John Alice of Falmouth, Cornwall

John Alice from Cornwall is seen in a number of census entries with his wife and children, but does not appear to have any connections to other Allis families.

Looking at him further uncovers an unusual story.

 

John Alice appears in the census of 1861 at Falmouth, Cornwall for the first time as a labourer from Guinea in Africa. He was then married to Elizabeth and they had a son, John. The marriage was in Falmouth in 1857. They were still in Falmouth in 1871 but moved to London sometime before 1881. They are seen in the census for 1891 and 1901 as a family with son John and daughter Clara.

It is believed that John senior died in 1902 and Elizabeth in 1906.

He was from Guinea in Africa, and taken as a slave to Brazil. He then stowed aboard a ship taking coffee from Rio de Janeiro to Falmouth and presented himself to the captain when a few days out at sea. On arriving in England (around 1855 or 1856) he had one more voyage on the ship before settling as a labourer in Falmouth.

The ship’s captain had to give him a name to enter him onto the ship’s books , so John came from his own forename and the ship was the “Alice”, so John Alice was created.

He appears to have entered normal life in Cornwall and participated in a swimming contest one year where his unusual swimming style caused some amusement. However, he was given an award, along with some others, for his bravery in saving a shipwrecked crew outside of Falmouth harbour in 1867.

Why they moved to London is not known.

A notice in a Cornish newspaper (Royal Cornwall Gazette ) reported John’s death due to an accident on board a ship in London. It also gave the details of how he came to England as above. The only problem is that it was published on the 10th June 1876.