Ludwig Henrich Gustav Carl Rostock

I have no further information on Gustav's family or early life other than that his father is Peter on his marriage certificate and that Gustave is shown in the 1881 census as being a ship's steward born in 1855 and he lived with my great grandmother in Liverpool.  The UK census shows his birthplace as Kiel B.S., that I am told stands for British Subject. I cannot however find any proof that he became a British Subject, there is also no evidence of him being born to British parents abroad; I can only assume therefore that he was born in Germany.  I am having real difficulties in finding Gustavs' origins and would dearly love to hear from anyone who could shed light on this for me. 

Gustav was for some time, a policeman in Liverpool, he then went on to be a Licensed Victualler. He died in January 1900.

There are only 14 Rostocks registered on the UK Census of 1881 . I think it would be reasonably safe to think that most of them are related !

There were, at the turn of the 20th century, two Rostock lines in England; mine based around Lancashire and the other in Cornwall. The Head of the Cornish Rostocks in the 1901 census, Henry Rostock, was Gustav's brother. He was a mariner who also has Germany, Kiel B.S. as his place of birth! If you are a member of that branch of the Rostock family, please contact me.

Henry had three sons two of which were Henry (click here for a photo) born 1880 in Looe and Richard (click here for a photo) born 1886 in Looe. They were both Mariners, strangely enough, on their Merchant Navy identity certificates, their father's birthplace is Denmark! I am not an expert in German history but I believe that Denmark and Germany, at various time, have owned the same piece of land with could account for this anomaly.

If you have any knowledge of this family please contact me at

mobrown@dragonslair24.fsnet.co.uk

Arthur Rostock

Arthur was born in Liverpool, England in 1879. View the Rostock family tree. He fought in the first World War as a member of the Connaught Rangers. He was discharged unfit in November 1914 only to re-enlist in May 1915. He was finally discharged in June 1917 after which he trained as a Merchant Seaman gunner. He served 5 months afloat in the war zone and was one of 32 survivors after his ship was sunk by enemy gunfire 180 miles West of Tory Island in October 1917. I cannot read the name of his vessel but it started S.S. Cal... Arthur was obviously not a quitter!

Link to Photo of Arthur 

The next information I have on Arthur's career is that in 1938 he volunteered to be a Special Constable in the Salford City Police. He is described as being 5 feet 10 and a half inches with Grey hair and Blue eyes and a Ruddy complexion. He was employed as a Clerk Storekeeper at that time. He was awarded a Special Constabulary Long Service Award in September 1943 but had to resign in November 1943 due to ill health. He died the following April.

Arthur married Sarah Ellen Wright and had three children. Arthur and Sarah split up and Arthur went on to meet my grandmother, Violet Pearson, with whom he had five children, one of which was my father. I shall not give names of this generation as some of my father's family are still living.

Arthur was one of eleven children. His sister Lillian Rostock emigrated to the United States of America.

My thanks to Reginald Rostock for the information supplied that has enabled me to add some padding and give life to Arthur!