Traveling Through Time to Trace Your Ancestors

In the last instalment Part 3 we saw how Louis “Lewis” Jossa joined the Rifle Brigade and travelled to South Africa and The USA, in this part we see the next younger brother Charles, who also had a career in the armed forces but of a very different type.

Charles Jossa 1883-1964

Charles Jossa, named after his Father, was the fourth son of Charles Jossa and Mary Somers the Publican’s daughter (Jacqueline Jossa’s Great Great Uncle). Mary died when Charles was six years old, and was leven when his Father re-married to Anna Brewer Taylor the Domestic Nurse from Wiltshire. As we have seen, all was not well between the Stepmother and her step sons, and that was no different for Charles than for his brothers, by the age of fourteen Charles ran away from home.

Workhouse Delinquent 1898

On 16th May 1898 Charles turned up in the records of the local Woolwich Workhouse, sent there by a local Magistrate. This was a desperate measure considering he had come from a very comfortable home. There are numerous reasons why a boy of Charle’s age could have been sent to the workhouse, but few that fit his family background, so the likeliest reason is that he had runaway from home and was living on the streets, perhaps living on his wits and causing mischief of one kind or another, which would have brought him to the notice of the local Police and then to the Magistrates. Normally a child with able and settled parents would not be sent to the workhouse, so he may either have claimed to be an orphan or he may have been too wild for his parents to control him.

A week after entering the Workhouse, Charles has let it, but only to be handed over into Police custody. It is likely that he was temporarily returned to his Father and Stepmother, as we haven’t found a record of a court appearance.

The Call of The Sea 1900

His time at home was short and he appears to have taken off again soon after, this time on a fishing boat, this doesn’t last long, as in January 1900 Charles turns up at Portland Dorset (below)at the tender age of sixteen where he is enrolled as a “Boy 2nd Class” in the Royal Navy. We know he had been employed as a Fisherman as this is recorded on his Naval record. We also know that he is only 5ft 2ins with the usual Jossa brown eyes and black hair, his complexion is initially recorded as “Fresh” but once he is and adult it is recorded as “Dark” which would imply that he tanned easily and possibly had a dark stubble.

To be taken on as a Boy in the Royal Navy needed the agreement of his legal Guardians, so his Father, no doubt quite relived to be getting shot of him to somewhere other than the Police or the Workhouse, signed him up for training as a Boy Sailor to be followed by 12 years in the Naval Service. Off Charles went to Portland in Dorset on the South Coast to be trained aboard HMS Boscawen the Royal Navy’s Boys Training Establishment, Boscawen at this date was actually the former HMS Trafalgar.

In July 1900, just over six months after joining the Navy, Charles “Ran” (deserted) from Boscawen, he was recovered from him absence, and continued to serve on the ship through the rest of the year and into February 1901, achieving a promotion to “Boy 1st Class”. From February to May of 1901 he was aboard HMS Minotaur with Very Good Conduct (VGC), May to June 1901 Charles was onboard HMS Agincourt another training ship in Portland.

From Boy to Man

Charles settled down again, and was posted to HMS Prince George in June 1901 which was part of the Channel Fleet, by October of that year Charles was old enough to go from rating as a “Boy” to “Ordinary Seaman”, with a Very Good Conduct (VGC) on his record.

That is, until December 1901 when he Ran again. During this four month absence in early 1902 Charles joined the 8th Hussars, took the signing on bounty, then promptly deserted with the money, the Army recaptured him and when they found out he was a Sailor on the run returned him to the Navy on the 17th April 1902. Upon return he was tried and sentenced to a custodial term of Hard Labour (convicts at Hard Labour in Portland below).

After two months of Hard Labour Charles was back aboard HMS Duke of Wellington in June 1902. The Duke of Wellington (below) was the Admiral’s Flagship in Portsmouth Harbour, and tended to perform ceremonial duties like firing gun salutes to passing dignitaries and foreign ships etc. It seems that his erratic record did not inhibit Charles’ opportunity for fairly comfortable postings.

Across the Wide Atlantic

Charles then transfers to HMS Ariadne in July 1902, and is shipped out to Halifax Nova Scotia as Flagship to that Naval Station. During the rest of 1902 Charles steamed aboard the Ariadne to Newfoundland, Quebec, Charlottetown, and then South to Bermuda.

Charles seems to be enjoying the life at sea, and receives a Good Conduct citation in December 1903, and stays aboard Ariadne until 10th April 1904. But Charles being Charles, he then receives 90 days hard labour for “breaking out of ship etc”. The picture below is of a Gun Crew on Ariadne in 1903, when Charles was on board, can’t help thinking that the bloke second from right fits the description?

“Cushy” Posting

Charles is shipped back to Portsmouth, where we next find him on another “cushy” posting, this time for 6 months on “Firequeen” the steam tender for HMS victory in Portsmouth harbour (below). This boat is used to transport guests and dignitaries to and from Victory, crew seemed to be as least partly chosen for being young but experienced men, and, based on other men I have traced as serving on this boat, quite possibly, picked for how they looked, as a proportion on them went on to have adventurous private lives. This may not be as outlandish as it sounds, as one of the crew’s main duties was ferrying VIPs and Guests to functions on the Victory, and to various ceremonials and diplomatic engagements in Portsmouth.

Charles was moved to HMS Indefatigable (below) in January 1905, he managed 4 months, was given shore leave shortly before the ship is due to sail to Canada, and failed to return. Charles is recaptured, charged with “Leave Breaking” and is sentenced to another 28 days Hard Labour in May 1905. By this point The Navy’s patience ran out and at the end of his sentence Charles was discharged from service.

So Charles’s Naval record is a bizarre mixture of soft placements, desertions, and Hard Labour, with stable Good Conduct periods in between. This would imply that he is generally a competent Sailor, and very presentable, but may have occasionally gone on a bender while ashore, or possible overstayed his leave in pursuit of female company. This is reinforced by the fact that he is rarely gone for very long, so either the shore Patrol know where to find him, or he drifts back to his ship with a sore head and a smile on his face, probably after his money runs out. The fact that on his longest absence he joins the 8th Hussars, then immediately deserts, bears this out, as it was not an uncommon ploy for experienced “old lags” to join a Regiment, then abscond with their joining bounty payment as soon as it was paid.

Itinerant worker Canada & USA

Fresh out of the Navy in 1905, Charles books passage on a steamship and headed for Quebec in Canada, looking for work as a Labourer. He next turns up in the same year 1905 in Vancouver, and then Seattle with $20 in his pocket, working as a seaman, on board the SS Lake Manitoba of the Western Steam Navigation Company, the documents show that this was his second visit to Seattle. Charles then spends some time in Calgary Alberta, Canada, but left there in 1908 and crossed the US border from Canada at Eastport Idaho, heading for Spokane to work as a Labourer. He seems to have been travelling to wherever there was work and gives his brother Louis’s home in Toronto as contact for next of kin.

US Marine Corps

In November 1909 Charles is in San Francisco California, enlists in the US Marine Corps, and is transferred to Mare Island, the first US Naval Base on the Pacific Coast, and still the only major US Navy shipyard and US Marine training depot on the Pacific Coast in 1909. Charles must have looked like a perfect recruit to the US Marine Office in San Francisco; several years of experience in the British Navy, and an ex-Merchant Seaman who had travelled across the Atlantic and down the Pacific Coast of Canada and the USA, the small, strong, and dark complexioned “Limey”, with arms covered in Naval Tattoos (crossed flags, and clasped hands across a heart) must have presented a very different figure from the fresh faced farm boys who normally went through the Recruiting Office.

This is borne out, as after only 20 days of training Charles is shipped off with a set of other Marines to help establish the new US Marine Base at Puget Sound, Washington, way up North on the Canadian Border. Charles last appears on the muster rolls as “under instruction” for a further two weeks in January 1910.

At some time after his training, Charles skips the US Marine Corps and appears later in 1910 living in an address in Portland Oregon, working as a Labourer.

Canada and WW1

There is then a gap of four years in the records before Charles travels in April 1914 on the Canadian Pacific Railroad from the USA to Toronto Canada. On 4th August 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany, and on 24th September 1914 Charles walks into a recruiting Office to join the Canadian Army. He states that he has been serving in a Canadian Militia Unit; these were part time Units who mustered and took drill and rifle practice a few times per year, they received some expenses for doing so. In Canada this was almost treated as a hobby by many men, rather than a serious military force. Tellingly Charles makes no mention of his time in the US Marine Corps, reinforcing the likelihood that he had probably parted company with the US Marines of his own volition, and didn’t want to advertise the fact.

We get another glimpse of Charles when he signed up at the Canadian Militia muster at Valcartier Camp, North West of Quebec City. Recorded as 5ft 6ins, dark complexion, brown eyes, black hair 38in chest with 3in expansion, tattoos both arms, and employed in civilian life as a Roofer. Charles signs on as a Cook 1st Class and because of that he receives a guaranteed wage called a “Civilian Wage” supplement, and therefore higher than a normal soldier’s pay, as the Canadian Government believes that highly employable men in civilian life would need an extra incentive to join up.

Being a man with experience in the Royal Navy another cushy appointment came Charles’ way, when he was appointed as a Signaller on the Brigade Staff of the 3rd Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery (CFA), Charles would have been familiar with flag and light signalling from his Royal Naval Training, and handling big guns and small arms, and being a Cook his availability at Brigade Headquarters would be less of an issue than for a normal gunner. Charles is recorded as being in the First Contingent of CFA troops leaving for Europe, when he shipped out in October 1914. Although holding the Rank of Gunner (equivalent to a Private) he is confirmed as Cook 1st Class on pay awards.

Marriage 1915, then to France

Charles was shipped to England, and was at various sites in England for several months, long enough in fact to get married on 28th August 1915 to Lilly Elizabeth Faulkner, a Labourer’s daughter from Barking in Essex. Lilly came from a large Family who all worked in Barking Gasworks and the that Chemical Works nearby it, so Lilly may have been doing War Work either in a Gas Works or in munitions when she Charles. Two days after the wedding Charles shipped out to France. The Honeymoon was short lived, and Charles didn’t get more leave until April 1916. From the date of his Marriage Charles had a proportion of his pay, $20 per month, sent directly to Lillian in Barking.

Being a Cook and Signaller with Brigade HQ Charles would not have been subject to the worst of risk in the Front Line, but he would have faced risk from shell fire and snipers, especially if trying to get supplies up to the troops engaging the enemy.

Leaving the Army and Family Tragedy 1916-1918

On 1st January 1916 the Canadian Government decided to stop the Working Pay Allowance, with the proviso that any troops who had signed up on the basis of receiving it, would be allowed to ask for immediate discharge as soon as a replacement was found for them. Charles took the opportunity to ask for his discharge in August 1916, and was transferred to the reserves prior to shipping back to Canada. However this seems to have caused Charles a problem, as he lodges an official complaint that the authorities should have continued paying him his Working Pay while he was waiting to be formally discharged in Canada.

Be that as it may Charles is past as fit to travel by an Army Doctor, at Shorncliff Barracks in Folkestone Kent, deemed clear of any venereal or other infectious disease (always nice to know) he was shipped back to Canada in September 1916, where after a short delay, he was discharged on 1st October 1916. In the early part of 1917 Charles would have heard from Lillian that he now had a daughter called Julia (named after Lilly’s Mum), her conception lines up directly with Charles brief 8 days of leave in England in 1916. At some stage we know that Charles returns to England, there is no record of his arrival back in the UK. What we do know is that early in 1918 a son is born to the couple, also called Charles George (named after his father and his maternal Grandfather), so the inference is that Charles was back in the UK soon after he left the Canadian Army. Tragically in the summer of 1918 both of the children died, as did Lilly’s Father George Faulkner. Their deaths coincided with the fatal Spanish Flu Pandemic that swept across the world at the time.

Canada Again 1919

No doubt devastated by the death of their children and Lilly’s Father, it must have seemed like the world was falling apart, and no doubt driven by Charles experiences, the couple made the decision to try for a better life in Canada. Seeing the flu pandemic sweep through the country, where up to a quarter of the population were infected, and roughly 228,000 died of the disease, going to Canada would have looked like a good choice to escape it, although the death rate was the same as in the UK given the much smaller population, the infection rate was a little lower due to the less concentrated population density in Canada. The couple reached Halifax Nova Scotia in Canada in 1919, on a ship containing returning US and Canadian ex-servicemen and their dependents, Charles marked as a Returning Canadian and Lilly as a Military Dependent. Charles job title is still “Roofer”. The couple stayed in Canada through the 1920s, and in 1921 their daughter Jessie was born (named after Lilly’s youngest sister).

Back to England 1930s

By 1930 the couple decided to return to the UK, they sailed across the Atlantic once more, first Lilly and Jessie in July 1930 on the Aurania, followed by Charles on the Ascania. The couple with their daughter Jessie move back to Barking, where Charles takes up a job as a Public Works Labourer, doing Heavy Work. The couple stayed in Essex, eventually moving to Ilford, where Charles died in the 1960s and Lilly a few years later in the 1970s.

I wondered how many of their Essex neighbours realised what a colourful and hard life the couple had lead; Lilly who had seen such pain and travelled across the Atlantic and back, to find happiness, Charles, with his self confidence, and his blatant working class Cockney disregard for authority, his dark good looks and tattooed arms. Very few men could say that they had served in The Royal Navy, been given hard Labour by The Navy, ferried dignitaries around Portsmouth Harbour for the Admiral, Joined the British Army in the 8th Hussars, then deserted was recaptured and sent back to The Navy, joined The US Marine Corps in California and Puget Sound, and was perhaps technically still on the run from them, served in The Canadian Militia, and then served in The Canadian Army, as a Signaller, Gunner, and Cook, and had been on the Front in France during WW1!

Some people just see “Old People” and write them off, but behind the wrinkled smile maybe there’s a story of rebellion and adventure just waiting to be found.

In Part 5 we will see what happened to Jacqueline Jossa’s Great Grandfather, John Felix Jossa.

This is a small extract of the type of work Time Detectives carries out for clients when tracing their Family Histories. We produce Family Trees, and Family Stories ranging from £300-£600. They make an ideal gift for Christmas, Birthdays, Weddings, Wedding Anniversaries, and Fathers and Mothers Days. If you would like your Family Tree Researched why not drop us a line with an enquiry to paulmcneil@timedetectives.co.uk. We’ll look forward to hearing from you.