I’ve done a bit more digging on our ever-elusive “H. C. Reynolds”, and thought it was time to post a quick update.
Firstly, though there was indeed an “H. C. Reynolds” playing golf in Murray Bridge in the late 1930s (and he would almost certainly have played some away matches at Glenelg Golf Club, perilously close to where the Unknown Man died), it seems that this particular Harry Reynolds was still alive in December 1953 when his son Graeme Campbell got engaged to Christobel Jane Taylor (ref#1, ref#2). So it seems we can basically rule him out. 🙁
All of which reduces our scope back to the only two remaining leads of any substance: (a) Reynolds’ relatively brief employment on the SS Manuka and RMS Niagara (1917-1918), and (b) the birth (and apparent death) of a Horace Charles Reynolds in Tasmania, who may or may not be the same person.
However, a few days ago I realized that seaman Reynolds almost certainly had structured employment, because the Manuka and the Niagara were both owned by the same company, the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand – though this was taken over by P&O in 1917, it retained its own identity and archives. Searching the New Zealand Maritime Index (a database maintained by the Bill Laxon Maritime Library) yielded three interesting hits relating to seamen’s sick pay in 1916-1917 and 1918-1919 for “Reynolds, H.” (1, 2, 3).
It seems tempting to infer that this was the same person, and indeed very tempting to speculate that Reynolds contracted influenza as part of the 1918 pandemic and was incapacitated in New Zealand – the records relate to sick pay to an “H Reynolds”, and the virus was most devastating to young adults (paradoxically, because of their strong immune systems). However, the pandemic only properly hit Australia in December 1918 while the last sight of Reynolds we have is in April 1918, so none of this is in any way certain as yet.
All the same, because this money was paid out as sick pay in New Zealand, it seems highly likely to me that the recipient would have been admitted into a New Zealand hospital: and with the major port there at the time being Auckland (which is where the Niagara docked), I’d predict the place to look next would be the admissions and discharges register for Auckland Hospital.
Luckily, the NZ government’s Archway archives portal points us to the Auckland Hospital Register of Patients Admission and Discharge, first series, Vol. 3 (1918-1920) (ref: R20388997), shelfmark “YCAB 15266 4/a D”. This is a “heavy, bound volume” in the Auckland Regional Office (close to Auckland Airport), and contains exactly the kind of meaty information we’re hungry for:-
Register number, ward, date of admission, name, address, sex, age, occupation, malady, nature of operation (if any), date of operation, result (relieved, cured, incurable, died), date of discharge or death, number of days in hospital, married or single, if married number of children, nationality, if child or married state father’s or husband’s occupation, length of time in New Zealand, name of medical practitioner, religion, amount owing at date of discharge, remarks.
It’s not clear whether these records are indexed (my guess is that they probably are), but I strongly suspect that there will be an entry in there for late April, May or June 1918 for 2nd Mate H. C. Reynolds admitted off R M S Niagara, possibly with influenza. Who will be the first to find it? Do we have any Cipher Mysteries readers in NZ?
Hey Nick,
Meant to post this before now, but we can positively eliminate Horace Charles Reynolds, born 8 Feb 1900, Hobart, Tasmania, AUS, too. I spoke with his great-niece, via Ancestry e-mail, and she stated, in part, that her Great Uncle Horace, son of Edwin Reynolds and Mary Ann Matilda Bayley, was never a seaman aboard any ship, during or after WWI or WWII. This HCR was a lifelong poultry farmer and died in Tasmania, May or June 1953, at the age of 53 years.
Last, it occurred to me that we should not eliminate an “HC Reynolds” based on year of death alone. If HCR’s relatives were unaware of his fate, as in the case of SM, they were legally required to file a Death in Absentia order to free-up his estate. Currently, in most countries, the wait-time to file such an order is seven years.
cj: thanks very much for pursuing this, and it was very kind of his great-niece to help. For me, a closed door is always better than a half-open false door, because it helps you concentrate your efforts on genuine leads… 🙂
For eliminating suspects, I’ve been happiest when finding examples of their life after 1948, which would seem to be a strong indication that they weren’t the one in Adelaide City Mortuary…
(chuckling)…what I should have said is “Mr. HC Reynolds mentioned in Graeme Campbell Reynolds’ marriage announcement could have been absent/missing but, out of respect, was named in the article because he had not yet been declared dead.”
cj: there was also a (single) report of him playing golf in 1953, which would have been a bit out of character for a dead man. On its own I didn’t fully trust it, but combined with the two reports of his son’s engagement…
Ahhhh…playing golf AND attending weddings…that does sound fairly active for a dead man.
P.S I’m diggin’ the new Blitz Code’s…such beautiful penmanship : ) Great sleuthing, Sir!
An article that gives locations of fumigation, quarantine, and exceptions.
THE “FLU” FIEND
NZ Truth , Issue 699, 9 November 1918, Page 5
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZTR19181109.2.31&e=——-10–1—-0–
Knox: a great little find, thanks very much! November 1918 was clearly the point where the second (much stronger) wave of the flu pandemic hit Auckland and Sydney, with RMS Niagara apparently right at the centre of the pandemic’s main ‘vector’. I always find it fascinating when an individual’s micro-history starts to intersect with the edges of textbook macro-history, hopefully we’ll find out a lot more about both along the way…