Friday 30 April 2021

Zeroing in - AJCP


Zephyr and Zenith

Reference to the murder of the crew of the Zephyr  is found in the Colonial Office records.
Offices: Admiralty, 1875 (File 7. AJCP Reel No: 2207  
Subjects include: Blackbirding; kidnapping; labour traffic; measles; HMS Dido; Reservation of site for Naval service; attack on HMS Pearl; Plantations visited by and attacks on HMS Sandfly; theft by crew of Jessie Kelly (ship); murder of crews of Zephyr and Lalia; HMS Rosario; criminal acts of William Henry 'Bully' Hayes of the Leonora (brig).

Zenith appears in a report written to the Royal Astronomical Society.

Zeroing in on Rowland Childers

The papers of the Childers family leave me wondering if Rowland Childers was sent away as a son needing to make his own way in the world. He arrived in South Australia on the Garonne in September 1878 and his extensive letters home to his father start a day after his arrival.
However, after a trip to Melbourne there is a 1879 claim for a bill he had not paid sent to his father, even though in the letters he mentions the 200 pounds per year allowance his father has provided.

https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2507699960/
Dec 2nd 1879
For: Rt Hon H Childers
Agent Generals Office
Westminster 
London
Sir
I have taken the liberty of sending you the 
enclosed a/c and ask you to hand it to the gentleman who
obtained the goods from me if he is in London.
He was staying at the Melbourne Club and I was given
to understand that he was your son. He left Melbourne
shortly after getting the articles charged to him and I
have not been able to trace him since.
........D Carson
In 1878 his father writes to give his son one more chance and refers to some profligacy at Oxford presumably before his departure. His father threatens to warn his friends in the colonies about his son's irresponsible behaviour and says he will not honour his bills if the irresponsible behaviour continues.

One hopes Rowland reformed his ways, there are plenty of letters to read about his life in Australia. In this 1880 one below to his cousin Emily, he expresses regret.


https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2507692913/view

"As I have told you in the multiplicity of my indebtedness
I overlooked some when I left home
which is much to be regretted. God 
knows I am trying to live cheaply now
and I shudder to think of
the money that was not mine which
I chucked in the gutter"

If you research family history I hope this series has helped you to zoom in or zero in to some of your families' ancestors. 
Why did your ancestors arrive in the lands downunder?

Wishing you research success within the AJCP. Thanks to all those who have visited and commented along the way. 

Download the document - includes all 26 posts  Discover the AJCP 2021 

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

8 comments:

  1. Your series wins my prize as the most informative, interesting, unique and useful collection of posts I have followed in the 2021 #AtoZChallenge. Congratulations and many thanks Carmel.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think if I read through all your posts again I might get back into family research. Thanks for all those informative posts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This letter is fascinating Carmel. I had a quick look at the link to the papers of Rowland Childers. Interesting reading there for later. I will definitely be coming back to each post in this series very soon. It’s been a fabulous series with so much to learn about the AJC that I was ignorant about until you brought it to my attention. Thanks so much Carmel

    ReplyDelete
  4. When I recover from this challenge I look forward to exploring the AJCP more with your prompts to urge me on. Thank you for an interesting exploration.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oops - pressed enter before I had finished. I meant to add that right to the very end you continue to amaze me and I want to shamelessly copy everything you have done e.g. the handy A-Z link list at the bottom of each post and that downloadable document at the end! You have thought of everything. Luckily for you I fear I will be too lazy to copy your inventions, so you will continue to remain incomparable. A fine effort :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you all for the kind comments, it was an interesting exercise!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations Carmel, a very informative series. I'll know where to go should I ever find myself researching in the AJCP.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What an amazing contribution you (and AJCP and Trove) nave made to our research, by making it clear what’s on offer and now beat yo access it. Thanks a million.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting, I welcome your comments.


Enjoyed this post? Want to see more?