Genealogy Chat

'I am seeking help with a baptism entry in 1814 which describes the father as 'William Raven, Occupation: Purser on board His Majesty's Ship Cerberus'. There was definitely a ship named Cerberus (a 32 gun frigate) but searches in the National Archives have failed to identify a purser with this name or any man serving on the Cerberus with this name. Please can anyone help to identify this individual?'
David

Just for ref
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cerberus_(1794)

http://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=3531

There's a newspaper article 1810, on the British newspaper archive but having a quick look through can't see him named.

Have you tried the Maritime museum Greenwich, to see if they have info?

http://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum

Rambling Rose
What sources are they likely to have?
David

I don't know from personal experience David,

"The National Maritime Museum's manuscripts collection is the largest and most important dedicated archive for the study of maritime history in the world. The collection occupies over four linear miles of shelf space and covers all aspects of British seafaring history from the 14th to the 20th centuries."

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/archive.html#!asearch

The fact that William and Margaret are given individual surnames does suggest they weren't married (to each other). The same entry is on http://freereg2.freereg.org.uk which usually adds any register notes. None have been added.

For comparison

County NFK
Place Norwich
Church name St Clement
Register type
Register entry number 26
Baptism date 1 Feb 1814
Person forename William
Person sex M
Person abode St Clements
Father forename William
Father surname RAVEN
Father occupation Purser on board HM Ship Cerberus
Mother forename Margaret
Mother surname RUTLAND

Could William Raven have been a made-up name?

FreeReg Baptism entry on 23 Mar 2016
For information about this place follow the link to Norwich
If you believe there to be an error in this transcription then please report it to our data manager.
Field Value
County Norfolk
Place Norwich
Church name St Clement
Register type Parish Register
Register entry number 144
Baptism date 14 Jun 1818
Person forename Henry
Person sex M
Person abode St Clements
Father forename William
Father surname RAVEN
Father occupation Purser in His Majesty's Service
Mother forename Mary
Mother surname RUTLAND

FreeReg Baptism entry on 23 Mar 2016
For information about this place follow the link to Norwich
If you believe there to be an error in this transcription then please report it to our data manager.
Field Value
County Norfolk
Place Norwich
Church name St Clement
Register type Parish Register
Register entry number 276
Baptism date 24 Jul 1821
Birth date 20 Jul 1821
Person forename Frederic Napoleon Buonaparte
Person sex M
Person abode St Clements
Father forename William
Father surname RAVEN
Father occupation Purser in His Majesty's Service
Mother forename Mary
Mother surname RUTLAND

FreeReg Baptism entry on 23 Mar 2016
For information about this place follow the link to Norwich
If you believe there to be an error in this transcription then please report it to our data manager.
Field Value
County Norfolk
Place Norwich
Church name St Clement
Register type Parish Register
Register entry number 336
Baptism date 2 Dec 1822
Birth date 20 Nov 1822
Person forename Catherine Dunham
Person sex F
Person abode St Clements
Father forename William
Father surname RAVEN
Father occupation Late purser in His Majesty's service
Mother forename Mary
Mother surname RUTLAND

County Norfolk
Place Norwich
Church St Clement
RegisterNumber 26
DateOfBirth
BaptismDate 01 Feb 1814
Forename William
Sex M
FatherForename William
MotherForename Margaret
FatherSurname RAVEN
MotherSurname RUTLAND
Abode St Clements
FatherOccupation Purser on board HM Ship Cerberus
Notes
FileNumber 41621

Norfolk burials Transcription
Print transcription View image
First name(s) Frederic Napoleon Buonaparte
Last name Raven
Sex Male
Age 0
Birth year 1821
Death year -
Burial year 1821
Burial date 07 Oct 1821
Parish Norwich, St Clement & St Edmund
Diocese Norwich
County Norfolk
Country England
Archive Norfolk Record Office
Archive reference PD 6/20
Page 19
Record set Norfolk burials
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Subcategory Deaths & burials
Collections from Great Britain

Yes thank you I have all those baptism and burial entries
David

We didn't ;-)

The fact that safc has found them all negates my suggestion that it was a 'made up name'.

We have seen and recorded the original register entry which reads:
'William and Margaret Raven Late Rutland Spinster'
So it does look as tho they were married, altho no such marriage has yet been found
David

Have you actually looked at the Muster for the ship?

Musters have been searched at the NA by a professional researcher
David

could this be william raven's birth


William Raven
England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts
Name William Raven
Event Type Birth
Event Date 22 Dec 1778
Event Place Burnham Overy, Norfolk, England
Gender Male
Father's Name John Raven
Mother's Name Elizabeth

Possibly, but there were several other candidates
David

About all you can say on his Service, is that he ceased being a Purser, and possibly ceased being a member of the RN between the baptism of one child on 24 Jul 1821 and the next on 2 Dec 1822.

If he originally enlisted for 10 years, you'd be looking at a start date of about 1811 + any earlier years if he was taken on as a 'Boy'.