Reginald Samuel Tovey (1847-1901)
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Born:               4 October 1847, Bristol
Christening:    2 November, 1847, Clifton, Bristol
Occupation:     Merchant Navy, Naval Surgeon, General Practitioner

Marriage:         N/A
Death:             12 October 1901, Birmingham Workhouse
Burial:             Not known

I would like to know why he died in the workhouse, considering the wealth of his family and his profession.

Reginald Samuel was indentured in to the Merchant Navy in 1865 (age 17), bound to the British Shipowners Co, of Liverpool.

He was registered as a LSA - Licensed Surgical Assistant in 1884. By 1890, he is practising in Birmingham.

In 1895 UK & Ireland Medical Directories, he is registered at 44, Summerhill Road, Birmingham, as a Medical Officer, Birmingham Medical Aid Society and Liverpool & Vict. Med Aid Soc; Med Ref Lond and Manch Assur Co; late Sur SS 'Nova Zembla'

So at some point prior to 1890, he had been a Ships Surgeon on the SS Nova Zembla, a Dundee whaling ship in the 1870s. It was wrecked /abandoned in 1902 in Dexterity Fjord, on the east coast of Baffin Island, Canada.