The letter was written by an Adolphe Saalfeld, a 47-year old German manufacturer of perfumes living in London and was dated 10th April 1912, the first day of the ill-fated trip. He described in detail a near collision with another liner at Southampton, the lunches and dinner he enjoyed, and the comfort on board. According to the auctioneers, it is the most detailed first person account of life aboard the Titanic in existence.

Mr Saalfeld’s passenger records, along with all those who travelled on the Titanic, can only be found on findmypast.co.uk. Saalfeld’s passenger transcript states details of his port of departure at Southampton, and expected port of arrival, effectively verifying the letter. He did in fact arrive at his expected destination of New York, having boarded a lifeboat and been rescued when the ship hit the iceberg.

Here you can see the passenger list for the Titanic:

Titanic passenger list

Debra Chatfield

Debra Chatfield, findmypast.co.uk’s marketing manager, said: “When we heard about this amazing letter, we were keen to look up the original passenger record for Adolphe Saalfeld online at findmypast.co.uk. Passenger lists are so useful for finding out when people travelled and to where, for example when and where they emigrated or travelled on business.

There are so many details you can see in the records, from who travelled with the passenger, to exactly when they left, their year of birth and their occupation. In this case it proved an important historic document as it meant the letter was hugely likely to be the genuine article.”

Search findmypast.co.uk’s 1890-1960 passenger lists today.

National hopes of a Brit winning Wimbledon were dashed for another year with Andy Murray’s exit in the semi-finals last Friday. But Murray, at age 22, hasn’t reached his peak, so dreams that he will one day win the title still burn bright. It’s been 73 years since the last Brit won the men’s singles, and in the absence of a British successor Fred Perry remains highly revered.

Frederick John Perry was born in Stockport, Cheshire on 18 May 1909. Here is his entry in the findmypast.com birth indexes:

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Here is the Perry family on the 1911 census. The head of the household is Fred’s father, Samuel Perry.  He is listed as a ‘cotton spinner’, but would later become MP for Kettering, Northamptonshire. When the census was taken Fred Perry was a month shy of his second birthday (click image to enlarge):

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Table-tennis champion to tennis virtuoso

Fred Perry initially made his name as a table-tennis player. He won the 1929 table-tennis world championships and only took up competitive tennis when he reached 18. His transition from table tennis to tennis would prove easy. His exceptional speed and hand-to-eye coordination suited him perfectly to both sports. 

He won the tennis US Open in 1933, 1934 and 1936, the Australian Open in 1934, the French Open in 1935, and Wimbledon in 1933, 1934, and 1936. To this day he remains the last Brit to win any of the four tournaments.

American tours

In 1937, after a three-year spell as world number one, Perry turned professional and spent two years engaged in lengthy tours with the American Ellsworth Vines. Here is Perry en route to the USA, aboard the Queen Mary in June 1937 (click image to enlarge):

Ellsworth Vines appears on the list for the same voyage:

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That year they played 61 matches in America: Vines won 32, and Perry 29. Back in England the Brit evened the score by winning six out of nine matches, which left them tied at 35 wins each.

Perry died in Melbourne, Australia on 2 February 1995. Even today, some tennis historians rate him among the greatest players of all time.

Unravel your Australian ancestry

If you have ancestors who emigrated to Australia, you may be able to trace their movements and perhaps those of their descendents using findmypast.com’s new Australian records. These new records include burials, funeral notices and memorial inscriptions for Victoria, which now form part of the findmypast.com Parish Records Collection. There are also records for convict arrivals and names in Victoria Government Gazettes (1858-1900), which have been added to the Other records section.

Read more about the Australian records

Sir Alexander Fleming, the nobel-prize winning scientist who discovered the antibacterial effects of penicillin, travelled extensively during his lifetime and crossed the Atlantic several times, with the journeys logged on the Passenger Lists.

Fleming was born in East Ayrshire, Scotland in 1881. This event, along with many other Scottish records can be found on our sister-site, ScotlandsPeople.

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Fleming spent the first four years of his career working in a shipping office, but after being left an inheritance by an uncle, he decided to follow the career path of his elder brother, Tom, a physician.

He studied at St Mary’s Medical School, London University from 1901. Fleming can be found on the 1901 census, living in Marylebone, London, as a medical student (click image to enlarge):

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After qualifying with distinction in 1906, Fleming joined the research department at St Mary’s as an assistant bacteriologist.  He served throughout the First World War as a Captain in the Army Medical Corps, working in battlefield hospitals on the Western Front.

Fleming was ‘mentioned in dispatches’ (a report that was issued in the London Gazette, which recorded noteworthy actions) for his conduct in the war. Many soldiers who served or died in the First World War can be found among the findmypast.com military records.

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During the war Fleming had repeatedly witnessed the deaths of soldiers from septicaemia that resulted from infected wounds, and he became convinced that antiseptics on deep wounds served to hinder a patient’s chances of recovery. When he resumed his post at St Mary’s he resolved to find a better alternative.

In spite of Fleming’s undoubted brilliance as a researcher he was also a somewhat careless and chaotic lab technician. It was his carelessness in leaving some cultures unattended whilst on holiday in 1928 that led to the discovery of the world’s first antibiotic, and revolutionised medicine.

Fleming gave many lectures on his work overseas, and can be found aboard the Aquitania in 1939, on a trip to the USA:

In recognition of his contribution to medicine, Fleming was knighted in 1944. The following year, alongside fellow pioneers Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of the bactericidal effect of penicillin. Here is Fleming on the Passenger Lists four years later, bound for America aboard the Queen Elizabeth:

Alexander Fleming died 53 years ago this month, on 11 March 1955, and his ashes were interred at St Paul’s Cathedral. His death is recorded in the findmypast.com death indexes.

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Here is Fleming’s final Passenger List voyage, aboard the Queen Mary, again bound for the USA, in 1950:

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Judah Bergman, otherwise known as ‘Jack Kid Berg’, to this day is considered one of the finest boxers Great Britain has produced.

Berg was born to a poor Jewish family in Whitechapel, East London, on 28 June 1909. For a young man such as Berg, in the 1920s, professional boxing was one of the few viable routes to a better life.

‘The Whitechapel Windmill’ (as he became known), after entering his first professional fight aged 14, notched up a long string of victories. Despite initially having no formal training, his strength and raw aggression, combined with a natural aptitude for the sport, carried him through.

Setting sail for America

After beating the cream of Britain’s featherweights and lightweights, in March 1928 he set forth on a voyage to America. Here is Berg aboard the Mauretania, on his first USA trip:

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The Englishman proved a big hit with American audiences, winning six out of seven of his first US fights. After briefly returning to England later that year, he set sail once again for the States, in March 1929. Here he is aboard the Berengaria:

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World Champion at last

This time Berg stayed a while longer.  After an extended unbeaten run, defeating some of the best fighters of the day, he finally got his shot at the world light-welterweight title, held by the American, ‘Mushy’ Callaghan. Berg’s boyhood dream was realised on 18 February 1930, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, when he captured the title from Callaghan via a tenth round stoppage.

The victory made Berg a national hero. He successfully defended the title five times, before losing it to Tony Canzoneri, another American, 14 months later.

He never won it back, but continued to fight on both sides of the Atlantic with considerable success up until 1945. During a 20 year ring career he amassed a phenomenal record of 157 wins in 192 fights.

The last voyage

He appears a remarkable eight times on our Passenger Lists – on each occasion bound for America. Here he is on his last BT27 trip, aboard the Queen Elizabeth in September 1956:

The White City Stadium (originally The Great Stadium) was built for the event. It housed a running track, a swimming and diving pool, plus platforms for wrestling and gymnastics.

In this, the fifth modern Olympic Games, there were just 24 sporting disciplines pertaining to 22 sports, and only 22 countries competing. Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales were entered as one team, the United Kingdom, but following protests from a number of Irish competitors and with fears of an Irish boycott, the team was renamed ‘Great Britain/Ireland’.

Rule, Britannia!

Showing its best ever Olympic form, the British team dominated the Games, finishing the overall winner with 56 gold, 51 silver, and 39 bronze medals – dwarfing the second place United States’ tally of 23 gold, 12 silver, and 12 bronze.   

Olympians on the findmypast.com Passenger Lists

Many 1908 Olympians can be found on the ancestorsonboard.com Passenger Lists leaving Britain after the Games.

Here is American George Mehnert, who won a gold in freestyle wrestling in the bantamweight class, aboard a ship aptly named the New York:

George Mehnert on the Passenger Lists

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Also aboard the New York is Mehnert’s teammate Sam Bellah. He competed in the pole vault, long jump, and triple jump, but failed to win a medal:

Sam Bellah on the Passenger Lists

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Charles Edward Swain, an Australian 1500 metre runner, was part of the Australasia team, which comprised athletes from Australia and New Zealand. Here he is aboard the Orient, returning to Australia:

Charles Swain on the Passenger Lists

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He appears three times in our exclusive Passenger Lists, bound in each instance for New York. We first find Grant in 1920, aged 16, aboard the Olympic. In his company are eight other actors; collectively they comprised the ‘Bob Pender stage troupe’ and were heading to the United States to perform their variety act – Grant himself was a stilt walker.

When the rest of the troupe returned to England, Grant elected to remain in the States to pursue a stage career. It proved to be a wise move.

Here is Grant (then Leach) with the rest of the ‘Bob Pender stage troupe’ – you might say, charting a course with destiny:

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By 1931 he’d swapped the stage for celluloid, having broken into Hollywood. Initially, he chose the stage name of Lockwood, after the surname of his character in Nikki, a recent play. But this bore similarities to another actor’s name and, on the insistence of his new employer, Paramount Pictures, he used Cary Grant instead. Two years previous to his big break, he appears in the Passenger Lists:

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Grant ascended the Hollywood ladder with remarkable rapidity. In 1932 he played the leading man opposite Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus, and the following year appeared opposite Mae West in She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel, two of her most successful films.

In 1936 he signed to Columbia Pictures; that year he appears twice in the findmypast.com Passenger Lists. Grant was due to sail on the Majestic, on 31 January, but the line through his entry indicates he did not board:

Grant on the Majestic

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We find him five days later, however, aboard the Bremen, the clerk including his stage name, but mis-spelling ‘Cary’ as ‘Gary’:

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Grant next appeared in a string of hit comedies and, in the ensuing years, established himself as one of Hollywood’s leading lights – a position he sustained for several decades.

In later years he was the favoured star of the notoriously difficult auteur, Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock described Grant as: ‘the only actor I ever loved in my whole life.’ Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest were all Hitchcock classics starring Grant.

Hitchcock appears numerous times in the Passenger Lists. Here he is in 1955:

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Grant died in 1986 with his wife – who, incidentally, was 47 years his junior – at his side. In 1999, the American Film Institute named him the second greatest male American cinema star of all time, just behind Humphrey Bogart.

Since the 1940s, so many crime and screenwriters have tried to mimic Chandler’s style that, outside his original stories, his characters have become rather clichéd. Within them, however, they have lost almost nothing.

Chandler’s prose is punctuated by a brilliantly clipped style, his ability to convey a time and place – namely 30s and 40s Los Angeles – and of course his sparkling witticisms:

‘Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.’ – Farewell, My Lovely, 1940.

Although an American citizen by birth, Chandler was classically educated at Dulwich College in London, a grounding that shaped him profoundly and made him a confirmed Anglophile for the rest of his days.

Here is Chandler, in 1957, aboard the Queen Elizabeth, on his way back to America following a stay in London:

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He had suffered the death of his wife of 30 years – a blow from which he never fully recovered – 10 months previously, and was battling alcoholism. In a letter to Roger Machell, the Director of his English publishers, he wrote of the journey:

‘The voyage was hell. Still practicing to be a non-drinker (and it’s going to take a damn sight more practice than I have time for). I sat alone in the corner and refused to talk or to have anything to do with other passengers, which did not seem to cause them any grief.’

Upon his death in 1959, but only after a fierce legal battle with a former secretary of Chandler’s, his erstwhile fiancée, Helga Greene, inherited his entire estate.

Here she is aboard the Statendam in 1957:

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Greene also appears within the Passenger Lists for 1938, as a 21-year-old student, bound for New York:

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Heavily influenced by Mussolini’s National Fascist Party in Italy, in 1932, the New Party was subsumed by the British Union of Fascists (BUF). BUF members wore black uniforms earning them the nickname ‘The Blackshirts’. The BUF’s policies were ostensibly isolationist. Although the party was not officially anti-Semitic, many of its members were openly anti-Semitic.

In October 1936 Mosley and the BUF planned to march through the East End of London, then noted for its large Jewish population. Hearing of the march, anti-fascist groups erected barriers in an attempt to prevent it taking place. This resulted in a series of running battles between anti-fascists and police.

The Battle of Cable Street, as the event was later called, resulted in the passing of the 1936 Public Order Act, to control extremist political movements. The event is commemorated by a red plaque in nearby Dock Street.

During World War Two, like most active fascists in Britain, Mosley was interned. After the war he formed the Union Movement, whose policies, compared to the BUF, were more democratic, encompassing European unity, rather than total isolationism. Mosley died in 1980.

The man who ardently opposed mass immigration can be found within the findmypast.com passenger lists.

Here is Mosley, alongside his first wife Lady Cynthia Curzon, on board the Majestic, bound for New York in 1926:

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Their marriage in 1920, attended by many branches of European Royalty, was, for many, the high society event of the year. During the marriage it is rumoured Mosley embarked on an affair with his wife’s younger sister Lady Alexandra Metcalfe, and also the sisters’ stepmother, Grace Curzon.

Here is Lady Alexandra Metcalfe, onboard the Olympic, also heading for New York, in December 1928:

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In 1936, three years after Lady Curzon’s death, Mosley married Diana Guinness, née Mitford, one of the famous Mitford sisters.

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The purpose of this scheme was to enlarge Australia’s population whilst supplying workers for the country’s growing economy and industry.

Britons were offered a way out of the rationing and deprivation of post-war life, shown visions of glorious sunshine and boundless possibility by a government desperate for an influx of labour.

They were offered the dramatically reduced fee for their passage only on the condition that they stay in Australia for a minimum of two years, or pay the full £120 fare back. This fee was prohibitively expensive for most.

The scale of the migration was such that some former troop ships were converted and dedicated to carrying Britons to their new home, such as the S S New Australia, formerly the Monarch of Bermuda.

As well as searching by name, it is possible to search the Passenger Lists by ship

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One of the most high-profile participants in the scheme was Albert Grassby, who emigrated in 1960 and went on to serve as Australian Minister for Immigration.

Grassby can be found in the new decade of the now completed Passenger Lists;

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One family that took advantage of the scheme was the Gibb family, from Didsbury, Manchester. The brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin would go on to find fame as The Bee Gees.

Another notable emigrant to Australia in the new decade was Carol Jones, formerly of Glamorgan in Wales. She married Ron Minogue and in 1968 gave birth to a daughter, Kylie, who would go on to become one of modern Australia’s most successful entertainers.

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Carol Jones and her family can be found in the last decade of the Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.

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Located in the South Shetland Islands the Island was historically used by seal hunters and whaling companies. In more recent times it was the focus of scientific research and, in 1955/56, was the subject of an aerial photography expedition.

The party of intrepid explorers can be found setting out to Deception Island in the Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.com:

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This list is a good example of the level of detail included in many 1950s passenger lists, which often include both exact date of birth and full address.

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Among other famous explorers in the Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.com, we found Ernest Shackleton, famed for his expeditions to the Antarctic, including the Endurance Expedition in which he set out, unsuccessfully, to cross the Antarctic on foot.

Shackleton can be found in 1921, the year before his death, travelling in somewhat greater comfort aboard the Aquitania to New York.

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Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates died on Robert Falcon Scott’s doomed Terra Nova Expedition to reach the South Pole, famously issuing the last words “I am just going outside and may be some time”. Oates can be found in 1899, travelling to Barbados in the Passenger Lists:

Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition was beaten to the South Pole by a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen. Amundsen himself can be found within the Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard, travelling to New York in 1927 aboard the Leviathan.

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The RRS Discovery, the ship that Scott and Shackleton used for their first Antarctic Expedition, returned to the City of Dundee, where it had been constructed, in 1986. Now the centre-piece of Discovery Point, the ship is a popular tourist attraction and gives an insight into the age of exploration.

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The overall number of passengers travelling for each 5-year period from 1890-1960 can be viewed below. Please note that the last bar is actually a six- rather than a five-year period (i.e. 1955-1960 inclusive).

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The number of passengers travelling to the five most popular destinations, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, on the Passenger Lists can be seen here:

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Below is a graph showing the movement of passengers from the UK to the United States of America. It is worth noting that after WW1 and the Russian Revolution the USA looked to restrict immigration – the 1921 Quota Act restricted it to 3% of its foreign-born population of 1903 and the 1924 Quota Act to 2% of its 1890 population. This reduced its availablility as a destination for UK emigrants.

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This graph is for passengers travelling to Canada:

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Passengers travelling to Australia:

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Passengers travelling to South Africa:

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Passengers travelling to New Zealand:

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The last decade of the Passenger Lists has now been added, allowing you to search from 1890 all the way up to 1960, for ancestors leaving the UK. There are now more than 24 million passengers, across 164,000 exclusive passenger lists.

The 1950s – Elvis, Egypt and Emigration

The 1950s is often seen as a conservative period, in relation to the more radical 60s. Despite this it saw the birth of the teenager, with Rock ‘n’ Roll music emerging from America, the ‘Beat’ writers and the seeds of the Civil Rights movement. The intensifying Cold War between the USA and the USSR was played out in a race for Space: by the decade’s end Sputnik I had been launched.

Britain’s prestige was dealt a blow with the Suez Crisis, in 1956. Rationing was slowly ending, National Service was in place, wide-scale rebuilding after the devastations of World War Two were bearing fruit and thousands of ‘Ten Pound Poms’ took the opportunity to start afresh in Australia. Commercial sea travel was in its last days, with air travel becoming more affordable and prevalent from the 1960s on.

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Notable passengers on board in the 1950s

There are lots of famous faces and notable names in the final decade of the Passenger Lists. One of Hollywood’s greatest stars, Gregory Peck, can be seen aboard the Queen Elizabeth in 1950:

Matt Busby, the manager of Manchester United for many years can be found travelling with his team in May 1950, where Manchester United undertook their first tour of the States. Busby, whose tragic ‘Busby Babes’ died in the Munich Air Disaster in 1958, led the club to success in the European Cup in 1968.

Other notable passengers in the 1950s include Max Factor, Gloria Swanson, Cecil Beaton, Jack Buchanan and Bill Haley.

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Find your ancestors in the Passenger Lists

Search by person or by ship name alone. You can now also narrow your search with the name of a travelling companion. A comprehensive guide to searching the passenger lists can be viewed here

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Our premium Explorer Subscription offers you unlimited access to over 500 million records on findmypast, including the passenger lists, and costs £89.95 for 12 months – the equivalent of just £7.50 a month. The Voyager Subscription gives you 30 days’ unlimited searching of all the Passenger Lists for only £14.95. You can also view the Passenger Lists on a pay-per-view basis. It costs 10 units to view a transcription and 30 units to view, print and save the full-colour digital images.

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It was 90 years ago, with the Representation of the People Act 1918, that women over the age of 30 were enfranchised. Ten years after, in 1928, this was extended allowing representation on equal terms with men. One family played an enormous part in the movement to allow women the right to vote; establishing organisations, leading protests and involving themselves in direct action to heap pressure on the establishment in the name of women’s rights.

Richard and Emmeline Pankhurst (nee Goulden) set up the Women’s Franchise League in 1889, with the intention of gaining women the right to vote in local elections. Richard Pankhurst was a perennial campaigner for ‘struggling causes’. Following his death, in 1898, Emmeline Pankhurst founded the more radical Women’s Social and Political Union. This organisation, with the motto ‘deeds not words’ encouraged and perpetrated direct, and often violent, action to highlight their cause and their determination.

Pejoratively termed ‘suffragettes’ the movement chained themselves to railings, staged protests in Downing Street and one of their members, Emily Davison, threw herself under the King’s horse at the Derby, dying a few days later in hospital of the injuries that she sustained and becoming a martyr for the cause of women’s suffrage in the process.

Emmeline Pankhurst can be found on the exclusive Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard, 6 years after Emily Davison’s protest, travelling to New York.

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The Pankhursts’ daughters Christabel and Sylvia joined their mother’s movement, undertaking protests and enduring arrests. Adela, Emmeline’s youngest daughter emigrated to Australia in 1914, becoming a founder member of the Communist Party of Australia.

She can be seen travelling to begin her new life Down Under in the Passenger Lists:

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Sylvia and Christabel can also be found on the Passenger Lists, Christabel moved the USA in 1921 where she became an evangelist.

Sylvia can be found in the latest decade, travelling to Bombay, India.

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Walter Elias Disney is listed first on 7 December 1946, aboard the Queen Elizabeth, sailing to New York. He is travelling with his wife, Lillian, as well as Perce and June Pearce.

Perce Pearce was a writer and producer, working with Disney on feature films such as Fantasia and Bambi. Both are stated as having 119 Wardour Street in Soho, the centre of the British Film business, as their last UK address.

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Disney also appears in 1949, once again sailing to New York aboard the Queen Elizabeth. This time, as well as Lillian, his two daughters are travelling with him. He is listed as a ‘Film Producer’, and once more 119 Wardour Street is stated as his last UK address.

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The Arandora Star was built in 1927 and intially sailed under the name Arandora. The Arandora’s maiden voyage was on 22 June 1927 to Buenos Aires, and can be found in the exclusive Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.com.

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Rebuilt and renamed in 1929, the Arandora Star continued to sail as a luxury cruise ship. Records from it can be seen in our Passenger Lists, by searching under ship name.

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An example of the journies undertaken in peacetime by the Arandora Star can be seen below, from a cruise made in March 1939:

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The captain of the fateful journey in July 1940 was Edgar Wallace Moulton. He can be seen sailing her in 1939, in the Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard:

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A Canadian destroyer, HMCS Laurent, arrived to attempt a rescue mission, but it proved largely fruitless. Some of the scant lifeboats on board had been damaged by the torpedo, whilst others were unusable. Those internees that survived the sinking were still deported, sent on other ships as soon as possible to Australia.

The 1940s Passenger Lists contain many Jewish individuals fleeing Europe for America and Australia. One example is a voyage made by the Brittanic on 3 May 1940 to New York. The ‘alien’ section of the Passenger List reveals a large number of Jewish passengers, many of them merchants. Most are from Germany and Austria.

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Some of the passengers are described as having their last UK address as the Council for German Jewry’s Kitchener Camp, in Richborough, Kent:

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The Kitchener Camp provided accommodation for almost 15,000 Jewish men, despite it having been designed to house only a fifth of that number. The camp was disbanded in June 1940 as, following the evacuation of Dunkirk, German and Austrian nationals were viewed as ‘enemy aliens’ and were subject to internment.

8,000 of the ‘enemy aliens’ were deported to Australia and Canada as the threat of German invasion increased, to ensure that they couldn’t pose any threat to national security.

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The events of World War Two meant that the 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled. London was awarded the 1948 Games but the timing couldn’t have been worse. Financially, Britain had been crippled by the conflict and rationing was still enforced, with bread rationing ending only on the day before the Games started.

No Olympic Village was constructed to accommodate the athletes, instead they were housed in schools and army barracks. Transport issues were also prevalent, not least due to petrol rationing. Even with these limitations the event began on 29 July 1948.

Athletes from 59 countries took part in the Games, many of whom travelled by freighter. Numerous athletes can be found travelling home after the events were over, on 14 August, in the new decade of our exclusive Passenger Lists.

Harold Sakata, a member of the American team, would go on to play ‘Oddjob’ in Goldfinger. He can be seen travelling with other members of the U.S. squad:

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Shirley Strickland, who won more Olympic medals than any other Australian runner, can be found with other members of the Australian team:

1948 was the last time the New Zealand team was to travel to an Olympics by ship. Members can be seen returning in the Passenger Lists:

Ceylon competed for the first time at the 1948 Games, and Duncan White brought back a silver medal for the 400m hurdles. He can be seen below:

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British women married these servicemen in huge numbers, with approximately 100,000 wedding Americans and a further 45,000 marrying Canadians. Once the war was over and peace secured the women faced a new challenge.

These women, who often had young children, had to travel with their new husbands back to America or Canada to begin their married life, away from the unreal wartime existence that they had been enduring.

The relocation of thousands of British women was a cause of controversy, not least because they were seen by some as taking the valuable places of homesick servicemen on board ships.

The first ship used for transporting the so-called ‘war brides’ was the S.S. Argentina. 452 war brides made the journey to America aboard her, and can now be seen in the exclusive 1940s Passenger Lists live on ancestorsonboard.

In the Passenger Lists you can find an exceptional level of detail, including the U.K address of the women and the name and address of the American serviceman of whom they were a dependant. Below is an image from the S.S. Argentina List.

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Conditions on board were deeply unpleasant, many of the women and children had caught a ‘camp fever’ during their stay at an assembly point before sailing. The arduous journey was only the beginning of the adventure for the new brides, and their children.

A long standing legal wrangle in Canada has recently been making headlines, as children of war brides seek to be recognised as Canadian citizens, a right denied them through a change of legislation.

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1940s - Horrors, Hitler and the aftermath

The first half of the 1940s was one of the darkest periods in history, with global war causing millions of casualties and the horrors of the Holocaust. Buoyed by the USA’s entry following the attack at Pearl Harbor, the Allies eventually secured victory in Europe. Victory in Japan came only after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Following Armistice the world looked once again to rebuild: the ‘Iron Curtain’ descended in the East leading to the beginnings of the Cold War. Thousands of women left their families and homes to start a new life in Canada, America and Australia with the soldiers they had met and married. ‘Home Children’ were sent away to Canada for a better life, with mixed results. Commercial travel increased, as did the possibility of travelling for business, to compete in sports and other events.

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Notable passengers on board in the 1940s

One man whose influence on the decade cannot be overestimated appears in the passenger lists, travelling to America in 1946. Winston Churchill M P, following defeat in the 1945 election as the nation looked toward the social reforms of Attlee’s Labour Party, can be seen with his wife, valet and maid on board the Queen Elizabeth:

The American film star Spencer Tracy may be seen on the Queen Mary:

Whilst the famous sculptor Henry Moore can be found travelling to New York:

Other notable names include Walt Disney, Elia Kazan, Benjamin Britten and Joan Fontaine.

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Find your ancestors in the Passenger Lists

Search by person or by ship name alone. You can now also narrow your search with the name of a travelling companion. A comprehensive guide to searching the passenger lists can be viewed here.

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Our premium Explorer Subscription offers you unlimited access to over 500 million records on findmypast, including the passenger lists, and costs £89.95 for 12 months – the equivalent of just £7.50 a month. The Voyager Subscription gives you 30 days’ unlimited searching of all the Passenger Lists for only £14.95.
You can also view the Passenger Lists on a pay-per-view basis. It costs 10 units to view a transcription and 30 units to view, print and save the full-colour digital images.

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View the free Titanic passenger lists

You’ve seen Kylie Minogue play fictional waitress Astrid Peth on the Titanic in Doctor Who. But what about real-life stewardesses on board the ill-fated ship?

Violet Jessop was 24 years old when she set sail from Southampton on the Titanic’s maiden voyage, working as a stewardess on board. She had already survived a collision on board one of RMS Titanic’s sister ships, the RMS Olympic, when it collided with HMS Hawke in 1911. Miraculously she also survived the sinking of the Titanic, just a year later, escaping in lifeboat number 16, and was picked up by the Carpathia after 8 hours.

During World War One Violet served as a nurse on board the RMS Britannic – the other sister ship of the Titanic and the Olympic. She was on board the night it sunk in the Aegean in 1916 after it hit a German mine. The ship sunk quickly and Violet was sucked under the ship’s keel, which struck her on the head. Yet again she managed to escape.

See Violet Jessop in findmypast’s passenger lists for free

Despite surviving three tragedies at sea, Violet was undeterred. She went on to work as a stewardess on cruise ships. You can see her listed in the passenger lists at findmypast.com age 45 in 1933 on board the Pennland.

She died, on dry land, in 1971 at the age of 84.  Was Violet the inspiration behind Kylie Minogue’s Dr Who character, Astrid Peth?

Waugh can be found twice in the current Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.com; once travelling to Tangier in 1933 and once to New York in 1938.

Here he is travelling to Morocco, listed as living at Brook St in London’s Mayfair.

Click here to see a larger version.

Here is Waugh, and his second wife Laura, travelling to New York in 1938. His brief marriage to his namesake Evelyn having ended in divorce in 1930.

Click here to see a larger version.

Search the passenger lists for your ancestors, or to find other famous names, now.

Among Waugh’s travel writing is 92 Days, detailing the time he spent in British Guyana and Brazil, a trip which inspired some of the novel A Handful of Dust.

Waugh also wrote about many other African, European and Near-Eastern places, including Abyssinia, Malta, Cairo and Constantinople.

Mrs Dainton was a passenger on the Titanic‘s ill-fated maiden voyage, along with her parents Edwy Arthur West, Ada Mary West and her elder sister Constance. She was 10 months old at the time of the sailing.

She can be seen with her family in the passenger lists

Search the passenger lists now

Throughout her life Mrs Dainton shied away from all Titanic related press and publicity.

The last living survivor of the Titanic is Elizabeth Gladys ‘Millvina’ Dean.

Just as importantly, the Passenger Lists can also provide a fascinating insight into the way that your ancestors lived their day to day lives.

One trend, particularly in the Passenger Lists from 1890 - 1910 is the presence of domestic servants, valets and maids travelling with individuals or families.

These domestics were often noted down simply as, for example, ‘Mrs Cooper’s servant’ or tagged on to the end of a list of the family e.g. ‘and maid’.

The anonymity of the servant classes did have some benefits however.

Whilst their being noted on the Passenger Lists as simply someone’s valet or manservant doesn’t help their descendants looking for their records, they were often able to travel first class, a luxury they would never have been afforded on their own steam.

Search the Passenger Lists now

The Casement Report of 1904 led to the removal of King Leopold II of Belgium from his position of corrupt primacy in Congo.

Casement can be seen in the Passenger Lists travelling to Africa:

Search the Passenger Lists now.

His name has become synonymous not with his diplomatic work, however, but with the events of 1916.

Dublin-born Casement, partly as a result of a growing abhorrence of imperialism caused by his experiences in Congo and Peru, developed fervent republican sympathies. In 1916 he visited Germany in order to acquire arms and men to fight against British influence in Ireland.

Casement can be seen travelling to America in 1911, his ‘Sir’ appendage now in place:

Search the Passenger Lists now.

The trip to Germany was not a great success, he was promised far fewer arms than he had hoped, and gained little in the way of reinforcements for the nationalist cause. The arms were intercepted en route to Ireland.

On his return to Ireland, Casement was arrested, three days before the Easter Rising occurred. He was stripped of his knighthood and tried for treason, sabotage and espionage against the Crown.

Casement was ‘hanged by a comma’, British treason law was seemingly powerless to convict him on the basis that he had been on foreign soil when he negotiated with the Germans. Nonetheless a suitable application of the law was found and, coupled with the outcry surrounding his infamous ‘Black Diaries’ he was sentenced to death.

Roger Casement was executed at Pentonville Prison in London on 3 August 1916.

Search the Passenger Lists now.

 His death record can be viewed on findmypast.com

Search the birth, marriage and death indexes on findmypast.com

This is of enormous use and interest for family historians - seeing where an ancestor was living before they emigrated or, indeed, went on holiday. It is also an easy way of being sure that the passenger on board is the person that you were searching for.

The inclusion of an address is not only of interest to those searching for passengers who were permanent residents in the UK, however. Viewing the latest decades of the Passenger Lists has revealed a trend, particularly amongst the ‘Aliens’ section of larger cruise ships going to the USA.

A great number of American passengers list London hotels as their last residence in the UK, affording you a fascinating insight into the style in which they lived and, perhaps more specifically, vacationed.

With this information in hand you might be tempted to undertake a family history tour of sorts, to retrace your ancestors’ footsteps and check into the hotel at which they stayed many years ago.

Hopefully your ancestors chose somewhere comfortable!

Search the Passenger Lists now for your ancestors

Khan’s first wife was Joan Guinness, nee Yarde-Buller, whom he married in May 1936, just days after her divorce from Loel Guinness. 

Khan and Guinness’ relationship had begun during her first marriage, with the pair reportedly having ‘occupied a hotel room together from 17 May until 20 May 1935′. Khan was named in the proceedings of the divorce.

A list of divorce and matrimonial causes for 1858-1903 can be searched on findmypast.com. 

The pair can be found travelling together aboard the Colombia in the new decade of the Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.com, prior to Guinness’ divorce. Click on the image to enlarge.

Search the Passenger Lists now

Khan and Guinness divorced in 1949, with Khan going on to marry the Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth in the same year.

The early hedonism of Aly Khan’s life meant that his appointment, in 1957, as the permanent spokesman for Pakistan to the United Nations came as a great surprise to many. Equally surprising was the aptitude for the role that he displayed.

Khan was elected to the post of vice president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1958. Tragically, only two years later, he died following a car accident.

Britain was quick to recognise the newly independent Argentina in 1825. It did so because it recognised its own interests, both the opportunities for trade and the strategic need to pre-empt the United States in South America. British capital and goods flooded in and British communities developed, for instance in Buenos Aires (which was already 3,000-strong in the 1820s). Throughout the nineteenth century, Britain’s so-called informal empire - the regions where the country held economic sway - was at least as important as its actual empire.

British directors and investors effectively ran, and engineers and other technicians built, most of the large enterprises in Argentina, such as the railway, in the mid-19th Century. At the same time, Argentinean beef, mutton and grain were exported to Britain. The result was that by 1880 the Argentine Republic was “more important to the British economy than Egypt or China, or even Canada” (Ronald Hyam, Britain’s Imperial Century, 1815-1914).

This began to tail off in the Edwardian era but even as late as the eve of the First World War in 1914 British investment in Argentina (£319 million) was the same as that in South Africa, not far short of that in Australia (£350 million) and very significantly more than in New Zealand (£62 million) (Nigel Dalziel, Historical Atlas of the British Empire).

When World War One came in 1914, significant numbers of British in Argentina volunteered. The attached page of the passenger list of the Royal Steam Packet Co’s Meteor’s voyage to Argentina in July 1919 shows British officers and families repatriated at British government expense.

The BT27 passenger lists show a wide range of people travelling to and from Argentina. Many of the occupations given are related to the exploitation of the pampas - sheep farmer, ranch owner, wool buyer, estanciero - or to technical expertise - Cable & Wireless, railway official, civil engineer, accountant.

Some of the forenames of people travelling out to Argentina indicate earlier connections with the country - for instance, Carlos, Eduardo, Florencia, Orlando, Santiago. This is particularly true of the Welsh - see the Welsh in Patagonia blog for more information on the Welsh community. But don’t be surprised if, when looking at passenger lists for ships bound for Argentina, your search picks up a Francisco Smith, a Carlos Evans, a Juan MacDonald or a Catalina Murphy.

 View the full passenger list image

Born in Matfield, Kent, Sassoon enlisted in the military in the run up to World War One. His style of poetry altered dramatically as a result of the events of the conflict, and his meeting with Robert Graves, a fellow poet.

Initially a poet in the romantic vein, Sassoon’s experiences of the horrors of World War One saw his work become more grounded in gritty realism. His verse sang out the carnage of the battlefields in order to undermine government propaganda, which glamourised and simplified military life.

Suicide in the trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps* and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

After World War One Sassoon travelled, giving lectures and readings, avowing his new belief in pacifism and socialism.  He can be seen on the Passenger Lists in 1920 travelling to the USA:

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Sassoon’s other great contribution to the world of literature was his encouragement and championing of Wilfred Owen, who died in 1918 on active service. Owen’s reputation went on to outstrip that of Sassoon.

Owen’s death can be found in the World War One Soldiers Died records, part of the extensive military collection on findmypast.com:

Search the military records on findmypast.com

*the sound of exploding shells

Born in Athlone, Ireland, McCormack won the gold medal for tenors at the Irish National Music Festival (Feis Ceoil) in 1903, at the age of 19. Following this he travelled to Italy to be trained by Vincenzo Sabatini, a noted singing coach.

Success and accolades followed; McCormack was soon singing with the Royal Opera, their youngest ever principal tenor at that time, and releasing records which sold in great numbers.

His repertoire included traditional and nationalist Irish songs such as ‘The Wearing of the Green’, ‘The Rose of Tralee’ and ‘Macushla’; he was a keen supporter of Home Rule for Ireland.  McCormack was the first singer to record ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’ which was the biggest hit of 1915 and a popular marching song with soldiers on the Western Front.

McCormack travelled extensively to perform, visiting America, Australia and even Japan, becoming an American citizen in 1917.

He can be seen in the new decade of the Passenger Lists, travelling with his wife to the States in 1934. He is listed as Count John McCormack and she as Countess. The ‘Count’ appendage refers to a Papal title given to him by Pope Pius XI to recognise his generosity towards Catholic charities.

It is worth noting that, although Irish born, the McCormacks are both noted as being citizens of the U.S.A. in the Passenger List entry, due to their naturalisation there.

Visit the website of the John McCormack Society here.

An increasing presence in the Passenger Lists from the 1920s and ’30s on are figures drawn from the world of sport, as travelling to compete further afield became a more regular and feasible occurrence.

Many British and Irish boxers were drawn to America, by both the prize money and the prestige, to varying degrees of success.

Jack Doyle, born in Cork, Ireland, was nicknamed ‘The Gorgeous Gael’ and aside from showing great early promise in the sport was also a tenor, trained by the same man as the famous Count John McCormack.

His early fight career was impressive but he was unable to fulfil his potential, drinking heavily before fights and suffering defeats as a consequence.

He can be seen travelling to the States in 1937:

The trappings of his new-found fame were manifold -  Doyle married a Hollywood starlet, Movita Castaneda, who would later marry Marlon Brando. Together they toured music halls and in the late 1930s Doyle even appeared in a couple of Hollywood films, before sliding into poverty through serious gambling and alcoholism.

He descended into bankruptcy, prison (for assaulting a Garda Detective in Dublin) and ultimately died penniless in 1978.

Tommy Farr, ‘The Tonypandy Terror’, was a Welshman who, in August 1937, fought Joe Louis for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, at Yankee Stadium, New York. Although defeated, Farr gained widespread acclaim in lasting 15 rounds against Louis.

He can be seen en route to the fight in the Passenger Lists:

Judah Bergman, ‘Jack Kid Berg’, was a lightweight from Cable Street, London. He appears five times on the Passenger Lists in the 1930s. In the first he is only 21 and appears to be travelling with his whole family, as well as his manager.

Bergman moved to America in 1931, winning 64 of his 76 fights whilst there. A Blue Plaque has been erected at Bergman’s first home, Cable Street, East London, in honour of ‘The Whitechapel Windmill’.

Thanks to Alex Daley for additional research.

The 1930s – an era of depression and despots

The 1930s were a decade that began with the Great Depression, in the wake of the Wall Street Crash, and ended in war. The global economic crisis saw the rise of extreme politics, the birth of fascism and the end of the prosperity and liberalism of the previous decade.

People were still travelling for work, and pleasure, but from 1933 the rise to power of Hitler saw thousands of people beginning to flee the Nazi regime. These migrants weren’t offered a great deal of help; Canada, for example, claimed that it could offer entry only to “certain classes of agriculturalists’, whilst Australia proclaimed that it would be unfair to give one class of non-British subjects preferential treatment.

Notable passengers on board in the 1930s

A great many recognisable figures from sport, entertainment and the arts can be found in the 1930s passenger lists.
Arthur “Harpo” Marx can be seen travelling to New York in 1931

Whilst the British tennis legend Fred Perry is found aboard the Queen Mary in 1937

Other notable passengers include Laurel and Hardy, Somerset Maugham, Bob Hope, Cecil Beaton and Helen Keller.
A key figure in the 1930s was the American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal helped to pull the States out of Depression. His son, Franklin Delano Jr. can also be found

Find your ancestors in the Passenger Lists

Search by person or by ship name alone. You can now also narrow your search with the name of a travelling companion. A comprehensive guide to searching the passenger lists can be viewed here.

Start Searching Now

Our premium Explorer Subscription offers you unlimited access to over 500 million records on findmypast, including the passenger lists, and costs £89.95 for 12 months – the equivalent of just £7.50 a month. The Voyager Subscription gives you 30 days’ unlimited searching of all the Passenger Lists for only £14.95.

You can also view the Passenger Lists on a pay-per-view basis. It costs 10 units to view a transcription and 30 units to view, print and save the full-colour digital images.

Search the Passenger Lists now.

Her paternal grandfather, Moisza Kaplinski, can be found in the BT27 Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.com. He travelled  3rd class from London to Cape Town, as a 23 year old single man, in 1929 aboard the Glengorm Castle.

The address of all the Jewish passengers on the list is the Poor Jews’ Temporary Shelter at 82 Leman Street, Aldgate. See our earlier blog regarding Jewish migration to South Africa ,and the Shelter,  here http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/getSingleArticle.action?id=The%20Cape%20Colony

More information on the Shelter can be found at TNA’s Moving Here website here.

On Wednesday 8 August, Channel 4 is running a one-day workshop for people with stories to tell about the British Empire.  The workshop is intended to complement the television series, Empire’s Children, currently airing on Monday nights at 9pm. Attendees are encouraged to bring photographs, transcripts and recordings if they have them.

Visit the website of Empire’s Children.

For further information email empireschildren@channel4.com

Empire’s Children on the Passenger Lists

One of the celebrities featured in Empire’s Children is Dame Diana Rigg. Diana lived in India between the ages of two and eight because her father worked on the railways in Bikaner.

Her father, Louis Rigg, was born in Doncaster and served an apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway. At the end of his apprenticeship he decided to reply to an advert for unmarried men to come to Rajasthan and work on the railways, as work of a similar kind in England had grown scarce.

Aged 22, Louis left for India in 1925. His entry on the passenger lists on ancestorsonboard can be seen below:

Louis progressed during his time in India, eventually achieving the rank of Chief Mechanical Engineer on the Jodphur Railway. An equivalent post in Britain would have earned him a Knighthood.

After the Empire

Following Indian Independence, Louis and his family returned to Britain, like so many other families who had lived in comfort in India. The process of readjusting to life in the austerity of post-war Britain was a notoriously difficult one, particularly for someone who had grown used to mixing with the leading lights of the British administration.

There was a degree of antipathy towards those who returned to England  from India after World War Two,  a lingering sense that they had been absent during the hardships of that time.

Ancestors on Board currently includes outbound passenger lists from the UK from 1890 to 1929, but will eventually cover lists up to 1960.  

Search the passenger lists now

The child was not identified and, as such, was buried in Nova Scotia with a tombstone reading simply ‘The Unknown Child’.

With the advent in recent years of DNA testing, a move was made in 2001 to identify the child and, to this end, researchers from Ontario exhumed the body and carried out tests. By consulting the passenger lists they had narrowed down the possible identity to one from four: Gosta Paulson (noted as Gosta Paulsson on the list), Eino Panula (Eina Panula on the list), Eugene Rice or Sidney Goodwin.

Initial tests concluded that the body was that of Eino Panula, but last week this was shown to be erroneous. Advanced testing carried out on a tooth from the body, when compared to the DNA of a surviving relative, confirmed that ‘the unknown child’ was Sidney Goodwin. A shoe recovered from the scene also ties in with the child having been British. 

Sidney Leslie Goodwin, previously ‘the unknown child’ was born in September 1910 in Melksham, Wiltshire.

Sidney was the youngest of six children born to Fred and Augusta Goodwin, all of whom were onboard. Neither his parents nor his other siblings’ bodies were ever recovered.

The family had been emigrating from Fulham to Niagara Falls, Fred having decided to join his brother in America and seek employment in a new power station opening near there. Initially booked on a steamer, the family was transferred to the Titanic due to a coal strike which prevented their planned sailing.

The family can be seen in the passenger list here:

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 12 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 11 - if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 10 - if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 9 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 8 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 7 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 6 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 5 - if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 4 - if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 3 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 2 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

The Moreton Bay was the first of the Australian Commonwealth Government Line Ships designed to facilitate a state sponsored emigration of British subjects to Australia.

View a free two-minute movie entitled “Passenger Lists: People on the move” on the homepage of our sister site, findmypast.com. The movie contains original footage of passengers boarding the Moreton Bay for its maiden voyage from Tilbury, East London to Brisbane in 1921.

The accompanying full-colour 20-page passenger list will be made available free to view on the site from early August until the end of September.

Once you’ve seen the movie and viewed the images we want your help!

If you can identify anyone on the film or the list please email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com with the details of your research.

View an alphabetical list of the passengers’ surnames included on the list

To help you pick out individuals we’ve provided some stills from the movie. This entry is for photo 1 – if you recognise anyone in the photo please leave a comment here.

We’re giving away a free Voyager subscription to the first 50 people who can identify an ancestor within the 762 people who travelled on the Moreton Bay. If you think that someone on board is one of your ancestors, show us them in your family tree.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your GEDCOM using the family tree builder on findmypast.com or start a tree from scratch using this new, free software. Once this is done email us at moretonbaychallenge@findmypast.com to let us know the details of your intrepid ancestor.

Use the family tree builder now

Please tell any of your family and friends that you think might be able to trace their ancestors emigrating to Australia aboard the Moreton Bay and present them with this exclusive way of researching their family trees.

Search the rest of the passenger lists

If you recognise anyone in this photo add your comments here.

Take the Moreton Bay Challenge today!

Good luck.

According to a family story, Robert Bruce ran away with his mistress, a ‘Mrs Harding’, to start a new life, leaving behind his wife and their 1 year old son. On searching our new decade, sure enough, Robert Bruce and his mistress could be seen travelling to Australia aboard the Berrima in July 1922.

What is most interesting about this story is the fact that the couple wanted to conceal the fact that they were travelling together, and the means by which they did so. The pair are not listed together on the Passenger List, having bought their tickets separately – he had ticket 249, she 238. Bruce can be seen four rows below Harding.

The 1920s decade includes the traveller’s last address in the UK but rather than stating their correct ones, in Ripon, North Yorkshire, the couple give different Hotels in London’s Euston Square.

Catherine Major believes that the pair married upon their arrival in Adelaide, in what would have been a bigamous union.

Whilst this may seem a rather dramatic course of action to take, elopement and even bigamy weren’t as uncommon as one might imagine. Divorce in the UK at the time was rare; the only cause for which a divorce might be issued until 1936 was adultery and even that had a number of caveats procluding reciprocal adultery, connivance and collusion from allowing a legal end to the marriage. 

As such, the majority of unhappy marriages remained legally binding despite neither party wishing them to do so. In this climate married people, particularly men, often extricated themselves through extreme means.

It is also worth noting that as the address and personal information stated on the lists are as supplied by the passengers themselves, they must be viewed with a degree of caution.

It was not only a moribund marriage that caused people to take to the seas in search of a new life. There are two known examples of elopement on the Titanic.

Henry Morley, from Worcestershire, was eloping with Kate Phillips – Morley died in the sinking. They can be seen travelling as Mr and Mrs Marshall:

Also on board were an Irish couple, Denis Lennon and Mary Mullin, who intended to disobey their families wishes and marry in America. They apparently presented themselves as brother and sister when travelling but their true relationship can be seen here.

An illustration of this may be found in the new decade of the Passenger Lists; specifically the list for the Bendigo on 13 October 1927. Passengers detailed on this list can also be found on the Balranald, which sailed on 31 October 1927: seemingly impossible as both ships were bound for Australia.

The explanation is, in fact, a simple one. The Bendigo didn’t sail as scheduled and its passengers were transferred to the Balranald, presumably the company’s next available ship for Australia.

The passengers transferred therefore appear on both lists, accompanied on the Balranald by anyone who bought a ticket after 13 October.

Whilst we don’t know why the Bendigo didn’t sail on 13 October, it could have been for any number of reasons such as mechanical failure, inclement weather or even industrial action (it was a coal strike in 1912 which caused many passengers to be bumped off cancelled sailings and to be re-booked on to the fateful voyage of the Titanic). What we do know is that the Bendigo did sail to Australia on 23 November 1927, as can be seen on our ship search screen:

One of the passengers who sailed on the Balranald is of interest, in that she is a Hilda Margaret Eavis of Worthy Farm.

Perhaps she had foreseen that her relative, Michael, would found the Glastonbury Festival on the site and wanted to avoid the crowds, or maybe she had grown tired of all the mud…

Starting on Monday 2 July at 9pm a new six-part Channel 4 television programme called Empire’s Children will be examining the Imperial backgrounds of six British celebrities, including Dame Diana Rigg, David Steel, Jenny Eclair, Chris Bisson, Shobna Gulati and Adrian Lester. The programme will be looking at the last days of the British Empire and the impact that it had upon modern Britain.

Imperial records on findmypast.com

With findmypast.com you can investigate your own connections to the Empire and discover ones that you didn’t even know existed. The exclusive Passenger Lists on ancestorsonboard.com currently cover every long-haul journey leaving the UK from 1890-1929 and include nearly 16 million names, detailing journeys to the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South America, West Indies, Africa and many more besides. These full-colour, digital images make it easier than ever before to trace ancestors who left the UK for a life abroad or to serve the Empire for a few years. Search the Passenger Lists now.

Migration records

As well as the Passenger Lists, findmypast.com also contains a great number of other resources for tracing Children of the Empire. Search the Register of passport applications 1851-1903 as a perfect companion to the earlier passenger lists. Findmypast also holds a number of lists and registers for the East India Company, the India Office and the Bengal Civil Service. Search them now.

Overseas Birth, Marriage and Death records

Aside from Migration records, findmypast.com also hold extensive Consular and Overseas records. Find ancestors who were born, married or died abroad including our BMD’s at sea indexes.

Visit the website of Empire’s Children here

There’s more information available on the original images than in previous decades, such as each passenger’s last address in the UK, making it easier than ever to fill in the gaps in your research. 

The 1920s - bright young things and abdicating kings

It was the era of decadence and glamour. The Jazz Age in America, epitomised by the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, in Europe it was The Golden Twenties. With music, entertainment and art people looked to purge themselves of the horrors of The Great War; modernism flourished in both literature and an embracing of technological advances.

In this decade people were beginning to travel not purely out of necessity, but for its own sake. People still emigrated and travelled on business but were now also able to visit their family abroad, enjoy cruises and participate in international sporting events. Immigration to the USA began to tail off as, in 1922, the States looked to close their borders. This led to a growth in people looking to make Canada and, increasingly, Australia their new home.

Famous Names

Amongst the passengers recorded in this new decade are those from the burgeoning world of entertainment and sport. 

Noel Coward, Cary Grant, under his real name Archibald Leach

Albert Warner of the Warner Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford can all be found in the 1920′s passenger lists, as can the Third Lanark Football team.

The now defunct Third Lanark AC’s trip was to raise funds for Scottish exiles in Argentina; a copy of the letter negotiating costs can be viewed here.

Find your ancestors in the Passenger Lists

Search by person or by ship name alone. You can now also narrow your search with the name of a travelling companion. A comprehensive guide to searching the passenger lists can be viewed here.

Start Searching Now

The Voyager Package gives you 30 days’ unlimited searching of all the Passenger Lists for only £15. Our premium Explorer Package offers you unlimited access to over 500 million records on findmypast, including the passenger lists, and costs £125 for 12 months - the equivalent of just £10.50 a month. You can also view the Passenger Lists on a pay-per-view basis. It costs 10 units to view a transcription and 30 units to view, print and save the full-colour digital images.