Hi Listers, Please I was wondering if anybody on the list lived in Lilian street Dudley Hill, Bradford or knew of anybody who may have lived there back in 1957 and onwards. I am tracing my husband's grandfather, Percy Stafford Mitchell and his wife Alice Mitchell. He wrote to the Repatriation Office (now known as Veteran Affarirs) in Sydney on 2nd February 1957 to say he was now residing with his wife at this address... Percy Stafford Mitchell was in the A.I.F and came to Australia in 1911/12 at 19 years of age with his father Jonas, mother Mary, sisters Alice & Jane, brother Henry and the sister's husband, Vincent Crowther and Marshall Pickles.. In 1919 he was demobilised after WW1 he returned to Bradford and joined the Bradford Police Force in Nov 1920...but stayed only 4 months due to suffering from Trench feet. He returned to Australia in 1922 and continued to live in various addresses in Sydney. The last known address was 46 Wimbledon St, Narrabeen...before returning to Bradford aboard the 'Otranto' leaving Sydney 5th September 1956. I would like to also ask can I check for his name on a passage list for this ship?.. He paid 116 pounds for the trip back to the U.K. Kind regards Lori Mitchell

Hi Lori, You shouldn't have any trouble finding Percy's name in the Passenger Lists. Try the Public Record Office in Sydney. The odd thing is that I would have handled that original berthing list. I worked on the Tourist Passenger Counter of the Orient Line, in Melbourne in 1956. To be honest each office had its own berthing list for each voyage, and cabins allocated to other States, such as Sydney were stamped 'Sydney', so we only entered the names of those we were booking from Melbourne. I can vaguely recall a cocktail party held on board the "Otranto" that night for Travel Agents - there were only 4 Travel Agents in Melbourne at that time - Thos. Cook being the main one. I could well have passed Percy on my way to the lounge. I returned to England on the "Orcades" on 19th November, 1956 - two days before the Olympic Games opened. I still have the ticket, and it shows the passage money as Pounds Sterling 104.00 converted at 125% Australian equivalent 130 pounds. The ticket is signed by my old friend George Franklin whom I hope to catch up with in May on a visit back to Melbourne from Cairns. That was the minimum fare at the end of 1956 (It was only about 80 pounds in Feb 1956). The Otranto was one of the old ships built in 1925 by Vickers Armstrong - maiden voyage was on 9th January, 1926, and she was broken up in Scotland in 1957. Tonnage was 20,026, and she was a twin screw with maximum speed of 18 knots. She served as a troopship from 1939 to 1942 when she was converted to Landing Ship Infantry, then refitted in 1948 for the Australia service. She was also the second "Otranto", the first one being built in 1909, becoming an armed merchant cruiser in 1914, but collided with the Kashmir off the Scottish Coast in 1918. "Otranto" took about 5 weeks so Percy would have arrived back in England about the 10th October, 1956. She was a lovely old ship, with much more grandeur than the post war ships. The memory of that old lounge is something I still remember and treasure. I do have a book with a picture of the Otranto, and could scan it if you want. Malcolm Hutton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike & Lori Mitchell" <trimel1@bigpond.net.au> To: <ENG-YKS-BRADFORD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 2:41 PM Subject: [ BRAD] Would love to know if.. > Hi Listers, > > Percy Stafford Mitchell was in the A.I.F and came to Australia in > 1911/12 at 19 years of age with his father Jonas, mother Mary, sisters > Alice & Jane, brother Henry and the sister's husband, Vincent Crowther > and Marshall Pickles.. > In 1919 he was demobilised after WW1 he returned to Bradford and joined > the > Bradford Police Force in Nov 1920...but stayed only 4 months due to > suffering from Trench feet. > He returned to Australia in 1922 and continued to live in various > addresses in Sydney. The last known address was 46 Wimbledon St, > Narrabeen...before returning to Bradford aboard the 'Otranto' leaving > Sydney 5th September 1956. > > I would like to also ask can I check for his name on a passage list for > this ship?.. > He paid 116 pounds for the trip back to the U.K. > > Kind regards > Lori Mitchell > > ______________________________ --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 25/02/2003