John Manning AREY
From his age at death, I thought he was born about 1851 but could not find him in any UK birth or census records. I eventually found a letter written from an un-named workhouse by a W A Madeley on 2nd December 1893 to Poplar Union Settlement Clerk requesting payment of £2-5-6d (approximately £380 today) for “Doctor’s fee, Attendant’s fee, Conveyance and Expenses”. It explained that John age 42 was admitted on 25th November 1893 from the SS Pembroke Castle and removed to Banstead Asylum on 29th November 1893.
It is recorded that John claimed he ‘has a wife but did not know where she is’, also that he had been in Asylums in California and lately in Grahamstown, South Africa from 27th July 1892 to 27th October 1893. John claimed he was of “no fixed abode since leaving 2, Chestnut Street, Everett’s Avenue, Chelsea, Massachusetts” and that “he only lives in England when the vessel on which he serves is in dock.” In American records, I found the will of John W Arey which mentions his son ‘John Manning Arey’.
An American Connection
Seeing the apparent American connection, I searched further afield and found two online family trees with head/father whose name closely matched that on John’s UK marriage certificate (by licence) of 1881 to Jane Christian. The only slight concern I have is the way his signature is written as it seems very English in style. [The certificate shows JMA’s age as 25 and his occupation ‘seaman’, his father as John W Arey [JWA] a ‘Captain’. Maybe this is why “our” John went to sea.
Both trees give his date of birth as 18th August 1855 his father as John W Arey and his mother as Ruth Worrick Orcutt. Both trees lack a date of death. Various siblings are listed but I have not investigated them at all, just wonder if he missed his family when he went to sea!
I have not traced the sailings of SS Pembroke so I have not confirmed if, or for how long, he was a crew member. I did find a John Arey as steward on SS Etna at Liverpool, but cannot confirm if it was John Manning Arey, so will ignore that record for the time being…
Moving between Institutions
The records show John certainly been moved about between institutions in the UK. Earliest I have found is 25th November 1893 when he, age 42, was admitted to Poplar Union Workhouse from SS Pembroke Castle and removed to Banstead Asylum on 29th November 1893. From there the records are hard to interpret. It seems he spent time in York before finally being moved to Long Grove in 1907.
He is often classed as a lunatic and described as confused but also must have been reasonably fit as he worked on the farm at one of the hospitals.
I have not managed to trace his wife, Jane or found any children.
FOOTNOTES
- As a matter of interest, Hansard records several debates about these years about paupers taken to America being refused entry and the carrier being obliged to return them, free of charge to the country from which they boarded. As John Arey was an American citizen, I am not sure whether this would have applied to him or if indeed he had ever tried to return to the USA.
- AI ANSWER when asked if SS Pembroke was a transatlantic vessel:
No, the SS Pembroke did not operate as a transatlantic liner between the UK and the US. The primary ship by this name was built in 1880 by Laird Brothers for the Great Western Railway Company and served as a short-sea ferry and cargo vessel. It operated almost exclusively on Irish Sea routes between Wales and Ireland (specifically Milford Haven to Waterford) until it was retired in the 1920s.