In the 70s during the summer break, I used to spend a week or so in Upminster with Nan and Granddad Green. While staying with them, I would also visit with Nan and Grandpa Stuart, and remember an occasion when Nan Stuart took me up to see the Tower of London. She also showed me the Tower Hill Memorial commemorating sailors of the Merchant Navy killed during World War II, and the name of a relative who had perished. The name and exact relationship I never remembered. For many years I had though it was a Stuart, but now that the internet lists the names of those sailors, I cannot find a Stuart who could be related. But, in working up the Strong family, I think now I know who the sailor was.
My great grandfather Douglas Stuart Kapadia (Grandpa Stuart's father) died when I was 19 months old, and while I do not remember, I spent at least a day with my family at his house shortly before that over Christmas 1964. His death is recorded in BMD Death Index Mar1965 Romford 5a 505 Age:75 and in the National Probate Calendar:
STUART, Douglas of 10 Maybush Road Hornchurch Essex died 4 January 1965 at Harold Wood Hospital Essex Probate 9 March Ipswich to Douglas Strong Stuart marine clerk.
Douglas Strong Stuart was his oldest son and my Grandpa. The death certificate for Douglas Stuart Kapadia records his name as Douglas Stuart - not the first Kapadia we have met who changed his name - such that his middle name became his last. Announcement of the name change appears in the London Gazette 7 January 1921, page 248.
Douglas Stuart Kapadia's wife was Emily Strong, and had died in 1946. The BMD Marriage Index (of which I have the certificate) has:
Emily Strong and Douglas Stuart Kapadia Sep1913 W Ham 4a 201.
From the marriage certificate I can confirm the 1911 England Census household for Emily, one which had seemed the most likely all along. The lines of evidence in this marriage certificate (14 September 1913 at St Barnabus Church in Little Ilford) are:
1) father's name: Robert Strong
2) father's occupation: Engineer
3) address: 241 Shrewsbury Road
4) witness: Mary Janetta Strong (sister to Emily in the 1911 household)
Here is the census household at 241 Shrewsbury Road, Forest Gate:
Robert Strong Head 54 Married
Driller L. T. & S. Railway Greenock, Renfrew
Amelia Wife 48 Married Manchester, Lancs.
Mary Janetta Daughter 28 Single Barrow in Furness, Lancs
Emily Daughter 27 Single Bowness, Westmorland
Robert Abraham Son 20 Single
Secretary of Public Company Carnforth, Lancashire
Eva Daughter 12 Single At School Carnforth, Lancashire
Abraham Hemingway Father-in-Law 83 Widower
Retired Loco Superintendant Furness Railway Halton, Yorkshire
The L. T. & S. is the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway which I remember taking many times from Leigh-on-sea to Upminster. The 1911 England Census returns available on ancestry.com are scans of the original householder copy, and you may click on the image below to appreciate Robert Strong's handwriting.
In 1901, with the father-in-law's household at Keer Villas in Carnforth, Lancashire, we have:
Abraham Hemingway Head Widr 73
Retired Railway Engineer Yorks., Halton
Robert Strong Son-in-Law M 43
Stationary Railway Engineman Scotland
Amelia Daur M 38 Lancs., Manchester
Emily Gd Daur S 14 Westmd, Bowness
Eva Gd Daur S 2 Lancs., Carnforth
Robert Abraham Gd Son S 10 Lancs., Carnforth
And in 1891 at 11 Hunter Street, Carnforth:
Robert Strong Head M 34
Driver Railway Stationary Engine Greenock, Scotland
Amelia Wife M 28 Manchester, Lancashire
Mary J Daur 8 Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire
Emily Daur 7 [should be 4] Bowness, Westmorland
Robert A Son 7 mos Carnforth, Lancashire
Jane Howarth Boarder 22 Dressmaker Preston, Lancashire
Carnforth, Lancashire was an important railway junction in the 19th century. More recently, the railway buildings operated for a time as a museum, and still service steam locomotives. Three of the Strong children were baptized at Christ Church, Carnforth. In 1911 the Strongs reported that 4 of their 5 children were still living. Here are records I have found so far pertaining to all five, including Amelia Strong who died in infancy.
Mary Janetta Strong
BMD Birth Index Dec1882 Barrow in Furness 8e 826
Emily Strong
BMD Birth Index Dec1883 Kendal 10b 672
BMD Marriage Index Sep1913 W Ham 4a 201 to Douglas Stuart Kapadia
BMD Death Index Emily Stuart Mar1944 Romford 4a 679 Age:60
National Probate Calendar died 8 January 1944;
probate to her husband "Douglas Stuart ship owner" 17 March 1944
Robert Abraham Strong
BMD Birth Index Sep1890 Lancaster 8e 774
Baptism at Christ Church, Carnforth 21 September 1890
BMD Marriage Index Sep1915 Wellingborough 3b 363 to Winifred E Dunkley
BMD Death Index Dec1918 Blofield 4b 431
Amelia Strong
BMD Birth Index Sep1893 Lancaster 8e 783
Baptism at Christ Church, Carnforth 3 September 1893
BMD Death Index Dec1893 Lancaster 8e 578 Age:0
Burial at St Oswald's, Warton 23 December 1893 Age:3 mos
Eva Strong
BMD Birth Index Jun1898 Lancaster 8e 795
Baptism at Christ Church, Carnforth 22 May 1898
Robert Abraham and Winifred E (nee Dunkley) Strong had a son: Robert M Strong BMD Birth Index Jun1917 Rochford 4a 1076. This appears to be the only Strong-Dunkley child in the index, which becomes easy to explain since a search for Robert A Strong in the BMD Death Index gives a death in December quarter 1918. A websearch for his name shows the photograph of a gravestone at St Michael, Pitsea recording 2nd Lieutenant Robert A Strong Royal Air Force, who died 1 December 1918 age 28, shortly after the war ended. The caption says he served with 273 Squadron which had been formed from flights of the Royal Naval Air Service. Air Ministry records at the National Archives, which I have not yet paid to read, index his date of birth as 2 September 1890 (Ref: AIR 76/488/87769). According to a discussion thread on one forum, his flying helmet is still extant! The couple would be my great grand uncle and aunt.
As for their son, we find 3rd Officer Robert Maxine Strong of the SS Empire Impala arriving in New York 4 July 1942, presumably as part of a wartime convoy which transported materiel for the Allied war effort. On 7 March 1943 SS Empire Impala, part of convoy SC-121 in the North Atlantic, was ordered to stop and pick up survivors of the torpedoed SS Egyptian, and was herself torpedoed by U591 and sank. All 46 crew were lost (and 46 of 49 from the Egyptian), among them Robert Maxine Strong who is listed on the Tower Hill Memorial Part XIV Panel 42 and in the remembrance book as the son of Robert Abraham and Winifred Ethel Strong (The Tower Hill Memorial has 11 March, although the convoy history in wikipedia has 7 March 1942).
The National Probate Calendar has:
STRONG, Robert Maxime [sic] of 23 Guildhall-road Bournemouth died on or since 11 March 1943 on war service. Administration Winchester 3 April to Winifred Ethel Strong widow.
Robert Maxine Strong would have been my Grandpa Stuart's first cousin. My grandpa told me he had served with the British 8th Army in North Africa, driving trucks. By early 1943 their adversaries, commanded by Rommel had retreated into Tunisia. Meanwhile the Battle of the Atlantic was about to turn in the Allies' favor, which, of course, was little consolation for all the losses. So now I can be fairly sure of the name Nan Stuart showed me all those years ago.
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