William was obviously a successful mariner an obtained his 2nd Mate !st Mate and Master's Certificates in 1866, 1869 and 1871.
He died sometime between 1871 and 1881 and Fanny describes herself as a Widow in the 1881 census.
I have seen an online reference to his death in Jan, 1783, but I have been unable to find a primary source confirmation of this at FMP, Ancestry, the Newspaper Archive and DFHS.
Fanny, a very brave lady, emigrated to Ontario with her 3 children and mistakenly married a no-good parasite who she had met on the voyage. He left her after a few years and returned to England.
Fanny made a very successful life in Ontario as did her children.
Any suggestions as to other sources to confirm Captain Colwill's death would be gratefully received.
John Bennett
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