‘Continuous Certificate of Discharge for the Fishing Trade’; Augustus Garfield Laity 1919.

A Continuous Certificate of Discharge for the Fishing Trade (fisherman’s ‘passport’) issued by the Board of Trade to Augustus Garfield Laity. The certificate has been stamped by the M. M. Office (Mercantile Marine Office), Grimsby on 15th April 1919. The Continuous Certificate is in excellent condition.

This ‘passport’ complied with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 with special instructions for seamen serving on board fishing boats.

Augustus Garfield Laity was born in Camborne, Cornwall in 1894. He had brown hair and brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He had a tattoo of an anchor and a man’s head on his right arm. He lived at 33 Buller Street, Grimsby. Augustus served as cook on ‘Venture’ GY.66 from 16th April 1919 and was discharged on 24th April 1919. His ability was “Very Good” and his general conduct was “Very Good”.

———————————————————- Augustus Garfield Laity joined the Royal Navy in 1914. His home port was Devonport in Devon. His military records state that he was born in Camborne in Cornwall on 30th September 1895 (not 1894). His occupation is given as “Cook”. His height was 5′ 3″ to 5′ 3 1/2″. His chest was 35″ to 36″. His hair was dark brown/brown and his eyes were blue/brown. His complexion was sallow/fresh. He had a scar on his left shoulder.

Between 5th June 1914 and 19th February 1919, Augustus Garfield Laity served on ‘Powerful’, ‘Vivid I’, ‘Donegal’, ‘Vivid I’, ‘Ariadne’, ‘Vivid I’, ‘Albion’ and ‘Vivid 1’.

By April 1919, Augustus Garfield Laity had left the Royal Navy and was working in Grimsby. He only appears to have had one fishing trip. On 10th August 1919, he was a porter on the railways at Grimsby and had joined a union. He married Emily Elizabeth Cowley (or Waite) in Grimsby in 1918. The couple had two children, Joan Elenor Laity (1920) and Augustus Alfred Laity (1922). Augustus Garfield Laity became a fish porter, and later a fish checker, and the family lived at 196 Rutland Street, Grimsby.

Joan Elenor Laity married John G. Warren in Grimsby in 1939. Augustus Alfred Laity married Ida Penny (or Backhouse) in Cleethorpes in 1949.

Augustus Garfield Laity died in Grimsby in 1955. His widow married Herbert D. Wright in 1956.