Family Trees

Friday 19 September 2008

William Ellery in Liverpool 1910

William Ellery was born in Bodmin in 1837 and is recorded in every census return from 1841 to 1901. For all of his married life he worked as an Outside Customs Officer in Liverpool. According to the London Gazette he was appointed, in 1910, as Examiner of Masters, Mates and Fishermen with the Board of Trade. Or was he?

A quick check on FreeBMD revealed that a William Ellery died in Liverpool in 1909 - but there had always been two William Ellerys, of almost identical ages, living in Liverpool - so which one had died in 1909? A few days later I received a copy of the 1909 death certificate from Southport and the information recorded clearly identified this to be my William Ellery.

So, unless there was an amazing delay in gazetting the appointment, William Ellery, Outside Customs Officer of Liverpool, was not the William Ellery who became the Board of Trade Examiner of Masters, Mates and Fishermen at Liverpool in 1910.

Tonight I decided to update my Ellery family tree and tidy my files. In doing so I noticed that the 1901 census recorded William Ellery as "retired" Customs officer. That clinches the deal. But who is the other William Ellery, the one who is mentioned in the London Gazette of 1910?