Albert Edward Tambling – Do You Know Him?

 He quickly became involved in local community events, on one occasion donating a ‘Ronisch’ piano worth 245 pounds  to the Hospital Day fund raising in December 1921.

Within a year of their marriage, in April 1922, Muriel and Albert had a daughter, Edna.  It was only a few months later about 13 July Albert departed for Ipswich, Queensland, it’s believed looking for work.  He maintained contact with Muriel, writing her several letters after he left; however, his  return address was the GPO (General Post Office) at Ipswich where Muriel addressed her replies.  This could have been because he was employed as a travelling salesman with the piano retailers Beale & Co. (Qld) Ltd.

The last letter she received from Albert was dated 4 September 1922 (note: this letter has been added to the very end of this story) in it he mentions he is writing from Laidley and had been to Brisbane.  He encouraged her to come up to Queensland but divorce records state her letters thereafter were returned undelivered.  Muriel did not receive any further correspondence from Albert.  She did not know where he was and knew of no relatives of his in Australia.

Ultimately, Muriel filed for divorce.  The 1925 divorce records presented this last letter as ‘Exhibit A’.  Various attempts were made to locate Albert or his last known whereabouts.  A letter to the Brisbane Police Department requested help in locating  Albert, but their reply stated they ‘cannot undertake enquiries of this nature’.  A reply from Beale & Co stated they had attempted to find information on Albert but could only say he had not been seen for at least 18 months in the district.   This reply from Beale’s indicates that Albert was still in the district up until about April 1924.  Did Albert return to Sydney as the last place his brother Sidney Tambling had believed he was in 1924?

However, Albert was still in the Ipswich area in late 1922.  There are several of his advertisements in the Queensland Times over November that year.  They are similiar to others advertisements mentioning he is a piano and organ expert, or pianos and organs tuned & repaired, as well as violins and cellos fully renovated and French Polishing being his specialty.  His address is given as the Corner of Wharf Street, Ipswich with the phone number 564.  Was Albert waiting for Muriel?  There were multiple legal notices placed in newspapers across NSW, Victoria and Queensland notifying him as the respondent of the petition for the divorce however he did not appear.  

There was a paragraph in the Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative on Thursday 27 September 1923 , headlined ‘In Queensland” which stated:

‘Mr A E Thompson, who conducted a music shop in Scone, is at present in Brisbane.  Mr Thompson, whilst in business at Scone, visited Merriwa freqently, and effected repairs to pianos.’

It seems Albert was living in Brisbane in 1923 as per an advertisement in the Mudgee Guardian in September and still working as a piano tuner and repairer under his Thompson name;

Albert never returned to Scone, NSW.  Their divorce was final in 1927.

Who Was Albert Edward Tambling?

 Albert Edward Tambling was born on 14 January 1896 in the parish of Twerton-on-Avon, Bath, Somerset to parents Henry and Amelia Tambling nee Beer.  He was their second child given this name, his namesake was born in 1894 and died the following year.  (Albert’s birthday matches his later marriage documents although he made himself a couple of years older, the same year his namesake brother was born.)

In the 1901 census Albert was living at Stanley Place, Tiverton, Bath with his mother Amelia and five of his siblings, Mary, Edith, William, Sidney, and Augusta.  His eldest brother Frederick Thomas Henry had left home by then.  His mother was employed as a trouser finisher for a tailor, and his eldest two siblings Mary, 18, and Edith, 15, were both employed in this industry  as well.  Although Amelia’s marital status is recorded as ‘M’ denoting married, her husband Henry is not in the household.

Amelia Beer and Henry Tambling married in 1878 at St Augustine the Less, Bristol; they had at least 8 known children, Frederick, Mary Ann, Edith, William, Sidney, Albert, Albert, and Augusta.  In the 1881 census, a few years after their marriage, Amelia is living with her parents and son Thomas aged 2 years (this is Frederick Thomas).  The next census of 1891 was the only census found with the couple living in the same household.  In the later 1921 census Amelia again is recorded with her status as married with the note ‘Living apart’.  It seems that Albert grew up without his father being a regular presence in his daily life although in his later enlistment paper Albert recorded his father’s address as the same as his in Stanley Place.

Going back to the 1911 census, it shows Albert’s occupation as a French Polisher at a Cabinet Works.  Not much has changed, he is living with his mother Amelia and siblings Mary Ann, William George, Sidney John, and Augusta Amelia at the same address in Stanley Place.  His mother, 54, is still employed by a tailor as a trouser finisher.  His brother Sidney is also working for at a Cabinet Works as a furniture packer.  They were possibly the closer of the brothers, being the youngest boys and both employed at a Cabinet works.

World War 1 had commenced in mid-1914 and like the hundreds of thousands of men that enlisted over its duration, Albert joined the British Army with the Corps of Royal Engineers for Short Service (Duration of the War) at Taunton.  From the date he joined 26 October 1915 until 9 March 1916 he was stationed in England.  On the 10 March 1916 he was deployed to France where he remained until 23 April 1916.  His papers show he was admitted to hospital on 8 April; on the 23 April he was transferred from St John ABH (St John’s Ambulance Brigade Hospital) to England.  From 24 April 1916 to 9 July 1916, he is again stationed at home when he was discharged on this latter date at Chatham.

His cause of discharge is given as ‘No longer physically fit for war service’.  It references ‘para[graph] 392 XVI King’s Regulations’ – this meant he was being discharged due to health and not from being wounded.  More detailed notes mention he had ‘Defective eyesight: Amblyopia’ … ‘Congenital defective eyesight.  States that all his life has been unable to read without glasses and has had [?] of the eye balls [sic].  Nystagmus & twitching of eyelids.  Not the result of nor aggravated by service’.  Permanent’.

It’s unusual something like this would have been initially picked up in his medical on enlistment, particularly as it was apparently congenital.  As was usual the British Army were distancing themselves from any cause of Albert’s condition regardless.  His character and conduct are noted as ‘very good’ and ‘very satisfactory’.

An article titled ‘For Disabled Soldiers – Western Counties Joint Committee – Discharged Men’s Grievances’ appeared in a Bristol paper in September 1917.  The meeting was well attended including an A E Tambling of the Bath Trades Council.

Aside from this Albert  seemed to return to his business as usual.  In October and November 1918 Albert placed advertisements for Polishers in Bristol and Bath newspapers.

The address given is 1 Chester Street, Eastville; this address was where his mother was residing and running a Boarding House by 1921.  In this census her daughters Mary Ann and Augusta are living at the house with four boarders also listed, In total taking up 7 rooms.  Also in the same house was William and his wife Daisy, taking up 3 rooms.

Amelia Tambling died in 1932 but the house remained let to the Tambling’s, it was likely Augusta Tambling who is referred to as Miss Tambling in the following advertisement.  The house was Lot 3 as part of the Estate of Alfred Wait to sell at auction on 30 May 1935 which gives a good description of their home.

A few years later in 1939, sisters Augusta and Mary Ann with her husband Samuel Bennet were still in Chester Street where they remained for decades.  Mary Ann Bennet’s probate shows this was still her address in 1963.  Did the family remain at this address in the hope that Albert would come home or finally send mail of his whereabouts?

But after returning to his profession as a French Polisher, Albert seems to suddenly leave his business to join the British Merchant Seamen on 19 December 1918.  The dates on his registration card are from 19 December 1918 until 17 June 1919.  The photo below is from his British Merchant Seaman file.

Arriving in Sydney, NSW on the 13 February 1919  ‘A. Tambling, 23, Bath’ is listed as crew in the capacity of an Assistant Steward on the Ship ‘Miltiades’ registered at Aberdeen.  It’s port of departure was Avonmouth; it’s interesting to note that the ship was registered in Aberdeen as this is where Albert would later claim he was born. 

‘Miltiades Arrives’ Daily Commercial News and Shipping List (Sydney, NSW : 1891 – 1954), Friday 14 February 1919, page 5

The ‘Miltiades’ with cargo and passengers was due to depart 5 March 1919 for her return voyage.  But it’s likely Albert remained in Sydney, NSW from this time.  There is an entry for Albert Edward Tambling in the New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime,  7 January 1920 (Issue No. 1) page 16 under the title ‘Offences not otherwise described’.  The entry shows Albert was charged with stealing a violin in late 1919.  Although the age is a few years out, it shows that Albert was a French polisher and mentions he was dressed in navy serge which was likely his Merchant Seaman uniform.  We know from his marriage certificate that Albert considered himself a musician and his brother had noted Albert was an good violinist.  Was this the reason Albert altered his name, changing it to Albert Edward Neville Thompson?

Probably keen to get out of Sydney, NSW Albert has headed north and inland where he met Muriel.  He settled – albeit not for long – in Scone, NSW.

Albert had stopped writing to Muriel and never returned to her and his daughter.  And as can be gathered by the article placed by his brother Sidney, he lost contact with his family in England.  It gives the year 1924 as their last known contact.  As this was in 1935, was this an approximate date as remembered from some time ago? 

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My client is keen to share the story of their grandfather, Albert, in the hope we may find what happened to him after he deserted his wife and daughter in late 1922.  Perhaps he had other children under a different name, or maybe his siblings passed down a family story about him.

They wanted to know what happened to Albert but also what were his origins as they could not find his birth, parents, or arrival in Australia.  The details in his marriage certificate were a dead end.  The results of a DNA test showed a connection to the name Tambling, but it did not fit or make sense with what they knew of Albert.

After analysing the DNA matches and research of the Tambling family of Bath, it was clear that Albert Edward Tambling was Albert Edward Neville Thompson.  Research on Albert from his birth to his disappearance found his birth, his family, his war service, how he arrived in Australia, and his possible motive for changing his name however his whereabouts after disappearing remain a mystery.  Given his ease at changing his name before, Albert possibly took on another new identity.  Research into his Tambling family showed that his older brother, Frederick, also had a very similar story.   Frederick also deserted his wife, and child, who he had married under an assumed name; he changed his name a few times, deserted the army, and went missing.

So far DNA matches have not shown any other descendants for Albert.  Did he remain in Queensland?  Did he leave Australia, change his name again?  His behaviour does seem erratic, did he suffer from PTSD after his service in WW1 when he was discharged after a very short time as being physically unfit.  Did he end his days in an asylum?

Note:  Many current Tambling family trees have Albert Edward Tambling’s death in 1961, Cornwall.  This is not ‘our’ Albert.  Albert Tambling who died in September 1961 was 86 years of age; as well an Albert Edward Tamblyn died in December that year in Cornwall.  Both these men have been researched and can be discounted as not being this Albert Edward Tambling.