This section of the website contains interesting and additional details of members of the family tree where further information has been found or provided:

 

1   Eric Bruce ARTHY.      Military Service.

2   Henry ARTHY.             Fatal Accident to Plate Layer.

3   Elliot Arthy                   Surgeon & Master Mariner.  Also details concerning Elliot Arthy aboard Slave Ships.

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1    Eric Bruce ARTHY

Military service file WO 374/2384

Attested: 9th August 1916 at Kingston-upon-Thames 

Trade: Bank clerk 

Age: 25 years 7 months 

Height: 5' 6" 

Address: Etonvale, Weston Park, Thames Ditton. 

Next of Kin: Mary English Arthy, wife, of Mapleloft, Weston Park, Thames Ditton 

 

Details of marriage given: married to Mary English Jones at Stretford, Lancs. On 22nd November 1915. Witnesses: Dora Jones, A. Jones. 

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He first joined the 5th City of London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade) for a period of warranty as Rifleman 303249.  He embarked for France from Southampton on 3rd December 1916 and arrived at No. 7 Infantry Base Depot in Le Havre the following day, joining his unit on 28th December 1916. 

 

It seems he was in hospital on 20th January 1917 and wounded in action on 3rd May 1917, being sent back to England on 7th May 1917.  Obviously this wasn't a serious injury as on 3rd July 1917 he made an Application for Admission to an Officer Cadet Unit with a view to a temporary Commission in the Regular Army for the Period of the War. 

 

In this he stated that he had been born on 18th April 1890 in Old Trafford, Manchester, that his father was a Physician and Surgeon and that his current address was Mapleloft, Thames Ditton. 

He also wrote that he had attended Merton House School and Tiffin's School, Kingston-upon-Thames and that he was not able to ride! 

 

It seems this application was accepted and he was directed to join No. 4 Officer Cadet Battalion at Oxford on 10th August 1917.  

 

On 27th May 1918 3nd Lieutenant Arthy was again wounded, at Chemin de Dames, by a gunshot wound to his left arm, causing it to be amputated at the elbow. 

 

He embarked for home on 10th December 1918 from the Port of Danzig, Germany, arriving in Leith three days later - described as 'repatriated POW'. and was then given 2 months leave before being demobbed on 20th May 1919. 

 

Folded up in the middle of the file was his original birth certificate: 

 

Eric Bruce Arthy 

born on 18th April 1890 

at Botanical Gardens, Old Trafford, Stretford, Lancs. 

Father: George Frederic Seaman Arthy 

Mother: Annie Eliza Arthy, formerly Findlay 

 

His mother registered the birth and gave her address as 84 Dorset Street, Hulme. The 'Findlay' part of his name was added after registration. 

 

The only other information on the file was a note that he had died on 10th July 1969 (cause not known) and that his widow, Mrs. M.E. Arthy lived at 15 Rowan Way, Rottingdean, Brighton BN2 7FB. 

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2  Henry ARTHY   Born 4/5/1820 Aldham.

FATAL ACCIDENT TO A PLATELAYER.   Essex chronicle  30/8 1875.  Spelling and Punctuation corrected. 

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On Wednesday Mr. W. Codd, coroner, held an inquest at Marks Tey covering the death of Henry Arthy, foreman platelayer, aged 55 years, a married man, with a numerous family who was killed on the Great Eastern Railway line, near Marks Tey, on Tuesday Inst.  George West, platelayer, said:  The deceased, Henry Arthy, was also a platelayer, and foreman of the length, and was 55 years of age; on the morning of Tuesday, the 27th instant,

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George West's account :

Henry and I were at work upon the line, about half a mile from the railway station;  We were about two rods from each other, and Henry was walking down the line towards Marks Tey. This was about half-past six o'clock, and he was about one hundred yards distance from me. The up train from Colchester was approaching, and the down goods train came up at the same time. I called out to Henry as loud as we could.  I had not time to call out more. The driver of the up train blew his whistle when about two hundred yards from Henry, and kept up the whistle, but he did not appear to hear, and the engine struck him down and drove him into the four-foot way, and killed him instantly.  Neither the wheels of the engine nor the train passed over him, but he appeared to be injured by the train box.  Henry was very deaf, but he had been at work upon the line for upwards of thirty years. The train was a continental train, and would not stop until it arrived at Stratford. It did, however, stop a little beyond the station, and the driver came to the station and made a report to the master. The deceased must have seen the goods train coming, and according to the rules, he should have stepped on to the right, instead of on to the left side, and had he done so he would have escaped.

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George Upshaw's account. :

On the morning of Tuesday last the deceased, myself and George West were at work upon the line, about half a mile from the station, the deceased was about a hundred yards from us, and was walking down the line towards Marks Tey.  This was about half-past six o'clock, and the up train and the goods train from Colchester passed at the same time. Seeing his danger I whistled to him, and West called out to him as loud as he could, but he did not appear to hear, and the driver of the up train, when about two or three hundred yards from the deceased, blow his whistle very load, and kept it up. When I found he did not hear I pointed to him to look back, and immediately he did so; he turned to go on to the six-foot, when the engine of the up train struck him, knocking him into the four-foot, killing him instantly. The deceased had been getting very deaf lately, and he has told me he thought he should leave off working upon the line, or be should be killed. The Coroner having briefly summed up, the jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death" 

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2  Elliot ARTHY   Born 4/5/1820 Aldham.

According to Elliot Arthy's Will he had property in Cape Coast, Africa. 

Cape Coast, Africa is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitian District of Ghana. 

 

Cape Coast Castle. In 18th century, Cape Coast was one of the principal shipping ports for slaves across the Atlantic and at any one time up to 1500 Africans were held in the Castle dungeon waiting for the next slaving ship. 

 

Elliot Arthy, surgeon and master mariner, worked in the Royal Navy and on board Bristol and Liverpool sailing vessels. He commanded at least three non-slave voyages to Africa for produce (ivory,palm oil,dyewoods,spices). He also studied as a pupil at the London Hospital, observing Dr William Blizard, and wrote two pamphlets and one book. 

 

23 September 1779 

On the 23rd September 1779 Elliot Arthy apprenticed to master surgeon Thomas O'Oyley of Thetford in Norfolk for five years and £73. 

 

1780-1783 

Elliot Arthy stated that he worked in the Royal Navy as surgeon's mate, on the West India station, "for nearly the three years of the American War”. 

 

17th Oct 1788 

Elliot Arthy begins a six month study in the London Hospital at Whitechapel, as a pupil under Dr Blizard. 

 

30th Sept 1790 

Elliot Arthy works as surgeon on the Bristol slaver Brothers (201 tons), which departed Bristol on 22nd July 1789. The vessel slaves at New Calabar (modern-day Nigeria) and St Vincent, and returned to Bristol on 7th May 1790 when Arthy was discharged. 

 

16th March 1793 

Elliot Arthy works as surgeon on the Bristol slaving sloop Swift (84tons), which departed Bristol on 16th March 1793. The vessel slaves at Sherbro Island, Cape Coast Castle and Antigua. The vessel also sailed as a privateer and captured four prizes on the African coast. On its homeward passage from Antigua to Liverpool, the Swift put into St Kitts, leaky, and unloaded. No further information is available. 

 

13th July 1795 

Elliot Arthy works as surgeon on the Bristol ship Pilgrim (279 tons) which departed Bristol on 13th July 1795. The vessel slaves at Sierra Leone River, Bance Island, Sierra Leone and Kingston, Jamaica, and returned to London 1st Sept 1796. 

 

According to Arthy, when he returned to England (on the ship Pilgrim) " I thought it my duty to apply a part of the fruits of my labour towards obtaining some farther knowledge of my profession,and I accordingly entered myself a pupil at the London- Hospital. 

 

1797-1798 

Arthy writes and publishes the Seaman's Medical Advocate (London,1798 - front-cover can be seen via the link) The Seamans Medical Advocate discusses the spread of yellow fever from vessels in the slave trade and West India trade throughout the Caribbean, and specifically, to the British army and naval forces stationed in the West Indian ports. Arthy gives details on what he thinks is the cause of this disease transmission, and also offers remedies to control its outbreak and spread. Writing in 1798- Arthy dated his dedication and preface January 15th 1798- Arthy's book comes after a five year period when the British lost perhaps up to 15,000 men in the Caribbean due to disease. 

 

20th March 1798 

Elliot Arthy works as surgeon on the Liverpool slaving ship King George (416 tons) which departed Liverpool 20th March 1798. The vessel slaves in the Congo River and at Demerara, and returned to Liverpool on 4th January 1799. 

 

6th April 1799 

Elliot Arthy works as surgeon on the Liverpool slaving ship John (268 tons) which departed Liverpool 6th April 1799. The vessel slaves in the Congo River and Demerara and returned to Liverpool on 18th March 1800. 

 

1801 

Elliot Arthy works as captain on the Speculative (41tons), a Liverpool sloop in the direct African trade in 1801. 

 

28th April 1803 

Elliot Arthy works as surgeon on the Liverpool slaving ship Ranger (154tons), which departed Liverpool 28th April 1803 and returned to Liverpool 27th Jan 1804. 27th September 1805 

Elliot Arthy works as surgeon on the Liverpool slaving ship Bacchus (295tons),which departed Liverpool 

 

27th September 1805

The vessel slaves at Accra, Anomabu and Surinam, and returned to Liverpool 17th Jan 1807. 

 

August/Sept 1807 

Elliot Arthy commands the 98-ton brig Dick, which departs Liverpool in autumn 1807. This non-slave vessel trades at Goree and Sierra Leone on the upper Guinea Coast of Africa. 

 

1814 

Elliot Arthy is listed as a druggist,residing on London Rd in Liverpool in 1814. 

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