Royal Navy - HMS Imogene 1888-96

[retrogirl24]

I am hoping this is the right place to post this..
My great grandfather was in the Royal Navy from 1877 to 1897. I received his naval record and I am trying to figure out some dates. It lists the ships he served on and I was wondering if there was a website that lists specifically where these ships went and when? I have found a bit of information but not really where they sailed. We know he was in and around Malta several times, as that is where he met and married my great grandmother!

I am specifically looking for information about the HMS Imogene that he was serving on from 1888 to 1896 (the last one listed before he was shore pensioned on the Vivid II.)

[Pam Downes]

Hello retrogirl24,

Welcome to British-Genealogy.

Weird as it might sound - try the newspapers.
The main site is the British Newspaper Archive
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
which is also available on Findmypast. Both sites are subscription ones, but I think you get three free views of articles on the BNA. (All initial searches are free.)
An quick search for HMS Imogene showed 204 results between 1850 and 1899.
Not every newspaper which mentioned the Imogene has yet been put online, and equally the same piece of information could be noted in several newspapers as back in those days articles/news were syndicated to even local papers, many miles from where an event happened.

Another newspaper site is newpapers dot com, which though mainly American, does have world-wide newspapers, including some English ones.

[retrogirl24]

Thank you so much for the great tip Pam!

I narrowed it down to 1889 and have already looked quickly and can see a few I will look into further. It seems there was a horse name Imogene, so easy to eliminate those.

So excited to have a whole new area to research!

Carol

[Pam Downes]

Meanwhile, I've found that Welsh newspapers are available online for free.
https://newspapers.library.wales/

It's quite easy to spot the racehorse Imogene entries on there.
Bearing in mind what I said about a lot of the news stories being syndicated, then you could find the same item available in the Welsh newspapers. e.g. I noticed one story about the ship running aground at/near Constantinople on both the BNA and Welsh sites. That was in 1886, and the Imogene is also called a despatch/dispatch boat, without the HMS in front of it.

[retrogirl24]

OH, good to know! Will check out the Welsh as well!

[Megan Roberts]

You could also try the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich to see if they have anything of interest:

https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum

The National Archives has this useful guide about Royal Navy ships' log books:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...ges-log-books/

Wikipedia has a page devoted to the ships named Imogene:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Imogen

[retrogirl24]

Thank you Megan. It looks like the Museum at Greenwich is one you have to visit in person.. nothing online? That's a bit difficult for me as I am in Canada! The National Archives seems to have some info online so that could be interesting to read.

I am hoping to trace his career as a stoker in the Royal Navy from 1877 to 1897. Specifically since he married a woman in Malta and they had a son.. my grandfather.

I see from his naval record that he would be on the same ship and sometimes in the same port for years it seems. Makes me wonder what did they do all day? Did they have a lot of free time? How often would he be able to see his family in Malta?

[Megan Roberts]

Thank you Megan. It looks like the Museum at Greenwich is one you have to visit in person.. nothing online? That's a bit difficult for me as I am in Canada! The National Archives seems to have some info online so that could be interesting to read.

There are some on line bits for instance you can search their catalogue and the Caird library. They won't do research for you, but they have some research guides:

https://www.rmg.co.uk/contact#research