Hampshire - Surrey - Sussex - London - Essex
"...from my mother to my five-times-great grandfather William Tilbury ... and my great great great grandfather John Tilbury; John was married on 15 May 1826 to a Caroline Lee in Frensham Surrey where he was a Paper Maker. They had a son George John Tilbury born 17 January 1838 in Frensham Surrey who married Ann Lithgow in 1859; they in turn had a son Charles Tilbury born 24 November 1874 in London. Charles married Sarah Crush in 1897 and their son Charles Joseph Tilbury (my grandfather), was born 8 February 1903 in West Ham."
(Family history & Intellectual Property of StevenN August 2004, March 2005)
1841: Frances LEE, age 70 (who may have been Caroline LEE's mother) was living close to, and perhaps with, John & Caroline.
No trace to date of any siblings to George John above; reasons unknown.
1881: George & Ann TILBURY's lodger: Thomas DAY b. c.1856 Marylebone.
The "Doterel" blew up in the Straits of Magellan shortly after the 1881 Census; G. TILBURY is listed amongst the dead, on a plaque in Punta Arenas Cemetery, Chile. (See below.)
Randolph Road no longer exists (2004); it was situated between Churchill Road and Alnwick Road and would correspond to the actual Flortis Close.
The factory where several of the Tilbury family worked was "The India Rubber, Gutta Percha & Telegraph Works", Factory Road, West Ham.
William & Clara - and their children, if there were any - seem invisible after 1882 (as at August 2004)
(1901: Alice & Neil CONNOLLY's lodger: Alfred AXILL, Stevedore)
Designed by Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, 6th Royal Navy ship of the name "Doterel".
Screw sloop, 6 guns; 1,124 tons, 170x36x15-7; sail & steam-power, 900 i.h.p., 12 knots; composite (wrought-iron keel, frame, stern & stem posts; wooden planking).
Built at Chatham, completed in 1879, launched on 2 March 1880.
17 January 1881 - departed Sheerness, Kent, to join the British Pacific fleet.
155 crew under Commander Richard Evans.
26 April 1881 - departed Elizabeth Island about 6 a.m., moored in Punta Arenas roads (Straits of Magellan) off Sandy Point 8.30 a.m.
At 10 a.m. an explosion burst open the starboard side of the ship and the upper deck. Some thirty seconds later there was a more violent explosion near the fore magazine, and the ship sank quickly. Cdr. Evans was in his bathroom and was able to jump overboard, grasp some wreckage and with this support reached the shore; 143 died, 12 survived (including the Captain). Memorial in Punta Arenas cemetery, Chile.
Image courtesy of an unknown photographer.
Mid-May 1881 - "HMS Garnet" arrived at Punta Arenas
Divers found the "Doterel" in two widely separated sections, 11 fathoms deep: one about 96 feet long; the other, greatly damaged, about 25 feet long. Wreckage of masts, guns and anchors lay scattered across the ocean floor, witness to the violence of the explosions.
22 November 1881 - off Coquimbo on the coast of Chile.
At 8 a.m. there was an explosion on board "HMS Triumph", iron steamship of 6,640 tons, caused by the ignition of vapour from xerotine siccative, a chemical employed to protect iron hulls from corroding. Its use was thereafter discontinued.