Horace Gordon Cox

[majm]

Here is a pdf on Yanco Experiment Farm. 

http://www.andicom.com.au/content/YAI-calendar.pdf

JM

[rosball]

Here is an interesting article in 2011 on Dreadnought Boys https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/australias-lost-boys-2365531.html

Ros

[bildeston]

Thank you those who have responded with useful information. I have part of a letter signed by Reggis  2nd name possibly Partridge on behalf of the Government Experimental Farm dated 25 April 1926. I quote 'I wish you the best of everything and I trust that we will ever remain the best of friends'

Presumably given the short period of time from his arrival in Australia he must have had an introduction to here. I'd love to know where he went from here. He was an unaccompanied 15 year old!!!

[majm]

There is a Horace G COX, aged 23, a Farm Labourer, embarking Melbourne, proposed address in the UK as  8 Clover Rd, Forest Gate, on the Esperance Bay, heading for Southampton December 1932.   Is this your chap?

JM

That is a very similar address to the one given when he was departing from the UK in 1926 ....

Anyways,  here's some thoughts for Andy to consider if he wants to follow up.

On RChat’s NSW Resources Board are many live links, including the one for Sands Directories.  These are freely available online via the City of Sydney’s Archives. http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/search-our-collections/sands-directory

In the 1920s Yanco was not part of the Wagga Pastoral District. Yanco was part of the Narrandera Pastoral District, and Yanco’s nearest town is still Leeton.   
https://www.cartoscope.com.au/maps/riverina/riverinareg.pdf

If you were to consider following up on the Cox or Partridge surnames in the 1920s, then Sands would likely be the best online option.    I would suggest that Reggis may be a slight mis-read … perhaps Reggie may be a better option?  Reggie would likely be a contraction of Reginald.   

There was a NSW State election in October 1927, and so the NSW State Library would have the electoral rolls covering all the electoral divisions across the entire state.   The electorate covering the polling place of Yanco at that time would be The Murrumbidgee.
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/research-and-collections/ask-librarian

Here is the live link to RChat’s NSW Resources board
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=369703.0

Here is the live link to RChat’s Victoria Resources board
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=369963.0

There is actually nothing unusual in a 15 year old lad being unaccompanied (in the sense, 'without immediate family member to supervise him') in the 1920s in rural NSW or Victoria.   There would likely be many 15 year old lads looking for work, afterall, unless they intended to go on to University, they would have left school by 15 years of age, with or without any formal education certificates.  Yanco Irrigation Experiment Farm for three months training Feb-April 1926 would have given Horace quality training, and likely it had all been pre-arranged prior to departing the UK if under the Dreadnought schemes. 

Earlier I posted information for the December 1932 arrival in the UK and I have quoted that reply at the top of this post. 
  To me, it is the same address as found on the outward bound journey in January 1926 under “Oransay” Mr H.G. COX, 8 Clove Road, Forest Gate E7.  Occupation “None” age 15, on ticket no. 55. 
  If you look at others with similar ticket numbers you will notice many are teenagers, and are not travelling with anyone with a matching surname.   For example
ticket no. 3 is for a 14 year old Mr E.L. HOLMES, a schoolboy from the Police Orphanage
ticket no. 30 is for a 15 year old Mr R.W.H. Dearing, from Plymouth, again occupation “None”
ticket no. 45 is for a 15 year old Mr. A.S. COX, 217 Westbourne Grove W.11  - Have you searched for a family connection to that Mr Cox? 


JM

[Ruskie]

Slightly off topic ....

There may be a connection to Horace and Mr A.S. Cox, however looking at the houses at those addresses I think that the Westbourne Grove address indicates someone of a higher class. Both are very nice. More research required to find out for sure. 

It is possible though that these were address/es of employers or other contacts rather than their own family homes.

added:
I believe the road may be Clova rather than Clove or Clover as there is a Clova Road in Forest Gate. I can't see a number 8 though, but renumbering may have occurred.

[rosball]

Dear Andy,
  I suggested that your father was possibly a Dreadnought boy - remember this is a selective scheme for traineeships and not punitive or corrective in any way - and that he sailed on the Otranto (which replaced the Oronsay at the last minute).

  Here we have the ship's log for the Otranto in 1926 which includes a list of the Dreadnought Trainees.   Among the boys listed as Dreadnought Trainees is Horace G COX (and  also Allan E COX)

  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=466350

Ros

[majm]

The outward bound passenger list for the Oransay includes given names for the ticket holders. 
At page 41 of 42 on the naa.gov.au digitised list under the heading Dreadnought trainees there's just one with a given name of Reginald.    NOTE page 22 of 42 confirms the Oransay passenger list is to be used.

So back to the Oransay outward passenger list ... Ticket no. 43, Mr R.J. HOCKRIDGE, aged 18.   (two entries above Mr A J Cox)

  I feel sure that "Reggis Partridge" in longhand could well be a slight mis-read for Reginald J HOCKRIDGE. 

JM

[rosball]

To find out where he went to after the farm training :

(1) I hope to find some records at NSW archives about the Dreadnought boys (among those indexes which I listed before) although they sound to be rather patchy.

(2) The NAA has lists and other documents about the Dreadnought scheme
http://guides.naa.gov.au/good-british-stock/chapter3/dreadnought%20.aspx
You could use the Ask an Archivist service to request information about your father http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/contact/
 

Ros

[majm]

Here is a live link that should give you many hours of reading.  A 15 year old lad would not have needed to be accompanied by a family member on the voyage to Australia in the 1920s, nor would he have needed to have relatives in Australia to receive him on arrival.

http://guides.naa.gov.au/good-british-stock/index.aspx

Between 1901 and 1983, thousands of unaccompanied young people, mainly from Britain, came or were sent to Australia as permanent settlers. For some it was a fresh start and relief from grinding poverty; for others it was a heartbreaking wrench from family. Records in the collection of the National Archives of Australia are a rich source of information about the processes of government decision-making and administrative practice on child migration, as well as the service organisations and churches that sponsored the children and provided for their education, placement and after-care.

JM

.......
(2) The NAA has lists and other documents about the Dreadnought scheme
http://guides.naa.gov.au/good-british-stock/chapter3/dreadnought%20.aspx
.....