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George (1) Woodhurst was born in 1839 in Buckland, a few miles north-west of Dover, to parents William (3) Woodhurst and his first wife Mary [Birth Index: Dover 5 109, 1839 (March)].
He was present in his parent's household in each of the 1841 and 1851 Censuses.
On July 5th 1859 he volunteered for continuous engagement with the Royal Navy [Nat. Archives: ADM 139/410/907], giving his date of birth as January 23rd 1839 and his birthplace as Dover.
A relative David Earl Woodhurst alleged in October 2000 - but without citing a source - that George (1) died by drowning in England on April 10th 1861, but no GRO reference has been found for such a death in 1861 or early 1862 under any plausible surname variant. If he did drown then his body may not have been recovered, in which case a death certificate may not have been issued. A different possibility is that he emigrated to America with his siblings in the 1850s and subsequently died there, although no reference has been found to him in American records either.
Perhaps more plausible than either of the above possibilities, however, is that George (1) was an unmarried ordinary seaman whom the 1861 Census finds on board the Royal Naval vessel "Mars" in Palermo Bay, Sicily. This seaman's name, which is crystal clear on the schedule, is given as "Thomas" Woodhurst but - crucially - his age is given as 22 and his birthplace as Dover, details which fit no known Woodhurst other than George (1). It may be that George (1) had disliked his given name, or that the enumerator made a transcription error (the person recorded on the preceding line in the schedule is also entered as having forename George).
No other reference to George (1) has ever been found, and so his fate still remains a mystery.