View Full Version : South Australia outward bound shipping 1849-1851
A Jane Westlake came to Australia in the Mary Ann arriving South Australia on 3 April 1849 aged about 15.
In 1851 Lympsham, Somerset, Jane Westlake is a domestic servant and in 1854 she marries.
Jane was born in Puriton Somerset 1834, and her mother died 1848 leaving behind husband Henry Puddy and little Maria aged 3. (Jane was born of a different father, previously).
Henry brought little Maria to South Australia on the same ship,as our Jane Westlake. Henry re-marries a few weeks after arriving in South Australia, and I feel Jane wanted to go back home.
She would have left sometime between April 1849 and the census in 1851. Could anyone find her going back to England between those dates. I don't know where ships from Australia disembarked in the UK, but she did live in Somerset.
I suppose she did actually get on the ship from England to Australia?
Have you got the marriage cert to confirm she is the same Jane Westlake? I think she probably is, as she does give the right birthplace on at least one census after the marriage, but there are several (mistranscribed) Jane Westlakes of a very similar age floating about on the 1841 and 1851 censuses, only one of which I think I have positively eliminated (married Charles Lee in 1851)!
I don't know if South Australia kept records of outbound passengers, other than newspaper reports of those of note departing, I know NSW did not keep such records.
I can see Jane is listed as a single female arriving on the Mary Ann, from the Shipping News in the paper (on Trove website), but cannot seeing any lists of those departing.
Di
Uncle John
21-06-12, 10:16
I don't know where ships from Australia disembarked in the UK, but she did live in Somerset.
Almost all the Australia ships at that time sailed to/from Liverpool. There were also a few from London. Liverpool Maritime Museum may possibly have some records.
I suppose she did actually get on the ship from England to Australia?
Yes, Merry. As you can see Marquette proved it for me with her reply I can see Jane is listed as a single female arriving on the Mary Ann, from the Shipping News in the paper (on Trove website), but cannot seeing any lists of those departing.
Have you got the marriage cert to confirm she is the same Jane Westlake? I think she probably is, as she does give the right birthplace on at least one census after the marriage, but there are several (mistranscribed) Jane Westlakes of a very similar age floating about on the 1841 and 1851 censuses, only one of which I think I have positively eliminated (married Charles Lee in 1851)!
I don't have a marriage cert - I only have the following
Q/E June 1854 Axbridge
James SEALY
Jane WESTLAKE - the date was 6 May 1854 at St Christopher, Lympsham (I understand that is sort of near Somerset?)
In 1861 she is aged 27 which is the correct age
The eldest son of the second marriage, James SEALEY was bapt(S/M) 15 Sep 1833 at Lympsham. He was married on 6 May 1854 at Lympsham to Jane Brimble WESTLAKE, who was born 19 Jan 1834 daughter of Henry BRIMBLE and Sophie WESTLAKE
__________________
(I understand that is sort of near Somerset?)
In 1861 she is aged 27 which is the correct age
The eldest son of the second marriage, James SEALEY was bapt(S/M) 15 Sep 1833 at Lympsham. He was married on 6 May 1854 at Lympsham to Jane Brimble WESTLAKE, who was born 19 Jan 1834 daughter of Henry BRIMBLE and Sophie WESTLAKE
Lympsham is in Somerset!
In 1861 she is the correct age, but in 1851 she is 19 (though she was a servant, so maybe a guess), so she only aged a year in three years!
Would the person who wrote the above bit about the marriage have seen the cert? I just wondered if she gave her father's name, as it would seem she may well have known it?
Merry for the 1841 Census I only have Sophia - Jane and Matilda Linhares (aged 15) - Jane is 7
1851 she (or I dont have) doesnt show age, it would have to be checked and I dont have ancestry - but she should be 17
1861
She is shown as 27
1871 she is 36
1881 she is 47
1891 - no age, just says c 1834 Bridgewater Somerset
I have a feeling I got the queried message Would the person who wrote the above bit about the marriage have seen the cert? I just wondered if she gave her father's name, as it would seem she may well have known it? from a newspaper in the UK, as it was relating to the death of her husband James Sealey in 1885 at Axbridge in a cart accident. I also got an email - see below
Transcription of text
Mr Ian Wilkins of Burnham and Highbridge Family History Society (I also have email from him: ian.wilkins@@tesco.net) citing the following information was received among material from Hopkins. "on the road outside Rectory Farm, Lympsham, James Sealey, employed by Thomas Cox was hauling sand from Brean when he stood up in the cart to strike his horse, overbalanced and fell out, injuring his spine"; he died a few days later.
Death is also confirmed at Mar 1885 Sealey, James 51, Axbridge 5c, 435
The eldest son of the second marriage, James SEALEY was
bapt(S/M) 15 Sep 1833 at Lympsham. He was married on 6
May 1854 at Lympsham to Jane Brimble WESTLAKE, who
was born 19 Jan 1834 daughter of Henry BRIMBLE
and Sophie WESTLAKE. James died in January 1885
in an accident in the Road outside Rectory Farm,
Lympsham: "James SEALEY, employed by Thomas Cox was hauling sand
from Brean when he stood up in the cart to strike the horse,
overbalanced and fell out, injuring his spine"; he died a few days
later. At the time of his death he was 'of Coppice End Cottages'.
Past my bedtime!
1851 she (or I dont have) doesnt show age, it would have to be checked and I dont have ancestry - but she should be 17
HO107; Piece: 1936; Folio: 387; Page: 10
In the household of Peter Stephens, farmer of 220 acres at Lympsham, Somerset:
Jane Westlake, servant, unm, 19, house servant b Somerset, Purington (sic)
Hi
I am not sure that the newspaper list of passenger arrivals is actually "proof" that she arrived. It depends where the newspaper got its information - in Sydney, the captain had a list he made of passengers who arrived on the ship, and noted who had died or been born along the way. The Shipping Agent made a list of those paying fares or assisted migrants before departure. So sometimes ships arriving to Sydney had two lists which held slightly different information, and on the NSW State Records website, you will sometimes see two microfilms listed against ships records - one is Assisted Migrants and passengers listed on arrival by the captain of the ship and the other compiled by the Agent, which I think was done on boarding, or from their booking information.
I don't know if South Australia did the same, they were much less bureaucratic over there being a free colony and not a penal settlement from the beginning. You might be able to send a query to SA Archives to see if they have anything on shipping arrivals and departures. Not that you would be able to access it without a personal visit, I guess.
For somone to come to the colony in 1849 and return within two years would mean they would have had to have quite a bit of money - in 1856 saloon (cabin) passage from Bristol to Melbourne cost 25 Pounds. So I am guessing that it would have been about the same to and from Adelaide just a few years eariler.
The South Australian Passenger Lists website and newspaper reports give that the Mary Ann departed Bristol via Plymouth (Departed Plymouth 1 Jan 1849) and then continued on to Melbourne arriving there 21 April
This is the SA Passenger lists website : http://www.familyhistorysa.info/shipping/passengerlists.html
Di
Maybe she didn't come to Australia, but her step-father did, with his first child Maria, who was 7. I wouldn't have thought he'd leave a 14 year old at home.
Henry & little Maria (aged 4) came out to South Aust. in the "Mary Ann" arriving April 3 1849. WESTLAKE Jane arrived in SA 1849-04-03 aboard Mary Ann from Bristol via Plymouth 1848-12-25 [Source:6]
Jane was listed in the single woman's group.
It would seem I have the correct Jane Westlake marrying James Sealey - I just can't prove she came to Australia if we can't find her going back to England.
Poor Henry only lasted 6 years in the colony - dying on the second last day of 1854, leaving Maria then aged 13. She married James Cook in 1867 and died in 1926 - as she was such a great age, you may find an obituary for her, which might mention how and when she came to Australia, but if she was only 7 she might not have recalled an older sister who returned to England. If Henry had an obit, it might mention a daughter returning to England.
There is an obit for Isaac Puddy who died in SA in 1905. It mentions that Isaac was from Mark, Somerset and worked for Mr George Bennett who was a well-known railway contractor and that he was Henry's only brother. Was George Bennet related to Maria, Henry's second wife ? Maria Bennett was also on the same voyage of the Mary Ann - clearly that is why she and Henry married so soon after arriving.
It seems that Jane /Henry might have been able to afford the return passage to England, but finding proof might be difficult. Without outgoing passengers lists, she was here such a short time (April 1849 to Nov/Dec 1850) there may be no South Australian records/notes for her.
Maybe more research into the Puddy-Bennett connection might throw some light on Jane Brimble Westlake.
Diane
Janet in Yorkshire
29-06-12, 14:21
"Maybe she didn't come to Australia, but her step-father did, with his first child Maria, who was 7. I wouldn't have thought he'd leave a 14 year old at home."
Bear in mind that, in that era, most 14 yr olds would have been settled in full-time employment for at least a couple of years, possibly "living in."
Perhaps she opted out at the last minute - I've heard of people who did because they just couldn't face all that time at sea (and the fear of drowning.)
Jay
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