Marian Blanche (Evans) Dowd (1902 - 1978)

Born 30 May 1902 in Torpoint, Cornwall, England

Ancestors

Wife of Frad Dowd — married 9 Mar 1921 in Register Office, Devonport, Devon, England

Descendants

Died 8 Jan 1978 at age 75 in Miles Platting, Manchester, Lancashire, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Irene Marlborough [send private message]

Biography

BIRTH: 30 May 1902; Torpoint, Cornwall, England.

Marian Blanche was the daughter of Octavius William EVANS and Jane Evans formerly LAWRY. She was born on the 30th May 1902 at 20 Fore Street in Torpoint, Cornwall. Her father Octavius was a labourer at the H. M. Dockyard in Plymouth at the time of her birth. Marian was the 7th child of 10 children and the 4th daughter of six.^[1]

DNA Confirmation: Confirmed by autosomal DNA Test Maternal and paternal relationship is confirmed by an AncestryDNA test match between Irene Marlborough and her first cousin Christine Clifford. Their most-recent common ancestors are their grandparents, Frad Dowd and Marian Dowd. Predicted relationship from AncestryDNA: first cousins, based on sharing 584 centimorgans shared across 32 DNA segments; Confidence: Extremely High. ^[2]

BAPTISM: 07 Aug 1902; Torpoint, Cornwall, England.

Marian was baptised on the 7th August 1902 at the church of St. James in Torpoint, Cornwall. Her residence was 20 Fore Street, Torpoint.^[3]

1911 ENGLAND CENSUS: 02 Apr 1911; Torpoint, Cornwall, England.

Marian and her family were living at 13 Ferry Street in Torpoint, Cornwall by 1911. They were enumerated on the evening of 02 April 1911 as follows:

1) Octavius William Evans, Head, age 53, married, occupation Skilled Labourer, Electrical Engineering Department, H.M. Dockyard, born Devonport, Devon;
2) Jane Evans, Wife, age 43, married, occupation Domestic Work, born Luxulyan, Cornwall;
3) Florence Matilda Evans, Daughter, age 18, single, occupation Milliner, born Morice Town, Stoke Damerel, Devonport;
4) Dorothy Ellen Evans, Daughter, age 16, single, occupation Drapery Est., born Morice Town, Stoke Damerel, Devonport;
5) Winifred Louise Evans, Daughter, age 15, single, no occupation, born Morice Town, Stoke Damerel, Devonport;
6) Walter Julian Evans, Son, age 12, school and news boy, born Antony, Cornwall;
7) Charles Lawrence Evans, Son, age 11, school and news boy, born Antony, Cornwall;
8) Marian Blanche Evans, Daughter, age 8, school, born Antony, Cornwall;
9) Gwynneth Jeanie Evans, Daughter, age 3, at home, born Antony, Cornwall.
^[4]

RESIDENCE: 13 Ferry Street, Torpoint, Cornwall, England.

The downstairs of the house used to flood in the winter with high tide. Apparently the house sloped towards a back yard, which also sloped down toward the water. There was an outhouse at the bottom of the yard with a privy. In the winter the family lived upstairs, but the stairs themselves and the hall out to the front door would be dry. The house was rented and shared by other families, so the living conditions must have been appalling.^[5]

IMMIGRATION: 05 Sep 1913; Cornwall, England to Sydney, Australia.

Two of Marian's older sisters decided to immigrate to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia with the intent of assisting two aunts, sisters of their mother Jane, in running a boarding house. Dorothy and Winifred left Plymouth, England on the ship Miltiades bound for Sydney, Australia on the 5th September 1913, travelling third class; they were two of a total of 16 passengers. Dorothy was 19 years old and Winifred was 18; both stated their occupations as domestics. Marian was 11 years old when her sisters left England and she was never to see them again.^[6]

IMMIGRATION: 11 Jun 1914; London, England to Adelaide, South Australia.

By 1914, like her two sisters, Winifred and Dorothy, Marian's eldest sister, Florence Matilda, decided to leave England for Adelaide, Australia. She may have got word of an employment opportunity there and decided to leave and make a better life for herself. On the 11th June 1914, at the age of 21 years, she boarded the ship Berrima for Adelaide, Australia as a third class passenger. She stated her occupation as a domestic. By this date, Marian was 12 years old and now the eldest daughter at home.^[7]

MARRIAGE: 09 Mar 1921; Devonport, Plymouth.

While still a teenager, Marion met a young sailor, Fred Dowd, stationed in Plymouth and may have been introduced to him by her older brother, Walter. Both Walter and Fred were in the Royal Navy, port division Devonport. Walter joined the navy on the 13th September 1915 and Fred on the 1st December 1918. Fred was described as 5 ft 4 in, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fresh complexion. He was born in Newport, Isle of Wight, but was raised in Manchester, Lancashire. At the time he entered the navy, his trade was a railway porter.

On the 9th March 1921 Fred and Marian were married at the Register Office in Plymouth, Devonshire. Fred was described as 20 years old; a bachelor; an Able Seaman, R. N.; residence the H.M.S. Sylph, Devonport; father Fred Dowd (deceased), commercial traveller. Marian Blanche was described as 19 years old; a spinster; residence 13 Ferry Street, Torpoint; father William Octavius Evans, a skilled labourer. Their marriage was witnessed by Marian's mother, Jane Evans, and her brother, Walter Evans.^[8]

IMMIGRATION: 12 May 1921; London, England to Adelaide, South Australia.

Marian's brother, Walter, left England for Australia on the 12th May 1921, about two month's after her marriage to Fred. He left the Royal Navy in October 1920. Walter boarded the ship S. S. Benalla at London on May 12th and was one of 1,086 passengers. He was 22 years old and stated his last address as 13 Ferry Street, Torpoint, Cornwall and his occupation as Ship's Steward. On the Passenger Summary Sheet, it was noted, "This list is cancelled in consequence of the voyage being abandoned after vessel sustained damage whilst in collision with the S. S. Patella on 13th ult. All the passengers were relanded at New Haven." Marian was 19 years old when Walter left England, and like her sisters Florence, Dorothy and Winifred, she would never see Walter again.^[9]

DEATH OF SISTER: 18 Apr 1922; 13 Ferry Street, Torpoint, Cornwall.

Marian's youngest sister, Gwynneth Jeanie Evans, died of intestinal stasis, or a blocked intestine, at her home on 13 Ferry Street on the 18th of April 1922. She was 14 years old.^[10]

ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF FATHER: 04 Dec 1923; Devonport, Plymouth.

Marian's father, Octavius, was struck down by a train on the 4th December 1923. A newspaper account of his death follows:<b/>

STRUCK BY ENGINE -- WORKMAN FATALLY INJURED AT DEVONPORT DOCKYARD.

William Evans, a skilled labourer, employed in the Electrical Engineer's Department, Devonport Dockyard, was knocked down by a train outside the Central Office of the North Yard yesterday, so seriously injured that he died after being removed to hospital.

The train was proceeding in the direction of the tunnel, and Evans was caught by a buffer and knocked on to the line, the rear left-hand wheel passing over his right leg.

When removed from the line it was found that his leg was almost severed near the thigh. He was removed to the yard surgery, and afterwards to the Royal Naval Hospital. There was no hope from the first, but he lingered until the end the afternoon.

Evans, who was 59 years of age, was married, and lived at Ferry-street, Torpoint.

An inquest was held on the 7th December 1923 and his death was ruled as accidental. ^[11]

IMMIGRATION: 28 Mar 1924; Plymouth, England to Sydney, Australia.

About three months after Marian's father was killed, her mother, Jane, decided to leave England and join her daughter Winifred in Australia. She boarded the ship Themistocles at the port of Plymouth on the 28th March 1924. With her she took an adopted boy, Frances Lawry Evans, age 11. Jane stated she was 56 years old, a housewife, and that her last address was 13 Ferry Street, Torpoint, Cornwall. Marian was 21 years old when her mother left England, and like her three sisters, Florence, Dorothy, and Winifred, and brother, Walter, she would never see her again. When her mother left England, Marian had a little daughter, Elsie, age 1 year 5 months and was 4 months pregnant with her second child. Her husband, Fred, was an Able Seaman on the naval ship, Seawolf. By 1924, the only close family Marian had left in England was her brother, Charles Lawrence. ^[12]

1939 ENGLAND NATIONAL REGISTER: 29 Sep 1939

The 1939 England Register enumeration began on the 29th September 1939. Enumerators were charged with the task of visiting every household in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to collect names, addresses, marital statuses, and other key details of every civilian in the country and issuing identity cards on the spot.

Civilians were legally required to carry these cards up until 1952. Until that point, every member of the civilian population had to be able to present their card upon request by an official or to bring them to a police station within 48 hours. It was essential for the government to know who everyone was and to track their movements as they moved house, as well as to keep track of the population as babies were born and people passed away.

Marian was enumerated as a patient at the County Mental Hospital in Prestwich, Lancashire on the 29th September 1939. She was enumerated as being born in 1902, married, occupation unpaid housework. She was 37 years old. On September 29th, her children Marion [Elsie], age 16; Frederick [Leslie], age 15; and Rodney, age 13, were living with their aunts, Dolly and Elsie, and uncle, Charlie, in Manchester, Lancashire. Marian's husband, Fred, was now a Petty Officer on the ship Wellington.^[13]

DEATH: 08 Jan 1978; Manchester, Lancashire, England.

Molly died on the 8th of January 1978 of broncho pneumonia and cerebral arteriosclerosis at the age of 75. She had been released from the Prestwich mental hospital several years earlier and had been living in an old folks home on Varley Street in Manchester, Lancashire. Her husband Fred had died at his home eight years earlier, in January 1970. Their eldest daughter, Marion, was now living in Canada and their two sons, Leslie and Rodney, still resided in Manchester. Only one of Molly's siblings was still alive at the time of her death and that was Winifred, who left England in 1913, and remained in Australia.^[14]

Sources

1. ↑ England, birth certificate for Marian Blanche Evans, born 30 May 1902; citing September [quarter] 1902, vol. 5c : 29, St Germans registration district, St Antony Sub-district; General Registry Office, Southport.
2. ↑ Ancestry DNA - https://www.ancestry.co.uk/dna
3. ↑ England, Cornwall Parish Registers 1538-2010, "Torpoint Church Register of Baptisms 1897-1909," Marian Blanche Evans 1902 baptism record, page 38, no. 296; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 09 Jul 2015).
4. ↑ "1911 England Census," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 13 Feb 2017), entry for Octavius William Evans household (age 53), St Germans, Torpoint; citing RG14/13592, RD291; St Germans registration district, Antony Sub-district, ED10, household 215.
5. ↑ Irene Marlborough [for Frederick Leslie Dowd], United States, to Christine Clifford, Manitoba, Canada, e-mail, 24 Mar 2007, "Ferry Street".
6. ↑ "Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960", digital images, Find My Past (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 03 Jun 2018), manifest, Miltiades, 5 September 1913, p. 1, lines 11, 12, Dorothy Evans, age 19, Winnie Evans, age 18.
7. ↑ "Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960", digital images, Find My Past (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 05 Jun 2018), manifest, Berrima, 11th June 1914, p. 1, line 28, Florence Evans, age 21.
8. ↑ England, marriage certificate for Marian Blanch Evans, born 30 May 1902; citing March [quarter] 1921, vol. 5b : 735, registration district Devonport; General Registry Office, Southport.
9. ↑ "Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960", digital images, Find My Past (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 06 Jun 2018), manifest, S. S. Benalla, 12 May 1921, page 2, line 41, Walter Julian Evans, age 22.
10. ↑ England, death certificate for Gwynneth Jeanie Evans, born 28 September 1907; citing June [quarter] 1922, vol. 5c : 41, St. Germans registration district, Antony sub-district; General Registry Office, Southport.
11. ↑ "Struck by Engine. Workman Fatally Injured at Devonport Dockyard.", The Western Morning News and Mercury, 05 Dec 1923, page 6, col. 1; digital images, Find My Past (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 20 Nov 2012), British Newspaper Collection.
12. ↑ "Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960", digital images, Find My Past (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 06 Jun 2018), manifest, Themistocles, 28 March 1924, line 33, Jane Evans, age 56.
13. ↑ 1939 Register, England, RG101, piece 4486I, image 011, line 7, County Mental Hospital, Prestwich Manchester, England; digital image, Find My Past (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 28 Apr 2016)
14. ↑ England, death certificate for Marian Blanche Dowd, died 08 January 1978; citing March [quarter] 1978, vol. 38 : 1274, Manchester registration district; General Registry Office, Southport.

• Civil registration records - birth and death certificates.