X is for Xiàmén

In 1881 my husband Greg’s great great grandparents John Plowright (1831 – 1910) and Margaret Plowright née Smyth (1834 – 1897) adopted a boy—their grandson—named Frederick Harold Plowright. The child’s father was James Henry Plowright; his mother was Elizabeth Ann Cooke, née Onthong.

Elizabeth Ann Onthong was born in 1862 in Avoca, Victoria, to Thomas Onthong and Bridget Onthong née Fogarty. The Onthong family later used the surname Cook (or Cooke). Elizabeth was the fourth of six children; she had four brothers and one sister, Mary Ann.

Elizabeth’s parents Bridget Fogarty and John Tong were married on 17 October 1855 in the Church of England vicarage at Carisbrook.

Marriage certificate (Victoria Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages) for FOGARTY, Bridget and TONG, John; Year: 1855, Reg. number: 2887/1855

The marriage certificate has them both living in Avoca. Neither could sign their name.

John Tong, son of William Tong storekeeper, was born in Amoy, China. His occupation was cook, and he was 26 years old. The certificate notes that he “could not tell his mother’s name (Chinese)”. This presumably meant that he was unable to transcribe the sounds of her name into English letters. He was probably also illiterate in Chinese.

Bridget Fogarty was born at Burr (Birr), King’s County (now County Offaly), Ireland. She was a servant, she stated her age was 21, and her parents were Michael Fogarty, farmer, and Ann Whitfield.

John Tong’s birthplace Xiamen 廈門 (pinyin: Xiàmén) is a city on the Fujian coast of China. For many years, the name, pronounced ‘Emoui’ in the Fujian dialect, was rendered ‘Amoy’ in Post Office romanization.

Amoy’s harbor, China. Painting in the collection of Sjöhistoriska Museet; image retrieved through picryl.com.

Xiàmén is 7,300 km north of Avoca, Victoria. Map generated using Google maps.

At the end of 1854 it was estimated that more than 10,000 Chinese lived and worked on the Victorian goldfields. In 1855 alone more than eleven thousand Chinese arrived in Melbourne, many of them indentured labourers from the province of Fujian via the port of Amoy.

John Tong arrived before the Victorian parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act 1855, legislation meant to restrict Chinese immigration by imposing a poll tax of ten pounds upon every Chinese arriving in the Colony and limiting the number of Chinese on board each vessel to one person for every 10 tonnes of goods. (£10 was worth about $9,000 today in comparing average wages then and now [from MeasuringWorth.com])

Though at the time of his marriage John Tong’s occupation was cook, he later worked as a miner at Deep Lead near Avoca. Three of his sons were also Avoca miners.

John Tong was also known as Thomas or Tommy Cook. Tommy Cook was mentioned several times in the newspapers. In 1866 he was noted as having “attained considerable proficiency in the English language.” In 1871 his son William gave evidence in a court case and he, William, was the son of “Thomas Cook, a miner, residing at the Deep Lead, Avoca.” In 1875 Bridget bought a charge of assault against her husband, Ah Tong, alias Tommy Cook. He was described as “a tall, powerful, and rather wild-looking Chinaman”. Bridget said he “was very lazy, and when he got any money would go and gamble it away.”

In October 1890 Tommy Cook and his son George Cook gave evidence in the inquest of the death of George Gouge. From the report in the Avoca Mail:

Tommy Cook deposed – I am residing at Deep Lead, near Avoca. I am father of George Cook. Knew deceased. I found the body lying about six o’clock on Friday morning about 200 yards from the hotel …

MURDER AT AVOCA. Avoca Mail 7 October 1890

I do not know when and where John (Tommy Cook) died nor where he was buried. Bridget died in the Amherst hospital in 1898 but her death certificate had no details of her marriage or children.

In 1935 the “Weekly Times” had a picture of an old hut on the Avoca gold-diggings.

READERS’ CAMERA STUDIES (1935, February 23). Weekly Times (Melbourne,
Vic. : 1869 – 1954), p. 38 (FIRST EDITION). Retrieved
from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223890597

A newspaper clipping published in the 1930s claims that this was the hut of Henry, George, and Frank, three of the sons of John and Bridget. The hut was said to have been known as “Cook’s Hut”.

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Related Posts

• Finding the parents of Frederick Harold Plowright born 1881

Wikitree:

• Frederick Harold Plowright (1881 – 1929)
• Elizabeth Ann (Onthong) Wiffen (1862 – 1927)
• John (Tong) Cook (abt. 1829 – aft. 1890)
• Bridget (Fogarty) Cook (1825 – 1898)

Finding the parents of Frederick Harold Plowright born 1881

My husband Greg’s great great grandparents John Plowright (1831 – 1910) and Margaret Plowright nee Smyth (1834 – 1897) were married in 1855. They had six children, the youngest born in 1872. In 1881 they adopted a child named Frederick Harold Plowright. I have not found his birth certificate, and until recently I did not know how he was related to the Plowright family. Until 1929 there was no formal adoption process in Victoria and so there was no directly relevant documentary material from 1881 to establish a relationship.

Frederick Harold Plowright 1881 – 1929, photograph in the collection of his grandson J P

In 2018 J P, grandson of Frederick Plowright, took a DNA test. This showed that he was related to the descendants of John and Margaret Plowright but that his grandfather was not the son of John and Margaret.

I used a DNA Painter analysis tool called ‘What are the Odds?’ to estimate where J P stood in the family tree and so how Frederick Harold might be related. The tool calculates where somebody probably fits in the family tree based on the amount of DNA they share with people about whose position in the tree you have complete confidence. The tool predicted that the best hypothesis is that J P was the great grandchild of James Henry Plowright, one of the sons of John and Margaret Plowright, and that his grandfather Frederick was a half-sibling to the other children of James Henry.

In short, it appears very likely that Frederick was adopted by his paternal grandparents.

Using the What are the odds (WATO) tool from DNA Painter to calculate how J P might be related to his Plowright cousins. Hypothesis 5 is the most likely and is indicated with a red *. J P’s grandfather’s most probable position in the family tree is indicated with a green *.

The Avoca Mail reported on 28 June 1881 that Elizabeth Ann Cooke brought an affiliation case against James Henry Plowright. This is a legal proceeding, usually initiated by an unwed mother, claiming legal recognition that a particular man is the father of her child. It was often associated with a claim for financial support.

AVOCA POLICE COURT. Monday, June 28th, 1881. (Before C. W. Carr, Esq., P.M.)

Elizabeth Ann Cooke v. James Henry Plowright. — This was an affiliation case, and Mr Matthews, who appeared for the plaintiff, asked that it might be postponed to allow it to be arranged out of court. The case was accordingly postponed by mutual consent for one week.

Avoca Mail 28 June 1881

A week later the case had been settled, presumably by the parents of James Henry Plowright agreeing to adopt the child:

AVOCA POLICE COURT. Monday, July 4th, 1881. Before W. Goodshaw, Esq., J.P.

E. A. Cooke v. J. H. Plowright. — Mr Matthews, for the plaintiff, stated that the case (adjourned from last court) had been settled

Avoca Mail 5 July 1881

Elizabeth Ann Onthong was born in 1862 in Avoca, Victoria, to Thomas Onthong and Bridget Onthong nee Fogarty. The family later used the surname Cook or Cooke. Elizabeth was the fourth of six children; she had four brothers, none of whom apparently married or had children, and one sister, Mary Ann, who married and had children.

J P shares DNA with descendants of Mary Ann

Related posts:

• John Plowright (1831 – 1910)

Wikitree:

• Frederick Harold Plowright (1881 – 1929)
• James Henry Plowright (1860 – 1932)
• John Plowright (1831 – 1910)
• Margaret (Smyth) Plowright (1834 – 1897)
• Elizabeth Ann (Onthong) Wiffen (1862 – 1927)

T is for Tower Hamlets

Greg’s great great grandfather John Plowright (1831 – 1910) was a seaman from King’s Lynn, Norfolk. On admission to Maryborough Hospital in Victoria in 1873 for an ear injury he stated that he had arrived in the colony on the “Speculation” from London about 1853 and that his occupation was mariner. He wasn’t listed as a deserter; perhaps he left the ship legally. His statement is anyway at least partly corroborated by the facts: in 1853 the “Speculation” had indeed sailed from London on 19 May, arriving in Victoria on 21 September.

John Plowright’s merchant seaman record from 1848. These records were created to monitor a potential reserve of sailors for the Royal Navy. Retrieved from FindMyPast

 

Two years before the “Speculation” sailed from London, in 1851, John Plowright was recorded as a twenty-year-old seaman living in a boarding house at 7 & 8 Albert St, Tower Hamlets, in the parish of St Pauls Shadwell. At the same address were nine other seamen from King’s Lynn. There was also a seaman from Wells, one from Bristol, one from Dublin, and one from London. The boarding-house keeper, named Thomas Ward, was from Southery and his wife Ann from Stoke Ferry, villages ten miles south of King’s Lynn. There was one live-in female servant from Cork.

1851 English census record for 7 & 8 Albert Street Civil parish St Paul Shadwell County Middlesex: Name of head: Thomas Ward Age 58 Estimated Birth Year 1793 Spouse’s Name Ann Ward Gender Male Where born Southery, Norfolk Retrieved from ancestry.com Census returns for England 1851: Class: HO107; Piece: 1550; Folio: 250; Page: 37; GSU roll: 174780

1851 English census record for 7 & 8 Albert Street continued. John Plowright is the fourth person listed. Name John Plowright Age 20 Estimated Birth Year 1831 Relation Boarder Gender Male Where born Lynn, Norfolk, England Retrieved from ancestry.com 1851 England Census Class: HO107; Piece: 1550; Folio: 251; Page: 38; GSU roll: 174780

Albert Street was 1½ miles north of the Thames docks. From 1846 the area was becoming more and more urbanised. Included in the development were cottages, flats and lodging houses built by the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes. This was a privately-run for-profit society founded in 1842 with the aim of providing affordable housing for the working classes. The buildings in Albert Street, Mile End New Town were exhibited for the 1851 Great Exhibition. (Example model dwellings were built next to the Crystal Palace and plans and publications displayed inside).

In  the twentieth century Albert Street was renamed Deal Street. Some of the buildings survive, but with streets renamed and buildings renumbered I am not sure where the boarding house at 7-8 Albert Street was and if it is still standing. I am also not sure if John Plowright was living in one of these new buildings or in an older building; on the north side of Pleasant Row there were buildings which had been developed in the latter half of the eighteenth century.

 

Albert Street now Deal Street April 2019 Google Street View

Albert Street is not yet shown on this 1851 Cross’s London Guide retrieved from http://london1851.com/cross14b.htm

The location of Albert Street in 1868. Detail from Map Of London 1868, By Edward Weller, F.R.G.S. Revised And Corrected To The Present Time By John Dower, F.R.G.S. retrieved through http://london1868.com/weller33b.htm

Deal Street, formerly Albert Street, from Google Maps in April 2020. Businesses and community facilities in the area temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

I have yet to follow up if any others of the seamen living at 7 – 8 Albert Street in 1851 also came to Australia. I don’t know if John Plowright kept in contact with them.

Deal Street, formerly Albert Street, is marked with a black x. It is north of St Katherine’s Docks

Sources

• 1851 English census retrieved from ancestry.com
• ‘Mile End New Town’, in Survey of London: Volume 27, Spitalfields and Mile End New Town, ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1957), pp. 265-288. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol27/pp265-288 [accessed 22 April 2020].
• Leckie, Barbara. “Prince Albert’s Exhibition Model Dwellings.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=barbara-leckie-prince-alberts-exhibition-model-dwellings [accessed 22 April 2020].

Related posts

• K is for Kings Lynn
• John Plowright (1831 – 1910)

K is for Kings Lynn

Greg’s great great grandfather John Plowright (1831 – 1910) was born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, on 26 November 1831. He was christened three days later in St Margaret’s Church.

The church, now known as King’s Lynn Minster, is Grade 1 listed – a building of exceptional interest – in the register of the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.

King’s Lynn Minster formerly known as St Margaret’s

King’s Lynn Minister was founded in 1095 as part of a Benedictine Priory. Some Norman architectural elements remain. There are Gothic towers from the 12th and 15th centuries and the chancel, the area around the altar, dates from the 13th century. Part of the building collapsed in 1741 and was rebuilt in Gothic Revival style. The church was the parish church for the town of King’s Lynn and was granted the title of Minster in 2011 by the Bishop of Norwich. (Minster is an honorific title given to particular churches in England, most famously York Minster in York and Westminster in London; a minster refers more generally to “any large or important church, especially a collegiate or cathedral church”.)

John was the fourth of eight children of William Plowright (1791 – 1869) and William’s second wife Sarah Ann Plowright nee Jackson (1796 – 1864).

John’s father William was christened at St Margaret’s in 1791.

William was a mariner. He lived at various addresses in King’s Lynn, among them:

• 1818 Priory Lane
• 1825 Church Street
• 1829 Austin Street

On the 1841 census William Plowright was living at Austin Street. His occupation is described as labourer; his wife was absent; and there were eight children aged from 2 to 20 living in the household. The oldest son, William, aged 20, was a plumber. William’s wife, Sarah Plowright, was a female servant in the household of John Ayre, a merchant living in Norfolk Street, Kings Lynn.

In 1851, William, occupation seaman, Sarah, and three children and two lodgers were living at 22 North Clough Lane. Their son Edward aged 14 was a Boots at the inn. Frederick aged 12 was an errand boy, Mary Ann aged 8 was at school.

John Plowright signed on as a merchant seaman in 1858. On the 1851 census he was living in Tower Hamlets, St Pauls Shadwell, in the East End of London. He was a boarder in a house with other seamen who were also boarders.

About 1853 John Plowright sailed to Australia on the brig “Speculation”, probably as a seaman. He disembarked at Melbourne and joined the gold rush, never to return to England.

W is for William

Today 25th April in Australia it is is Anzac Day, set aside to honour the men and women who served in the Australian and New Zealand armies in World War I and II and other conflicts, especially in remembrance of those who were killed and never saw their country again.

My husband’s first cousin twice removed was William Stanley Plowright (1893-1917). He was born in 1893 in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, the seventh of the eleven children of William John Plowright (1859-1914), a policeman, and Harriet Jane Plowright nee Hosking (1861-1946).

William enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 and fought at Gallipoli, where he was wounded. He was killed in the Battle of Lagnicourt in March 1917. William’s body was not found and he has no grave. The only local memorial of his death is his name listed on the war memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. This memorial was erected ‘to commemorate all Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium during the First World War, to their dead, and especially to name those of the dead whose graves are not known’. I wrote about him in two previous A to Z series:

• 2014 – V is for Villers-Bretonneux
• 2015 – L is for Lagnicourt

I have also written about a friend of his, ‘comrade of the late William Stanley Plowright’, named Johnna Bell, remembered by William’s family.

 

Australian War memorial photograph image id C00470. Photographer Ernest Charles Barnes, April 1917. Description: Two unidentified soldiers stand amid the shattered buildings in the French village of Lagnicourt, which was captured by the Australians in late March 1917 as the Germans withdrew towards the Hindenburg Line. The Germans heavily shelled the village as they retreated.

 

William is one of many in our family who died serving their country. This short list is of only our closest relatives:

World War 1

• John Percy Young 1896 – 1918
  • died 9 November 1918 in England from the effects of a mustard gas attack in France and buried Brookwood Cemetery
• Leslie Leister 1894 – 1916
  • died 20 July 1916 at Fromelles, France
• Milo Massey Cudmore 1888 – 1916
  • died 27 March 1916 at St Eloi, France and remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
• Philip Champion_de_Crespigny 1879 – 1918
  • died 14 July 1918 at Musallabah Hill, Jordan Valley, Palestine and is buried at Jerusalem War cemetery
• Selwyn Goldstein  1873 – 1917
  • died 8 June 1917 at Loos, Belgium and buried Poperinghe New Military Cemetery
• Vyvyan Westbury Hughes 1888 – 1916
  • died of illness on 28 April 1916 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is remembered on the war memorial at Beaufort.
• Walter Fish 1878 – 1915
  • died 13 July 1915 at Gallipoli and buried Shrapnel Valley Cemetery
• William Alfred Fish  1890 – 1917
  • died 9 October 1917 at Passchendaele, near the town of Ypres in West Flanders and buried Oxford Road Cemetery
• William Stanley Plowright 1893 – 1917
  • died 26 March 1917at Lagnicourt, France and is remembered at Villers BretonneuxMemorial
• (and we remember also his mate Johnna Bell 1893-1918)

World War 2

• Frank Robert Sewell 1905 – 1943
  • died 22 February 1943 in Queensland of illness and wounds having served in New Guinea

• James Morphett Henderson 1915 – 1942
  • died 11 June 1942 off West Africa killed in a flying battle

Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Photograph by Gerard4170 and published on pixabay.com.

M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854

Western End of Queens Wharf Melbourne 1854 by S.T. Gill retrieved from MossGreen auctioneers

Ellen Murray (1837 – 1901) and Margaret Smyth (1834 – 1897), two of my husband’s great grandmothers, sailed from England to Melbourne, Victoria, on the Persian, arriving on 9 April 1854. Ellen’s sister Bridget and an infant surnamed Smyth traveled with them.

The Persian left Southampton on 2 January 1854 with 448 government immigrants, of whom 200 were single women. Eight people died on the 97 day voyage and five babies were born. The Croesus, which sailed from Southampton more than a week after the Persian, arrived the same day.

PORT PHILLIP HEADS. (1854, April 11). Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 – 1856), p. 4 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91932661

The Persian collided with another ship, the Cheshire Witch, in Port Phillip.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1854, April 11). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4805696

From the passenger list of the Persian, Margaret Smyth and infant are at the bottom of the screenshot , record retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge)

Margaret Smyth was recorded as having given birth on board. She was from Cavan; her religion was Church of England; she could read and write; and she was 20 years old. She did not find a job immediately on landing, but went to stay with her cousin. His name on the record appears to be ‘John Hunter’, though the surname is not clearly legible.

I know nothing more about this cousin, nor have I have discovered anything more about Margaret’s baby. There seems to be no death certificate, but the baby may have died without its death registered, for in 1854 civil registration of deaths was not yet in force in Victoria.

From the passenger list disposal summary Margaret Smyth and infant went to her cousin.

On 19 November 1855 Margaret Smyth, dressmaker from Cavan, aged 22, married John Plowright, also 22, a gold digger. Their wedding was held at the residence of John Plowright, Magpie, Ballarat. On the certificate Margaret’s parents are given as William Smyth, farmer, and Mary nee Cox.

1855 marriage certificate of John Plowright and Margaret Smyth (click to enlarge)

Passenger list from the Persian showing Bridget and Ellen Murray at the bottom of the image. Retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge).

Bridget and Ellen Murray were both from Dublin. Their religion was Catholic; both could read and Ellen could also write; Bridget was 24 and Ellen 18. Both found jobs on 15 April, within a week of their arrival. Bridget was engaged by S. Marcus of Prahran for a term of 1 month with a wage of 28 shillings and rations. Ellen was similarly employed by Mrs Ireland of St Kilda, with a wage of 30 shillings.

I have not been able to find anything more about Bridget Murray.

On 28 March 1856, two years after her arrival in the colony, Ellen Murray married James Cross, a gold digger, at Buninyong . Their wedding was at the residence of John Plowright, Black Lead Buninyong, in the presence of John and Margaret Plowright. Ellen gave her residence as Buninyong and her occupation as dressmaker. She was born in Dublin, aged 21, and her parents were George Murray, glass blower, and Ellen nee Dory.

1856 marriage certificate for James Cross and Ellen Murray (click to enlarge)

It seems that Margaret Smyth and Ellen Murray, who had emigrated to Victoria on the same ship, remained friends. Later the son of Ellen Cross nee Murray, Frederick James Cross, married Ann Jane Plowright, the daughter of Margaret Plowright nee Smyth.

Hunter Smyth connection?

I think I have found a connection between the Hunter and Smyth families but I can’t link Margaret Smyth to it, at least not yet.

On other certificates Margaret Smyth states she was born in Bailieborough, County Cavan. I found a John Hunter associated with Bailieborough.

I have not been able to find a death of this John Hunter.

Family Notices (1866, December 27). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5782047

I ordered the marriage certificate and discovered Elizabeth Grace Hunter, age 27 had been born in Bailieborough. Her parents were John Hunter and Eliza Hunter nee Carmichael.

I ordered her 1897 death certificate and found Elizabeth had been in the colony 34 years. The informant on her death certificate was Charles Smyth, nephew, of Albury, New South Wales.

I found H. Hunter on the death indexes. He was Henry Hunter who died 1875. Henry was Elizabeth’s brother, also the son of John Hunter and Eliza Carmichael.

I hope further research will uncover the connection and I can learn more about Margaret Smyth’s family.

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.

L is for Lagnicourt

My husband’s paternal  grandmother’s cousin William Stanley Plowright (1893-1917) died at Lagnicourt, France on 26 March 1917.

I wrote about William, his death and memorial in last year’s A to Z blogging challenge at V is for Villers-Bretonneux.

Lagnicourt was 3 1/2 miles in front of the Hindenburg Line. The battle in which William was killed was a difficult fight but a notable battle and a success for the Australians.  This battle was part of the Battle of Arras on the Western Front in April and May 1917. William was one of 160,000 casualties on the allied side and the Germans suffered 125,000 casualties.

On the same day that William died, a Tasmanian, Percy Cherry (1895-1917), won a Victoria Cross at Lagnicourt. The award was granted posthumously for Cherry’s actions during an attack on the French village of Lagnicourt which was strongly defended by German forces. Cherry was with the 26th Battalion while William was with the 58th.

The ruins of the Lagnicourt Church in September 1917, showing the extensive shell damage the building sustained. Australian War Memorial image E04580

Today the village of Lagnicourt is a farming community with a population of about 300. It was totally rebuilt after World War I. Before the war in 1911 the population of the village was about 575. It had been over 800 during much of the nineteenth century.

V is for Villers-Bretonneux

25 April is ANZAC day, a day to remember the Australians and New Zealanders who served their country in the armed forces.

William Stanley Plowright (1893-1917) was my husband’s first cousin twice removed. He was killed in action at Lagnicourt on 27 March 1917 and is listed on the memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. He has no known grave.

Villers-Bretonneux, is a village in the Somme département of France, 16 kilometres east of Amiens on the straight main road to St Quentin. Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery is about 2 kilometres north of the village. Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial lists the names of 10,762 soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave who were killed between 1916, when Australian forces arrived in France and Belgium, and the end of fighting in 1918.

Lagnicourt is south of Arras and north-east of Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux. The Battle of Lagnicourt was fought on 26 and 27 March 1917 as the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Line.

Australian War memorial photograph image id C00470. Photographer Ernest Charles Barnes, April 1917. Description: Two unidentified soldiers stand amid the shattered buildings in the French village of Lagnicourt, which was captured by the Australians in late March 1917 as the Germans withdrew towards the Hindenburg Line. The Germans heavily shelled the village as they retreated. (From the collection of 704 Driver Ernest Charles Barnes who served with the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, 21st Howitzer Brigade and 2nd Field Artillery Brigade.)

William was the seventh of eleven children of William John Plowright (1859-1914) and Harriet Jane née Hosking (1861-1946). William’s brothers appear not to have enlisted.

William enlisted on 5 April 1915. He was 21 years, nine months old and worked in Melbourne as a driver and a printer. On 25 June 1915 William embarked with the 24th battalion, 1st reinforcements on HMAT Ceramic A40 from Melbourne. He served at Gallipoli from 30 August 1915 and was wounded by shrapnel in action there on 29 November 1915.

In April 1916 he was discharged from hospital on Malta and joined the 58th battalion.

William was promoted to corporal on 12 November 1916 and appointed Lance Sergeant, acting sergeant, on 4 March 1917.

The 58th Battalion participated in the Battle of Lagnicourt on 26 and 27 March.  William Plowright was killed in action.

War diary of the 58th Battalion for 25 and 26 March 1917 retrieved from the Australian War Memorial (click to enlarge)

War diary of the 58th Battalion for 26 and 26 March 1917 retrieved from the Australian War Memorial

I have not found any details of William Plowright’s death.

Family Notices. (1917, April 23). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 1. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1612537

His body was never found; quite possibly there was nothing left to find. He is one of the 10,762 soldiers who are listed with no known grave on the Villers-Bretonneux memorial.

Roll of honour circular completed by the mother of William Stanley Plowright from the Australian War Memorial

 

Folio 23 of World War 1 dossier concerning William Stanley Plowright (NAA:B2455, Plowright William Stanley)

 

Folio 25 of World War 1 dossier concerning William Stanley Plowright (NAA:B2455, Plowright William Stanley)

Family Notices. (1919, March 26). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 1. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1450271

 

Family Notices. (1922, March 25). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 11. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4678805

 

References:

• National Archives of Australia: B2455, Plowright William Stanley
• Commonwealth War Graves
  • Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
  • casualty details for William Stanley Plowright
• Australian War Memorial
  • First World War Embarkation Roll
  • Roll of Honour
  • War diary of the 58th Battalion for 25 to 27 March 1917 (AWM4, 23/75/14 – March 1917)
  • War history: Battle of Lagnicourt

Related post:

• Johnna Bell comrade of the late William Stanley Plowright

H is for hospital records

During the nineteenth century, many of my forebears and the forebears of my husband Greg lived in the Victorian goldfields area.

There were several hospitals in the goldfields and their admission records have been preserved and indexed. The indexes of the hospital records help answer some answers to family history questions such as on what ship the patient came to Australia.

The Maryborough hospital collected information about port of embarkation, name of ship, number of years in colonies. Apparently this information was collected as part of a disease tracking program.

On 5 March 1872 Margaret Plowright née Smyth, Greg’s great great grandmother, was admitted to Maryborough Hospital. According to the index of the hospital admission record, she was 37 years old, married, from Homebush, and a Wesleyan. She had arrived in the colony seventeen years previously on the Persian. The index does not tell us what her illness was.

The passenger lists for the Persian are available at the Public Records Office of Victoria. However, with a common surname such as Smyth it is useful to confirm that we were looking at the immigration of the right woman.

Margaret’s husband, John Plowright, came to Australia as a seaman and does not appear on any passenger list.  However, when he was admitted to Maryborough Hospital in 1873, he stated he had been in the colony for 20 years arriving on the Speculation.  His gave his occupation as mariner even though he had been a miner for 20 years. It is possible that the occupation was misheard by the clerk similar to the pirate / pilot confusion in The Pirates of Penzance.

Maryborough District Hospital [ca. 1866] photograph retrieved from the State Library of Victoria http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/the-welsh-swagman/1591/maryborough-district-hospital.-/

I have previously blogged about the hospital admission of another of Greg’s great great grandfathers, James Cross, who lost the use of a hand following the infection of a wound from a splinter. James was admitted to Ballarat Hospital in 1869. The hospital collected information about how long he had been in the colony, his age and his birthplace, but did not ask which ship he had arrived on.

NEWS AND NOTES. (1869, February 16). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1870), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112883353

The index to the Victorian Goldfields Hospitals’ Admissions produced by the Genealogical Society of Victoria is available on microfiche and CD and has been purchased by many family history societies.  The index is well worth exploring if your family lived on the goldfields.