Joshua Henry Spicer (1839 - 1922)

Born 25 Nov 1839 in Wooburn, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Ann (Rea) Spicer — married 18 Sep 1871 in Islington, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 17 Feb 1922 at age 82 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Biography

Joshua was born in November 1839 and baptised the following January in Wooburn, Bucks. He is the son of John Spicer and Eliza Allen.

He joined the British Army in 1855, aged only 16 (did he lie about his age?), received the basic medal for service in the Indian Mutiny (1857) and was discharged in 1867 from Chelsea Hospital having served in the Crimea.

In the 1871 Census he was still in London and not yet married. But he was in Canada for the 1881 Census, in Hochelaga, Quebec.

in the intervening 10 years he married Mary Ann Rea in 1871 and they most probably had three children: Harry Rea in 1873 who died shortly after birth, and then Edith and another Harry Rea, the former before the family emigrated to Canada, and the latter once they arrived.

The witnesses at the wedding were: A S Williams - Albert Samuel Williams, the husband of Mary Ann's sister, Emma. Maria Elizabeth Williams - this is the wife of Albert Samuel William's brother, Charles Frederic Williams.

Joshua died in Montreal in 1922, and was buried at the Cimetière Mont-Royal, Outremont, Montreal Region, Quebec.

Sources

• Family records
• Baptism: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=GBPRS/BUCKINGHAMSHIRE/BAP/001361808
• Indian Mutiny medal award, Corporal, 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabineers), Service Number 1333, volume IOR/L/MIL/5/73 part 2: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FINDIAN-MUTINY%2F48901
• Military Service, 1861, 7th Hussars (Queens Own), regiment stationed at Umballa, East Indies, National Archives reference WO12 / 794: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FSOLIDX%2F00225843
• Army Pension record, Regiment 7th Hussars, pension year 1867, Series Wo 23 - Royal Hospital Chelsea: Admission Books, Registers, And Papers 1702-1876, The National Archives, archive reference WO 23, piece number 62: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FWO23%2F62%2F00197%2F1331623
• Marriage, 1871, St Marys Islington: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=BMD/M/1871/3/AZ/000248/109
• 1871 census: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=GBC/1871/0001713704
• 1881 Census, Hochelaga, Quebec, Canada: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=CAN/CENSUS/1881/04108038
• 1891 Census, Quebec Province, Canada: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=CAN%2FCENSUS%2F1891%2F04001160
• Death, 1922, Montreal: Ancestry.com. Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Find A Grave. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi, or https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108202683/joshua-henry-spicer

• Buried in Section L2 1496E, along with his wife (no markers)

Research Notes

(Added by John Spicer, April 2020) In 1881 Hochelaga was a village just outside/ on the edge of Montreal.

An extensive obituary was published in the Royal Templar ('the official organ of the royal templars of temperance'), published 11th March 1922 at Hamilton, Ontario. For copyright reasons I cannot publish it onto Wikitree, and I do not know where it can be found online but it gives lots of details of Joshua's life: Date of birth, 25/11/1839 Joined the British Army aged 16, 6th Dragoon Guards, fought in the Crimea, then moved to the 7th Hussars and was in India during the mutiny, 1857-59. Left the army on account of ill health in 1867. Worked as a shipping clerk for his uncles within Spicer Bros (in Blackfriars, London) Marriage details are included Emigrated to Montreal in 1875 Joined the Federal government police force Then a public weigher in the wholesale coal business of the city. Deeply religious (as was his father, unlike his cousin, my great grand father) and heavily involved in the Royal Templar society and other charitable organisations.