Two Gordons

The nineteenth-century English-born Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1833 – 1870), is scarcely read now, and if he is remembered at all, it is not for his poetry. The best of Gordon’s verse rises very little above his over-quoted quatrain:

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another’s trouble,
Courage in your own.

Gordon’s main interest was horse-racing, not poetry, and it shows.

Drawing of Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon riding in a steeplechase. Drawing by Eugene Montagu Scott about 1865 in the collection of the State Library of Victoria.

Gordon’s biographer says that in his youth he caused his father ‘anxiety’. The strength of this euphemism may be judged by what he did about it, which was to boot his son out at the age of twenty on a one-way trip to the colony of South Australia with a letter of introduction to the governor and a bit of advice: join the police force. For the next few years he received ‘financial assistance’ from his father, that is, regular remittances on the condition that he stayed away.

For a while Gordon ran a livery stable behind one of Ballarat’s large hotels, conveniently placed, for he was a great drinker. We live in Ballarat and we also have enjoyed a glass or two at Craig’s, so I suppose we may be said to have a connection with Adam Lindsay Gordon.

I can claim an even closer connection. My third great grandfather Gordon Mainwaring (1817 – 1872), like Adam Lindsay Gordon banished to the colonies and living on remittances sent from home, knew him in Adelaide. Both Gordons joined the colonial police, and both drank to excess.  An 1891 newspaper article claimed Gordon Mainwaring was “on very friendly terms” with Adam Lindsay Gordon “who was also with the police force”.

The ‘with’ in this formula is rather a stretch. Gazetted as a constable on 23 August 1852, Mainwaring lasted only six weeks. On 14 October he was absent from the barracks without leave and returned drunk; he was dismissed.

Gordon Mainwaring, though not Adam Lindsay Gordon, also had a military career, rather less than glorious, rising to the rank of corporal in No. 2 Company of the 1st Battalion, Royal South Australian Volunteer militia.

In 1854, at the time of the Crimean war and the Russian Scare, Mainwaring spoke at a meeting in Walkerville urging men to join the militia, bending the truth in a worthy cause:

Mr. Mainwaring said he had been a soldier for twenty years, and was the first man who drilled the police in this colony. He had served for ten years in India ; he trusted he might say with credit. He had now settled at Walkerville, and purchased a house for £700. He respected the villagers as his friends and neighbours, and would not only volunteer, but gladly teach them their exercise either as artillerymen or infantry, being equally au fait at both. But it must be understood that he would take no additional pay for such extra services. (Cheers.)

Within a year this sketch of himself had become a little tarnished, when he was found in contempt of court, for having “been confined for drunken and disorderly conduct, but liberated on bail, [he] did not appear to his recognizances when called on to answer for his misconduct.”

Adam Lindsay Gordon, unhappy and half-mad, shot himself on Brighton beach Melbourne in 1870, 150 years ago today. Our Gordon, Gordon Mainwaring, married, bought a small farm and had seven children. He lasted until 1872.

The grave and column memorial of Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet, located at the Brighton (Victoria) General Cemetery. Image from the State Library of South Australia.

Photograph of Gordon Mainwaring from “Whitmore Hall : from 1066 to Waltzing Matilda” by Christine Cavenagh-Mainwaring. Adelaide Peacock Publications, 2013. page 103.

Sources

• Leonie Kramer, ‘Gordon, Adam Lindsay (1833–1870)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gordon-adam-lindsay-3635/text5653, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 24 June 2020.
• Wilding, M. . What do poets drink. The Adam Lindsay Gordon Commemorative Committee Inc. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://adamlindsaygordon.org/whatdopoetsdrink/
• Magner, Brigid. “‘He Didn’t Pay His Rent!’ Commemorating Adam Lindsay Gordon in Brighton.” LaTrobe Journal, State Library of Victoria, Sept. 2018, www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/La-Trobe-Journal-102-Brigid-Magner.pdf.
• POLICE FORCE. (1852, October 23). Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 – 1904), p. 8. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160111006 
• Cavenagh-Mainwaring, Christine and Britton, Heather, (editor.) Whitmore Hall : from 1066 to Waltzing Matilda. Adelaide Peacock Publications, 2013. Page 107.
• VOLUNTEER BILL. (1854, September 4). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900), p. 3. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49202724 
• VOLUNTEER MILITARY FORCE. (1855, January 26). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900), p. 2. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49308970 
• LAW AND CRIMINAL COURTS. (1855, October 22). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900), p. 3. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49296014
• The Week. (1891, May 16). South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1895), p. 12. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91542029

Related post

• A Quiet Life: Gordon Mainwaring (1817-1872)

Trove Tuesday: William John Plowright (1859-1914)

William John Plowright (1859-1914) was my husband’s great grand uncle, the oldest son of John Plowright (1831-1910) and Margaret Plowright née Smyth (1834-1897).

The Avoca Mail reported on a mining accident where William Plowright dislocated his ankle and broke the extreme end of the small bone of the leg. He was nearly killed.

No title (1884, March 28). Avoca Mail (Vic. : 1863 – 1900; 1915 – 1918), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201529669

William married Harriet Hosking in 1881. At the time of the accident, they had two children, both born at Homebush near Avoca in central Victoria. They had another child, also born at Homebush in 1885, when their fourth child was born in 1886 they had moved to Melbourne.

It appears after the accident William Plowright gave up mining and joined the police.

The Geelong Advertiser reported the recruitment of a number of new constables in October 1885.

TOWN TALK. (1885, October 2). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 – 1929), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149010584

On 6 October 1885 William John Plowright was appointed a constable with the Victorian Police Force. Constable Plowright was 26 years old.

Fifteen years later, in 1901, he still held that position. His name appeared in the Police Gazettes for 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1904.

Victoria, Australia, Police Gazette 14 October 1885 page 284 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

The first mention I found in the newspapers of Constable Plowright was in December 1885, on duty at Princes Bridge on the Yarra in Melbourne when a young man jumped off.

CASUALTIES AND OFFENCES. (1885, December 21). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197028844

In 1888 Constable Plowright gave evidence in court about a fight in Clarendon Street. In 1889 he pursued and arrested three burglars in South Melbourne, apparently with the help of just one man, who was not a member of the police force.

In March 1889, with another constable he arrested three boys who had escaped from a reformatory.

Constable Plowright was regularly involved in various prosecutions under the liquor act, in particular Sunday trading offences.

WILLIAMSTOWN POLICE COURT. (1890, August 9). Williamstown Chronicle (Vic. : 1856 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68594039

In 1891 Constable Plowright was working in a plainclothes position, still helping to enforce Sunday closing laws. He was also preventing young men from playing football in the street.

FOOTBALL PLAYING IN PUBLIC THOROUGHFARES. (1891, June 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 9. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8637481

In his work as a plainclothes constable, Plowright helped to arrest a gang of harness thieves.

PARS PITHILY PUT. (1893, January 28). The Prahran Telegraph (Vic. : 1889 – 1930), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144497711

In early 1894 Constable Plowright applied to rejoin the uniformed branch.

In 1902 Constable Plowright was assaulted by a drunk. This required several stitches to his wound.

A VIOLENT RUFFIAN (1902, December 10). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9070007

POLICE INTELLIGENCE. (1902, December 18). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 7. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187636294

STONE THROWING AND ASSAULT. (1902, December 18). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89512971

The Police Gazette of 3 March 1904, page 122, records that Constable William John, Plowright, number 3607, Melbourne District, was discharged 29 February 1904. This was shortly after his 45th birthday.

The electoral roll of 1903 shows him living at 69 Argyle Street, St Kilda, with his occupation constable. The roll of 1905 shows that he moved to 27 Hannover Street Prahran and his occupation is given as home duties. By the 1908 roll he was still living in Hannover Street, working as a wood merchant. It appears after he was he discharged from the police force he took a while to establish a new career.

William John Plowright died on 29 May 1914 at the age of 55.

Additional sources

• Ancestry.com. Victoria, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1855, 1864-1924 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. 
• Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Australian Electoral Commission.