Passengers stories
by their descendants.
Thomas Duppuy
The story of: Thomas Duppuy, age 16, second cabin ticket number 2636
July 2021: Note from admin. After some random hashtag searching in Twitter this month I came across a tweet from some years ago referencing Thomas Duppuy and I made contact with the writer. Thomas has been on our passenger register with multiple spellings of his surname including DUPRENY, DUPPREY, DUPPEY, DUPPY and DUPPUY. The author of the tweet made contact and turned out to be descended from Thomas' younger brother. Jennie Macfie (in Scotland) has provided this below summary of Thomas and his family so I can get this page started for him, and we hope to exchange further information in the future.
Thomas Duppuy's birth was registered in Clerkenwell, London, last quarter of 1849. It's not a very common name and the age matches with the Netherby passenger. He is also mentioned in the Kew Gardens records as a correspondent from Melbourne, Australia (Admin note: scans below - first letter refers to him trying to save plants during the wreck).
His younger brother Charles Ridley Duppuy was born in London in 1852 and was ordained in the Church of England. He became a Curate in Byker, Newcastle in Tyne, and married Frances (Fan) Woodhouse in 1877 - she was my gt grandmother's next youngest sister, and the Rector of Byker was their father, my gt gt grandfather.
Ridley and Fan Duppuy had 6 children, Charley Ridley (known as Ridley), born 22 Sept 1881 at Tyneside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Cecil Evarard, born 6 April 1883, Reading,England and the next 4 in NSW Australia.
Ridley became Bishop of Hong Kong but returned to the UK and retired to Worcester, where he lived with his aunt Bess (I have a letter from them to my grandmother when my father was shot down in 1941).
Fan and her children also returned to the UK after her husband's death in 1891, and lived with her unmarried brother Jack at his vicarage (my gt gt grandfather had insisted that a) all his sons should become clergymen and b) all his daughters should marry clergymen).
Not sure where Thomas Duppuy's dad came from but his mother Maria was born in Germany. There is also the death of a Thomas Duppuy registered in Melbourne in 1916 where it's stated was a widower, born in Belgium, and suffering from depression, which may be a clue.
Source: Jennie Macfie 14 July 2021.
A Trove search brought up this snippet about the Bishop of China.
Two letters by Thomas Duppuy. Held by Royal Botanical Gardens Kew archives (Folder name: Letters_FondsDC FileDC 173_1-350_Item ff1-350). First letter dated 26 July 1866 from the Tankards Hotel Melbourne (where the first and second class passengers stayed). Thomas refers to the wreck and trying to save the plants on board to no avail. Possibility Thomas was a qualified or apprentice botanist.
