Hello, The recent exchanges re HMS Osborne reminded me that my great uncle, William James Grubb, (1851-1920) was the landlord of the "Victoria & Albert" public house on The Hard, Portsea from just before the 1891 Census until his death. His first wife died and he re-married to Zilpah Barrett, another licensed victualler, in 1895. On receiving a copy of the marriage certificate from Portsmouth R.O., I was intrigued to discover that whilst described as a "widower and licensed victualler", his address was given as "HMS Warne". No such ship was to be found and Portsmouth later admitted that they had transcribed "HMS Osborne" incorrectly!! This was confirmed by Stockport. Having corrected that error, I was no wiser as to what he was doing on board ship. He was obviously still running the "Victoria & Albert" Had he gained a contract for supplying alcohol or was he, perhaps, running the Ward Room bar or what was he doing? I've no knowledge of how the navy victualled its ships but since the royal yachts, presumably, never strayed from Pompey perhpas local contracts were often let?? Regards Ken Grubb, Cheltenham, Glos.

Hi Ken I think it unlikely that he would be supplying the navy with anything - supplies would be obtained from the usual suppliers - I suspect it's more likely that he was a serving member of the ship's company, and since the vessel was based on Portsmouth for much of her life he was able to fit it in with his business, perhaps with someone else, maybe a family member, managing it when he was unable to be at home. From discussions on the Mariners list it would appear that some of the crew may well have been naval pensioners and served onboard for a great many years, which suited both the Navy and men concerned. This was certainly the case with the RY Britannia - as long as you kept you nose clean you could remain on board - but the first signs of problems and you were off to another ship - an oppo of mine was sent home from the South Seas in the mid-1950s, having committed a misdemeanor on the Britannia during her World cruise - stupid boy ! On the other hand ISTR reading about a bootneck who served something like 75% of his career of 22 years onboard - much of it at Fountain Lake, just to the south of Whale Island, at Portsmouth. Regards Paul On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 18:44:47 +0100, "Kenneth Grubb" <keng@sunnyside74.fsnet.co.uk> wrote: >Hello, > >The recent exchanges re HMS Osborne reminded me that my great uncle, William James Grubb, (1851-1920) was the landlord of the "Victoria & Albert" public house on The Hard, Portsea from just before the 1891 Census until his death. > >His first wife died and he re-married to Zilpah Barrett, another licensed victualler, in 1895. On receiving a copy of the marriage certificate from Portsmouth R.O., I was intrigued to discover that whilst described as a "widower and licensed victualler", his address was given as "HMS Warne". No such ship was to be found and Portsmouth later admitted that they had transcribed "HMS Osborne" incorrectly!! This was confirmed by Stockport. > >Having corrected that error, I was no wiser as to what he was doing on board ship. He was obviously still running the "Victoria & Albert" Had he gained a contract for supplying alcohol or was he, perhaps, running the Ward Room bar or what was he doing? > >I've no knowledge of how the navy victualled its ships but since the royal yachts, presumably, never strayed from Pompey perhpas local contracts were often let?? > >Regards > >Ken Grubb, Cheltenham, Glos. > > > > > >==== ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT Mailing List ==== >Visit the knightroots website at www.knightroots.co.uk > >============================== >New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 50.33.50N 02.26.70W http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html