David you are a marvel been trying to find that ship for ages, I'm very impressed. I wonder if he retired when his ship was broken up, he would have been 47 then, a bit young I would have thought. His wife was quite a bit younger than him 22 years in fact so presumably she will be the owner at a later date. Regards Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "David DOWD" <david.dowd@tesco.net> To: <ENG-HAMPSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 10:31 AM Subject: Re: [ENG-HANTS] Kelly's for Ringwood > Hi Bob, > no, I'm afraid Kelly's doesn't go into that sort of detail unless you're a > nob. Alfred presumably named his retirement house after his ship, the > S.S. Parramatta, built in 1882 at Yard 226 by Caird & Co., Greenock, Clyde > and registered in London. It was scrapped in 1903, hence his retirement? > The ship named obviously after Sydney's river. > Poulner is quite a large area so I'm afraid this is not very helpful. No > other directory threw up Parramatta as an address. > Regards, David > > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx >

Hi Bob, the SS Parramatta was of 4,771 gross register tons, was 420 ft. long and 43 ft. in beam; it was used by the P & O (Peninsula and Oriental Steam navigation Co., of London), presumably for their Australia service. Retirement for one so young? Obviously, I don't know, but Ringwood was inconveniently far from Southampton in those days for him not to be retired. He could, I suppose, have found work at Christchurch harbour, down the River Avon - a bit of a come-down, though. The 1901 Census is the latest available but is very likely too early as the ship wasn't scrapped until 1903. Regards, David