Sunday, July 25, 2010

George Faulkner in Manchester

A couple of months ago I asked a researcher in Lancashire to see if she could find out anything about George Faulkner's family in Manchester. She started by finding this entry for George Faulkner in the Lancaster Prison Records:

George Faulkner says he was born in Manchester, 18 years of age, 5’3” high, (?) complexion, gray eyes, short dark brown hair, two scars in his lip & chin, a large scar of his left wrist, 3rd finger right (?), Assizes 23rd March 1822. Death reprieved, transported for Life 11th May 1822 & put on board (?) at Chatham.

She also searched the Calendar of Crown Prisoners Ref. QJC/1, and in the Salford Hundred of Saturday 23rd March 1822, found this entry:

Event of Trial: Death
No.: 15
Name: George Faulkner
Age: 18
Committed by: Rev’d C.W. Ethelston, 22nd December 1821, charged with having assaulted Thomas Halliday on the highway at Salford and with having stolen from him, sixty pence, sixty halfpence and one knife, his property.

So George Faulkner was definitely born in Manchester, rather than just brought to trial there. But if he was 18 in March 1822, he would have been born in 1803 or 1804 rather than 1802, the year that appears on his convict records. Did he put his age back when he was arrested?

A search of the Manchester Parish Register at the Lancaster Records Office found no baptismal entry for a George Faulkner born 1801-1805. The entries may not be complete though, and some of the entries are indecipherable.

On familysearch.org, there's a George Faulkner who was christened at Manchester Cathedral on 7 November 1802. His parents were George and Ann. These may be the George Faulkner and Ann Winterbottom who married on 31 December 1792 at Manchester Cathedral.

The next step is a search of the original Parish Registers at Manchester Central Library.

Lancaster Prison Records Ref. QGL/2 MF1/36
Calendar of Crown Prisoners (Ref. QJC/1, Salford Hundred of Saturday 23rd March 1822

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

"Victoria Park" in 1907-08

In 1907, George Faulkner, George and Maria's son, who was by then in his early sixties, entered the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Mail farm competition in the Northern Tablelands division.

The prizes were attractive: first, £50; second, £10; third, £5. The judge, Mr H. Dawson, could award up to 100 points under each of eight headings: "general management; fencing and gates; water supply, and provision for same; dwelling and steading, including garden, orchard, and stockyards; live stock breeds, and suitability to district; cultivation - crops, provisions for storing, supplying fodder; plant, including all implements, machines, and means for carrying produce to market; situation, and general plan of improvements".

Twenty competitors entered, from Inverell to Armidale, Tamworth, Quirindi and Glen Innes. Among them, by chance, was Henry Voss whose family would mesh with George Faulkner's forty years on.

On Thursday 9 January, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the winners of the second and third prizes, including this sketch of "Victoria Park":

"Mr. George Faulkner, of Victoria Park Inverell, has 1140 acres. He is an older resident than either Mr. Harding or Mr. Cosh [second and third prize-winners]. Mr. Dawson says his place looks remarkably well; he has a nice orchard, the fruit in which is looking in remarkably good trim. The sheep are of the Riverina merino strain. There are 100 acres under lucerne, other areas are devoted to other crops, and there is a herd of 30 cows, milk from which is sold at the local factory."

The judge had this to say of Henry Voss's much smaller farm, near Glen Innes:

"Mr. Voss has introduced the L.K.G. milking machine on his farm. It is driven by a four horse-power engine, and by its means eight cows are milked at a time. The engine power is utilised for separating the cream as well as for other work. Two little boys milk between 70 and 80 cows, so to speak, in no time. As far as Mr. Voss is concerned, the milking machines appeared to be an unqualified success. The crops were rather backward, except the wheat and oats. But as a man who makes the best of his opportunities Mr. Voss is one whom it would be hard to beat anywhere."

Sydney Morning Herald
, 30 November 1907, p.9 and 9 January 1908, p.5