Monday, April 26, 2010

Faulkners in Britain in the 1881 Census

In the 1881 Census, there were more Faulkners in Lancashire (1242) than in any other UK county.

While Birmingham had more Faulkners than any other town (144), there were 110 in Manchester and 100 in Salford - just under 1% of the town's total population.

http://www.britishsurnames.co.uk/surnames/FAULKNER/1881census

Faulkners arriving from Sussex in 1839

On Tuesday 28 May 1839, the Sydney Gazette reported the arrival the previous Sunday of the Roxburgh Castle from London via the Cape of Good Hope with 308 bounty immigrants. There had been 15 deaths on the voyage so the ship went to the Quarantine Ground at North Head, before landing her passengers and cargo at Messrs. Walker & Co.'s wharf (Sydney Gazette, 30 May) .

The passenger list gives each person's name, age, occupation, native place, religion, whether they can read and/or write, and the bounty paid for them.

One of those deaths at sea was Stephen Faulkner, age 40, whose name is crossed out, marked "Died on the passage". Under his name are those of his wife and three children.

Mary 37 Farm Servant Sussex Wesleyan Read and write
George 13 Sussex Wesleyan Read and write
Stephen 12 Sussex Wesleyan Read and write
Mary Ann 3

There is also a Jane Faulkner, aged 20, Dairy Maid, listed with the single women. She may be an adult daughter. Many of the single men and women share the same names as families on the ship but are listed separately, possibly because once they were over 15 a higher bounty was paid for them.

Interestingly, while all the Roxburgh Castle's passengers are described as "British subjects", Jane Faulkner was born not in Sussex, but in France.

Along with those of other bounty ships, the Roxburgh Castle's passenger list has been digitised. It can be viewed here:

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/nrs-lists/nrs-5316

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 28 and 30 May 1839

Friday, April 16, 2010

"Sixty pence, sixty half-pence, and one knife..."

"George Faulkner and Richard Bond have been committed to our Castle, since our last, charged with having assaulted Thomas Holliday, on the King's highway, at Salford, and violently stolen from his person sixty pence, sixty half-pence, and one knife, his property" – The Lancaster Gazette and General Advertiser, 29 December 1821

On 23 March 1822, George Faulkner and Richard Bond were sentenced at Lancaster Assizes to "to be severally hanged by the neck until they be dead" for highway robbery.

On 24 April, Justice John Bayley, Chief Justice, commuted their sentences to transportation for life. On that day, 47 men and two women sentenced at Lancaster Assizes for highway robbery, burglary, stealing in a dwelling house, forgery, horse-stealing, stealing a heifer and sheep-stealing had their death sentences commuted.

Richard Bond was transported to Van Diemen's Land on the Morley. On 31 July 1831, in Hobart, his name appears on a list of convicts granted tickets of leave.

The Lancaster Gazette and General Advertiser, for Lancashire, Westmorland, &c., 29 December 1821, Issue 1073
[no title] DDCM 1/20 24 Apr. 1822, Lancashire Records Office
One Search database (http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au), State Library of Queensland
Hobart Town Courier, 30 December 1831, p. 2

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Master and convict

In 1824 (or thereabouts), George Faulkner's name appears again in the Colonial Secretary's correspondence. He is an assigned convict mechanic, or tradesman - his trade is given as blacksmith, his ship the Eliza (2) - whose master Chas. McLeod is "a defaulter in payment".

His residence is Hunter's River (Newcastle).

NSW State Records, Colonial-Secretary's Correspondence, Reel 6061; 4/1778, p.265f

Prisoners punished at Newcastle

In April 1824, George Faulkner's name appears on a list of prisoners punished at Newcastle. His name is misspelt Fawlker, but the details are correct - he is a blacksmith and his ship is the Eliza (2).

He receives 25 lashes "for stealing coal at the mines".

NSW State Records, Colonial-Secretary's Correspondence, Reel 6023; 4/1718, p.181

Saturday, April 10, 2010

"You bloody Scotch bugger..."


In 1873, William Affleck was a big man in Gundaroo, the owner of the Caledonian Store, licensee of the Royal Hotel (now Grazing Restaurant, above) and son of Arthur Affleck, one of the JPs who'd sentenced George Faulkner to three months in Queanbeyan Gaol the previous year.

On 14 June, George Faulkner abused William Affleck on the main street: "You bloody Scotch bugger, I'll break your bloody door and smash your bloody machinery'".

What sort of machinery? Why smash it?

The Royal was a staging post for Cobb & Co. According to its National Trust plaque, the hotel's stone stables "once served as a blacksmith's shop for travellers enjoying the Royal's accommodation".

Was George Faulkner the blacksmith? Did Affleck owe him money? Had he sacked him?

The Yass Courier reported the outcome: "On Saturday last, George Faulkner, better known as Old Blocker, was brought up at the Police Court, before Messrs. Styles and Affleck, under the Vagrant Act, for using obscene language in a public place, and was sent to Queanbeyan Gaol for three months."

Yass Courier, Tuesday 24 June 1873

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Inverary in 1841

The 1841 Census lists 17 establishments in Bungonia, a small town about 20km south-east of Goulburn in the district of Inverary. After early explorers followed rivers and creeks inland, free settlers were granted leases here from 1822. In 1831, the site for Bungonia was excised from one of those leases, surveyed and divided up into allotments.

The Census gives the name of the head of each household. Other members of the household are not named, but their details appear in household totals for age groups, sex, marital status, civil condition (whether born in the colony, arrived free, other free persons, ticket of leave holders, or convicts in government employment or private assignment), religion and occupational group. The Mulwaree Heritage Study fills in some of the details.

Bungonia's 17 householders include the Revd. George Wood, police officer Patrick O'Brien, John Sceales (misspelt Scales in the Census), storekeeper John Lynch, ticket-of-leave holder Matthew Bull, and Edward Hughes and his wife who ran the Ship Inn.

The total population is 82, 51 males and 31 females, and predominantly they are young. There are 6 children under two, 13 aged two to under seven, and 5 aged seven to under 14. Of the 16 women, not one is over 45. Five men are aged 45 to 60.

If George Faulkner lives in one of these households, it must be one of the six that include ticket of leave holders. Four of these six also have "mechanics", or tradesmen. These are the households headed by John Armstrong, David Brown (or Browne), the Revd. George Wood and Patrick Kelly. John Armstrong and Patrick Kelly's households can probably be excluded - everyone under their roof was Catholic.

David Brown's household numbered 11 people, 7 males and 4 females, living in an unfinished timber house. Four of the men, including David Brown himself, held tickets of leave. Three were assigned convicts. One female arrived free. The other three females are young girls, one under 2 and two aged 2 to under 7. Eight were Church of England and three were Catholics. The household appears to comprise David Brown and his wife, their three young girls, three men who hold tickets of leave and three assigned convicts. Four of the men were "mechanics".

The Revd. George Wood occupied Bungonia's only stone dwelling. His household comprised 9 people in total, 4 males and 5 females including 2 young girls. Two males and two females were married. Two men and one woman were single. Two men arrived free and two held tickets of leave. One woman arrived free, one held a ticket of leave and one was assigned. Eight gave their religion as Church of England, one was Catholic. Their occupations ranged from top to bottom of the scale, from "landed proprietor" to "servant". So they might have been George Wood and his wife who both arrived free, a free "mechanic" and his ticket of leave wife, two children, two ticket of leave men (a mechanic and a gardener) and an assigned female servant, possibly the only Catholic. Or some other permutation of male and female, married and single, ticket of leave holder, assigned convict and free.

David Brown's establishment seems the more egalitarian place to be.

1841 Census, Abstracts of Householders Returns, State Records NSW, Reels 2222 and 2223
Mulwaree Shire Community Heritage Study 2002-2004, p.125–146

As good as a photograph

George Faulkner received his ticket of leave on 31 March 1834. On 28 July 1835 it was "surrendered mutilated and cancelled", and a replacement issued.

Tickets of leave contained all the information needed to identify someone: the ship they came on and its master, year and place of birth, trade or calling, the date and place of trial and physical description (height, hair, eye colour and general remarks).

George Faulkner was a blacksmith, in his early thirties, five feet three and a half inches, with dark brown curly hair and grey eyes. He had two cuts on his chin and one on his forehead. He would have had a Manchester accent.

His ticket of leave was as good as a photograph. He had to carry it with him at all times, present it to a constable on demand and report to ticket of leave musters.

After twelve years and three months in New South Wales, he was free to work for himself. The only condition was that he remain in the district of Inverary.

Ticket of Leave 34/1001
Ticket of Leave 35/581

Friday, April 2, 2010

Victoria Park, Mt Russell, c. 1901


Taken from a slight elevation, this photo of "Victoria Park", Mount Russell was probably taken by H. Billington & Co of Inverell, according to the State Library's curator of photographs.

George and Maria Faulkner's son, George, stands in the foreground, his back to the camera. His wife Mary Ann (nee Selmes), an older daughter and the youngest, a baby, are close to the house. Two women have just arrived. In a semi-circle, four young children are playing a ball game. Horses, sheep and cows are grouped to the right. In the distance is an open-doored shed, a smaller shearing shed (with an indistinct figure, perhaps a farm worker, outside) and fences. Two widely spaced lines of small trees radiate out from the house - the beginning of the orchard or, perhaps, only the suggestion of an orchard. My brother says they are tree branches stuck in the ground. And how can the buggy have just arrived when a small boy is in its path?