Poplar, close to Ellenthope Street where Sopia's married sister, Susannah Mary Bickford, lived and where Sophia went to give birth to her first three children. The 1881 census for their address, with three other families also resident, shows "Sophy", at 28, as "Head" with Robert presumably at sea and four children, Robert 8, Albert 7, William (George) 4 and Sophy 6 months. Still to be born, the last of their children, would be Ernest in 1885.