Genealogy Chat

Hi

Can anyone think of reasons for compassionate leave from the merchant navy?

Me & my father were at the national archives last week & we found my grandfathers service record.

It stated that he had 3 months unpaid compassionate leave in 1955. My Dad can't think of anything that happened at the time that would cause his father to be at home for that long.

Does anyone have any ideas/examples of the reasons/grounds in which compassionate leave would be granted?

Could one of your great-grandparents have died then, which meant your grandfather had to take time off to look after the surviving parent? Or could your dad have had a sibling who died?

I was going to suggest perhaps your grandmother had lost a baby or something similar but I don't know if they would be so enlightened about things like that, then, plus three months would be a long time for that reason.

Dear Chrisa

The Royal Navy Community website says this about compassionate leave: -

Compassionate leave is granted when there is an urgent need for the Serving person to be at home. While no precise rules can be laid down when compassionate leave, or if necessary compassionate draft, can be granted the following should give some indication of the types of situations that could attract compassionate action:
When a spouse or child is very seriously ill or has died.

On the death of a parent, or parent-in-law or when death is imminent.
When a person's presence is the only means of preventing the break-up of the family.
When the care of young children can only be provided satisfactorily by the person's presence.
At other times only when circumstances are more than usually distressing.

Website is www.rncom.mod.uk/

Best of luck with your research

Maria

Thanks Miriam & Kate

& you too Jim.

My grandfather was in the merchant navy & Royal navy during the war.

By 1955 he was definitely back with the Merchant navy.

We can think of no reason why he would be needed at home.

His mother died two years earlier His wife was well & My Dad was his only child.

We just thought that 3 months seemed quite a long time.

Besides the reasons given above could it have been personal to himself? Maybe he'd been injured or had a bad shock,maybe a breakdown of some sort,would these things be listed on his service record?Hope you find out....minnie

Thanks Minnie

I wish there was some way we could find out for definite. Its a real mystery!

Thanks for that Maz.

My dad says he has no recollection of his father being home for that long.

The service history that we found started in 1940 when he was on board HMS Agamemnon. The compassionate leave in 1955 was the longest time he wasn't on board a ship right up to him retiring. My dads sure he would remember him being at home for that long as it was always such a big deal for him when his Dad was home.

i'd love to be able to find out what happened but probably never will.

Maz

Do you know if theres any way I'd be able to find out if this was the case with my grandfather?

Not wishing to make unfounded allegations, but is it possible that he had 'another family' somewhere, or his wife had another relationship.
I know of a man who got compassionate leave because his wife had a baby that was not her husbands - also of ones who went to another family on some of their leaves.
Either case would come under the heading of preventing the break up of the family.................just a thought

I must admit I thought the same as Eileen.
It could just be that he was going 'stir crazy' from being cooped up in the ship, and was sent to some hospital ashore to recover. Perhaps somebody else on the ship was making life tough for him. If he had been in the Royal navy during the war he might have been having nightmares about some event that happened then. Lots of thoughts of what could have been the cause, and as I said he could have been sent to a hospital to be treated for it.
Huia.

And if it was a mental hospital the family would have hushed it up. People do have mental breakdowns, and 3 months might have been sufficient to cure him.
Huia.

Thanks for the replies.
I can say for definite that neither him nor his wife had other relationships. Definitely no other children but I would've thought that myself if I didn't know better.

My grandfather served in both world wars. He was injured in WW2. So maybe he was having some kind of problem with that.


My father has two sisters who are a lot older than my Dad from his mothers first marriage & they don't know of any reason for the compassionate leave. The elder of the two would've been around twenty at the time.

Maybe this is going to be one of the questions that never get answered.