Born at Sea

 

Cedric at Liverpool - Annette Fulford collection

In 2017, I wrote about the birth of  Franklin Cedric Orchard, who was born at sea while on the journey to Canada in 1919 with his mother Winifred, a war bride.

I was able to find his birth entry in the passenger list records but often wondered if any additional records were created at the same time for his birth. There was even a note to the left of his entry on the passenger list indicating whom his mother was and what page she could be found on in the manifests (page12, entry 12).

Cedric - Library and Archives Canada, T-14797

I found an answer to this question a new database for Births, Marriages and Deaths at Sea from Ancestry. I was able to learn exactly what day he was born and also the coordinates of his birth location. 

UK, Registers and Indexes of Births.., Cedric. The National Archives.

It was exciting to learn these new details about his birth, which I was able to pass on to his family.

Sources:

Orchard, Frankin Cedric; Passenger Manifest: Cedric, 12 September 1919, Halifax, at Library and Archives Canada. Microfilm: T-14797 (accessed 3 February 2010).

 Ancestry.com. UK, Registers and Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Passengers and Seamen at Sea, 1891-1922, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England. (accessed 17 December 2023).

(c) Annette Fulford, January 2024

Born in Mid Ocean

Corsican. Annette Fulford collection.

Thousands of war brides travelled to Canada after the First World War in an immigration scheme that was paid for by the Canadian government.

While the war brides were not supposed to travel during the latter stages of their pregnancy, a number of war brides gave birth while on their journey to Canada. In April 1919, the newspaper reported that two war brides on the Grampian gave birth to sons. However, records show that Mrs. Susan Riddell had a son, while Mrs. Germaine Durand, a daughter.

In September 1919, while travelling to Canada on the ship Cedric, Mrs. Winifred Orchard, wife of Private Frank Orchard, gave birth to a son. He was christened “Cedric” [1] after the ship and the captain was chosen to be his godfather. He gave the couple $50, while the passengers chipped in and gave them $95. It’s a good thing he wasn’t travelling on the Grampian or Metagama otherwise he might have a very different name!

Edmonton Bulletin, January 16, 1919

I found this article about another ship that had quite a few births on board but I have not been able to learn just what ship it is yet. If anyone finds a ship landing at Halifax in January 1919 with a large number of births on the manifest, send me an email at wwiwarbrides@shaw.ca. I'd love to track the families.


(c) Annette Fulford, September 2017

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[1] He is listed as Franklin Cedric Orchard, 3 days old, on the ship’s manifest.