What happened to Maurice Carroll?

This post continues the series tracing the children of my great-great-grandfather, Maurice Carroll. He had five children with his first wife, Mary Anne Frazer, and ten children with my great-great-grandmother, Anne Radcliffe. Many of his children seemingly vanished in adulthood, but of them all, Maurice Carroll junior remains the most puzzling.

Maurice was probably the youngest surviving son of my great-great-grandparents. He was born at the Baskin, near Malahide, in north county Dublin. According to his father, he was born on 20 June 1882, but his birth wasn't registered until 13 July, so the date may not be completely accurate. His baptism record is not available online. Maurice and Anne had an earlier son called Maurice, born in May 1877, but that child died shortly after his birth, and they used the name again.

In the 1901 census, Maurice Carroll, stated age seventeen years (actual age nineteen years), was living with his parents and some of his siblings at 20 North Gloucester Place, in Dublin city. He was unmarried and working as a solicitor's general clerk. By the time of the 1911 census, or on census night at least, he wasn't living at home with his mother and siblings. His father had passed away in 1906.

So where was he?

The Dublin electoral registers, online for the years 1908 to 1915, show Maurice Carroll as the 'rated occupier' at 20 North Gloucester Place, in 1909. His mother Anne replaced him as the 'occupier' at the address from 1911 to 1913. And, Thoms Directory shows Maurice lived at 20 North Gloucester Place in 1910, but not in 1911. So, Maurice may have left home about 1910.

A Maurice Carroll, born in Dublin on 22 June 1882 (two days after our Maurice's recorded birthday), declared the intention to apply for US citizenship, in Philadelphia, in May 1911. He had arrived in New York, via Calcutta, India, on 7 May 1911. Was this my great-granduncle?

It's hard to be sure. But it could offer one explanation why he wasn't at home on census night that year. The timing seems right, although what he was doing in Calcutta is anyone's guess. Still, there was only one child with his name registered as born in all Ireland, in 1882 - my great-granduncle. So, it may well have been him.

This chap worked as a groom, not a law clerk, but that's not necessarily a show-stopper. Our Maurice's father was a coachman and his elder half-brother Robert worked as both a coachman and a groom. Our Maurice grew up around horses. The guy in Philly had brown hair, and brown eyes, and was 5 foot, nine inches tall, and my family were typically a few inches shorter, with blue eyes, but who knows. His father was from Co. Tipperary and countrymen tended to be taller than Dubs.

If this was my great-granduncle in Philadelphia in 1911, he came home to Ireland shortly thereafter. I'm fairly certain it was our man who joined Guinness Brewery in Dublin, in 1912, where he worked as a labourer in the cooperage department. The Guinness Archives show Maurice Carroll, born on 20 June 1882, joined the company on 2 October 1912. The Archives suggest he was unmarried at this time. He left their employment, having served just short of seven years, aged thirty-seven years, on 27 August 1919. To go where... I don't know.

If you have any idea, or know anything else about him, I'd love to hear from you:- Blackraven.genealogy[at]gmail[dot]com.