I guess there had to be one!

[Squaredancer]

So far I’ve found that the relatives I’ve discovered seem to be a pretty boring lot – not even a whiff of scandal! Then yesterday I found the closest I’ve got to a “black sheep” in the family – my first cousin once removed, George Moffat, born in Melbourne, Australia in 1887. He came to the UK, was married in Swansea in 1912, and in 1914 went back to Australia and enlisted in the Australian army, claiming to be a single man with only an aunt, Ellen Moffat, as next-of-kin.

I found his army records on the National Archives of Australia website and was amazed to find 118 viewable pages(!) including copies of the letters his wife and a friend wrote to try to find him, as she knew he'd enlisted. Naturally she became very worried when she didn’t hear from him, and he was eventually identified from a photograph she sent. The aunt as next-of-kin did not exist and mail sent to the address that he gave for her was returned “not known”. Ellen Moffat was actually his mother’s name – she had died some time previously, as his father is recorded as a widower in the 1901 census.

He doesn’t seem to have got into any trouble (except, I’m sure, with his wife |scold|) but it took him rather a long time to get discharged from the army in 1919 in Gloucestershire.

What I can’t make out is why he claimed to be single – would it be so that he wouldn’t have to send any of his pay home to his wife? :)

[ChristineR]

Ellen Moffat was actually his mother’s name – she had died some time previously, as his father is recorded as a widower in the 1901 census

Now, this has me wondering about either the accuracy of the census, or the veracity of Jessie's letter - she says that his mother has also not heard from him since he went to Australia.
(on page 98)

I bet you were pretty amazed as the story unfolded.

There is probably much more going on here than meets the eye - they were estranged at the time of enlistment, and once he enlisted perhaps Jessie realized that she could have money paid directly to her if she tracked him down.

ChristineR

[Geoffers]

Maybe he met a lass in Australia and thought that the distance from Britain meant that he would be unlikely to be traced by his wife?

Perhaps he met someone else (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?SearchInit=0&txtsearchterm=george+moffat&txtfirstdate=&txtlastdate=&txtrestriction=j77&hdnsorttype=Reference&image1.x=40&image1.y=12)when he came back to the UK? - Though of course, this may be a different George Moffat.

[Jack Richards]

Geoffers - it may be a different person, but your response is absolutely brilliant.
Jack

[Squaredancer]

Hi ChristineR

Yes, when I looked again at page 98, I started wondering. I’d been previously informed by a cousin that George’s father was a widower in 1901 so assumed that his mother was dead. Maybe his parents had some funny business going on! Or that information was incorrect. Everything in George’s record on the National Archives of Australia website seems to indicate that he and his wife were together and settling down in Gloucestershire when he was discharged from the army in 1919. He says in one letter that his wife was in a “delicate state of health” (underlined) so I wasn’t sure whether he meant that she was ill or that she was pregnant - until I just found on FreeBMD the record of the birth of John M Moffat in Sept 1919 in Gloucester with the mother’s maiden name Clarke.

I hope my George didn’t go on to become the one involved in the divorce –his wife must have had a bad enough time with him being missing for years!