Harold Ernest Paulin

(1888-1913)

Harold Ernest Paulin was born 5 March 1888 in Victoria, BC.  He was the third child and eldest son of Ernest Alfred Paulin and his wife Emma Jane Jennings.  Ernest worked as a journalist and accountant at the time of Harold’s birth.  Harold had seven siblings, five sisters and two brothers.  Two of his sisters and his youngest brother died in infancy.

Ernest and Emma had immigrated to Canada from Birmingham, England just a couple of months after their marriage in 1886. They had joined two of Ernest’s brothers in Victoria, and had emigrated with Emma’s sister Amy, and Ernest’s brother Herbert. Ernest’s parents and other siblings joined the family in Victoria the year Harold was born.

Despite a large family network in Victoria, according to many of her grandchildren, Emma Jane was not happy in Victoria. Emma left Victoria in 1896 travelling back to England with her daughters Irene and Grace. Ernest soon followed, and the family settled in Acock’s Green, in Birmingham, near Emma’s family.

Harold was left behind in Victoria, and appears to have lived either with his aunt Amy Jennings, who was now married to William Thomson, or with a Mrs Archibald.  Both women were mentioned in letters written to family in Victoria, in association with Harold, and his care.

While in Victoria, Harold attended Oak Bay School. In 1895 he won a prize for a story he wrote called “Harold’s Dog.”

Many of the letters Ernest wrote to his brother Frederick in Victoria are extant, and he regularly stated how he and his wife missed Harold, and asked that someone escort Harold back to England. In a letter from 1898 he admitted that he could not afford the passage and asked Frederick to help.  A January 1899 letter shows that he was successful, as he mentioned that Harold was in Birmingham, and on that day visiting his Uncle Sidney Smith. In the 1901 Census he is shown as living with his family, age 13.  He had no occupation, but was not listed as a student either.

In November 1904 Harold set off for New York on the “Oceanic.” On arrival he stated that he was last employed as a waiter in London, and that his parents paid his passage. He joined his friend Herbert Dunblane, who lived at 344 North Houston Street.

No trace can be found of his life in the United States. He reappears in the records on a ship from New York, heading to the United Kingdom in May 1907.  He does not stay in England long.  In October 1907 Harold was on board another ship, this time bound for Valparaiso, Chile. In Chile he obtains work as a clerk.  His father wrote of his employment in a letter to Victoria, stating he worked for Weir Scott and Co, on a 3 year contract, being paid £150 a year. The company were provisioners and importers.  He later worked for WR Grace and Co, an American fertilizer (chemical) and machinery company. They had offices in Valparaiso, London, New York, Lima and San Francisco.

In March 1911, Harold married Alice Lumsden Jeffreys, a native of Scotland.  Their only son George Ernest was born 15 January 1912.  That same year Harold joined the Freemasons – Bethesda Lodge.

Harold’s father Ernest died in November 1912, and plans were hatched to bring his siblings out to Chile to work.  This however never came to fruition.  Harold died 12 June 1913 of an abscess of the liver. He was buried there.

Harold’s widow Alice and his son George (know as Ernest by his family) returned to the United Kingdom in August 1913.  They settled in Aberdour in Scotland, near her parents.

Source

Birth certificate, Harold Ernest Paulin, British Columbia

Death certificate, Harold Ernest Paulin, Valparaiso, Chile

Barnett family – emails October 2021

Birth certificate, George Ernest Paulin, Valparaiso, Chile.

US Landing/shipping arrivals, 1904

UK arrivals, 1907

UK Departures, 1907

Correspondence, Ernest Alfred Paulin to Frederick Pauline, Cormack family collection

US Bethesda Lodge records, Ancestry

Victoria Times Colonist newspaper

UK 1901 Census, Acock’s Green

UK arrivals, 1896