Skip to main content

SOLLIS, Frederick Thomas – emigrated 1948

Frederick Thomas Sollis (1899-1959) emigrated to Australia with his wife and daughter in October 1948.

Frederick was the oldest for four children of Harry and Eliza Jane Sollis.  He was born at Hampton, Evesham, on 18th December 1899.  In 1902, Frederick’s family moved to Puddletown, Dorset but, for some reason, Frederick, the eldest child, remained living in Worcestershire with his maternal grandparents.  Badsey Council School records reveals that Frederick entered the school in April 1906 and left in February 1908, having previously been at school in Broadway.  His grandfather, Thomas Rowland, was recorded as his guardian, and the address was given as Wickhamford.  Thomas Rowland, was an agricultural labourer who had spent much of his life living and working in different villages in the Evesham area.  The Rowlands had been living in Broadway at the time of the 1901 census.  By 1911, they were living in Buckland, but Frederick was back with the rest of his family in Dorset by this time.

During the First World War, Frederick served with the Royal Navy.  He married Eileen Osmond in 1922 in Weymouth.  They had two sons and one daughter:  Norman Ronald (1923-1999), Desmond H (1926-1994) and Hazel J (1931).

On 8th October 1948, 48-year-old Frederick Sollis, with his wife and 17-year-old daughter, embarked at London on SS Maloja bound for a new life in Australia.  Frederick was described as a fitter and they had been living at 24 Melbourne Street, Westham, Weymouth, Dorset.  They arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 6th November 1948, where they were subjected to quarantine.  They were ultimately going to disembark at Brisbane, far away on the east coast of Australia.  Their destination was given as c/o Mr Dunstan, Woolvi, via Gympie, Queensland.

In electoral rolls of the 1950s, Frederick and Eileen were living at 6 Gregory Street, Clayfield, Lilley, Queensland.  Frederick died in Brisbane on 29th March 1959, aged 59.