Death - Matthew Rountree FOGGON

[Eileenlc]

I have been trying to find a death record for Matthew Rountree FOGGON. He was born in Queensland in 1905, youngest child of Matthew FOGGON and Sarah FORSYTHE. He studied modern languages at the University of Queensland and went to England in 1930s. On the 1939 register, he is living in Holborn, London, and working as a teacher. In 1940 he sailed for Bermuda as a civil servant, and it is probable that he had been signed up as a censor given his knowledge of languages. He returned to UK via USA and Canada in 1943 and disappears! I could find no further records for him, except a mention in his brother Charles' death notice in 1968. He is described as deceased in his brother Beecher's death notice in 1990, but I can vaguely remember getting an email from a family member more recently saying he had just died (sadly I have lost the email after many changes of computer). I do not know whether he returned to Australia after the war. I have searched UK GRO deaths from 1984 to 2022, and Queensland, NSW and Victoria deaths from 1960 to 1992 (later years not available). I have used various combinations of his names, including Rountree as surname or given name, with no success. He had relatives in England through his father, and possibly in Ireland through his mother.
Any suggestios?
Thank you, Eileen

[VALLMO9]

I have searched UK GRO deaths from 1984 to 2022, and Queensland, NSW and Victoria deaths from 1960 to 1992 (later years not available).

Queensland, NSW and Victoria: Access to information relating to deaths is restricted for 30 years after the date of death. So if your chap passed away in either of those two states the above restriction will apply.

[Eileenlc]

Thanks for responding. I am aware of the withholding periods for Australian data but it was worth a try. If his brother's death notice is correct and Matthew had died before 1990 he should show up somewhere. The other possibility is that, for some reason, he was 'dead' to the family and they no longer wished to acknowledge him as a member.

[meekhcs]

From FamilySearch Passenger Information form when he transits in New York he gives his future UK address as C/O J Forsythe Esq. 356 Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey, England
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3A2H9D-RNF
Does the name or address offer a clue? The same record is on Ancestry, as are several records for 1935 when he visits Canada

Trove has a couple of newspaper articles including one dated 18 Sep 1939 where Matthew is a claimant regarding some land left in a will by Ruth Irene Halliday.

Do you need copies of any of these records or do you already have them?

[Eileenlc]

Thanks Sally. I am aware of both those records. The J. Forsythe was a half-uncle on Matthew's maternal side. Several of the (extended) family used his address as a contact point when visiting the UK but there is no evidence of prolonged stays there. Interestingly, James lived just outside London and had been at school with my maternal grandfather, who was about the same age although a generation apart, and it is possible that I met him when I was very young. The Ruth Halliday was Matthew's oldest sister who had a tragic life. Her husband, a WW1 veteran, died just five months after they were married, and Ruth fell to her death from a 5th floor window in a Salvation Army hostel in Melbourne, where she was spending a night before returning to Brisbane. The Coroner recorded an open verdict with a strong suggestion of suicide.
Best wishes, Eileen