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William Secombe HMS Ajax

William Secombe HMS Ajax

Posted: 5 Apr 2015 8:01PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 8 Apr 2015 5:58PM GMT
Surnames: Secombe, McLellan
I am trying to trace this man Name Secombe, William McClelland
Place of Birth: Isle of Whithorn, Coast of Scotland
Continuous Service Number: 13434A
Date of Volunteering: 01 November 1860
I have found a William Secombe of Whithorn as an Able Seaman on ships in Australia in the early 1880s and a downloadable record with British Archives on his volunteering aboard the Ajax in 1860 . Where, without visiting the UK, can I find more of his Naval record, especially when he left the navy .
As a matter of interest I believe he is my 2x G grandfather who was known as William McLellan who arrived in Timaru NZ around the time that William Secombe was shipwrecked on the Fairy Queen there in 1883 .
(In 1901 after his death his son placed an advert in the Lloyds Weekly looking for his fathers brothers and mentioned he had been involved in the tragedy of the Ajax at Kingstown Harbour where Captain Boyd drowned). I realise I may never be able to prove they are one and the same but I'd like to be able to trace William Secombe as fully as possible

Re: William Secombe HMS Ajax

Posted: 6 Apr 2015 12:51AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 6 Apr 2015 2:41PM GMT
Attachments:

Re: William Secombe HMS Ajax

Posted: 6 Apr 2015 12:56AM GMT
Classification: Query

Re: William Secombe HMS Ajax

Posted: 6 Apr 2015 5:14AM GMT
Classification: Query
Thanks. I'm assuming this is merchant navy records before he joined the Ajax ??

Re: William Secombe HMS Ajax

Posted: 6 Apr 2015 10:16PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 6 Apr 2015 10:59PM GMT
Surnames: McClelland
No need to assume anything, the first two links tell you exactly what the record is.

Merchant Navy ?, yes and no, strictly speaking no, because the Merchant Navy wasn't given that title until after WW1, before that it would have been called the British Merchant service, but for practical purposes it amounts to the same thing.

The individual record isn't dated, what you see is what you get, the only available information about it is that it was compiled between 1845 -1854, so factor that into your Royal Navy service record, and you can answer your own question about whether or not it predates or postdates his Royal Navy service, and as he apparently enlisted in the R.N. in 1860 his merchant seaman record presumably does predate his R.N. service.

An unusual name combination like that, from such a small place, I think it is reasonable to assume that the R.N. sailor and the merchant sailor in Britain are very likely to be the same person., and you might be able to find some Scottish baptismal records for him, and there are other McClelland names listed in Whithorn in the 1851 census.
http://info.dumgal.gov.uk/HistoricalIndexes/Home/DisplayQuic...

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/WIG/Whithorn/

You might find something more about him on his ship in Australia on this site.
http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/shipdate_2.htm
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