26.
John SEYMOUR
The following are notes written by Ernest Virgo (grandson) in 1992:-
Otway Seymour
Early in the Crimean War (1853-56) a boy named Otway ran away from school and attempted to join the army. His father had died some years earlier and he lived with his mother and an uncle (who was his guardian) at Hales Place, Canterbury {Kent, England}. He had added a couple of years to his age in the attempt to enlist - but he gave his own name and his uncle was able to get him out. We have to assume that he was born about 1837.
Two months later, young Otway (whose Christian names we do not know) ran away again and enlisted under the name John Seymour. His uncle did not trace him and in 1854 one of the medals now in the possession of N.A. Virgo was earned at Sebastopol in the 6th Dragoon Guards. Starting as a bugle boy, John Seymour rose eventually to sergeant-major. There are four medals in all.
When he retired from the Crimean War, young Otway/Seymour found his uncle had sold Hales Place - that was a breach of trust of a kind which the Married Women's Property Acts later prevented. Many years later his (John Seymour's) daughters tried to regain possession of Hales Place, but, as the story ran, they were not able to find sufficient evidence of title to establish ownership.
Otway/Seymour remained in the army but some years after the Crimean War, he resigned and entered the Prison service, initially at Dover. He had married (wife's name not known) and had three daughters; name of oldest was Alice; second was Fanny Elizabeth Otway Seymour (each was given Otwat as last Christian name); third was Edith. There was also a son, Charles Otway Seymour, with whom all contact was lost, but who died after World War II, before his sister Fanny. A.H. Virgo attended the funeral of his long lost uncle.
Fanny E.O.Seymour was married about 1893, to a man named Virgo - who left her and disappeared (in consequence there are no relations named Virgo). A.H.Virgo's wedding certificate (14/2/1919) shows his father as Ernest Virgo (deceased). Arthur Henry Virgo was born 1/7/1894.
Note: Fanny E.O. Seymour, who was Neil's great grandmother, left her personal possesions to Norman A. Virgo; these included John Seymour's Crimean War medals and also some cutlery with the monogram CEO; from, it is believed, Charles Edward Otway, believed to be his father.
John Seymour's wife appears to have died about 1895, and Fanny E.O.Virgo acted as his housekeeper at Dover and when he was moved to Bostal prison (then a penal establishment) as Chief Warder, early in 1896. They lived at Chattenden (final "e" long, as in "dene") until John Seymour retired and later died (in the early 1900's). He left each of his daughters £100, and Fanny used her legacy to buy a small general shop in Richmond Road, Gillingham (Kent), which she ran until the 1930's. She then sold it and moved to Rainham, Kent, but the shop was still standing (though closed, pending redevelopment) after World War II, with the name F. Virgo over it.
A.H. Virgo went to the Dockyard School at Chatham, served an apprenticeship as an electrical fitter at the dockyard, and won a scholarship to East London College, University of London (now Queen Mary's College), as a student of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering departments in October 1913. In December 1915, he left for war service with the Royal Engineers; he rejoined the college in April 1919 and gained his BSc the following year. After returning to Chatham Dockyard for a short time, he entered the Civil Service as an Assistant Examiner in HM Patent Office in 1921. By the time of his retirement, he was a Senior Examiner (he was seconded to the Admiralty for most of World War II).
Arthur Henry Virgo married Annie Mary Joy 14/2/1919 (before he was demobilised); their eldest son Ernest Stanley Virgo was born 21/1/1920. Fanny E.O. Virgo was remarried to a Corporal Puddephatt of the Royal Engineeers, also in 1919. "Uncle Willie" was not highly regarded by the Virgo Family but (having been gassed during World War I) he had a service pension, from which his widow benefitted in her later years.
Ernest and Olive Virgo gave their second son, Neil, the additional Christian names Otway Seymour to recall the chapter in the family history which is summarised here. Further research into family history will be undertaken to fill out the details.
30.
George FULLER