NOSTALGIA: Search for Portsmouth sailor with eight names

Rhonda Watson from Perth, Western Australia, e-mailed in a search for relatives. She is the great, great, great grandchild of John James Frederick Augustus Hamilton Middleton Warburton Courtney Watson, born in Portsmouth in May 1810.
Perth, Western Australia.Perth, Western Australia.
Perth, Western Australia.

Rhonda says: 'He was on HMS Challenger with Captain Fremantle which sailed from Portsmouth to Perth in 1829. He returned to Portsmouth and then emigrated on Ganges in 1841 as a petty officer. He lived in Perth until he died in 1899.

'Apparently he joined the navy about 1823 as a powder monkey and served in the Crimean War. His brother was a senior naval officer.

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'We believe his father worked at the docks but we can't find his name or any other family members. One of the family stories is that when his mother was pregnant the men who worked with his father suggested the baby be named after him and that's why he has so many names.'

If there are any Watson family members who might be related Rhonda, she can be contacted on [email protected].

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