Northerners Abroad
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Here we tell the stories of North of England people who
have emigrated and made a name for themselves in their adopted country, but did
they become famous or infamous? Select a country and then a name or subject to find out.
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Australia
Canada
Hawaii
New Zealand
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Northerners
in Australia
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Paddy Pallin
William Parker Robert
Towns A
Horticulturalist Reverend
Thomas Copeland
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PADDY PALLIN
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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Paddy PALLIN grew up in West
Hartlepool and emigrated to
Sydney, Australia, at the age of 26. Finding himself unemployed during the
Depression in the early 1930s he began sewing superior light-weight
groundsheets in his home to sell to his bush-walking friends. The demand grew
and he opened a shop on Castlereagh Street catering for the needs of
bush-walkers selling dehydrated vegetables, billy cans, guide books and maps.
His handbook "Bush-walking and Camping" was known as "Paddy's
Bible" as he became almost a cult figure. He was short and solid with a
gnome-like face. His rich, resonant voice made a lasting impression on those who
shared his camp-fire yarns and songs.
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He cherished his gear, maintaining the thrift and ingenuity which carried him
through the depression years. He influenced every facet of outdoor adventure,
cross-country skiing, canoeing, Youth Hostels, trekking, Search and Rescue, etc.
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His family remembers him arguing with his wife, May, as to whether he had spent
one or two Easter weekends at home in all their married life.
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He died in his sleep 3 Jan. 1991 aged 90 and his funeral was held at the
Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney. Besides his wife May, Paddy had three children
one of whom was called Jenny, plus five grandchildren.
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His friend, Quentin Chester, wrote a tribute to him published in Australian
Geographic No. 23, July - September 1991. The above information is taken from
Chester's article.
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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WILLIAM
PARKER By
G. Glenn Parker & Kath Liddell
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This
is the interesting but sad story of William PARKER, who was born in 1854 into a
farming family of the village of Eals, Knarsdale in the remote South Tyne valley
of west Northumberland. He was the
son of John Parker and Mary Armstrong and belonged to a line of Parkers going
back to Randall Parker born in the mid 1600s. His Parker line may go back much further than that but parish
records don't survive to confirm it. Certainly, based on probate records, the
Parker name in Knarsdale goes back at least to the late 1500s.
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William
never married. In the 1870s, his
parents and some of his siblings moved to a larger farm away from Knarsdale, but
he stayed on. He lived in Eals Town
Head with two younger sisters who kept house while he managed a small farm of 38
acres.
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As
the economy of Knarsdale declined by the 1880s, William decided to emigrate to
Australia where, during the "gold rush", as it was inaccurately
described in a family report, he was drawn to Broken Hill, New South Wales.
Broken Hill is in the Australian Outback, over 600 miles inland to the
west of Sydney. A large mineral deposit was discovered there in 1883 and the
first mine, subsequently to become the world's largest silver, lead and zinc
mine, was established in 1885. It was this discovery that brought the town of
Broken Hill into existence, so our William would have been one of the town’s
pioneers.
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The
name of the town developed from the shape of the ore body which was like a
boomerang with the "elbow" projecting out of the ground.
In its early days, Broken Hill was truly a rough and ready pioneer town
in the tradition of a 1950s style American "Western" movie.
One can picture a John Wayne character living there. In those early
years, living and working conditions for the miners were atrocious. The climate
was harsh, the shanty housing was poor, fresh food and water were scarce and
diseases such as typhoid, scarlet fever and dysentery, were common. These
factors, as well as work-related illnesses such as lead poisoning and mining
accidents, all contributed to a death rate almost twice that of the average in
New South Wales. The mine and the growing town stripped the region of timber,
leaving the settlement surrounded almost by desert. In addition, the destruction
of vegetation for use as fuel in the mines and smelters increased the severity
of natural dust storms, and the smelters and mine plant belched noxious fumes
and dust over the town.
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Sadly,
William's pioneering days were brief. One particular typhoid epidemic of note
occurred in 1888 killing 128 people, of which he was one. The record of his
death stated merely his name and age, with no family details, a seemingly
solitary figure in a far off land.
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Thus
came to an abrupt end William’s courageous step beyond the borders of the
simple life of a Knarsdale farmer, but thanks to the memories of his family, and
modern technology, his story remains alive for us to discover today.
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G.
Glenn
Parker & Kath Liddell
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Glenn
and Kath are researching the Parkers of Knarsdale Parish and are descendants of
the Randall Parker referred to in this story, each through a different branch.
Glenn lives in Burlington, Ontario, Canada and Kath in Newcastle upon Tyne,
England.
For more information on this PARKER family, Glenn can be contacted at parkergg@cogeco.ca
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ROBERT
TOWNS - A WEALTHY NORTHUMBRIAN
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By
Dorothy K Marshall with help from Gregg Brunskill of Townsville
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A few years ago my husband and I spent the month
of January living and working near Townsville, Queensland, Australia; a
"mad dogs and Englishmen..." experience as Northern Queensland is
unbearably hot and humid in January.
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Robert TOWNS, of Sydney, only visited the area for three days in 1866,
presumably not in January, as he was sufficiently impressed to give a generous
donation of money to found the city which is named after him. Some would call it
tainted money as Robert, who said he would sail to Hell if there was money in
it, made his fortune in the Kanaka slave trade.
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Robert was born 10 November 1794 and baptized 21 October 1796 at Long Horsley,
Northumberland, son of Edward & Ann TOWNS. Presumably the same Edward who on 31 May
1792 married Ann PYLE. He apprenticed to a ships Master of a collier out of
North Shields and as a result earned his Master's Certificate in 1811 at the age
of 17. By the time he was 20 years of age he had commanded several vessels
including ocean going brigs and served in the Mediterranean operating merchant
ships. Robert took the profits from the immigration trade to Australia, arriving
first in Sydney in 1827 on the ship "Brothers". He was
known to be a fast, safe and careful ships Captain. He carried the first load of
Australian wool to the English market.
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In 1833 Robert married Sophie, the
sister of Charles WENTWORTH, who was a member of the New South Wales
legislature.
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In 1942 Robert settled in Sydney, and became a partner in Black's Company.
He helped open the wilderness west of Sydney by finding a path over the Blue
Mountains. He established an Australian mercantile and shipping agency in
Sydney, and survived many financial panics, drought & floods, and business
scandals. He became an office bound business man in Sydney, with ships doing
business with the Pacific Islands, Torres Strait, Philippines, Hong Kong, Chile,
India, and China. His ships moved items from the whaling and sandalwood trade,
gold rush cargo to Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, California, and
Alaska. He was involved in setting up the bank of NSW in 1851, and was Chairman
of Directors from 1853 until his death in 1873.
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Robert TOWNS helped begin the Australian cotton
industry on the Logan River (NSW) in 1863, and imported Kanakas (South Sea
islanders) to do the work. He also helped establish the port of Townsville in
Queensland
(with his partner John Melton Black from Edinburgh) in 1863, also bringing in
kanakas for labour in the sugar and cattle tallow industry. He was also involved
in the importation of South Sea islanders to the Torres Straits for pearl and
trochus diving, as the local natives would not work for him. This led to the
present population of the Torres Straits being mostly South Sea Islanders, with
a greatly reduced aboriginal population. Some of his ship captains were probably
unethical in dealing with the South Sea islanders, and were accused of
kidnapping
young men and women into slavery. Towns was labeled in the press as a
'black-birder", a wealthy person who financed a slave trade.
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Robert Towns died of a stroke on 11 April 1873
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Here we have yet another Northumbrian who made a fortune and achieved perpetual
memory in the name of a thriving city.
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Source:
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Pam Carver. 1993. Captain Robert Towns (1794-1873), one of the founders of
Townsville. Maritime Museum of Townsville, PO Box 5529, Townsville, MC,
Queensland 4810, Kricker Printers.
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In the past few weeks, the local Townsville drama teams have put on a musical
show called "Towns Town", about Robert Towns. Part of the show tries
to show that he was an honorable business man, and not a slave trade scoundrel.
This is part of Townsville's centenary, as the town was officially created in
1903.
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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A HORTICULTURALIST
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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William Davidson was
born 1805 in Northumberland. He became Head Gardener on the Benwell Estate of
Robert Walker and won three medals for melons, mushrooms and asparagus from the
Northumberland and
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Horticultural society.
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He arrived
15th September 1827
in Tasmania
on the Albion, and joined fellow Northumbrian, John Smith of ‘Marchington’, Launceston.
He brought with him £500, 800 trees, 200 grape vines and other seeds and
cuttings. He also had letters of introduction for citizens of Sydney
and although he had been asked to be Superintendent of the Royal Tasmanian
Botanical Gardens he left to explore the possibility of settling in Sydney. Soon he returned to Tasmania
and asked for a salary of £100 with a ration and a house. The house was built
from sandstone quarried on the site and is now used as a museum. His appointment
as the first superintendent dates from November 1828 and his house was built in
1829. William married in September 1829 and had one daughter and two sons born
at the Gardens.
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The development of the
Gardens progressed rapidly under Davidson who employed many convicts to do the
labouring. He organized the building of fences and the making of mushroom beds.
Theft (especially of peaches) was a problem he had to overcome. He ordered
plants and seeds from
England
and elsewhere. The impressive Arthur Wall formed the western boundary of the
Queen’s Domain and was an internally heated wall on which exotic fruits and
flowers were grown.
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Davidson had 200
pineapple plants and he designed elaborate greenhouses where he hoped to house
them but Governor Arthur only approved some 40-50 feet of greenhouses. As well
as importing plants he sent seeds of Australian plants to the Royal Belfast
Institution and the Horticultural
Gardens, Hammersmith, London. He successfully managed a hive of bees (the first European bees in
Australia) and he later sent a hive of bees to Governor Bourke in Sydney.
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Davidson may have been
afflicted by some illness as he left the Gardens in 1834 and died in 1837
aged only 33’. However, if the 1805 birth date is correct he would be only 31
or 32.
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[Information taken from
‘The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, 1818-1986’ by Marcus Hurburgh, who
established the museum at the Gardens]
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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REVEREND
THOMAS COPELAND 1840-1926 By
Meg Gain
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Thomas Copeland was born on 5th
January 1840 at Blenkinsopp Castle, in the district of Haltwhistle,
Northumberland. Thomas was son of William Copeland and Elizabeth Pugmire.
William was born about 1805 in Whitehaven, Cumberland and his wife Elizabeth was
born in Dalston, Cumberland. William was employed as ‘the manager of a
colliery engine’ at the time of Thomas’ birth. The 1851 census shows the
family living at The Engine House, Blenkinsopp, Haltwhistle. There were six
children; Joseph, William, John, Thomas, Elizabeth and Mary. Nelly Pugmire was
also living at the Engine House- she was probably William’s mother-in-law.
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Little is known of Thomas’ early life but W.M. Patterson’s book ‘Northern
Primitive Methodism’ records the converts to Primitive Methodism in the Hexham
and Tyne Valley. He writes …”and nearby (Blenkinsopp Cottages) Thomas
Copeland, the father of the Methodist Union movement in the Antipodes, first saw
the light…”
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Thomas became a probationer of the Primitive Methodist Church in 1860, aged
20, and served in three British circuits. In early 1863 he was sent to ‘take
charge of the Primitive Methodist Ryde and Ventnor stations’. During his time
there he ‘made the acquaintance’ of Mary Jane Young, daughter of William and
Mary Young of Ryde, Isle of Wight. In August 1863 Thomas was sent to Ballarat,
Victoria, Australia by the Primitive Methodist Missionary committee. Thomas is
listed on the ‘Inward Passenger List’ for February 1864, on board the
clipper ship “Queen of Nations” which was built in Aberdeen, Scotland in
1861. The ship was later lost off the coast of New South Wales on 31st
May 1881.
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In 1865, the Primitive Methodist Missionary committee, learning of ‘the
arrangement entered into between Mr Copeland and Miss Young to be married during
that year’ offered to bear the cost of Mary Jane’s outfit and her passage to
Ballarat. Mary Jane married Thomas on 7th October 1865 in the
Primitive Methodist Church, Eyre Street, Ballarat. Ballarat, in those days, must
have been a rather wild place. Gold had been discovered at nearby Buninyong in
1851 and thousands of prospectors arrived hoping to get rich quick. In
‘Australia Illustrated’ published in 1873 E.C. Booth wrote of the 1850s
goldfields:
“it may be fairly questioned in any community in the world there ever existed
more of intense suffering, unbridled wickedness and positive want…..
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Thomas and Mary Jane moved to Beaufort immediately after their wedding and,
subsequently, Thomas was minister in the circuits of Talbot, Campbellfield,
Ballarat, Collingwood, Lilydale, Stawell, Eaglehawk and in several Melbourne
circuits including five years working at the Book Depot, Lygon Street Carlton.
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In 1877 a colourful character, Rev. Charles Pickering, was at the centre of a
scandal when he announced his intention to leave the Primitive Methodist Church
to join the Baptists. He was said to owe the Primitive Methodist Church £50,
the cost of his passage to Australia, as he was leaving the Church less than six
years after his arrival. Rev. Thomas Copeland of Stawell wrote to bear testimony
to Mr Pickering’s qualifications.
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Mary Jane and Thomas had six children: five boys and a girl. Two of the boys
died in infancy and their daughter died at a relatively early age. Mary Jane
died on 15th March 1904 at the Parsonage, Williamstown, Victoria. An
obituary, extolling her virtues, appeared in ‘The Spectator’ of 8th
April 1904.
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Thomas married for the second time in 1906. He married Jane Ware, formerly of
Kent. Jane had emigrated to Australia with her parents as a child. They later
moved to Ballarat where she spent most of her life. Jane was an active member of
the Lydiard Street Church which she joined when she was 15. She was leader of
the Young Women’s Class in the Sunday school and undertook religious
instruction in State schools. She worked for the Red Cross, Foreign and Home
Missions and the Austral Salon.
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Thomas retired from the Ministry in 1910 whilst minister of the Lilydale
circuit. He had been a minister for 50 years, had been Presidential Chair of the
Primitive Methodist Conference five times, editor of the connexional paper and
Book Steward. He was ‘an earnest advocate of Methodist Union’. Thomas and
Jane received a rousing send-off from the Lilydale church and retired to
Hawthorn, Canterbury, but not before making a trip to Sydney and Queensland. In
January 1919, “The Spectator” records Thomas’ 79th birthday and
58th year of ministry in the Methodist Church. The article refers to
his grandsons “all of whom are of military age and are members of the A.I.F.
(Australia Imperial Force). One of his grandsons, Lieut. Norman Marshall, Croix
de Guerre, returned home on Christmas Eve 1918 after active service since August
1914.”
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Thomas died on 9th April 1926 in his 87th year. He was
buried in Box Hill Cemetery, Canterbury. His obituary describes Thomas as “one
of God’s great gifts to the world”. It goes on to say “he took great care
of his body, was always abstemious and regular in his habits and ruled out of
his life everything of a harmful character. Being so perfectly disciplined he
was capable of doing a vast amount of work and he rejoiced in doing it. He
possessed a mind singularly alert and clear and he could get to the heart of a
question very quickly…..it was commonly believed that had he chosen the law as
a profession he would have risen to a high place…..”
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On 26th October 1930, a stained glass window, dedicated to the
memory of Rev. Thomas Copeland by his widow Jane, was unveiled at the Methodist
Church, Balwyn Road, Canterbury.
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Meg Gain
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Australia
Canada Hawaii
New Zealand
Top of Page
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Northerners
in Canada
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John Stoddart John
Grice British
Columbia Dairy Farmer Bagg's
of Money
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Lonely Bachelor
Anthropologist Architects
George Linsley Scoutmaster
Watson
John Parker A Success Story
Eden in the woods From
Riches to Rags to Riches
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JOHN STODDART
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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Geordies have a way of turning up in the most unexpected places. One of them
chose to settle in the extreme south of Nova Scotia where the land mass trails
off into islands and small caves in the Atlantic Ocean - one of the most
southerly parts of Canada.
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John Stoddart was from North Shields. He became a boatswain aboard a British
man-of-war convoying United Empire Loyalists from New York to Shelburne, Nova
Scotia, in 1783.
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Loyalists were British colonists in America who refused to take up arms against
Great Britain in the Revolutionary War of 1775. Between 40,000 and 60,000
Loyalists fled to Canada and many of them settled in Nova Scotia.
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John's wife, Nancy, was a Loyalist who spent three years aboard a ship and was
glad to set foot ashore at Shelburne. Here John had to leave her and sail off
with his ship, but the next time it anchored in Shelburne
Harbour, he slipped over the side and swam ashore to join his wife. A pair of
navy duck trousers formed part of the bundle on his back as he swam and they
were treasured by his descendants for generations.
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Around 1792 John bought the shares of the Southernmost Inner Island and moved
there. He had two sons, each born on a different island. John kept a cow or two,
some pigs, sheep and a few hens, He cleared fields for pastures and hay, dug a
small garden and a potato patch, but fishing was his main occupation and fish
was their staple food and a source of income.
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The family was afraid of the Indians they saw paddling past in their canoes but
they were never molested.
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One son married the daughter of a disbanded British soldier, and the other
married the daughter of a former captain-of-the-maintop in the Royal Navy, who
was a deserter. Both built homes on the island as, later, did six of their
children. The island became known as Stoddart's Island and the place names
commemorate the family:- Jack's Cove, Hughie's Head and Toot's (Robert's) Point.
Granny's Burnt (a piece of land cleared by fire) may be named after Nancy. A
spectacular ledge by the beach they named Long Rock and a huge boulder was Lamb
Died.
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John died on the island in 1819. He and his wife were buried in the Stoddart
burying ground on the island and slabs of granite were taken from the hill side
to mark each mound.
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His sons stayed on the island until the 1850s, then were lured to the mainland
by shops and better schools for their children.
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Stoddart's Island was bought by and Irishman, Michael Wrayton, who took over
Stoddart's home and changed the name of the island to Emerald Isle, although it
was decades before the new name was accepted by the local population.
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Evelyn Fox (Mrs. Richardson) was born on Emerald Isle and has written books
about her experiences growing up there including "My Other Islands"
(published 1960) from which this information is taken. Viewing John and Nancy's
graves she quotes "Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, ease after
war, death after life does greatly please."
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JOHN GRICE
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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George Nicholson wrote 'Vancouver Island's West Coast,
1762-1962'
Major George W. S. NICHOLSON, M.C., was born in New Zealand, but moved to
British Columbia, Canada in 1910, later serving in WWI and WWII.
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He wrote:-
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"John GRICE was Tofino's first white settler. With
Mrs. GRICE he landed there in 1888 before the place had a name!"
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"As shipping master for the sealing schooners, Mr. GRICE's principal duty
was to hire Indian hunters and boat steerers. This required him to travel from
village to village by canoe, often with an overnight stop at an Indian house.
Thus he became familiar with the language and customs of these people. In later
years, when Tofino became a settlement, he was appointed postmaster, justice of
the peace and coroner. Mr. GRICE was born in June 1841 at Gateshead-on-Tyne,
Durham, England. He died in Tofino in 1931. Mrs. GRICE died the day of her
husband's funeral. Both are buried in the Tofino cemetery."
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Searching the B.C. Vital Statistics death index we find that John GRICE, died 5
Jun 1934, aged 84, in Tofino. There is no female GRICE listed among the deaths
at around that time. There is no GRICE listed in the B.C. Cemetery Index listed
as having a stone in the Tofino cemetery.
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A quick online search of the I.G.I. shows a John GRICE being christened on 28th
August 1850 in Whickham, Durham. This would seem to be our John, especially as
this date would put him at age 84 in 1934.
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BRITISH COLUMBIA DAIRY FARMER
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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There was a Matthew WIGHAM farming in Coanwood,
Northumberland in 1539. How long before then WIGHAMs had lived in Coanwood we
don’t know, but descendants of theirs are still farming in Coanwood today.
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Cuthbert WIGHAM, 1703-1780, of Burn House,
Coanwood, joined the Society of Friends and WIGHAM's have been staunch Quakers
ever since.
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One descendant of Cuthbert was John WIGHAM,
1886-1984, the son of John Joseph WIGHAM and Mary HENDERSON. John’s brother,
Matthew, farmed Burn House and his brothers, Robert and Thomas (Tot), farmed
Hargill House, but John left Coanwood in 1912 and traveled to Vancouver, British
Columbia, where he worked as a carpenter.
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As they say “You can take the boy away from the
farm but you can’t take farming away from the boy.” and in 1914 John bought
21 acres at Chilliwack, B.C. By 1917 he had cleared his land, built a house and
barn and was shipping milk. By 1932 John had increased the acreage of his farm
and added a wife, a daughter, a son and a herd of pure-bred Guernsey's. The farm
was registered under the name “Coanwood” in 1934. In 1973 Coanwood received
the Gold Star Breeders’ Award and continued to win it each year, with Master
Breeder Award in 1977 and 1982. In 1982 it had the highest milk and butter-fat
average in Canada.
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Seventy years after he started John, aged 98, was
still actively involved in showing his cattle at fairs. His son, John, grandson,
Larry, and great grandson, Kevin, shared his enthusiasm for the farm and have
kept in touch with their relatives in Coanwood, Northumberland.
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BAGG'S OF MONEY
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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Canada’s first major canal was the Lachine
Canal, built to by-pass the Lachine Rapids on the St Lawrence River, near
Montreal. It was opened in 1824 and vastly increased Montreal’s trading ties with the West. The man who won the contract for the canal was
Stanley BAGG from Durham. He became very wealthy and invested his money wisely, building homes and
buying property in “The Square Mile” – the enclave of the rich and
powerful of Montreal where MOLSON's (beer), OGILVIE's (flour) and Sir William Van HORNE (Canadian
Pacific Railway) lived in style.
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His son, Robert Stanley BAGG (1848-1911) joined
this exclusive group by building, in 1891, a Romanesque style mansion featuring
a tower topped by a conical roof. After Robert’s death the house was divided
into apartments where Robert’s widow continued to live, the ground floor
became a bank.
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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LONELY BACHELOR
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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Benjamin DOBSON, was
born in 1826 in Durham
and worked there as a coal-miner. By 1860 he was living in
Victoria, British Columbia, where he bought a horse, a cart, buckets and barrels and sold water to homes
in the newly formed city. By selling the water at 12 cents per bucket Ben was
able to make a modest living until the day in 1861 when he found access to the
pure water springs barred by a fence and ‘No Trespassing’ notices. Ben sold
his horse and headed north to the Cowichan
Valley
.
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North of Cobble Hill by
the Koksilah River Ben pre-empted a homestead in an area which was named Bear
Valley
for good reason. Ben was no hunter and he found the bears rooting for skunk
cabbage on his land were not a threat, in fact, they helped to dispel his
loneliness.
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In 1882 Ben sold the
farm to a young Scot, William Forrest, and moved to a small lake which became
known as
Dobson
Lake, in the Shawnigan
Lake
area.
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In the mid-1890’s Ben
sold his land on Dobson Lake to a
Victoria
man who was looking for a summer cottage to use as a base for fishing trips.
Ben moved to Cobble Hill where he became a familiar figure. He was of medium
height, stocky build, bearded, wearing a cap and using a walking stick. He
retained his north country accent. Life was less lonely for him now, living in
the small village after years alone on his isolated homestead. He found a crony
in Scotsman Donald McPherson, section foreman of the railway. Although Donald
was a Tory and Ben was a staunch Liberal they enjoyed each others company.
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Ben gave a talk to a
group of young men on the geological formation of coal measures which was highly
informative as many of them had only a few years of schooling.
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In 1904 at the age of
78 he delighted the audience at a concert by his rendering of ‘The Old Oaken
Bucket’ in a pleasing baritone voice.
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He was 83 when he died
on 2 June 1909
in Chemainus
Hospital and was laid to rest under the tall pine trees of
St John the Baptist Churchyard at Cobble Hill.
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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(Information from:
‘Cowichan My Valley’ by R. I. Dougan)
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ANTHROPOLOGIST
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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Charles Frederick
NEWCOMBE was born in 1851 in
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
, the eighth of 14 children born to William Lister NEWCOMBE and his wife, Eliza,
who were natives of
Yorkshire
. Charles graduated in medicine from
Aberdeen
University
. He practiced at the West Riding Pauper Insane Asylum in
Wakefield
, then at Rainhill Asylum near
Liverpool
, where he married
Marion
, the daughter of Richard ARNOLD, sergeant major in the Madras Army.
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The newly-weds moved to
Windermere where their first child, Marion (May), was born on
22nd May 1880
, followed ten months later by Helen (Nellie). Charles visited the
Pacific Northwest
, returned to
England
and then emigrated, leaving
Liverpool
on
20th January 1884
when
Marion
was pregnant with her fourth child.
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William Arnold was born
on
29th April 1884
at
Hood River
,
Oregon
, and Arthur two years later. In 1889 the family moved to
Victoria
,
British Columbia
, and Charles became the Province’s first psychiatrist. In February 1891
Marion
gave birth to her sixth child, Duncan Lister Arnold, and died a week later.
Charles took the three eldest children, May, Nellie and Charles and returned to
England
for one year. He left William Arnold (known as Will or Billy), Arthur and the
baby in
Victoria
, where the baby died.
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Charles collected
plants, insects, fossils, arrowheads and harpoons. In 1890 he co-founded the
Natural History Society in
Vancouver
. In 1895 he visited the
Queen Charlotte Islands
(now more correctly called Haida Gwai) and returned in 1897 in his own vessel,
the Pelican. He collected native artifacts, especially totem poles. He
worked on contract for
Chicago
Field
Museum
from 1902 to 1906. His sons, Charles and Billy, accompanied their father and
Billy, especially, became an expert in anthropology and natural history. In 1904
Billy surrendered a scholarship in order to help his father in staging the
province’s exhibition at the St Louis World Fair. Except for his military
service overseas, Billy stayed at his father’s side. Charles took ill while
traveling in Haida Gwai and had to await transport back to
Victoria
where he died on
19th October 1923
aged 73.
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Billy stayed alone in
the family home in
Victoria
, looked on as an eccentric recluse by his neighbours, till he died in November
1960, leaving a huge inventory of British Columbian Indian arts and crafts. The
internationally famous collection is now housed in the Roya British Columbia
Museum
in Victoria.
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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[Bibliography:
The Encyclopedia and British Columbia
The Art of Emily Carr
The
Queen Charlotte Islands
, Vol.2.
Beautiful British Columbia, Fall 1997
The Beaver,
Spring 1982
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ARCHITECTS
By
Dorothy K Marshall
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TWIZELL and TWIZELL is
an unlikely name for an architectural firm but they were responsible for many
schools in Vancouver, including Prince of Wales High School and Magee
School. Their main work was St Andrew’s Wesley
United
Church
and they were also architects for St Peter’s Church in New Westminster.
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Robert Percival TWIZELL
was born 1879 and his brother, George Stirling TWIZELL, was born 1885. They
articled in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
and trained at the University
of Durham
before emigrating to Vancouver,
British Columbia, and setting up practice there.
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St Peter’s Church was
built in 1880, but was found to be unsafe after a violent storm in 1934. For
five years the congregation worshipped in the Church Hall. It was difficult to
scrape together enough money to rebuild in the time of the Depression and those
who could not contribute financially were asked to give their labour. The Church
was soon completed to the TWIZELL brothers’ design.
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Another noted Vancouver
architect was Joseph Francis WATSON, born 1885 in Haltwhistle. He studied
architecture in London, emigrated to New Westminster
in 1910 and at first worked for C. H. CLOW. He designed the Elks’ Building at
439 Columbia Street,
New Westminster.
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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GEORGE
LINSLEY 1910 – 1964
By
Patrick George Linsley
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My
father – George Linsley – was born on 28th February 1910 in the
South Durham village of Cockfield which is roughly half way between the towns of
Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle in Teesdale.
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This
is a picture of him taken about 1913/1914 when he was aged about 3 or 4 with his
dad - Jonathan Linsley - and his
Grandfather - George Linsley. (George
is a very common name in my family). It’s
believed to have been taken at the house where they lived, opposite the Parish
Church of St Mary the Virgin in Cockfield.
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As
Dad died when I was only 6 years old, I know very little about his early years.
What I do know is that he was the eldest of 10 children of Jonathan and
Dora Linsley. Jonathan was a miner
who worked in the various mines that dotted the area around Cockfield and Bishop
Auckland. He also served in the
army in France during the 1st World War.
Dora was from quite an affluent family – the Gowland’s – who came
from the St John’s Chapel, Westgate, and Eastgate parts of Weardale.
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Dad
was by all accounts academic and it was hoped that he would go into Grammar
School at nearby Barnard Castle. There
are however conflicting stories as to why he never took-up the offer of a place.
One story says that he didn’t want to stay in the Cockfield area as the
only work upon leaving school was to go down the mines.
Another story says that he had an argument with his dad and ran away to
Liverpool at the age of 16 where he “worked his ticket” across the Atlantic
to Canada.
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What
is known for sure is that on 3rd July 1926 Dad disembarked at the
port of Quebec from the SS. Montclare
– a passenger ship owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. His immigration records state that
his passage was paid for by the "Church of England" (presumably the
funds came via the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Cockfield) and that
upon arrival he went to live on his Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle
Alfred’s farm in Altario in Alberta
.
(Elizabeth was his mother’s sister).
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During
that period he put himself through Technical College but on 8th March
1928 he enlisted with the Canadian Militia (later known as the Canadian Army) at
Esquimalt in British Columbia. As a
result he was posted to the well known regiment of Princess Patricias’
Canadian Light Infantry – P.P.C.L.I.
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By
1932 he met Annie (also born in the UK but living in Canada) and they were
married on 17th September 1932 at St Marks Church, Victoria, British
Columbia. They had two children in
1939 and 1941 – who are my half-brother and half-sister.
(I’ve never met them).
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Dads’
army file contains a letter written by his father in May 1933 to the Commanding
Officer of P.P.C.L.I. enquiring about dad’s whereabouts.
According to the letter there had been no contact between Dad and his
family in Cockfield since 1928 – a period of some 5 years!! The file goes on to state that his Commanding Officer
forwarded the letter to Dad – who was a Lance Corporal by now - but there is
no record to say whether he replied to the letter or not.
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Dad
was posted to various Canadian Militia Army Camps during the 1930’s where he
rose through the ranks and by January 1939 he was a Sergeant Instructor at
P.P.C.L.I.’s barracks in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
At the outbreak of the 2nd World War, the Canadian Militia was
renamed as the Canadian Army and January 1940 saw Dad posted to the rank of
Acting Sergeant Major at Saskatoon in Saskatchewan.
By December of that year he was promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major
(Warrant Officer Class 1) and in May 1941 he was promoted to 1st
Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant, and then commissioned to the rank of
Captain with immediate effect. A
week later he was confirmed in the rank of Company Sergeant Major.
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Throughout
the war years, Dad was posted away from P.P.C.L.I to various military
establishments across Canada as his trade was that of a Weapons Instructor.
He trained Canadian troops to use various weapons common to a light
infantry unit – i.e hand grenades, 4.2-inch mortars, Vickers .303 machine
guns, rifles, hand pistols as well as the 17 pounder anti-tank gun.
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On
18th December 1944 Dad was posted to Active Duty and embarked for the
UK where he arrived one week later on Christmas Day.
On Boxing Day he reported for duty at the No.4 Canadian Infantry Training
School at Aldershot, Hampshire. It
seems that this was his first visit back to the UK in 18 years.
There also seems to be evidence that during his stay in England he went
back to Cockfield where he met his brothers and sisters – some of which he had
never met as they were born after he went to Canada.
It is thought that this picture was taken in Cockfield in the winter of
1944/45.
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There
then starts a curious episode in his life which I have never got to the bottom
of.
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A
few weeks after the war in Europe finished, while in Aldershot, Dad volunteered
on 16th May 1945 for service with the Canadian Forces that were still
fighting in the Pacific Theatre of war against the Japanese.
However, 7 days later he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion,
Canadian Infantry which had just finished the war only a few weeks earlier
somewhere in the Bilthoven area of Holland where it had taken part in the
liberation of Rotterdam. 2 days
later, on 24th May, Dad embarked for “NWE” – North West Europe
and was posted as a Company Commander with P.P.C.L.I. He remained in Holland until 9th September of that
year, upon which he returned to the UK.
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There
is absolutely nothing in his army file to say why he was sent off to Holland at
such short notice or what he was doing while there.
Mum once told me that he went into Germany while he was there and was
involved in something to do with the former Belsen Concentration Camp in
northwest Germany. Dad’s brother
also says that he was a “Census” Officer while in Holland – but I’ve
never been able to find out what that entailed.
Putting the two together, perhaps my dad was involved in recording and
processing the former inmates of the Concentration Camp.
This might be an answer. As
a child I used to ask dad what he did in the war and he would always tell me
that he was fighting the Indians in Canada.
As a 4 year-old that seemed perfectly logical to me!!..... after all, all
dads are heroes to a 4 year old. After
he died Mum told me that he would never speak about what he saw or did while in
Holland or Germany. That might
explain why he would only tell me stories about Cowboys and Indians in Canada
– he didn’t want to talk about what he had witnessed.
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Another
theory is that he was involved in removing V2 rockets, components and their
launch sites that were left behind by the Wehrmacht in Holland. This
might explain why Dad was posted to Holland immediately the fighting had stopped
and why later on in his army career, he was posted to Fort Churchill on Hudson
Bay where the U.S. and Canadian Army had a joint rocket testing facility.
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As mum and dad are both dead, I suppose I’ll never find out what he was
really doing during those 3 months and 24 days in Holland/Germany.
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One
other story about Dad, though not related to this time period, is that he was
assigned as a military bodyguard to William Lyon Mackenzie King, who was the
much respected Canadian Prime Minister from 1935 to 1948.
The story goes that Dad was on guard duty late one night at Ottawa while
the Prime Minister was there when he heard someone approaching from the shadows
at the back of the building where he was on guard duty. Dad gave the usual challenge - “Halt” Who goes there?
Friend or Foe?” upon which he was told to, quote - “B*gger
Off!!” Dad proceeded to up
the challenge to who ever it was, only to find that it was a Police Officer who
was escorting the Prime Minister to a nearby car that was parked well away from
sight. According to the story,
Mackenzie King commended dad for doing his duty but gave the Police Officer a
dressing down for being gobby!!
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Anyway,
by mid-November 1945 Dad was back in Canada.
In September 1946 he relinquished his commissioned rank of Captain and
returned to the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2.
He took up his normal duties as Weapons Instructor at numerous camps
across Canada. In October 1949 Dad
became a Canadian Citizen and by November 1951 he was back at the Rank of
Warrant Officer Class 1 (Regimental Sergeant Major) at the big army
establishment at Camp Borden, north of Toronto where he was Garrison Sergeant
Major.
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It
was about this time that Dad met my mum – Marjorie Simons.
Mum was from Seven Kings, Ilford in London and worked for British Gaumont
as a projectionist at the Gaumont Cinema in Ilford High Street.
Through an advertised job vacancy, Mum got a job as projectionist in the
camp cinema at Camp Borden As Dad was Garrison Sergeant Major, he was
responsible for camp entertainment – part of which was the cinema.
Therefore Dad was her boss!!
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In
August 1956 Dad was posted to Fort Churchill in Manitoba, where he remained
until August 1959. In June of that year Dad separated from his wife – Annie -
and went to live with Mum who already had had two children by Dad – me, aged
1, and my sister age 1 month.
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After
31 years in the army, Dad finally retired on 1st October 1960.
By this time Dad and Mum returned with my sister and myself to the UK and
temporarily went to live with Mum’s sister in Mawney Road, Romford, London.
In January 1961, we moved to Bournemouth, where Dad got a small job as a
cycle mechanic at Taylors Cycles on Wimborne Road, Winton in Bournemouth.
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However,
Dads health was deteriorating. In
1963/64 he was diagnosed with cysts on his kidney and a chest infection.
He spent time at the Chest Hospital at Southampton and was transferred to
convalesce at Bournemouth Chest Hospital in the town centre.
He was allowed home at weekends but had to return to hospital on Monday
mornings. It was at the end of
September 1964 that I saw my dad for the very last time.
To this day, I still remember going down to see him sat by the War
Memorial in the Upper Pleasure Gardens, which was just across the road from the
hospital.
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On
the afternoon of Friday, 2nd October 1964 while waiting at a bus stop
in Gervis Place, in Bournemouth in order to come home for the weekend, Dad
suffered a massive heart attack and died on the spot. He was 54. After a post mortem Dad was cremated in full Military Uniform
at the North Cemetery in Charminster, Bournemouth on the afternoon of Monday, 5th
October. According to mum, the
Canadian Department of Defence sent over two representatives to attend the
funeral. Afterwards they came back
to the house to see mum and told her that although mum and dad weren’t
married, and therefore not entitled to his Army Pension, the Canadian Government
would arrange for her to receive a monthly allowance and would support me and
sister as Canadian citizens should mum have a need to call on them for help.
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On
the day of his funeral I met two of his sisters for the first time – my Aunty
Dolly and Aunty Margaret. The
following summer of 1965 we went up to Cockfield in County Durham where I
finally met his dad – Jonathan – my Grand-Dad who was by now some 77 years
old. I still remember him crying
when he saw us for the first time. I
also met Dad’s younger brothers – my Uncle Roy (who to this day I can still
see my dad), Uncles Alan and Lancelot (or Sammy as we all call him) and their
families. I also saw Dad’s eldest
sister my Aunty Ada who lived out at Ingleton Farm near Cockfield.
I also met my cousins who I never knew about. I suppose it was this that was the initial spark that got me
interested later on in life in tracing my roots.
Over the years Mum, my sister and I had further holidays there.
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In
December 1996 after a very long battle with Alzheimers Disease Mum died.
So in July 2000 my wife and I took our two children to Cockfield for the
first time to show them where their grandfather was born and where our
Linsley’s came from since the 1750’s. I
took them to see Dad’s brother and two sisters – their Great Aunts and Uncle
- who still lived in the village although one, Dolly, has since sadly died.
I also took my son to the now boarded-up school that Dad went to as a boy
and to the house where he was born. And
I also took him up onto the remains of the Lands Railway Viaduct on Cockfield
Fell where I used to play with my cousin, Wayne, and where I was told that my
dad used to play as a young lad. Therefore
3 generations of Linsley have played – and nearly killed themselves!! - on
this massive structure, or what now remains of it.
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I
felt really proud to show my two children where their roots were.
I only wished Mum and Dad had been there as well.
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Patrick
George Linsley
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cyberbia@ntlworld.com
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SCOUTMASTER
WATSON
By Dorothy K Marshall
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Alf Watson was born in 1889 in Newton-by-the-Sea,
Northumberland. He attended the Duke’s School at Alnwick and was a member of
their football team in 1902-3.
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In 1909 Sir Robert Baden-Powell visited Northumberland and inspired Alf with a
life-long enthusiasm for the Boy Scout Movement.
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By 1911 Alf was living in New Denver in the Slocan Valley, British Columbia,
where he spent ten years in mining, surveying and dairy farming. He then moved
to Chapman Camp on the outskirts of Kimberley
– base of the largest lead and zinc mine in the world.
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On
15 Jul 1927
two leaders set out with several pack horses carrying the heavier equipment.
The next day Scoutmaster Alf Watson, Assistant Scout Master George Noble and
about ten scouts (the youngest 11 years old) set out in style on a Consolidated
Mining and Smelting Company’s truck. Passing St Mary’s
Lake
they heard the high-pitched whistling of marmots. They soon caught up to the
pack horses and found that one had a pretty little colt tagging along. Also
accompanying them was their mascot, Rastus, an Airedale.
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Most of the third day was wasted after the recommended trail petered out and
they had to retrace their steps. Towards the end of the fourth day their guide
from the Forestry Department scouted ahead and found fallen trees across the
trail, a bridge down and the trail washed out. He advised them to abandon their
attempt as the way was impassable for horses. George Noble (nobly!) offered to
turn back with the horses and meet the troop again, as and when he could. The
boys were eager to continue even though, without the horses to help, they had to
carry more food, etc.
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The troop made their way over Rose’s Pass and down to Kootenay
Bay, where the S.S. Kuskanook transported them north to Kaslo. From Kaslo they went
by train to New Denver where George Noble (after safely returning the exhausted,
foot-sore horses, colt and all, to Chapman Camp) rejoined them. Once again the
boys sang ‘Blaydon Races’ and other Geordie songs under George’s
leadership. Mr. Angus McInnes, the Government Agent, father-in-law of Alf,
welcomed them to New Denver and invited them to camp on his lawn.
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Well-rested the troop tackled the next leg of their journey which took them
through the Kokanee Glacier, climbing to 9,400 feet above sea level. With their
youngest scout, age 11, they claimed to be the youngest group ever to reach the
summit of the Kokanee Glacier. (The dog’s age is not given!) The boys roped
together to cross the ice field. After safely descending they camped and were
struck by a hail storm which left their tent and some of their blankets soaking
wet and heavy to carry. From Kitto’s Landing to Kootenay Landing they again
travelled on the S.S. Kuskanook. At Yahk they boarded the train for Cranbrook
where parents and friends waited to drive them by car, home to Chapman Camp.
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After their 300 mile, 16 day journey, each member of the party was 100% fit - a
fine tribute to the leadership of the two Northumbrians.
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Alf Watson died suddenly in 1962 on the beach
of Kootenay
Lake. His son, Malcolm C. Watson, arranged the printing of the book ‘No Pass Too
High, No Trail Too Long’ describing the scouts’ journey. Alf’s other
children include: Don,
Iona, Sheila, Christine and Florence.
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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JOHN PARKER - A
SUCCESS STORY
By G. Glenn Parker
This is the story of an emigrant from the Northern
Pennines whose family prospered in their new life in Canada.
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John Parker was born in 1806 in the lead
mining parish of Alston, Cumberland. His
ancestors were farmers from the remote parish of Knarsdale, Northumberland, just
a few miles down the South Tyne river valley from Alston.
His parents moved to Alston in the 1790s probably to find work.
John grew up in the heyday of the lead mining economy in Alston.
With the reduction in trade restrictions and lower ore prices following
the end of the Napoleonic wars, however, his teen and young adult years
coincided with the beginning of Alston’s long decline.
The decline was particularly acute by the early 1830s when he decided to
emigrate to Canada. In 1825 in
Alston, John had married Jane Harrison, who, by the time they emigrated in 1831,
had already given birth to their first three children.
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Following immigration, they first took up land in Smith Township, near
Peterborough, Ontario, north east of York, which became Toronto in 1834.
A number of Alston miners had settled in Smith Township as early as 1818,
so John probably knew about the location before he set out from Alston. Its appeal may have been the fact that, in addition to
farming, the township had a sawmill supporting an active forestry industry.
Then in 1832, only a year after arriving in Canada and only a few days
after their fourth child was born, John unfortunately lost a leg in a lumbering
accident. They moved into the new village of Peterborough where they
seem to have managed rather well as they brought five more children into world
by 1844 for a total of nine.
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They moved to Oxford County in about 1845, possibly because John’s
older brother, Robert Parker, was planning to move there too.
Oxford is in south-western Ontario about midway between Toronto and
Detroit. In 1846, they settled on
Lot 20, Concession 16, East Zorra Township, land that had been surveyed in the
1790s and first settled in the 1820s. John’s
brother, Robert, emigrated to Oxford also in 1846, ultimately settling right
next door on Lot 20, Con 15. Robert
had left Alston even earlier than John but had first gone to other mining
locations in Cumberland before emigrating.
Also, this was another case where other Alston miners had preceded the
Parker brothers in settling in East Zorra.
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John and family later moved into the county town of
Woodstock by which time, their older children were reaching maturity.
Woodstock had been formed out of the wilderness only a quarter century
earlier but was already a thriving town. The
next generation of the John Parker family soon established itself in the
community. Their oldest son, Robert, was the only one who remained in
the farming business. Two other
sons, Thomas Harrison Parker and Henry Parker ultimately became mayors of
Woodstock, Henry in 1868 and 1869, and Thomas in 1878 and 1879.
Thomas prospered as a dry goods (textiles) merchant.
In 1864, he built a large, 3 ½ storey Italianate home at 84 Vansittart
Ave., at what was then the outskirts of town.
This fine home remained in the family until the 1920s.
Today, Vansittart Ave. is a beautiful, wide, tree lined street with No 84
as one of its finer homes. See
photo below. Henry was a
grain merchant and was active in politics for a number of years being a
Councillor for St Patrick’s ward prior to becoming Mayor.
He was also President of the North Oxford Agricultural Society for 15
years. Both men are documented in
the Woodstock Museum in the old city hall on Dundas Street, which also has
preserved the council chamber in which Henry and
Thomas would have presided.
The John and Jane Parkers also had two daughters.
Agnes married a man who manufactured and sold footwear, and Mary Jane
married a minister. Three
sons are believed to have moved to the US mid-west.
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Thus, John Parker, a
descendant of a Knarsdale farming family and an Alston lead miner in his youth,
emigrated to Canada at the age of 25, lost a leg but still managed to prosper in
the pioneering conditions of early Ontario, raised a large family with his wife
Jane Harrison, and lived to see two of his sons become mayors of the Oxford
county town of Woodstock. A full
and notable life, indeed. He also
had the satisfaction of living to see his children become well established in
the community. He died in 1884 at
the age of 77. His obituary
described him as a consistent Reformer and an advocate of Temperence.
He was active in and attached to the principles of the Methodist Church.
He and Jane are buried at Hillview United Cemetery in Woodstock.
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Main Sources:
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A History of Alston Moor
by Alistair Robertson, Hundy Publications, 1999.
The Mines of
Alston Moor
by R.A. Fairbairn, Northern Mine Research Society, 1993.
Knarsdale and Alston
Parish Registers and Census Records.
Oxford Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.
Woodstock Library.
Oxford County Land Registry Office.
The Woodstock Museum.
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G.
Glenn
Parker
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EDEN
IN THE WOODS
By Dorothy K Marshall
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In 1993 a dedicated group called ‘The
Friends of Knockan Hill’ were fighting to save a pretty little cottage from
demolition. After many hours of hard work ‘Hall Cottage’,
1248 Burnside Road West
, was saved from being leveled to make way for a parking lot.
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The cottage was built in 1930 for
Thomas and Maud Hall – hence the name. Thomas was born in 1882 in Hartlepool,
Co.
Durham
, and emigrated to
Canada
in 1911. In
Vancouver
he met Maud who also was born in
Hartlepool
in 1882 and had emigrated in 1912. They married in
Vancouver
and in 1913 were living in Saanich on
Vancouver Island
.
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Thomas was a school teacher and became head of
George
Jay
School
– a large elementary school in
Victoria
. He later became an Inspector of Schools.
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The Halls asked their friend Hubert Savage to design a home for them and Donald
Lindsay built a charming English arts-and-crafts style cottage in a woodland
setting with field-stone foundations. Rustic weatherboards were used in the
gables and the windows are diamond-paned leaded lights.
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The Halls sculpted a garden out of the surrounding rocks with steps descending
the steep slopes. Flower beds were designed to fit into the natural woodland
setting with cascading water and pools. The garden was a show place in Saanich.
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Thomas retired in 1954 and died in 1962. Maud lived in the cottage till 1973
when she sold her house, garden and 3 hectares of woodland to the people of
Saanich. On
10 May 1984
Maud wrote a letter to the Mayor and Council of Saanich expressing her joy that
many people would enjoy her former home and hoping they would take good care of
it. Maud died in a nursing home in 1985, aged 103.
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[Source: If These Walls Could Talk;
Victoria
’s Houses from the Past, by Valerie Green & illustrated by Lynn Gordon
Findlay, Victoria, BC, Touch Wood Editions, 2001.]
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Dorothy
K Marshall
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FROM RICHES TO RAGS TO
RICHES By
Dorothy K Marshall
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Sarah Insley VAUGHAN
was born 1751 at Harnham Hall, Harnham Moor, Morpeth, Northumberland, the fifth
of seven children of Thomas VAUGHAN. She was the niece of the Earl of Lisburne
and a cousin (through AYNSLEY, her mother’s family) to the Duke of Atholl. She
married, July 1775, in Morpeth, David TETCHLEY and emigrated to America.
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Ten years later she had left David and
reverted to her maiden name. She joined a group of British Loyalists, traveling
to Montreal where each head of household had been offered 100 acres
and each single man 50 acres. Sarah, as a married woman with no husband,
had no claim to land. She confided in Rev. John BETHUNE, former chaplain of the
84th Regiment, and he agreed to help her find employment. He escorted
her to the landing place on the St Lawr
