Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
Site contents © Copyright Michael Crouch, 2000. |
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The Riddle of Rhyl Garrett Samuel's son, William Ward Garrett was married to Mary Elizabeth McGrath in 1867. Together they had fourteen children of which only nine survived beyond infancy. The second child, a girl, was born Amy Elizabeth Garrett in 1870. Later came William Leslie Garrett in 1878 and Melville Roy Garrett in 1892. William, known as Tom, was the first male child to survive and consequently the remaining siblings came to lean on him. He later went on in life to build up a substantial clothing manufacturing business in Hobart. As it prospered and grew, he came to take on over sixty employees and often had sisters and other relations working there. The business was co-owned by the family for over seventy years. Melville Roy Garrett was the father of Poppy Lopatniuk whom I mentioned earlier, and William Leslie Garrett was the grandfather of Phyllis Bhogal. Amy Elizabeth Garrett was born in May of 1870 and ran a dressmaking business in Hobart. In 1889, she gave birth to a son named Raymond Garrett but the baby died at the age of only six months. On June 10, 1892, she had another son, Rhyl Garrett. Mary Elizabeth Garrett (nee McGrath) confirmed the birth at the registration. As mentioned earlier, the father's name was not given and the baby was registered in the mother's maiden name. On September 11, 1897, Amy married Robert Henry McCain Collier and they lived together on King Island between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. Robert passed away and Amy went to live with her sisters until she died aged 82 years in 1952. Melville Roy Garrett was born on October 6, 1892, the son of William Ward and Mary Elizabeth Garrett. He was a soldier during the First World War and fought in both France and Gallipoli. He was held as a German Prisoner of War for four years before being repatriated to England. He may have spent some time in Ireland before returning home to Australia. He was officially discharged from service on June 28, 1919 and was classified as medically unfit due through being gassed. His service record described him as of dark complexion, brown hair, grey eyes, 5 foot 10 inches tall and a civil engineer by trade. He married Beryl Gladys Hurst. Their daughter, Poppy, was, as mentioned earlier, the person I initially contacted through the pages of the Genealogical Research Directory, forging the suspected link between the Crouch and Garrett families. Rhyl Garrett was that link. Army, pension and medical records all state that Archibald Crouch was born on June 10, 1892. The father is named as John Baird Crouch. However, searches of birth records and newspaper searches for five years either side of that date reveal no mention of any Archibald Crouch, although other members of the Crouch family do appear. It is from this point that certain conclusions must be drawn. One assumption is that Archibald Crouch was not born in Hobart at all. A search of records has been made into other areas of Tasmania, Australia, and just to be certain, Britain. Again, no mention. It may be that Rhyl Garrett, like brother Raymond before him, died in infancy and that Archibald Crouch was a new-born child who was never registered. Another equally likely conclusion that can be drawn is that Rhyl Garrett, an illegitimate child, was adopted by the Crouch family. Certainly the Garrett's and the Crouch's lived within communicable distance of one another. It may even be that John Baird Crouch was the real father and was better placed than Amy to bring up the child. The belief within the Crouch family I contacted in Tasmania was that two of the sons had been adopted and that alone would seem to bear this theory out. The cold truth is that with the absence of any adoption papers from the period, we may never really know for certain. |
