I am 'missing' a mariner who appears to be away every census so would be grateful if you could check this crewlist to see if oyu can find him noted there please.

His wife/children are Swansea based but as I've never found him on any census, I have no idea if he was Swansea born or not so have reached dead end with him.

He is possibly born around 1821 and when he married in 1845, his address was given as The Strand, Swansea. Both his [and his father's name] have been recorded on the marriage cert, as being 'William Brown Bard' which throws a spanner into the works.... I haven't found anyone in the 1841 census of this name.

Generally, his name is recorded on his kids births certs/other references, as being William BEARD aka BEER aka BEAR aka BAIRD.

Jan 1851 and May 1853 show the family are in Swansea so he is very likely to be on a ship somehwere - fingers crossed he turns up on this listing...

Cheers

As you have realised mariners at sea don't appear on the census at home but there are records for ships crews, just takes a bit longer to find them. I will see if I can find him amongst my lists may take a while though.

Found his marriage as Bard in the last qtr of 1845. I can see a Catherine Baird who seems to be his wife and she died in Swansea Jan/Feb/Mar 1901.

The most interesting thing I found is Ancestry shows a William Bard as being 42 in the 1901 census working as a supervisor engineer born in America and living in the Hicksworth or Wicksworth Hotel, Swansea. This makes him born about 1859.