A true story with a sting in the tale(!)

Following the realisation that I am the oldest male descendent of my 3 x Great Grandfather, Thomas Copeland, I have been researching his brothers, to see if there might be a Copeland descendency from any of them. I haven't yet achieved that, but in my research I was surprised to find a very detailed trail for Thomas's elder brother Henry and his career in the Royal Marines and Royal Navy.  It would seem likely that he had a life of adventure, travelling to foreign parts that would be unusual even today, and was quite possibly the first from our branch of the Copeland surname to travel abroad (i.e. to travel and return, rather than emigrate). 

He was born (*1) eighteen months before Thomas, in the parish of Cranwell, near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, a fact about which he must have been most particular, perhaps proud, as he gave Cranwell as his place of birth on many documents and and censuses throughout his life (helpfully making him easier to follow over 150 years later).  
At the time of his birth Cranwell was a very small village in Lincolnshire, with a population of just 102 people in 1811. (*2)

Having left HMS Conway, Henry joined HMS Magnificent. (*3)  She was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1806, and from 1830 was used as a Receiving Ship in Jamaica.

We have to assume that this was a temporary attachment and that Henry had been sent to Jamaica to join another ship there, and so it transpired.  On Christmas Eve 1832 Henry joined HMS Pickle, which had arrived in Jamaica from Honduras on 20th October.  This schooner was the third Royal Navy ship to carry the name Pickle and had been launched in 1827.  She was involved in the suppression of the slave trade, as the  detail of her voyage makes clear:

(Use the arrow on the right to reveal this information)

Henry was discharged from HMS Pickle on 28th December 1835.  Presumably his service was exemplary, because on 18th February 1836, back in England, he was promoted to Corporal.  According to his service record he did not serve on board another ship for a further five years and seven months.

It is possible that that at some point in this period  Henry served in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk where there was, at that time, a Royal Navy presence, for in March 1839 he married Maria Louisa Rushbrooke Johnson who was some five years younger than him, the daughter of a bricklayer from that town, and where Maria Louisa was baptised.  

The Census of 6 Jun 1841, shows Henry living in the Royal Marine barracks in Chatham, aged 28, and with his wife - who in most records appears as Louisa Copeland - and their first child, also Louisa who was born in 1839.  By then he had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant, and in that same year was aboard HMS Ardent, serving as Sergeant.

A chart of Royal Marine Pay and Allowances for 1843 shows that a Sergeant would receive £2 0s 1d per month, and that that rank was then the highest that could be achieved below a commissioned officer. 

HMS Ardent was a new paddle propelled sloop with a displacement of 878 tons that came into service that year and was launched at Chatham on 12th February 1841.  

Having left HMS Ardent on 23 Oct 1845 Henry appears to have been shore based for some years,  and whilst at home this was a time when he and Louisa had a number of children;

In the 3rd quarter of  1846 the birth of their third child, Henry Charles, was registered.  He too would later serve in the Royal Navy
The fourth child, Eleanor, was born on 21st April 1849 and their fifth, Joseph on 18th June 1850.

In the meantime Henry's career progressed as on 12th January 1848 he was appointed Colour Sergeant, as senior a non-commissioned officer as was possible to be.   However it would seem likely that he considered the life of a Royal Marine to be that of a younger man for on 15th January 1851 he left he Marines, having completed 22 years service as his original attestation paper shows.  This length of service entitled him to a pension, but not for some years.  The very next day he enlisted in the Royal Navy and joined HMS Cumberland as Ship's Corporal, perhaps a slightly downward step but it would appear that he knew what he was doing.

The British Royal Navy & Royal Marines service and pension records at the National Archives include Henry's Naval Pension and Greenwich Hospital Pension of £40.00s.00d and £7.12s.0d respectively and show them commencing 1st January 1869 by which date he must have retired from the Navy.  His rating was Master at Arms, his Greenwich Hospital Number 552, and Naval pension Number 8302.  His total annual pension of £47.12s.0d was more than any other pension on the page, suggesting that a) his service had been lengthy or b) his rating was higher than anyone else's or c) a combination of the two.  This would equate to around £23,000 a year in 2016 values.

Although no longer in the Navy, on 2nd April 1871, the time of the next Census, Henry had stayed in the Chatham area, appearing in Burnt Oak Place, Gillingham, Kent living in the household of a William Ball, a Contractor, and Henry was now a Pensioner and Watchman, and although not living with Louisa, at least on the night of the census,  he described himself as married.  Perhaps we can assume that his role as a Master at Arms qualified him for what we would now call "Security" work, hence his role as watchman.

Louisa, meanwhile, was living in Chatham at 13 Fort Pitt Street, with son Thomas, now aged 13 and a scholar, and she described herself as a "Pensioner's Wife", so perhaps Henry was still connected to his family, and simply not at home that night.

Ten years later, in 1881, Louisa was still living in Chatham, still the head of the household, but no-one else was present in her home on census night.  She described herself as a Needlewoman.  
        
Surprisingly though, at that same census, taken on 3rd April, Henry had returned to Lincolnshire.  Now aged 69 and living in 6 London Road, Quarrington, Sleaford, he gave his occupation as "Pensioner Royal Navy" and he is described as "unmarried".

He died in Quarrington a little over 3 years later on 30th April 1884, aged 72, still living at the same address, and was buried in Quarrington on 2nd May.  Probate of his Will took only a few days, being granted on 20th May 1884.  It might be deduced from his Will, made on 4th January that same year, (which could suggest he knew that his death was imminent),  that he was no longer in communication with his wife and children because he bequeathed to his...

 ...beloved Niece Fanny Charlotte Taylor Wife of William Taylor Journeyman Shoemaker Boston All my Effects whatsoever and wherever and of what nature and quality soever consisting of all my household furniture and the whole of my wardrobe also my gold Geneva watch and gold chain and finger ring and all my money that is in the Post Office Savings Bank and all other monies that are in my possession after funeral expenses and other debts are paid 

This modest estate was valued at £57 12s 5d, the equivalent of perhaps £30,000 at 2016 values.   The Will made clear that he did not own or lease his home, so simply rented it.  We might take this at face value, assume that Henry had severed any connection with his wife and children and had decided to leave his wordly goods to a favourite niece.  Or is there something more to this?

Despite extensive searching I cannot see how Henry was related to Fanny Taylor, his supposed niece, in any way.  I cannot even find a Fanny Taylor living in Boston, but in 1881 there was a Charlotte Taylor, married to a William, who was a Shoemaker and they lived at 11 South Terrace, Louth in the district of Boston .  Her maiden name was Burkitt, and she was born in 1839 in Raithby cum Maltby, some 35 miles from Sleaford, the daughter of George and Elizabeth Burkitt.  Elizabeth's maiden name was Parsons, and although Henry had a sister Elizabeth she had married a Benjamin Robson, so Elizabeth Burkitt's daughter could not have been Henry's niece.   

Henry's two Executors were neighbours and colleagues rather than legal people.  John Olle was a 29 year old Railway Clerk, born in Australia, which must have been relatively uncommon.  It would appear that he and his family had not long lived in Sleaford - his 25 year old wife was born in Northamptonshire and so too was their older son, aged one.  However their younger child, a daughter, had only been born seven months before the date of the 1881 census and was born in Sleaford, suggesting that the family moved there in 1880.

At that census his other executor David John Halliday, then aged 20 and born in Pinchbeck in Lincolnshire, was staying with (presumably) his brother in Louth Lincolnshire and David too was a Railway Clerk.  His address in 1881 was 11 Ashleys Road Louth.  He must therefore have moved with his job to Sleaford between 1881 and 1884 and become known to Henry Copeland together with his colleague John Olle who was a near neighbour of Henry.  A newspaper article reveals that Henry had himself been working for the railway company so most likely met these two young men through his employment.

Given that Louth is 35 miles from Sleaford it is hard to imagine how Henry would have known Charlotte .  However Ashley Road and South Terrace, Louth both still exist and are no more than 400 yards apart   Is it possible that Henry was duped into making a fraudulent Will?   Could the witnesses, or at least one of them, have been friends of the beneficiary?  Did Henry know what he was signing?

These questions arise only because of the following three articles from local newspapers in the days after Henry's death: