Anyone researching the family of Stephen Stantiford is going to find
the task hard-going indeed, as the list above shows - and it is by no
means a complete list!
The 1881 Census Return from the Royal Navy's HMS Temeraire shows the presence
in the crew of
Stephen Stantiford aged 31, born in Stonehouse and working as Coxswain
of the Cutter ( the small boat which conveyed people between the shore
and the ship's anchorage).
Stephen was born in the March Quarter of 1850, one of the twin sons
of John and Catherine Stantiford. In 1854, Catherine was living in
Totnes Union Workhouse at that time and it was there that Morris, Stephen's twin,
died in 1854 aged 4; he was buried 21 May in the churchyard at
Buckfastleigh. John Stentiford, Stephen's father was a Royal Marine. When these men
were out of the country, life was very precarious for their families.
Pay for men on fighting ships was usually based on the prize value of
any ships they captured and for that they had to wait
until they came back home. John became a Greenwich Pensioner when he
retired from the Royal Marines with a pension for the remainder of his
life.
So far so good you might think - but not a bit of it! John should
have been John Stentiford, Caroline was actually called Catherine and
Morris was really Maurice.
