Tales from a Churchyard - A Formidable Formby Family!

I am researching the stories of some of the people who are buried in my local churchyard of St Peter's in Formby. I saw the headstone of Robert Band - who had died aged 43 years in 1941.

 

Robert's parents were also buried in the churchyard and so I decided to research the whole family. They proved to be an interesting and intrepid bunch! My first family blog is about his parents. 

 

 

 

Robert's parents were his namesake, Robert (1864-1934) and Euphemia Little nee Lyall (1864-1924). They had grown up together in a village in Scotland but had lived in Formby since their marriage in 1893 in Liverpool. Before she married, Euphemia had been a nurse at the West Derby (Rainhill) "Lunatic" Asylum. She had visited Formby just before her marriage and was so taken with the village that the couple decided to settle there. The 1921 census states that she was a "Nurse Manager" ; I do not know what this entails. Interestingly, her sister is with her but it is noted on her occupation that she is a servant in the house! Her husband was -  as proved to be the case on most of  the census returns - at sea. Indeed when she died in 1924 he could not attend the funeral. 

 

 Rainhill Lunatic Asyum

journals.sagepub.com 

 

Although her obituary said that Euphemia was a fully trained nurse, I have not been able to find her on the Nursing Register for that time. However her obituary says she specialised in her work as a masseuse and was much loved in the local community, often working without payment. 

 

Euphemia's husband Robert was a marine engineer (a profession that two of  his sons entered).He was often at sea and has proved very difficult to trace through census returns as he was clearly absent for most of them. I have found his name on crew lists on several occasions from 1901-1928 including the White and Red Star lines. He sometimes travelled first class and on at least two occasions noted his country of residence to be the USA! A bit of a mystery! 

 

SS Acquitania 

Robert was on the crew list for this in 1928

Postcard from my husband's nan's collection 

 

Robert was at sea when his wife died in August 1924, not returning to the UK until December of that year. He continued his work at sea and died in 1934. He is buried in St Peter's with his wife.

 

FindmyPast

Ancestry.co.uk

Google.co.uk

https://www.countyasylums.co.uk/rainhillprescot/