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Posts tagged ‘alfred boxall’

Aug 21

17 Comments

What might Jessica, Alf and Estyn have in common?

RMMV Stirling Castle

MV Stirling Castle

Ask yourself .. If you were being sent back to Australia from the UK to face a court martial would it be on the same boat you came over on, the MV Stirling Castle? Bars, babes and deck quoits? Dinner at the Captain’s table, live music in the lounge, deckchairs poolside?

Estyn D. Jones may have.

Estyn? That’s a tough name to grow up with in this country. Who wants to be called that in a classroom of thirty young boofheads, it sounds like a girl’s name, Esther,  and Dick. Another invitation to ridicule is to be called Dick so all a fellow can do to get out of the predicament his parents have placed him in is drop the Dick, grab the J from Jones and stick it in front of the Estyn. Then HEY PRESTO, now we have a young dude nicknamed Jestyn.

~~

1946.

Corporal ESTYN Jones posed as a Warrant Officer on MV Stirling Castle on a voyage from Australia to England in March 1946 arriving in the UK in April. This impersonation was deemed an offence and Jones was committed to a Court Martial and sent back to be tried in Keswick South Australia for this and other alleged offences.

Then …. in October of the same year.

Jessica Harkness became pregnant (give or take a week or two)

Alf Boxall arrived home on leave.

and ….

Estyn Jones’ Court Martial commenced in KESWICK SA. re alleged offences committed on MV Stirling Castle, amongst others, all of which were dismissed.

We know he was back at Hampstead, Adelaide by 19 Aug 1946, the court martial papers seem to suggest that he had arrived back in Adelaide only a few days previously. The Stirling Castle had docked in Sydney from 20 Jun to 29 Jun and from 2 Oct to 9 Oct in 1946.

All of this probably doesn’t amount to much other than a chain of coincidences, but I like it, a lot.

And I like even better the way Jones signed off his E for Estyn. The J in Jones looks likely as well but I’m no expert.

Now he’s buried in the same cemetery as Jessica. Not to mention he lived in Henley Beach and that’s where Webb was headed.

Thanks Clive ..

Mar 26

The Somerton Man inquest was closed for lack of new evidence despite the police having found more than enough.

Why was the coroner’s court denied the opportunity to subpoena new witnesses?

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Mar 1

7 Comments

Believing Alf Boxall

That was no sweet innocent quiet reserved young babe who wrote Verse 70.

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Feb 9

1 Comment

Boxall’s memories of Jessica and the meaning of Verse 70

‘She was a very quiet sort of girl ..’

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before

‘She was very young, she was very young, .. ‘

I swore – but was I sober when I swore?

‘..she was just a young girl.’

And then and then came Spring,

‘.. she would be a very reserved young woman.’

and Rose-in hand

‘.. very quiet sort of girl ..’

My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.

‘.. and even today, I don’t know what the girl’s surname was.’

 

Littlemore: ‘That’s funny isn’t it, because she knew yours.’

~~

The meaning (of V70) is clear enough: The writer intended to mend his ways often enough, but never quite made it! The Spring and the Rose are here symbols of the attraction back to his old ways.

Bob Forrest.

Boxall’s responses lifted from Stuart Littlemore’s interview notes.

The incongruity evidenced above might lead to the conclusion that the inscription was not written by the same very young, quiet and reserved woman Alf Boxall remembered.

Jan 9

18 Comments

How and where did the Somerton Man die – and who was he with at the time?

This was not murder disguised as suicide, it was suicide underlined !

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Dec 22

15 Comments

36 The 2021 Somerton Man Success Scoreboard

2021 was the year not much happened as far as the Somerton Man Case is concerned, except ..

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Dec 4

10 Comments

32 WHAT ALF BOXALL SAID ABOUT JESSICA IN 1978 .. ” even today, I don’t know what the girl’s surname was.”

.. taken from Stuart Littlemore's notes on the (60 Minutes) interview he had with Boxall

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Dec 1

16 Comments

31 Jestyn: ‘her tremendous courage.’

The four interviews.

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Mar 11

17 Comments

15 “In 2002 I had a lengthy conversation with Jessica Harkness.”

Why did the police re-interview Harkness in 1982, and why isn't anybody talking about it?

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Feb 2

24 Comments

14 The seventy-year old secret of the Somerton code

The simplest of codes.
The letter A.
The position 7.
….. gives number 8

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Dec 5

15 Comments

13 The Somerton Man’s mtDNA haplogroup ..

From Byron Deveson.

It is interesting that Clive sees a resemblance to SM in the Scots-Irish actor Stephen Boyd (AKA Millar) because SM’s mtDNA haplogroup is present at significant levels in Ireland. See:

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/mt-dna-h4/about/background

It appears that Scots-Irish were mercenaries in Finland in the 16th Century and that could explain the high incidence of the H4 haplogroup in Finland (and Iceland where it constitutes 9%?).

I am reminded that there was a large “tartan” scarf (shawl?) in SM’s suitcase. From memory the tartan looked like a military or an Irish tartan. Or even a Norwegian tartan. But the pattern is oblong and all genuine tartans appear to be square as a consequence of the weaving method.

Tweeds are often rectangular and SM’s “tartan” scarf appears to be a tweed, not a tartan. Unfortunately tweed patterns and colour were chosen for camouflage (hunting) and this is consistent with the appearance of the scarf/shawl in the black and white press photo.

Tweeds are often dun coloured to fit in with the Scottish landscape. A dark blue and green tweed such as the one from SM’s suitcase would be an exception from my vague memory of such things and this might be an overlooked clue. Dark green and blue suggests deep forest to me and, relying on dim memory, these are not abundant in Scotland or Ireland. I note that some estates had their own tweed pattern and some estates had private forests. The possible US belongings (comb, lighter and coat and chewing gum(?) from memory) bolster the case for SM being American and Scots-Irish DNA is concordant with US East Coast heritage.

I started building a family tree commencing with Robin Thomson’s likely forbears Tarleton Pleasants (1778-1836) and Tabitha nee Crew (1788-1819) but I found so much contradictory information that I gave up.

I started by assembling all the available material, regardless of the contradictions, with the intention of straightening it all out. But, I soon found that the descendants of this couple could not agree as to whom begat whom and when, so I didn’t stand a chance.

I pushed on in the hope that one of the descendant lines would show some connection to Australia, and some do. The Merryman family comes to mind. But, nothing crystallised and I decided that there was more than a thousand hours of research required and only a relatively small chance of success. So, there the Pleasants family tree rests.

Byron Deveson.

Scots-Irish actor Stephen Boyd (AKA Millar)

The Somerton Man

I just noticed that Stephen Boyd has a SM type ear and this is fairly rare. DA’s anatomist friend at the Uni says 1% prevalence, but I have yet to see one after years of furtively gazing at ears. It is a dangerous game – try it (furtively gazing at ears I mean). Byron D

Nov 26

15 Comments

12 The South Australian Telephone Directory Nov 47 .. Gordon Cramer and Pete Davidson PLEASE NOTE !!

Thomson J E Sister 90a Moseley Glnlg .... X3239

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Aug 12

2 Comments

11 Why did Detective Sergeant Leane take 51 days to release news of finding the Tamam Shud slip?

Follow the headlines

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Aug 28

12 Comments

10 DNA, mtDNA, genealogy,mass spectroscopy and nuclear related matters. Byron Deveson.

Comments by Byron Deveson and a word from Derek Abbott.

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Dec 2

14 Comments

9 The Somerton Man and what may have ailed him. Byron Deveson.

One thousand one hundred and sixty words ... all technical.

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