Continuing from the previous two posts; with some of my writing/jottings from the late 1980s.
I’ve found two other texts. One piece is handwritten with the date 1987 appearing on the very first page. Maybe it was preparation for a lecture that was never delivered? (Or more likely, my memory is shot.) At this early stage of my researches, i was trying to pull together what i knew, or wanted to know, about the Irish orphan “girls”. Here are some of the questions i was asking .
Irish orphan “girls”
Whatwas their [the ‘Earl Grey’ orphans] experience of the Famine?
What was it like to be female and living in a workhouse? Did they remember wearing workhouse clothes, doing workhouse chores, their lives regulated and disciplined in an unattractive way?
On board ship, and in Australia, did their Irish working-class morality and values clash with English, Victorian middle-class ones?
How well did they cope in their new and distant land, without family and friends? Where did they settle? Who among them were casualties? How upwardly mobile were they?
Giventhe fact that they were relatively inarticulate, less literate, for example, than other female migrants, how are we to come close to these young women? How do we come to know them on their own terms?
We’ve all been there before, I’m sure, you in your family history, me in my preface to Barefoot…, or different places in this blog. Yet the big picture, as well as the microcosmic one, is bound to change the more research is done by different people… As indeed it should.
Female migrants and the Ireland they came from.
Gender Balance
My second text is typewritten, and buried in it, i see the heading, “Female migrants and the Ireland they came from“. Again, I surmise this was an early attempt in the late 1980s at gathering information, a means of clarifying my thoughts, and with this one, trying to fit the Earl Grey orphans into the ‘big picture’, whatever that ‘big picture’ might be.
Common to both these texts is an awareness of something i noted in my previous blogpost, viz.
“Women’s participation in the flight from Ireland in the nineteenth century has not always been appreciated, or given the attention it deserves”.
Is that still the case? Maybe others have written about this since then?
Yet I’m still left stunned when told that during the period of white settlement of Australia there is a gender balance of Irish immigrants. That is, nearly as many women, as men, left Ireland for Australia. Surely that turns conventional wisdom about emigration on its head, does it not? (I’m thinking, shorter distance first, males first, family later. No doubt there will be other kinds of ‘conventional wisdom’.)
In the handwritten text mentioned above, I did indeed draw attention to the ‘astonishing’ fact of gender balance. To quote,
“One of the remarkable features of the Irish diaspora in the 19th and 20th centuries is the high proportion of women who took part. Between 1850 and 1950, for example, the proportion of females migrating from European countries other than Ireland hovers around the 33% mark. In the Irish case, the figure is closer to 50%”.
The ‘fact’ also raises all sorts of questions. What conditions in Ireland influenced their decision? Is there more to it than Famine? What part did mothers and their daughters play in a family’s decision to emigrate? Were families prepared to first send a brother and a sister as a means of testing the waters, believing they would, and could, support one another? How important was a Government-Assisted passage? Basically, how are we to explain the male-female ‘balance’ of Irish migrants to Australia? Where does it come from?
The pre-1850 period
Let’s come at this by putting together the women who came to Australia during the earlier, pre-1850 period; (1) female Irish convicts; (2) the women, some from charitable institutions, arriving in the 1830s; (3) the women who came to New South Wales (Eastern Australia) during the 1839-42 exodus, and (4) the 1848-50 Earl Grey orphans. Then we may have a better idea of the origin of that Irish gender balance ‘tradition’.
Let me clarify by expanding briefly on these examples. I’ll use the two rediscovered texts where appropriate.
Irish Female convicts
“With never enough prison space in Ireland for female criminals, it was always easier for the Irish government to send its convicts half way across the globe to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. Recent work suggests that approximately 33 percent of all female convicts came directly from Ireland, although perhaps another 10 percent, tried elsewhere, were of Irish extraction.Nor was their arrival spread evenly over the convict period. Almost 55 percent of convict women arriving between 1815 and 1821were from Ireland. And in Van Diemen’s Land between 1841 and 1853, 46 percent of them were…Not all of them made good in their new Australian home but a substantial number did so, a fact that was not lost on the relatives they left behind.” (from the 2nd, typescript text, written in the late 1980s.) The question here is, what part did the convict connection play in attracting Irish women to Australia?
Family historians are very much aware of the riches of convict records in both Ireland and Australia. Here, in Irish records, is the memorial of Rose Hughes from Cavan asking for clemency.
And here is another example, from Tasmanian Conduct Records (Con 41/16) of
Margaret Graham or Coleman who arrived from Ireland by the JohnCalvin 18 May 1848. She was convicted at Antrim assizes of burglary, 26/10/1847, and sentenced to 10 years in Van Diemen’s Land. She was a 40 y.o. Protestant, native of Antrim, who could both read and write, yet was only 5′.1/2″ tall. She had been convicted five times before, once for stealing a coat (one month sentence), once for a shirt (4 mths). She was a widow, and had one child. In 1850 she spent 5 days in the cells for being drunk. In 1852 she got her Ticket of leave, and in May 1854 her conditional Pardon was approved. Her petition for Family was approved as early as March 1850. (that is, the chance for convicts to reunite with their families left behind. See Perry McIntyre’s Free Passage, Irish Academic Press, 2011.)
“An important precedent was set during the 1830s when young women, many of them from both Irish and English Foundling Hospitals, Houses of Industry and other charitable institutions, were brought into New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land.” And referred readers to an important article by A. J. Hammerton that appeared in [Australian]Historical studies in October 1975 .
Since then, i am very happy to report, our knowledge of the 1830s Irish female immigrants has grown enormously, thanks especially to Dr Liz Rushen in Melbourne. Please take a look at Liz’s website,
The book based on Liz’s doctoral thesis, Single and Free; female migration to Australia, 1833-1837 shows that the majority of the 1830s immigrants came not from charitable institutions but as free enterprising women. I’m not exactly sure how many of the latter were Irish.
To give you an idea of the value of Liz’s work, see Fair Game: Australia’s first immigrant women, Anchor Books, Sydney, 2010, a book she co-authored with Dr Perry McIntyre. In addition to a clear description of how Government and others organised the migration of women by the Red Rover from Cork, and the Princess Royal from London, the authors’ research tentatively uncovers what became of many of the young women. For example,
“Mary Leahy was an 18 year-old servant employed by Mr Bas In George Street for an annual wage of ten guineas, When the colonial authorities reported to Ireland on the fate of the Red Rover women in 1834 she ‘had gone to the East Indies with a family’. (p.195)
I haven’t added up the number of single Irish women who arrived in the 1830s. Maybe Liz , or Perry can tell us. From the vessels carrying those from Dublin and Cork Foundling Hospitals, Duchess of Northumberland (2 trips), James Pattison, Lady McNaughten, including the 1832 Red Rover, and a wild guess at a number for free enterprising women, may i suggest only 1000-1500? Is that too small, or too large a number Liz, Perry?
The 1839-42 Exodus
BY contrast, the number of Irish women who came to Eastern Australia between 1839 and 1842 is much greater. The total number of Irish who arrived in these years is a startling 23,705. Here is a table, for the period January 1841 to June 1842, from NSW parliamentary papers , first reproduced in my Shamrock to Wattle , (1985), p.62.
This influx of arrivals meant that during the early 1840s, there was a large number of Irish women looking for food, shelter and employment. It was in this period that Caroline Chisholm gained her reputation as ‘The Emigrant’s Friend‘. (see my first blogpost on the origins of the ‘Earl Grey scheme’ at the link above, near 1830s women.)
I wonder is there an in-depth study of these 1839-42 Irish immigrants? Eric Richards made a guess one time that the number of females was the same as the number of males. But it was a guess. So large an intake may be crucially important to the origins of our so-called ‘tradition’.
‘God help you, child…If you were mine, I’d never leave you in a house with strangers’. Claire Keegan, Foster, p.27.
The Earl Grey Workhouse orphans, 1848-50
Add the 4-4150 “Earl Grey” famine orphans to the mix, and you will have a better idea of the ‘tradition’ I’m talking about. And that is before any mention of individual vessels carrying single female Irish immigrants, such as the Beulah and Calcutta to Hobart, the Palestine, Travencore, Sabrina and Clare to Freemantle, as well as a number of others. Or the circa five thousand single females who arrived in Port Adelaide in the mid 1850s. Or the very large number of female Irish government-assisted migrants coming to Port Phillip and Port Jackson during the 1850s.
I’ve called this the tradition of Irish female immigration to Australia. Is that the best way to describe it? I’m also interested in putting the ‘Earl Grey orphan scheme’ into context, position it on a bigger canvas. And of course, to pay attention to women’s flight from Ireland to Australia, during the ‘long’ nineteenth century. Too many eggs in the basket?
The question i want to leave you with is this, and i must be careful how i phrase it,
why did so many women leave Ireland to come to Australia during the ‘long nineteenth century’, between 1791 and 1920? You may even wish to extend the end date.
Any suggestions? Do tell me what you think. Noli timere, to quote Seamus Heaney.
Let me finish with something for your delight, from the National Library of Ireland, celebrating the centenary of W.B.Yeats’ Nobel prize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p4Gsl8-t1Y
Can you recite any of these from memory?
and finally, my thanks to www.tintean.org.au for reissuing a story about one of the Belfast girls, Mary McConnell.
P.S. I used AI for the auto-generated excerpt, thanks to WordPress.
I now have a clearer idea of where these recently found scraps of paper came from; they date from the 1980s, as my interest in this particular area of research became more serious. Yet there’s no mention of my taking the subject out of the academy, and appealing to family historians for help.
Some of the scraps relate to my doubts about venturing into women’s history. I was obviously concerned about doing so. Brave? Stupid? Naive? Obstinate? This all seems apparent from what I jotted down.
Here is a random selection of my jottings.
‘Women’s participation in the flight from Ireland in the 19th century has not always been appreciated, or given the attention it deserves‘.
‘It may seem reasonable to assume that destitute young Irish females, victims of the Great Famine, inmates of Victorian workhouses, were among the wretched and oppressed of the earth. But it would be wrong to lump them all together indiscriminately as powerless and passive victims of patriarchal society’. From an early date, I was determined not to deny the famine orphans any agency.
‘Don’t start from an ‘a priori’ position, either forcing or distorting evidence to suit one’s ends, or failing to apply the canons of rigorous self-criticism’.
‘What was the structure of their oppression? Were they passive victims of government instrumentalities—selected, inspected, packed and freighted, indentured and apprenticed, and protected, by a succession of remarkably paternalistic bureaucrats’?
‘Patriarchal values formed part of their cultural background and instinctively some women reacted to the subjugation which these implied. Rebellious or so-called refractory behaviour in a workhouse, or on-board ship to Australia might be interpreted in such a light. Perhaps, too, the decision to emigrate’.
‘Yet however plausible the argument that disaffection with the patriarchal society in which they lived encouraged women to emigrate, there still remains the difficult distance between plausibility, and establishing that this was in fact so’.
‘19th century Irish newspapers cast females in the classic Madonna-Whore mould. Female convicts sent to Van Diemen’s Land were ‘pariahs of their sex, condemned of the law and outcasts of the world’. Female orphans were idealized innocents, ‘rosy-cheeked’, ‘smiling’ and laying claim ‘to that unparalleled beauty for which the daughters of Erin are so characteristic’. But on board ship these rosy-cheeked innocents became ‘the sport and prey of brutalized mariners’, and were led down the road to perdition.
‘But what do stereotypical and patronising attitudes shown towards women in newspapers tell us about the regard with which women were held in society at large anyway? Arguably, not a great deal’.
Do you, dear reader, ever use writing as a way of clarifying your thinking? I imagine that was what I was doing here.
If you have a glance at either of the Cambridge University repository links below, you’ll see how far away from https://earlgreysfamineorphans.wordpress.com the subject of my doctoral thesis was. (Not that i was a total newcomer to Irish history).
I am extremely pleased that so much good material is available on ‘open access’ nowadays. Combat misinformation however and whenever you can…even if my own interest in ‘Jacques Rohault and the history of natural philosophy’ might be a sure fire cure for your insomnia.
I’ve come across a few more typed pages that date from around the same time as these scraps of paper. They deal with the question why so many Irish women left Ireland in the 19th century. I’ll share them with you in the next post. My experience with http://www.tintean.org.au has shown me that posts can, and should sometimes, be short.
…and could hear her saying, yet again, and very clearly, and so late in the day, that she’d changed her mind ...
(from Claire Keegan, So Late in the Day, Faber and Faber, 2023.)
P.S. A landmark commemoration of the Famine orphans will take place in Williamstown 19 November commencing at 2pm.
Disclaimer. ChatGPT is responsible for the description of this post.
Please forgive the delay. I’ve been caught up with a few family matters. Let me put up the missing photographs that I’ve been able to find. I seem not to have those of Margaret De(h)ee or Dea (n) (e) c.1836-1920, per Inconstant to Port Adelaide, my photo of the headstone of Ellen Fox (1833-1896) per Inchinnan to Port Jackson, nor the pic for Bridget Maria Flynn c.1831-1916, from Clonmel, Tipperary, per New Liverpool to Port Phillip. I’ll keep looking.
If you remember from the previous post I had reached as far as Margaret Ward. Here are the pages again, pp.156-9.
and
The first one on p.157 is of Sarah Arbuckle (c. 1834-1908), one of the three Arbuckle sisters from Tyrone, per Derwent to Port Phillip. My thanks to Len Swindley.
Next is Jane (c.1835-96), one of two Bing, or Byng, sisters From Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, per Diadem to Port Phillip. Thanks to Michaela Smart.
Then there’s Catherine Crowley (c. 1834-1909) from Bandon, in County Cork, per John Knox to Port Jackson. Thanks to Patrick St. George.
And the last one on page 157, Catherine Fox (1830-1920) from Armagh, per Earl Grey to Port Jackson. Thanks to Gwen Etherington.
The last photo i have to hand is of Eliza Barrett, nee Greenwood (1830-96) from Moy, County Tyrone, per Earl Grey to Port Jackson. Thanks to Linda Collett.
I’ll keep looking for the other three.
Re Notes, endnotes or footnotes…
There are some brief notes at the very end of the 2021 version of Barefoot (pp.511-12) which tell you where the documents came from, and basically, how some of the “Belfast Girls” were identified. Not all of the young women sent to Maitland and Moreton Bay are identified in the documents. But if you go to the Register list for the Earl Grey you will find many of the others. Beside their name is a notation, “sent to Maitland” or “sent to Moreton Bay”. There are a few anomalies that will pose an interesting problem for some family historians. Eliza McCready from Downpatrick is not mentioned in any of these documents, yet she soon turns up in Moreton Bay. What exactly happened to the Earl Grey women in the first few years? How many on board that ship were sent to Moreton Bay by 1850? I am sure Ray Debnam’s CD , The Feisty Colleens will have some suggestions.
Early in 2017 I made an attempt to add some notes, when i put into my blog a copy of my Preface, and Introduction to the 1991 edition. See for example, https://wp.me/p4SlVj-Zg You will need to scroll down to the end.
One of the problems was that my reference numbers were out of date. Yet such is the magnificent progress made by our archivists, i’ve successfully searched online for the current numbers.
Thus, for example, starting with the references i had regarding Board of Immigration reports for vessel arrivals, e.g. AONSW (Archives Office New South Wales) 4/4699 Microfilm reel 2852, i went to https://mhnsw.au/collections/state-archives-collection/ and was able to find NRS-5255, NRS-5256 and NRS-5257. These are, respectively,
‘Reports by the Immigration Agent on the condition of immigrants and ships on their arrival 1837-1895‘;
‘Reports by Surgeons on the health of immigrants during their passage (Medical Journals) 1838-86‘;
and ‘Reports by the Immigration Board on complaints of immigrants about their passage 1838-87‘.
I assume it is here we would find information about the scandals, mentioned at the bottom of page 19 of the 2021 version of Barefoot..?, regarding the Hyderabad and Fairlie, maybe of the Subraon too. That’s the vessel that arrived in Port Jackson just a few months before the Earl Grey.
Frustratingly, I have a copy of the Report on the Subraon but the precise reference eludes me. Was it in the collection of Reports and other papers at AONSW 9/6298? Although what i have is obviously printed from a negative microfilm.
That’s the one detailing how the young women from a Dublin Foundling Hospital were abused by crew members. Young Dolly Newman was hoisted up the mast, and was later to die from a miscarriage(?).
On page 35 of the 2021 version of Barefoot it is mentioned that prospective employers of the young orphans had to apply formally, and be approved by the Sydney Orphan Committee/Board of Guardians. What i have in my old notes is the reference, AONSW 4/4715-7 “Registers and indexes of applications for orphans 1848-51“. Would a reader like to take up the challenge, and find the current State Records number? Here’s an example to tempt you,
These are the names of individuals applying for an orphan to become their servant. On the example above, at the top of the page, 24 August 1849, John Armstrong, a Surveyor of Macquarie Street, Sydney is applying for an orphan female as a general house servant under an Indenture. And in the last column on the right of the page under result of the application, he is ‘approved for an apprentice’. But there is sometimes much more than this. Further down that page at number 816, there is something about the elusive Mary Littlewood per Earl Grey.
In those early days, one of the most fruitful sources i used at State Archives was the nineteen volumes of Immigration Correspondence (AONSW 4634-52), covering the years 1838-64. For the orphans i concentrated on the years 1847-51. The correspondence coming out of the Immigration Agent’s office, mostly from F.L.S. Merewether, was especially helpful. It is in those volumes, for example, one can trace the story of young Margaret Devlin from Keady, County Armagh. See pages 36-37 of the 2021 Barefoot version.
In effect, from an early date, I was trying to do what every family historian does instinctively, that is, link as many different sources as possible to find information about a particular family member. This “record linkage” will be familiar to many readers. And the great thing is, more and more is discovered all the time.
Using http://mhnsw.au I found that AONSW 4/4635 was now NRS-5247 or rather, Reel 3114. Entering Margaret’s name into the Index search box, I was given the reference to exactly where she appears in reel 3114 and 3115.
Bitten once more by the bug, I delved into the collection of Colonial Secretary papers. I went to the very useful Index to Colonial SecretaryLetters Received 1826-96, created by Joan Reese, Linda Bowman and Aileen Trinder. And there i was alerted to two letters relating to young Margaret Devlin in 1850 and 1851, which i don’t think I’ve seen before. It’s easy to see the attraction for family historians, and others. It is all a very different experience nowadays for researchers. My big hearty congratulations to all our archivists who have made this possible.
That seems to be a good place to stop for now.
May i finish by drawing your attention to this year’s Melbourne Bloomsday celebrations? Exiles by James Joyce looks well worth seeing. It’s on 15th to 25th June. Best check the dates.
From County Westmeath, Ireland to County of Westmoreland, New South Wales.
By Caroline Thornthwaite
This is the story, as much of it as I have been able to put together, of Elizabeth Feeney, a young Irish Catholic orphan who migrated to the Australian colonies under the sponsorship of Earl Grey’s Famine Orphan Emigration Scheme. She is identified as passenger 97 on the Tippoo Saib, which arrived in Port Jackson on 29 July 1850.
Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward Feeny and Jane Thompson, was baptized on 27 June 1832 in the Townland of Mayne (Irish: Maighean), County Westmeath, Ireland.
The Civil Parish of Mayne comprises 19 townlands, including the townland of Mayne. The only village in the Civil Parish of Mayne is Coole, which lies in the townland of Coole (formerly Faughalstown) and borders the townland of Mayne. Geographically, Mayne Townland consists mainly of farming land and low-lying bog land. Its Irish name Maighean literally means ‘farmstead’.
The Catholic Parish of Mayne lies within the Civil Parish of Mayne in the Barony of Fore, County Westmeath. Civil registration of baptisms, marriages and deaths in Ireland did not begin until 1 January 1864. Prior to that, such records were often kept only by the conscientious priests, as they were under no legal or ecclesiastical obligation to do so. Fortunately, the parish priests of Mayne were of the conscientious type, and they kept records from the latter part of 1777. Sadly for family historians, some of the text has faded beyond reading and quite a few pages are missing from the record books.
The names Feeny and Feeney occur in the surviving Church records only on about a dozen occasions, and only between the years 1815 to 1864. This suggests that the family probably moved into the district not long before 1815. There are no Feenys mentioned in the Church records of neighbouring townlands. There are no notations in the church records to indicate where the Feenys came from or what brought them to Mayne Townland. They may, however, have had relatives in the Parish as there are several instances found in church records connecting them to the Tormey family.
There is no record of any Feenys in the Tithe Applotment Books for the Parish of Mayne. These books were compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre should pay in tithes (a 10 per cent religious tax) for the upkeep of the Church of Ireland. Their absence from the Tithe Applotment Books suggests the family were probably farm labourers. If the family had leased any land during those years, it would likely only have been a small plot for growing potatos: potatoes and milk having been the staple diet of the agricultural labouring population until the great famine which decimated the population in the mid-1800s.
Only one Feeny is listed in the Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland for the Parish of Mayne. This valuation of tenements was compiled between 1847-1864 and was a uniform guide to the relative value of land throughout the whole of Ireland. It was used to calculate the amount of Poor Rate each occupier of land was liable to pay. The Poor Rate was effectively a tax for the support of the poor and destitute within each Poor Law Union.
The Valuation of Tenements printed in 1854 lists a James Feeny who rented a house, forge and garden from Reverend Thomas Smith in the Parish of Mayne, Village of Upper Coole, Westmeath. Church records show that James died in 1864. The record gives no indication of his age, marital or social status but simply states “1864, February, Jas Feeney, Coole”. At that time Coole was in the townland of Faughalstown (it later became the townland of Coole) and was also part of the Parish of Mayne.
Given the scarcity of Feenys in the church and civil records and, considering the timeline of the records found so far, it would seem safe to make some assumptions about the make-up of the family.
The family patriarch was Richard, who died in May 1820; age not given. Richard’s wife was Anne; maiden name not given. Anne, described as a widow, died in July 1837; age not given. According to the records, both Richard and Anne were parishioners of the local Catholic church and residents of Mayne Townland. Richard and Anne seemed to have had one daughter and three, possibly four, sons.
A son, Edward, first appears in the records as Edward Finey, a sponsor at the baptism of James Tormey in January 1815. According to Catholic Canon Law, a godparent had to be at least 16 years of age, therefore, Edward could not have been born any later than January 1799.
On 6 February 1829, a daughter, Elizabeth Feeney, married Laurence McGrath. The witnesses were John Reilly and Mary Tormey. Their daughters, Mary and Anne, were baptized on 4 October 1829 and 7 October 1829 respectively; no dates of birth given. Mary’s godparents were Francis Gordon and Mary Tormey, and Anne’s godparents were Terence Clarke and Mary Tims.
On 16 February 1829, Edward Feeney married Jane Thompson in Mayne on 16 February 1829 in the presence of the Reverend Francis Sheridan and the Reverend John Leavy. Jane Thompson was a recent convert to the Catholic faith. She made her profession of faith, and was received into the Roman Catholic church, on 2 November 1828 in the presence of Francis Gordon and James Hughes.
In April 1836, the records show a death for a Mary Feeney, married, from the Parish of Mayne, residing in Mayne Townland: no maiden name given. In April 1843 they show a death for an Elenor Feeny, married, from the Parish of Mayne, residing in Mayne Townland; no maiden name given. Presumably both Mary and Elenor had married one of Richard and Anne’s sons. Perhaps one of them had been the wife of James.
Tragedy struck Edward and Jane’s daughter Elizabeth very early in her life. Edward died on 17 July 1832, a mere 20 days after his daughter Elizabeth was baptized. No details apart from the date of Edwards death were recorded. While still in her teenage years, a second tragedy struck young Elizabeth’s life. The Great Hunger of 1845-1852 had a significant effect on the population of Mayne Townland, an area of 541 acres (about 219 hectares). According to the 1881 Census of Ireland (Province of Leinster), before the famine the population in 1841 was 193 people living in 31 dwellings. Towards the end of the famine in 1851, the population was 118 people living in 20 dwellings. Over the next ten years the population continued to fall and by 1861 there were only 56 people living in 12 dwellings.
Just short of one year after her arrival in New South Wales, Elizabeth married Samuel Slater, a former convict who had, having received a life sentence for housebreaking, received a conditional pardon two years earlier. That Elizabeth Feeney, wife of Samuel Slater, is the same person as Elizabeth Feeny, orphan immigrant, is beyond doubt. The only immigration record found in the archives of the State Records Authority of New South Wales that could possibly match Elizabeth’s arrival in the colony of NSW is found in the Assisted Immigrants Index, in the passenger records for the Tippoo Saib, which arrived in Port Jackson on 29 July, 1850.
According to NSW immigration records and Elizabeth’s death record, her year of birth is calculated as 1835; according to her baptism record and marriage record it is calculated as 1832. Her 1901 obituary[1] states Elizabeth was 69 years old when she died and had lived in the Goulburn district for more than 50 years. That would place her approximate year of birth as 1832 and her arrival in the colony before 1851. The original record of the Tippoo Saibship passenger manifest shows:
No. 97 Feeny Elizabeth, age 15, Dairymaid, Native of Mahan Westmeath, Church of Rome, neither read nor write[2].
The Immigration Board passenger inspection list, recorded before the passengers were permitted to disembark, corroborates the data on the ship passenger manifest and describes Elizabeth’s “state of bodily health, strength and probable usefulness” as “good”.
No.97 Feeny Elizabeth, 15, Dairymaid, Mahan W. Meath, parents Edward & Jane both dead, Roman Catholic, neither read nor write, no relations in the Colony[3].
The age discrepancy on her immigration documents may have been a clerical error, or Elizabeth may have lied about her age, particularly if the workhouse Board of Governors favoured selecting younger females for the orphan emigration scheme (her year of birth is calculated as either 1832 or 1835 on all the official records discovered thus far). A further possibility is that Elizabeth may not have known how old she actually was.
Elizabeth’s place of residence in Ireland is given as Mahan in County Westmeath, however, there is no Mahan found on contemporary maps of County Westmeath or mentioned in Griffiths Valuation of Tenements 1848-1864. Possible locations for Elizabeth’s place of residence in Ireland were Mahonstown, about 12km east of Mullingar, and the townland of Mayne (Irish: Maighean), located about 18km north of Mullingar. A search of the County Westmeath Catholic Church records was rewarded by the find of an Elizabeth Feeny, daughter of Edward and Jane, baptized in the Townland of Mayne in 1832. It is likely that Mahan was a phonetic spelling as heard by the ear of the record-taker.
Elizabeth fared better than many of her orphan contemporaries. Because she was a dairy maid, it is likely that her time at the Hyde Park Barracks would have been short; girls with her experience would have been sent directly to a farming area rather than be sent out as domestic servants. From what we know of Elizabeth’s life, it seems that she was transferred from Hyde Park Barracks to the Immigration Depot at Goulburn, probably enduring a long and uncomfortable journey over the Great Dividing Range by bullock dray. From Goulburn, she would have been collected by her new employer and settled into her new life in the farming community at Richlands, about 45 km (28 miles) north of Goulburn. At that time the Richlands estate, including the estate workers’ village now called Taralga, was owned by William Macarthur and managed by his brother James, sons of the infamous John Macarthur – racketeer, entrepreneur, instigator of the Rum Rebellion and pioneer of the Australian merino wool industry. The Series NRS-5240 Registers and indexes of applications for orphans 1848-1851 held by the State Records Authority of NSW archives holds no details specific to Elizabeth Feeney, nor is there mention of indentures for any of the orphans who arrived aboard the Tippoo Saib in July 1850. The index for 1850 does, however, mention correspondence from the colonial Immigration Agent dated 21 March 1850 forwarding a letter from WJ McArthur of Goulburn “enclosing five Indentures completed and six for completion”. Further correspondence is mentioned in July 1850 from the Immigration Agent forwarding a letter from J McArthur Esq., Goulburn, “reporting the marriage of Mary Lanahan (sic) and Mary Leery (sic), Orphan Females per William & Mary”[4]. The J McArthur referred to was probably JF
[3] State Records Authority of New South Wales: Shipping Master’s Office; Passengers Arriving 1826 – 1900; Part Colonial Secretary series covering 1845 – 1853, reels 1272 [4/5227], 1280 [4/5244].
[4] The orphan ship William & Mary arrived in Sydney on 21 November 1849. Mary Lenahan was employed by William King of Goulburn at £8 for a period of 12 months. Mary Seery was employed by Thomas Capel, a brewer from Goulburn at £10 for a 12-month period. Mary, as Mary Saary, married John Steward on 1 July 1850 at St Saviour’s Church of England, Goulburn.
McArthur Esq, a Justice of the Peace and a sitting Magistrate on the Goulburn Bench. He, presumably, was acting on instructions from the Immigration Office in Sydney in the role of a local guardian.
Although the name of Elizabeth’s employer is not known, such correspondence confirms that young women from the Orphan Emigration Scheme had been sent to employers in Goulburn from at least 1849 onwards, as three orphans from the William & Mary are known to have been in Goulburn in early 1850[1].
Of the 297 orphan girls on board the Tippoo Saib, Elizabeth was one of only seven dairy maids, the other girls being mainly general house servants or nurse maids. Elizabeth may have been selected for employment specifically for that reason and employed either by Messrs Macarthur or one of their Richlands tenants, some of whom were dairy farmers[2]. Various birth, death and marriage records confirm that Elizabeth lived on the Richlands estate for the remainder of her life.
On 25 June 1851, one year after her arrival in New South Wales, Elizabeth married Samuel Slater at Richlands homestead, the home of the estate manager, Mr George Martyr. The marriage was conducted by William Sowerby, a minister from St Saviour’s Church of England, Goulburn. Samuel Slater had been assigned to James Macarthur in 1832 and worked between the Macarthur-owned estates of Camden Park and Richlands. On being granted a Ticket of Leave in 1841, Samuel was employed by the Macarthur family and soon relocated permanently to Richlands around 1842. Samuel received a Conditional Pardon in 1848.
At the time of Elizabeth’s arrival in the district, there were about 50 families living on the Richlands estate. They were all tenant farmers growing cereal crops such as wheat, oats and barley, or raising sheep, cattle, pigs and horses. The usual lease arrangements were 20-year leases for £15 per acre. Most of the lots averaged about 500 acres in size and were on what was widely considered to be some of the best land in the colony.
The marriage record of Samuel Slater and Elizabeth Feeney states that the groom was a bachelor, born in Derbyshire, a Stonemason, age 58 [according to the government records Samuel would actually have been 48], residing at Richlands, parents not listed. The bride was a spinster, born in Ireland, occupation not listed, age 19, residing at Richlands, parents not listed. The witnesses were George Martyr (the manager of Richlands estate), Angus Mackay (who would later become Instructor in Agriculture to the Board of Technical Education) and Elizabeth Weeks (wife of one of the tenant farmers), all of Richlands. The couple were married by banns. The bride signed with her mark[3].
The marriage of a 19-year-old girl to a man nearing his 50th birthday would be almost unheard of in our day and age, but at that time marriages were nearly always a matter of convenience. If love were to flower in time, all the better. In the case of Elizabeth and Samuel, the marriage would have been mutually beneficial. In marrying Samuel, Elizabeth would be working for herself and her future family; she need never be at the beck and call of an employer again. On the financial side, Samuel had been a wage-earner for almost ten years and, if he was not already a leaseholder, was probably well on his way to affording to lease his own farm on the Richlands estate. In marrying Elizabeth, Samuel had gained a young and healthy wife; as a dairymaid, Elizabeth knew her way around cattle and would contribute to the work of a farm, as well as provide Samuel with the creature comforts of home and companionship.
[1] In addition to Mary Lenehan and Mary Seery, Mary Ann Long (according to the Famine Orphan Database) on “14 Feb 1850 one of 4 orphans who absconded from Mr Peter’s dray on way to Wagga, returned to Goulburn Depot.”
[2] Dairy products had been produced since the earliest days of settlement in the Taralga district. The 600-acre property granted to Mr Thomas Howe, cheesemaker, in 1828 was later purchased by Edward Macarthur as it joined the northern boundary of Macarthur’s ‘Richlands’ estate. Richlands homestead and its various buildings were subsequently built there. Source: Taralga Historical Society Inc, 83 Orchard Road Taralga, NSW, 2580, Newsletter No 4, 2019, http://taralgahistoricalsociety.com.au/THS%20NEWS%204,%202019.pdf.
[3] NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Marriage 434/1851 V1851434 37B, Slater Samuel, Feaney Elizabeth, MC.
Elizabeth and Samuel were married for 18 years and had thirteen children together. Sadly, only seven of their children survived to adulthood. According to Samuel’s death certificate of 1869, two males and three females died in infancy (those births were not registered, which was not uncommon in the remoter areas of the colony) and toddler Samuel Junior, not yet two years old, fell into a well and drowned. Of the remaining seven children, four males and three females, all but Joseph married and had children of their own. The older children seem to have been baptized into the Anglican faith and the younger ones into the Roman Catholic faith. This may have been due to a lack of Catholic clergy in the area in the earlier years, as the first Catholic church built in the area was St Ignatius at Taralga in 1864, and even then, the priest was attached to the parish at Crookwell, 39 km (29 miles) away.
The four surviving adult sons – Thomas, Samuel Francis, Edward and Joseph – initially all lived in the Taralga area on or near the Macarthur Richlands and Guineacor properties; first as labourers, then later as tenant crop farmers and also raising horses, cattle and sheep. The Slater brothers’ personal stock brands were registered and published in the NSW Government Gazette between 1890 and 1921. Thomas, who “was of a retiring disposition” and “well-liked by all who knew him”[2], married Norah Foran, a farmer’s daughter and assisted immigrant from Glasclune, County Clare, Ireland who had arrived in 1881 per Clyde. Thomas and Norah eventually pioneered at Redground, to the northeast of Goulburn. Of Thomas and Norah’s children, three daughters and one son married siblings from the neighbouring Skelly family, whose parents were both of Irish descent. Thomas died at Goulburn in 1939. Joseph remained a bachelor and died at the Rydalmere Mental Hospital in 1944. Samuel Francis, a “widely known stockman”[3] and who was “well known and highly respected throughout the community”[4], married Norah Foran’s younger sister, Catherine. Catherine (known as Katie or Kate) was also an assisted immigrant, arriving in 1886 per Port Victor. Sam and Kate bought a 200-acre grazing property at Wombeyan Caves to the northeast of Taralga in 1910, which they called Wattle Flat. Sam worked his property until shortly before his death at Goulburn in 1950. Edward married Mary Lennam, a nurse, also of Irish descent. He is believed to have died in Tasmania.
One can only imagine Elizabeth’s delight when three of her sons married Irish brides and two of her three daughters married Irish-born or Irish-descended men. Did they speak Gaelic and reminisce about the old country when they were together? Did they sing Irish folk songs and share stories around the fireplace? Perhaps it helped to ease any homesickness or sadness at separation from family, perhaps the Irish commonality strengthened the bond of extended family ties.
Samuel Slater died in 1869, leaving Elizabeth a widow at a relatively young age with seven minor children to care for, one of whom was just a babe in arms. Elizabeth did not remarry, as many of the other Earl Grey orphans were forced to do to ensure some kind of security for themselves and their children. According to Elizabeth’s 1901 newspaper obituary, many years earlier she had been granted a farm free of rent for her lifetime in consideration of the Slaters’ long and faithful years of service to the Macarthur family. That farm and house would have been the property on Portion 3, where the Slaters had been farming and raising stock for some years. This act of generosity was undoubtably at the hand of Mrs Elizabeth Macarthur-Onslow (James Macarthur’s sole child and heir) and would have occurred at the time of Samuel’s death. Mrs Macarthur-Onslow had a reputation as a kind and generous person who had great concern for her employees and their families and “was always devising ways to give them better homes and brighter lives”[10]. Elizabeth remained a widow for 31 years.
In January 1901, Elizabeth contracted influenza resulting in pneumonia. After a nine-day illness, she died in her home at Richlands on 14 January 1901, having been well cared for by her family and attended to by her parish priest. Her death certificate states she was 69 years old, born in County Westmeath, Ireland and that her time in the colony was 56 years[11]. Elizabeth’s son Edward was the informant; however, there are errors in the information he provided. Edward mistakenly attributed his own father’s trade of stonemason to Elizabeth’s father and gave the name of Elizabeth’s mother as Elizabeth instead of Jane. Although Elizabeth did not name any of her daughters after her own mother, three of her granddaughters were given Jane as a middle name (Elizabeth Jane Barry, Bessie Jane Slater and Clara Jane McAleer). It is likely that Elizabeth was, herself, generally referred to as Bessie. Elizabeth was buried on 16 January 1901 in the Catholic section of the Stonequarry Cemetery (now Taralga Cemetery), off Golspie Road near Taralga, NSW.
The day after Elizabeth’s funeral, her house and its entire contents burned to the ground due to an accidental fire. Elizabeth’s orphan box may well have been among the contents destroyed in the fire. That same little box, made to a regulation size of 2 feet long x 14 inches wide x 14 inches deep (61cm x 35.5cm x 35.5cm) and with her name painted on the front, that accompanied her to Australia and was full with treasure in the form of clothes and personal items, all brand new and of good quality in accordance with a list prescribed by the Emigration Commission which was pasted inside the lid.
Only one of the boxes issued to the 4,114 girls participating in the Orphan Emigration Scheme in NSW is known to have survived and was on display in the Hyde Park Barracks Museum in Macquarie Street, Sydney in 2021.
Box belonging to Margaret Hurley from Gort, Co. Galway per Thomas Arbuthnot (arrived Sydney 1849).
Owned by her great-granddaughter, Rose Marie Perry. Photo: Darrell Thornthwaite.
Elizabeth’s obituary was published in The Catholic Press and the Goulburn Herald.
Elizabeth Feeney and Samuel Slater had at least 40 grandchildren. Their descendants include pioneering farmers, stockmen, graziers, votaries, health care professionals, public servants, servicemen in the armed forces and fire brigade, schoolteachers and businesspeople. Although there is little in the surviving records to tell us much about Elizabeth as a person, we can safely deduce that she was level-headed and not fearful of taking big steps to ensure her own survival against huge odds; that she was a dedicated wife and mother who knew the pain of losing some of her children at far too young an age; that, as a young widow, she was physically and emotionally strong enough to bring up her children alone; that her surviving children loved her and cared for her in her old age; that she had a most generous benefactress who deemed Elizabeth, even though she was not yet 40 years old, deserving of farmland and housing free of rent for the rest of her life; that she had brought up her children to be good, kind and charitable people who were well thought of by all who knew them; that she was a woman of faith; and that she was well respected within her community because her funeral was “very largely attended”. Elizabeth will be remembered by her descendants as one of the 4,114 Irish orphan females landed in NSW who truly became the ‘mothers of Australia’.
Researched and written by Caroline Thornthwaite, 2022.
For my husband Darrell and his three brothers, Dennis, David and Bruce; fourth-generation descendants of Samuel Slater and Elizabeth Feeney.
State Records Authority of NSW, Assisted Immigrants (digital) shipping lists 1828-1896, Tippoo Saib 29 July 1850, viewed 2021, https://indexes.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.aspx?Page=NRS5316/4_4786/Tippoo%20Saib_29%20Jul%201850/4_478600555.jpg&No=6
State Records Authority of NSW, Immigration – Registers and Indexes of Applications for Orphans 1848-51, Item 4/4716, Register 1850-51, Volume 3, Reel 3111.
State Records Authority of New South Wales: Shipping Master’s Office; Passengers Arriving 1826 -1900; Part Colonial Secretary series covering 1845 – 1853, reels 1272 [4/5227], 1280 [4/5244].
Sydney Living Museums, Irish Orphan Girls at Hyde Park Barracks, viewed 2021
[11] NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Death 3217/1901, Slater Elizabeth, Taralga.
My thanks to Caroline Thornthwaite who has kindly allowed me to put into my blog, her well-researched and finely written orphan story, that of Elizabeth Feeney from ‘Mahan, Westmeath’ per Tippoo Saib. She hopes readers will find it either interesting or useful, or both.
Peter has kindly allowed me to share this version of his orphan ancestor’s story. (see Blogpost 84) Ann was another Port Phillip arrival.
Ann Trainer or Traynor per Derwent
Born c 1833 Ireland. Died 1874 New Zealand
Her story
by great great grandson Peter James Hansen, February 2022.
Ann Trainer, my great great grandmother, was unknown to my family until the early 1990s. My discovery of her was a huge surprise as my parents prided themselves as having no benighted Irish or Roman Catholics in their ancestry. I found an Irish Roman Catholic ancestor on both sides of our family. Both were Irish female famine orphans, each with sad stories to uncover.
This story is about Ann Trainer on my mother’s side.
Born out of wedlock, institutionalised, living much of her youth in a workhouse. Shipped to Australia under a British Govt scheme to provide domestic servants & wives. The Victorian gold rush in Australia from 1851-late 1860s. Marriage to a sea captain, three children, prostitution, drunkenness & finally an early death in a rip-roaring frontier gold rush town on New Zealand’s wild West Coast.
According to the Magherafelt Workhouse records, Ann Trainer’s mother was Catherine Cassidy b c 1797, single spinster Roman Catholic who had three illegitimate children, Samuel Cassidy b c 1830, Ann Traynor b c 1833 & Patrick Henry b c 1839.
Sam’s father is unknown but Ann & Pat both had surnames acknowledging the putative fathers, Traynor/Trainer & Henry.
The Magherafelt Workhouse records usually name Ann as Ann Traynor but occasionally as Ann Cassidy.
The Magherafelt Workhouse opened in March 1842.
A few weeks later Catherine Cassidy aged 45 single spinster Roman Catholic, clean, from the Electoral Division of Tobermore townland of Drumreany was admitted 26 March 1842 with two bastard children. Ann Traynor aged 9 & Patrick Henry aged 3. They were discharged on 5 August 1842.
Further transcriptions of the Magherafelt Workhouse records reveal the following
Entering the workhouse 23 August 1842, leaving 16 Sept 1842. Catherine with two children. Ann’s age was recorded as 10.
In 16 Dec 1842 & out 3 April 1843 when Catherine 46 is described as single, a spinner, Roman Catholic woman with 3 bastard children. Ann described as being 9.
In 25 Sept & out 14 Oct 1843. Catherine Cassidy aged 48, single, with children all very wretched. Samuel Cassidy 12, Ann Traynor 10 Pat Henry 4.
In 4 Feb 1845 out 24 March 1845. Catherine Cassidy single mendicant, clean of Tobermore with two children. Ann Traynor 10 & Pat’k Henry 5.
In 12 July 1845 out 28 July 1845. Catherine Cassidy 49 single mendicant having one child clean & healthy of Tobermore. Patrick Henry 7.
(Where were Ann Traynor & Samuel Cassidy?)
Autumn of 1845 saw the first failure of the potato crop.
In 2 Dec 1845 out 26 Jan 1846. Catherine Cassidy 40! Single with 2 children. Clean, of Tobermore. Samuel Cassidy 15 occupation out of service escaped over wall 25 Jan 1846. Ann Traynor 12 out of service.
In 15 May 1846 out 24 Aug 1846. Catherine Cassidy labourer,49, unable to support herself and her children. Tobermore townland of Ballinderry, clean. Ann Cassidy (Traynor) 12 & Pat Casidy (Henry) 8.
Autumn of 1846 saw the second failure of the potato crop.
In 26 Sept 1846 out 6 Aug 1847. Catherine Cassidy 48 single labourer unable to support herself and children, clean from Tobermore. Samuel Cassidy 15 escaped over the wall 2 Oct 1846 (for the second time). Ann aged 12.
The winter of 1846/47 was severe and fever was rife.
Patrick Henry aged 8 died 21 April 1847 in the Magherafelt Workhouse.
In 24 Dec 1847 out 7 July 1848. Catherine Cassidy 52, single no means of support mendicant with one child healthy. Ann bastard child healthy.
In 4 January 1849 out 30 Oct 1849. Anne Cassidy listed on her own aged 16 single destitute. (Where was her mother?)
Nothing more is known of Catherine Cassidy. Had she died by Jan 1849?
What happened to Samuel Cassidy after his second escape over the workhouse wall 2 Oct 1846?
Ann Trainer was selected from the Magherafelt Workhouse to be part of the ‘Earl Grey scheme’.
On 9th Nov 1849 she and 135 other female orphans from northern Ireland left Plymouth in the 365 ton barque ‘Derwent’ for Port Phillip. There was the usual problem of the crew fraternising with these young girls on the long voyage. There is no record of Ann being involved in any incidents on the 78-day trip.
The ‘Derwent’ arrived at Port Phillip Bay on 25 February 1850.
The Derwent’s manifesto names Ann,
No 121 Trainer, Ann, House Servant, age 16, Native Place and County – Maherfelt, Derry, Roman Catholic, Read & Write – both. (Ann only signed with an ‘X’ on her marriage registration)
On the Disposal list she appears as ‘Trainer, Ann, 16, RC, House Servt., Employer – Andrew Doyle, Carpenter, Collins St. at the rate of £8 per annum for 6 months.
There is no further record of Ann until her marriage in January 1854.
In the meantime, the Victorian goldrushes commenced in 1851 and literally hordes of mostly males seeking their fortunes arrived at Melbourne from the world over and dispersed throughout the diggings in Victoria. Melbourne became deserted as goldrush mania affected many. Crews deserted their ships including that of Ann’s future son-in-law William McKechnie from Dundee, Scotland. It was probably there that he first met Captain Whitford, Ann’s husband and also Richard Seddon, future Prime Minister of New Zealand. They were all ‘mates’.
On 18 January 1854, St James Church Melbourne Ann married George Whitford. The marriage certificate describes George as,
George Whitford, Bachelor, born At Sea, Master Mariner, age 23, residence Russell Street, parents John Whitford, deceased, Master Mariner, Mary Whitford maiden name unknown.
And Ann as, Ann Trainer, spinster, born Belfast, Ireland, occupation ‘Independant’, age 21, residence Russell Street, parents James Trainer, Schoolmaster, Catherine Kessedy maiden name.
They married in the Cathedral Church of St James according to the Rites of the Church of England.
Signed-George Whitford & Ann ‘X’ Trainer
George Whitford was master of the lighter “Allegro” which traded around Port Phillip Bay. Ann went to live with him on the ship and their three children were born on board at nearby Hobsons Bay.
Their first child George Arthur Whitford was born in Hobsons Bay 20 August 1854.
Their second child was born on the lighter ‘Legro’ (the “Allegro”) Hobsons Bay 23 May 1856. She was registered on 24 July 1856 by Ann as Winefred Elizabeth Whitford. Father, George Richard Whitford, 25, Master Mariner, born at sea Malabar Coast (India), mother Ann Whitford formerly Trainer, 22 born Belfast Ireland. Informant-The X mark of Ann Whitford, mother, Hobson’s Bay.
No trace of Winefred Elizabeth exists after this. However, on 15 October 1856 a baptism took place in St James’ Cathedral of a Mary Jane Whitford with the same birth date 23 May 1856, same parents & their abode is given as Yarra Yarra (Melbourne wharves). Baptismal names take precedence over registered names. Mary Jane is my great grandmother.
Their third child James Richard Whitford was born on the ‘Allegro’ 5th May 1858. Ann again signed X Her mark.
George Whitford then went on to be master of the paddle steamer ‘Lioness’ for seven years. It seems that the Whitford family then moved into a cottage at Port Sandridge near Melbourne.
In Oct 1865 at Hokitika, Westland, New Zealand, Capt George Whitford met his former ship ps ‘Lioness’ to take up duties as a tug master towing sailing ships over the dangerous Hokitika river bar. Hokitika and Greymouth became the centres of a goldrush. There are numerous recorded accounts of Capt Whitford and his superb seamanship.
Ann and the three children followed at a later date & lived in a house Capt Whitford owned near Gibsons Quay in the town.
In 1869 Capt Whitford was appointed as Pilot for the Ports of Westland. However soon afterwards he disappeared. A George Whitford seaman died in a Melbourne infirmary in 1879.
George Whitford, Master Mariner, Ann’s husband.
Family tradition is that Ann and her children were left unsupported and destitute. However, the children appear to have received an education.
Shortly before she died in 1874 Ann featured in a sordid court case held in the Magistrates & then Supreme Court. March & September 1874. It was reported in salacious detail in the West Coast Times. A sad finale to her life. Ann was acquitted of charges but was a witness to a theft in a brothel where she was staying. She’s described as being very drunk.
Finally, in the West Coast Times 8 Sept 1874
“In the case of Annie Haines tried yesterday for larceny, a most material witness, a woman named Whitford, was unable to attend, being ill in Hospital……”
Annie Cassidy/Trainer/Whitford died on 8th October 1874, Hokitika Hospital aged 36 (sic) years, actually c 41) married, of Phthsis (Tuberculosis), informant NR Goodrich, Carpenter, Hokitika.
Annie Whitford was interred in Hokitika Cemetery 13 October 1874. The plot in the Roman Catholic section was purchased by her husband’s friend William McKechnie.
Annie’s grave set apart from the row of nuns nearby.
If an academic historian writes about your ancestor without consulting you, is that appropriation? Or if a family historian ‘borrows’ something written by a professional historian, say, about the Earl Grey scheme, without acknowledgment, is that plagiarism? There are all sorts of tricky questions to explore, are there not?
Here’s the latest story testing the hypothesis raised in the last post. Thankyou for this loving, sensitive tribute, Bren. This is something special that only a descendant can bring to an orphan story.
Bren’s heartfelt story of her Irish Orphan …
One day out of the blue I read an article about the Earl Grey Scheme.
There had been no luck finding my Mum’s maternal side of the family and the joke was they must have swum to Australia, but after reading this story I started researching every Julia that came to Melbourne through this scheme and that’s when I found her.
A 16 year old girl named Julia Keohane. Taken out of the Skibbereen Workhouse, put onto the ship ‘Eliza Caroline’ in 1849 and literally dumped onto the other side of the world.
Others might say ’well that sounds a bit dramatic’ but it’s my take on how my GGGGrandmother was treated, it’s personal for me and my family.
An illiterate, RC girl who lived in rags and walked barefoot all her life was given a box full of clothes, two pairs of shoes and the chance to leave the hell hole that was Skibbereen Workhouse. She didn’t have a clue where she was off to, no concept of distance, gave no thought to how she was to survive, she just wanted to escape the misery of where she was.
Julia became my obsession. I could follow most of her tough life through Trove newspapers. At times she comes across as feisty, cheeky and cocky during her court appearances, but it struck me she was never treated with any empathy or care.
Julia was a loving Mum and I’m pleased to tell her story, though it’s a sanitised version of her life as a means of offering her some dignity that never came her way during her lifetime.
This is Julia’s story … a kid from Skibbereen.
Julia Keohane knew only abject poverty growing up.
Then a miracle occurred in her young pubescent life. Being presented with a box full of new clothes and two pairs of shoes, Julia had never worn shoes before, she was made to feel important and special for the first time in her life. Most of all she was being given the opportunity to escape from the misery that was the Skibbereen Workhouse.
Her adventure began on New Years Eve 1849 when the ship ‘Eliza Caroline’ sailed out of Plymouth.
Julia had no concept of where she was being sent, but it was understood that work would be found, even though she had no skills and had never been employed before. It was also accepted by every girl on that ship that you needed a man to survive in this world, more than employment.
After leaving the Immigration Depot it was the first time in her life that Julia could make decisions on her own. She was employed with a Mrs Andrews of Spring Street, Melbourne and within weeks had somehow met Thomas Connolly and was pregnant! With no thought of the consequences this 16 year old naively rushed and put all her faith and trust into an ex-convict from Tasmania who was 10 years her senior
Julia and Thomas were now a couple with a baby on the way. The summer of 1850/51 has been recorded as long and hot, a new phenomenon for Julia. For days bushfires raged terrifyingly uncontrolled in the Plenty Ranges north-east of Melbourne and this is where the now 17 year old gave birth to a healthy son, John Thomas Connolly.
S.T. Gill, ‘Canvas Town” Yarra River c.1852-3, Wikimedia Commons
Twelve months on and a large tent city called Canvas Town sprung up on the banks of the Yarra River housing all the new arrivals coming to Melbourne. For a few shillings a week you could hire a tent to provide shelter from the elements. This is where the new family settled with Julia starting a small shop from their tent, while Thomas was up to his petty criminal ways.
By 1853 Thomas had a reputation around Canvas Town and had progressed to the more serious crime of robbery and assault.
When Julia heard about the arrest she marched up to the victims tent and tried reasoning with them not to lay charges, but the situation turned ugly with the police now charging Julia with intimidating a witness. She went to court and pleaded for mercy and because of her circumstances, a young girl with a baby, she was given a warning. Thomas got 3 years hard labour on the roads.
Barely 19 years of age, after being dumped in a strange country now with no man or family for support, Julia was totally alone. To make matters worse she was going to lose her home, because the Government had decided to close down Canvas Town which had slowly turned into a slum full of fever and crime. Her only option was to head to the other side of town where all the outcasts lived and the Chinamen welcomed her to their tribe.
The following years had Thomas in and out of jail which left Julia and baby John struggling on the streets. Alcohol became her crutch. There are many articles in the newspapers written of her arrests. She was shown no empathy, given no dignity, and left to endure the hardship of survival on the streets.
In the following ten years Julia did distance herself from Thomas Connolly and left Melbourne moving to another big city, Ballarat. Her son John now a teenager and independent, was working as a Wood Splitter in the Ballarat area. After living such a hard, unstable life with alcohol her only comfort and respite Julia was by this time psychologically damaged.
It was in Ballarat that Julia met up with Tom Middleton through their shared bad drinking habits and arrests.
By 1866 they had set up house together. Tom worked as a fish hawker and was away from home days/weeks at a time. Julia was fearful being alone and slept with a knife under her pillow. Depression and drink often left her talking of suicide.
In 1870, Thomas Connolly the father of her son, died in a horse and dray accident. Two years later Julia’s now partner Tom Middleton lost his younger brother John and buried him in the new Ballarat Cemetery.
It was around this time Julia’s son John stopped using the surname of Connolly and assumed the name of Middleton.
In 1889, after living together for 20 years, Julia and Tom decided to get married. They were living behind the kitchens in a room at the Perseverance Hotel, Main Street, Ballarat.
Julia being illiterate needed someone to complete the marriage forms on her behalf and she wanted it acknowledged that she had given birth to 6 children. Tom Middleton says he had none. Where are those 5 missing children? Only Julia knows, but to acknowledge them on her marriage certificate demonstrates that she had not forgotten them.
A year passes and on the day of Julia’s death Tom had been away working. When he arrived home Julia was across the laneway visiting a neighbour. Tom asked her to go home and make him some dinner while he checked on the horse and from there an argument erupted and Julia got stabbed.
From the Inquest there is evidence from neighbours describing how as Julia lay dying, after saying her prayers, it was her son John who she was most worried about.
Tom did get arrested, but was it manslaughter, murder or suicide?
Three times a jury could not come to a verdict, so the Judge had no option but to give him his freedom.
Tom buried Julia in the Ballarat Cemetery, alongside his younger brother.
He stayed on in Ballarat alone and died in 1906.
Julia’s son John grew into a hard working man employed as a Line Repairer with the railways. He married and had 12 children and lived to the grand old age of 89 years. His first daughter was named after his wife’s mother, his second daughter he named Julia, after his mother.
p.s. The cover image is of Old Chapel Lane, Skibbereen at the time of the Famine, from the London Illustrated News.
You may remember a few posts ago (post 76 ‘Re-defining the task’ https://wp.me/p4SlVj-2sJ ), i suggested we look at the Freeman’s Journal to understand the Sydney Irish community’s response to the unfolding scandal about the Irish orphan ‘girls’ in the late 1850s. Why did they take so long to respond to an 1855 Immigration report condemning the Cork women who had recently arrived by the Lady Kennaway? Two of my earlier posts, 26 and 28, about the ensuing 1858-9 NSW Government enquiry had tried to put that enquiry into context, suggesting we do not accept it at face value. See https://wp.me/p4SlVj-BT or/and https://earlgreysfamineorphans.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/earl-greys-irish-famine-orphans-28/
The enquiry had morphed into looking at the ‘Earl Grey Irish Female orphan scheme’.
The article shows how long it took for the Blue Books , that is, the published reports of British Parliamentary committees and royal commissions, to reach Sydney. The ‘tyranny of distance’ had struck again. It was not until 1857 that Governor Denison’s and Immigration Agent H.H. Browne’s condemnation of Irish female immigration became widely known. Or is that too simple? Browne’s report on the alleged scandal associated with the young Irish women from Cork Workhouse who arrived in Port Jackson by the Lady Kennaway in 1855 finished with,
Orphan immigration having been so distasteful to the inhabitants of this colony, the Board did not contemplate the arrival of any fresh drafts of that class of immigrants. This feeling against them still exists, and the Board feel that they should ill perform their duty were they not to bring this fact pointedly under the notice of his Excellency the Governor-General, with a recommendation that instruction be given to the Commissioners not to continue this description of emigration, it being most unsuitable to the requirements of the colony, and, at the same time, distasteful to the majority of people.
Freeman’s Journal, 5 December, 1857, p.2.
The Journal continued to print extracts from the Blue Books, the following from Lord John Russell via the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners to Sir William Denison,
We learn from the report…that the conduct of the young women on the voyage was good; that the care with which they had been selected was apparent…We shall act on this expression of opinion (that is, that of H.H. Browne, which was supported by William Denison, asking for an end to this sort of migration) although we may be permitted to observe that the readiness with which the young women in question obtained situtations, and the wages paid them, are scarcely reconcileable with the statement that they are”most unsuitable” to the wants of the colony.
Freeman’s Journal, ibid.
The author goes on to accuse the Governor-General of acting too hastily in support of the Sydney Immigration Board, and to raise the issue of prejudice against Roman Catholics. Sectarianism was never far from the surface of colonial politics, and beyond.
Without accusing the gentlemen constituting this Board, viz., Messrs. H.H. Browne, Gother G. Mann, and Haynes G. Alleyne, of having been influenced by undue motives in coming to their expressed conclusion, yet, when it is remembered that they are all identified with the modern Church of England party in the colony, it is not unfair to conclude that they suffered themselves, maybe unwittingly, to have been betrayed by their prejudices into the commission of this act of injustice towards a defenceless class, adherents of the ancient faith…
We expect, nay we demand–to use the language of the illustrious O’Connell– for the Irish the right to “a clear stage, and no favour”.
Freeman’s Journal, ibid.
We’ll need to do further research on the Journal and its contributors. Was the author of this article the founder of the Journal, Archdeacon McEncroe, himself? or perhaps it was from Daniel Deniehy? There were plenty of willing contributors at the time. And there were plenty ready to push for a parliamentary enquiry. And soon would do so, through the Celtic Association.
In the first half of this year a handful of Macquarie University students developed their research skills and wrote up their findings in a number of Irish Famine orphan histories. I haven’t yet seen the results but look forward to doing so when they become available. It was a difficult time for these interns. Working during the coronavirus pandemic, the scandalous betrayal of university teachers, and being restricted to what was available online cannot have been easy. What i have to offer here, alas, is too late for their endeavours. But i hope it will be useful to someone either now, or in the future.
South Australia
My first offering concerns South Australia. The serendipitous ‘finds’ happened when in the 1980s and 90s i was working on the large influx of Irish women who came to Adelaide in the mid 1850s. The South Australia Government Gazette, ‘Ships Papers’ held in the State Archives at GRG 35/48, ‘Immigration Agent, Letters-in’ at GRG35/43, the ‘Irish ‘girls’ at Clare’ GRG 24/6 2431, were especially useful. I’m sure others have used them to good effect since then. Official Government sources generally spoke well of the young women as did those in places of Irish settlement such as Clare.
Government Gazette22 November 1849 pp.37-8,
“The facts mentioned in the Commissioner’s Report shew that the young females sent from Work-houses have hitherto been of an age to render them useful and independent. Indeedthe best evidence to that effectis contained in the very favourable accounts which …you have had occasion to giveof theconduct of the Irish Orphans, andof the satisfaction they have givem to their employers“.
But there was also plenty of prejudice against them from the Emigration Department, and Surgeons Superintendent. Which only shows how Surgeons could affect the reputation of these young women in their new home. The Surgeon on the Nugget which arrived in July 1854 said of the prospects for the arrivals on board, “Tolerably good for the good, but little for the semi barbarous pauper Irish girls who have never seen the inside of a house and who know nothing”. Contrast this with the Report of the Surgeon per Royal Albert arriving in Port Adelaide in December 1855. He stated “There is a great outcry, at present, in the colony against Irish immigrants. I am happy to state however, that the Irish single females per “Royal Albert” have nearly all obtained employment. This is, in a great measure, owing to the excellent account i was enabled to give of their conduct during the voyage”.
What struck me in reading through my notes was that there is material here for anyone wishing to write about the ‘collective mentalite’ of young Irish immigrant females. I used this idea many moons ago in my teaching. Is it still a thing? You know what i mean, instead of looking at these young women through ‘official’ male eyes, it is a way of studying their ‘basic habits of mind’ about everything…about the voyage, their immigration experience, their attitude to ordinary, everyday things, their upcoming employment as domestic servants, their sexuality, family life, friendship, “the elemental passages of life”. That kind of thing. There is a lovely essay by Patrick Hutton on this subject in History and Theory, vol. 20, no. 3, October 1981, pp.237-59, for anyone interested. The Surgeon on the Oriental suggested one of the reasons for dissatisfaction with the Irish was “ they are obstinate and will not obey ordersand likewise that they know nothing of domestic habits“, that is of their prospective colonial masters and mistresses. Would they be ‘broken’ or acculturated by the need for a job or by the demands of married life, or do you think they remained feisty, rebellious, and independent?
The sheer number of letters coming into the the South Australian Immigration Agent’s office shows how strong were their family bonds, mothers enquiring about their daughters, “…if you would be so kind as to let me know did she arrive or die on the voyage …”, this from ‘her distressed friends’ asking about Frances McDowal from Dublin who was in the Destitute Asylum in Adelaide, “considered an imbecile”. Or letters from far afield, from Melbourne, Kiama, and New Zealand, offering to pay their family member’s passage to where they lived, because “she is totally unacquainted in Adelaide”. James Byrnes in 1855 offers ‘when i get an account from them (Honora and Margaret Hogan)I will paytheir passage by return of post down to Melburn‘. Or from Theresa Sheehan in Wellington, New Zealand asking about her daughter Mary Ann, “…it is a long time since i left her at home she was only a child” , different family bonds from the ones we readily assume, no? This one is perhaps more familiar, “I take the liberty of writing a few lines to see if you would be so kind as to trouble yourself so much with me as to let me know if i could get any of my brothers or sisters out to me as I should verry much wish to bring them out here to do well…”.
It was merely by chance that i came accross reference to two of the Earl Grey orphans in SAA GRG 35/43 Immigration Agent Letters-in. I’ve mentioned them before, briefly, in blog post 67 https://wp.me/p4SlVj-2e1
Margaret McTagart from Belfast per Roman Emperor
18 May 1857 letter from Arabella McTagart, 3 Patens Lane, Perth Road, Dundee, Scotland.
“The girl alluded to is Margaret McTagart from Belfast Workhouse“. In a well written letter Arabella enquires after her sister, “I am very much depressed in mind since i parted with a sister of mine. I understand she arrived to the colony as there had been letters from many who went out in the same ship”. She asks that the Depot “books” be searched to see for her sister ” for emigrants who went out in or about the year 1846…she was not in her native place at the time so “doesn’t know the name of the ship”. I’m presuming, because of the reference to Belfast Workhouse, that Margaret was on board the Roman Emperor, the first ship to Adelaide carrying “Earl Grey” orphans. Dundee was a familiar destination for young women from Ulster, many going there to work in the textile industry.
Bridget Mahony from Fermoy per Elgin
16July 1855 letter from Margaret Mahony, Cork, asking about her daughter Bridget.
Honble Sir,
I mosthumbly and respectfullybeg leave in the liberty I take of addressing you with these few lines respecting my daughter Bridget Mahony aged 18 yearssailed in the Elgin from plymouth to adelaide South Australia at the end of May 1849 and reached the colony in safety on the 11th September following. I your most humble applicant most humbly and respectfully hopes that you will be good enough to take me into your worthy honour’s humane and kind consideration in letting me know when convenient to your worthy honor if my daughter is living or not and also to be pleased to forward to me my daughters address so as to enable me to write to her. Hon Sir , by yourcomplying with your humble applicants most humble request your applicant as in duty bound will pray. Margaret Mahoney widow No.5 Alley Coppingers Lane off Popesquay Cork Ireland.
PS. I, your humble applicant beg leave to acquaint your worthy honor that it was from the Union workhouse of Fermoy in the county of Cork that my daughter was sent from when she was emigrated and I, now resides in my address to your honor.
Margaret’s request was successful in that Matthew Moorhouse replied, 23 October 1855, “Bridget Mahoney was hired from this depot on the 3rd of October 1839 (sic) to Mr Walker shopkeeper Hindmarsh. I know nothing of her since then”.
Mary Healy from Killarney per Elgin and her husband
Victoria
Buoyed by my find among my notes from the South Australian archives I turned to those I had for Port Phillip. I have not checked to see what is available online. Our archivists do a wonderful job but there is a limit to the hours in a day, and what they can do. I’d need the skills of someone like Kelly Starr to get into the nooks and crannies of whatever is online from the Public Records Office of Victoria. But look, here among my notes I’ve found something about
Bridget Ryan from Drum, Tipperary per Pemberton
There are two letters, one addressed to the Immigration Agent in Port Phillip at VPRS 116/P unit 1 file 51/95. Bridget’s half sister Johanna McGregor is making enquiries about her. It is a beautifully crafted letter from an intelligent woman.
Sydney September 7th 1851
Honorable Sir,
I am directed by the Emigration agent here to write to you concerning my sister. I received a letter a few days ago from my friends at home informing me that my sister arrived here about two years ago but did not mention the name of the ship she sailed out in. I have made all enquiries here for her but can get no intelligence of her, I am greatly disturbed in my mind ever since I received the letter and I hope Sir you will do all in your power to find out has she arrived in your Port. My sisters name is Bridget Ryan or otherwise Conneen. her complexion fair. and her age about 19 or 20 years. We are half sisters and I am not sure which of those two names she may call herself by. The Gentleman of the Emigration Depot wishes that I should hear from you before I Advertise her in the Newspapers. My sister is a native of Ireland County Tipperary Parish of Drum. I cannot answer my mother’s letter until I hear something of my sister as I know it would make her very uneasy to hear that we never met here.
I remain Honorable Sir,
Your Humble servant
Johanna McGregor
that is my husband’s name McGregor.
The other is a Memo communicated to J McGregor 23 September 1851 as follows,
Bridget Ryan arrived at Port Phillip per Ship Pemberton in May 1849.
She was taken out of the Depotby Thomas Hassett, Milkman, living next door to Messrs Bowler & Bennett, Solicitors Collins Street Melbourne. About fourteenmonths since she married a John Bryan from Carrick O’Loughnane Tipperaryand has a son.
Bryan and wife, when last heard ofby Hassett, were living with a Mr FisherSheepholder of Geelong.A letteraddressed tothe care of Mr McKern publican of Geelong will find them–– or toThosHassett, as above, who comes from the same placeas the Ryansand Knew them at Home. Bridget Ryan was married from Hassetts house.
Hugh E Childers
Immigration Agent
Melbourne
Sept 19, 1851.
How caring and helpful was that.
Ann Barrow from Mallow was one of Bridget’s shipmates on the Pemberton
I had planned to add a little more, mostly taken from Probate records, obituaries in Trove and the like. But I’ll leave that till another time.
Lockdown might be a good time to relearn some of the poems I used to be able to recite, a lifetime ago
Following on from my last blogpost here’s my preliminary search for female orphans by the Subraon, William Stewart andMohamed Shah (note the alternate spellings). It should give you a small taste of what was involved in identifying the original orphans by the ‘Earl Grey scheme’. It’s basically linkage across as many records you can find. Nowadays, in some respects the internet makes things a lot easier. But not everything is digitized. I began by typing ‘Subraon shipping list 1848’ into a search engine, and was directed to https://www.records.nsw.gov.au
This took me to a shipping list for the Subraon, a ship that arrived in Port Jackson on 12 April 1848; and at page 5, among the single females we find the following young women,
Alicia Ashbridge
19
cook
Dublin Orphan Institution
C of E
Both read and write
Ann Brennan
17
House servant
ditto
ditto
read
Ellen Busby
17
do
do
do
do
Augusta Cooper
17
do
do
do
do
Martha Magee
18
nursemaid
do
do
Both
Patience Newcomen
17
do
do
do
read
Dorcas Newman (see report abt her)
19
do
do
do
died on the day after the ship arrived
Mary Preston
18
do
do
do
read
Emma Smith
16
house servant
do
do
both
Mary Sneyd
18
do
do
do
read
Ellen Stephens
17
nursemaid
do
do
both
Readers will know the Subraon appears elsewhere in my blog. By using the search widget at the bottom of any blogpost you will be alerted to exactly where it is mentioned.
But will that widget take you to the conversation I had a couple of years ago in the Comments on my About page? Scroll down to my exchange with a descendant of Ann Brennan (see above). Debbie Horrocks was in Dublin at the time. I opined that the young women were from Dublin and Cork Foundling Hospitals that had closed earlier, or were just about to do so. (Did i get this idea from Joseph Robins’ The Lost Children, Dublin, 1980? Does anyone have copy?) Debbie found reference to a Dublin Foundling House at 52 Cork Street, Dublin, and a mention of a request for eligible ‘girls’ to go to Australia, dated 21 September 1847. Unfortunately the Archives box with the 1847 correspondence that would confirm this, proved to be unavailable. Yet the Sydney Board of Immigration Enquiry and Report does say the young women were accompanied to Plymouth by a ‘Mr Chanut, the Commissioners’ clerk’. Suggesting the Irish Poor Law Commissioners were involved along with the Imperial government in Britain in a subterfuge ‘trial’ of the so-called Earl Grey scheme…yes?
Over the years i managed to preserve my copy of the Minutes and Proceedings of the Immigration Board at Sydney, respecting certain irregularities which occurred on board the ship “Subraon”, Printed for the use of the Government only, 1848, located in what was at the time, the Archives Office of New South Wales. Mea culpa, i have lost the precise reference to where it may be found. Perhaps someone in the State Records can help us find it again?
Readers will see from the following brief extract something of the shocking abuse that the young Subraon orphans suffered. Given recent events and revelations one wonders how deeply embedded such abuse is in Australian culture.
Births, deaths and marriages
My next foray was into birth, death and marriage records for New South Wales. I started by searching for the marriage records of those with a distinctive name, and then moved on to the others, using as terminal dates, 1848 and 1856 or 1857. New South Wales and Victoria have a world leading system of vital registration that started in 1856 and 1853 respectively. Records before that date are usually early church records. I only found two of those eleven young women who arrived by the Subraon; an Augusta Cooper who married Charles Nayler, 1854, and a Mary Sneyd who married Joseph Smith in 1853! Not very promising.
Assuming we don’t have free access to these records (which i was fortunate to have in the 1980s), what should we do next? Make an appeal via social media and genealogical societies for possible descendants? Check online sources such as Trove for any mention of the young women? Check British Parliamentary Papers and available records in State Archives and State Libraries? Did any of the women appear in court? Or in a Benevolent Asylum? Or should we appeal for help via a blogpost? What happened to them? Were they abandoned once they disembarked? Where did they go?
Port Phillip arrivals
This is where my enquiry faltered. It is easy enough to gain access to the shipping lists in NSW State Records but not so the Melbourne records. One needs to be a member of Ancestry.com for that. The NSW records do not identify which of the single females on board the Wiliam Stewart and the Mahomed Shah were from an orphanage. If as i suspect they were from an Anglican orphanage in Cork we might surmise that on board the Mahomed Shah that arrived in Port Phillip on 5 July 1848 were Eliza Green (15) Nursemaid from Cork, Episcopalian, R&R; Mary Hayes (15) ditto; Maria Norton (14) ditto; Jane Travers (15) ditto; Ellen Travers ditto, and Anne Wikinson(15) ditto. Among BDM records (Victoria’s brilliant system of registration began in 1853) there is a marriage of Jane Travers to Henry Perkins in Kilmore in 1853. Her younger sister (?) Ellen had married Robert Charles Crump in 1852. Whereas for Mary Hayes there are 7 possible marriages for the period 1850-56.
Again assuming there were some ‘girls’ from an Anglican orphanage in Cork on board the William Stewart , can we identify them among 51 single females? There were twelve of them, described as Episcopalian or Church of England and include Mary Byrne (17), Mary Clarke(16), Eliza Cook (17), Johanna Daly (16), Jane Donovan (16), Mary Garvan (16), Jane (19) and Mary (17) Green, Anne Hegarty (16), Julia Peel(16), Jane Thompson (17) and Anne Young (16).
An Appeal
Before going any further i think we should confirm the theory that young women from an Anglican Orphanage, or Foundling Hospital, in Cork were sent out on these two ships. I’m hoping someone in the Public Records Office in Victoria might be able to help. Maybe Christine(?) who helped with the excellent wiki entry below.
There is another Appeal I’d like to make. It is to ask anyone working in this area if they have grappled with, and resolved some of the ethical questions involved? The interface between the private and the public can be labyrinthine to negotiate. I’ve touched on this somewhere else in my blog. Now where is it? Scroll down. There were some interesting comments too.
Public historians, family historians and genealogists are well aware of these ethical questions. Here’s a useful diagram from the twittersphere summarising recent online discussion of the kinds of thing we should all recognize. It was put there recently by Julia Laite of Birbeck College, University of London.
Thankyou, public historians.
Finally, may i offer my very best wishes to those students at Macquarie University, PACE interns, currently working on Irish orphan stories. It must be nearing crunch time for your submissions? What do they say in showbiz? Break a leg!
Don’t forget to sign up for the free online mag www.tintean.org.au There is a new issue on the 10th of each month.
Having glanced back over my blog I see what a mish-mash it is. Some of it I’m pleased with. Some of it i’m not.
There is plenty of room for re-thinking what is there. Just a couple of revisions casually spring to mind.
Should i explain in detail the labour intensive background to my orphan family reconstitutions? YeahNah, that’s all water under the bridge.
2. There’s certainly room for more on the 1858-59 New South Wales Parliamentary Reporton Irish female immigration which i wrote about, in the following posts,
One might use that wonderful resource, Trove, to explore for instance what the Freeman’s Journal had to say about that particular kerfuffle. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
Redefining our subject?
3. Most important of all, here is something that should be done, don’t you think, viz. let’s widen our subject to include those who are currently on the margins?
Have you seen any official, contemporary reference to ‘The Earl Grey Scheme’? I suspect it is labelof conveniencedreamt up by twentieth century historians. Please correct me if i am wrong.
Should we not add to the database at www.irishfaminememorial.org those young women from the remnants of Dublin Foundling Hospitals who were sent in advanceof the workhouse scheme, in early 1848? I’m thinking of those who came by the Subraon to Sydney, and by the Mahomed Shah andWilliam Stewartto Melbourne.
There are also those single Irish females who went to Hobart in August and November 1851 by the Beulah and the Calcutta, most of them from counties Cork and Clare. Add another 90 or so by the Louisa in January 1853 who were described as being ‘chiefly from the Irish Unions’. The question is, were these young women from Irish workhouses? To say that they came from Irish Poor Law Unions is not to say they were in a workhouse.
In Western Australia we definitely have 33 young women from MountBellew workhouse in Galway who arrived by the Palestine in 1853. They currently have a facebook page, and lots of interest in Galway itself. Were there others?
And finally, the 159 single Irish females who arrived in Port Jackson by the Lady Kennaway in December 1854. They were to become the butt of Immigration Agent Browne’s scorn, and complaint. See https://www.records.nsw.gov.au
Click on the 1850s and scroll down till December 1854, and the shipping list for the Lady Kennaway.
I think that that widening of the net is manageable.
But where my head and my heart is heading, is towards an even larger subject viz. Irish Famine women to Australia. That would include, for example, the ones identified in my 2013 talk, which you can find in my blog here,
Our subject would then include Irish convict women to Hobart 1847-53, the large numbers of single females who arrived in Adelaide in the 1850s, and the many others who came to Australia as single females but as part of a larger family strategy.Anything or anyone else you can think of?
I’m genuinely interested in your views. What should be the limits of our subject for anyone working in this area? How should it be defined? Please add your comments for others to see.
trevo's Irish famine orphans 
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