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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: ADR68 on Thursday 27 July 17 15:01 BST (UK)
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Douglas Robson was born in Newcastle,England in 1835, he was a seaman in the Merchant Service, his last destination was sailing to Australia around 1858, did he settle there ? because after 1858 there is no sign of him anywhere.
This is all the info I have.
Thanks
Allan Robson.
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Ancestry are showing an entry for a Douglas Robson in New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922. Sydney New South Wales
I don't have Worldwide Membership to view the record
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Ancestry are showing an entry for a Douglas Robson in New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922. Sydney New South Wales
I don't have Worldwide Membership to view the record
Thanks Carol that info is great I shall look into it.
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Hi there are three shipping records I can see for a chap who could be yours.
He is listed as AB, meaning Able Bodied Seaman on all three. He is listed in the crew section of the manifest.
D. ROBSON.25 October, 1858. Ship Admella. Aged 23. British. From Southampton to Sydney.
Douglas ROBSON. 12 Sep 1860. Ship Cairngorm .Aged 24. From London to Sydney.
Duglass ROBSON. November 1860. Ship Mauna Maua. Aged 25. From Nelson (NZ) to Sydney.
Sue
PS As a matter of interest, Admella was wrecked off South Australia in 1859 :(
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Parents names would be helpful.
Did he have a middle name?
I can't see a marriage for him in NSW.
There is a death: 13571/1895 Douglas ROBSON mother IDA M registered NEWTOWN
Jamjar
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From previous post... Parents were John Robson & Eleanor Urwin.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=761986.msg6133350#msg6133350
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Apart from the crew lists, which you already had, and apart from the death in NSW which is not the right man, there is not much to see of the name.
Death
13571/1895 Douglas ROBSON
Mother Ida M,
Father-
At NEWTOWN
was for an infant.
Here is the birth-
ROBSON Douglas
18977/1895
Mother IDA M
SYDNEY
Ida had several children in NSW.
Sue
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Hi there are three shipping records I can see for a chap who could be yours.
He is listed as AB, meaning Able Bodied Seaman on all three. He is listed in the crew section of the manifest.
D. ROBSON.25 October, 1858. Ship Admella. Aged 23. British. From Southampton to Sydney.
Douglas ROBSON. 12 Sep 1860. Ship Cairngorm .Aged 24. From London to Sydney.
Duglass ROBSON. November 1860. Ship Mauna Maua. Aged 25. From Nelson (NZ) to Sydney.
Sue
PS As a matter of interest, Admella was wrecked off South Australia in 1859 :(
Thanks for your info it is big help, so we have him up to 1860, he could well have settled in Sydney.
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Hi there,
As far as I can see, he was not in Sydney in 1858, 1861, 1863, etc ... Here's the live link to the Sands Directories for Sydney dating from 1858 ... free to search ... pdfs
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/search-our-collections/sands-directory
.... so we have him up to 1860, he could well have settled in Sydney.
JM
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Hi there,
As far as I can see, he was not in Sydney in 1858, 1861, 1863, etc ... Here's the live link to the Sands Directories for Sydney dating from 1858 ... free to search ... pdfs
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/search-our-collections/sands-directory
.... so we have him up to 1860, he could well have settled in Sydney.
JM
Thanks for your help, he never returned to England that is certain, my family know virtually nothing about, another possibility is that he may have died 1860 ish, only because his brother John named his 1st son Douglas who was born Dec 1860, it's just a thought nothing concrete.
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Possibly his family looking for him in 1899 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237188601
ROBSON, DOUGLAS, who left London in the barque
Royal Diadem for Australia about 1853, is sought for
by his brother and sisters
It could be worth checking the NZ BDM https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/ which is unfortunately down for maintenance at the moment.
Ros
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At this link it seems the vessel was not built until 1856, and that there's two voyages to Australia ... both to Port Adelaide.
http://passengersinhistory.sa.gov.au/node/935220
London 14 Nov 1857, arrival as 1 March 1858,
and
London 6 Nov 1865, arrival as 13 March 1866.
JM
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The 1899 notice actually says 1858 not 1853
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237188601
ROBSON, DOUGLAS, who left London in the barque Royal Diadem for Australia about 1858, is sought for by his brother and sisters
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Thanks Cup,
That makes good sense, and is much better than any copy paste of the current OCR text.
JM
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I have just checked NZBDM and there are no deaths for a Douglas Robson from 1850 to 1950.
Also, the only marriage is in 1930: Douglas George Clifford Robson
Jamjar
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Hi
1858 was a popular time for seamen to desert ships in Melbourne in particular. if you look on the Victorian site PROV you may find him as a deserter wanted or imprisoned in Melbourne.
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A couple of days earlier an advertisement in the Adelaide Observer made the same enquiry with slightly different wording.
Robson (Douglas) left London in the barque Royal Diadem in 1858. Supposed to be in Australia. Sister and brother enquire.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/162413504
Interesting JM mentions a destination for the barque was Port Adelaide and it was in Adelaide that a separate Advertisement was placed.
Sue
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Thanks to all who answered this query, his bother and sister almost certainly Jane and Armstrong Robson as they lived together in Sunderland, Co Durham.
Douglas sure is a mystery.
Regards
Allan
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This news item in December 1858 has a Douglas ROBSON arriving as a passenger in Adelaide from Melbourne on the Admella http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article786963
Not that it matters as there are more recent sightings ... just interesting if he was a crew member on this ship to Sydney and then became a passenger.
Ros
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This news item in December 1858 has a Douglas ROBSON arriving as a passenger in Adelaide from Melbourne on the Admella http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article786963
Not that it matters as there are more recent sightings ... just interesting if he was a crew member on this ship to Sydney and then became a passenger.
Ros
Hi Ros, yes it's an odd one, to me I find it hard to believe there is further trace of him, if he married it would shown up somewhere and when he died again same thing, he must have to sea very young as he does not show on the 1851 Census.
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I can't see a marriage or death for him in South Australia https://www.genealogysa.org.au/
But if he did come to Adelaide as a passenger it implies he did intend to stay perhaps ...?
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I can't see a marriage or death for him in South Australia https://www.genealogysa.org.au/
But if he did come to Adelaide as a passenger it implies he did intend to stay perhaps ...?
Members of my family have trying to solve for it years, he may have not settled in Australia, ?
It's beginning to look like he either jumped ship and changed his name so not to be caught or he settled somewhere else.
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This news item in December 1858 has a Douglas ROBSON arriving as a passenger in Adelaide from Melbourne on the Admella http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article786963
Not that it matters as there are more recent sightings ... just interesting if he was a crew member on this ship to Sydney and then became a passenger.
Ros
I am not sure he was in Sydney.
I am not sure that that voyage of the Admella originated from any NSW port.
I am sure that the voyage of the Admella arriving Adelaide 24 December 1858 commenced Melbourne 22 Dec and Portland Dec 23. Yes, I agree that Douglas Robson is listed on that voyage among those who travelled steerage.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/786963 Sth Aust Adv 27 Dec 1858.
The South Australian Weekly of 18 December 1858 had noted the departure of the screw-steamer Admella, 478 tons, McEwen, master, for Melbourne on Wed Dec 15.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88820211
I think it is sensible to consider the Admella would not manage to depart Adelaide 15 Dec, get to Melbourne, then up to Sydney then back to Melbourne to be involved in an accident at Sandridge Wharf on Sunday 19 December and then be back in Adelaide by 24 December after calling into to Portland (on each leg of that voyage :)).
The late gale in Hobson’s Bay – On Sunday afternoon …. These vessels lay on the weather side of the pier …..The Earl Grey, lying at the Sandridge jetty, carried away the jibboom of the steamer Admella, and in addition to lifting up several of the planks on the wharf, chafed away her own quarterdeck.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87985748 Bendigo Advertiser 22 Dec 1858
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/154874362 Age 21 Dec 1858
(two Adverts 1st column)
I have not found any evidence of Douglas ROBSON settling in any location in NSW circa 1858 - 1863. I have not looked more recently than 1863.
JM
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He is listed as AB, meaning Able Bodied Seaman on all three. He is listed in the crew section of the manifest.
D. ROBSON.25 October, 1858. Ship Admella. Aged 23. British. From Southampton to Sydney.
Douglas ROBSON. 12 Sep 1860. Ship Cairngorm .Aged 24. From London to Sydney.
Duglass ROBSON. November 1860. Ship Mauna Maua. Aged 25. From Nelson (NZ) to Sydney.
Sue
I don't understand your point JM - are you disputing Sue's find? From mariners and ships
http://marinersandships.com.au/search.htm it shows the Admella arriving from Rockhampton in Sydney in October 1858 with D ROBSON as crew British, 23.
http://marinersandships.com.au/1858/10/064adm.htm
Anyway what is relevant to the search for the man are the most recent sightings of the man and the fact that the family didn't know his whereabouts in 1899.
Ros
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I don't understand your point JM - are you disputing Sue's find? From mariners and ships
http://marinersandships.com.au/search.htm it shows the Admella arriving from Rockhampton in Sydney in October 1858 with D ROBSON as crew British, 23.
http://marinersandships.com.au/1858/10/064adm.htm
Anyway what is relevant to the search for the man are the most recent sightings of the man and the fact that the family didn't know his whereabouts in 1899.
Ros
I am not disputing Sue's find.
Your post seems to suggest that he went from being a crewmember to being a passenger, all in Sydney. He was a passenger on the voyage into Adelaide arriving there 24 December, 1858. That voyage obviously did not include Sydney.
Being Crew into any NSW port in October 1858 does not mean that he stayed onboard as a passenger while it was engaged in coastal trading between Melbourne and Adelaide in subsequent months. As he was steerage into Adelaide 24 December 1858, it is sensible to consider he boarded in Melbourne rather than speculate that 'if he was a crew member on this ship to Sydney and then became a passenger'.
ADD
When trying to find some of my elusive mariners I have found it sensible to look at the various voyages of the vessels they crewed on, to see if the various crewlists may give possible indications of where the vessels were most likely to return to regularly.
JM
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As I said earlier - it doesn't matter as there are more recent sightings. I just noted that he had been crew on that ship and then became a passenger on that ship.
Let's get back to the search :)
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I have added to my post.
You see, I think it can matter, particularly when crewlists may show the mariner on many different vessels... going to various ports, not just Australian ones...
ADD
I can't see a marriage or death for him in South Australia https://www.genealogysa.org.au/
But if he did come to Adelaide as a passenger it implies he did intend to stay perhaps ...?
JM
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An interesting point about this most recent conversation.
If the man had "jumped ship" as has been speculated, he would hardly be likely to join the ship under his own name, where he would be no doubt recognised by his former fellows etc.
So, as a passenger in steerage, I would say he was in fact, a bone fide steerage passenger who had taken his leave legitimately from the service.
Sue
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I agree Sue :)
I have searched through my NSW offline resources until end 1863 for Douglas and as mentioned earlier I have not met with success.
If he settled in NSW and was still living in NSW in the 1870s then I would expect to find some mention of him in Greville's 1872 PO directory. Here's a good link to that directory (and more) with a reliable search engine. I have had a quick search there for Douglas ROBSON and for ROBSON Douglas, without success. If I had found him there I would then go to my offline resources and search the relevant 1870 and 1878 electoral rolls. But without a sighting at Grevilles, I am hesitant to undertake that type of search through many electoral rolls, which are of course in the 1870s divided into electorates, then police districts, and then within each Police district the electors are listed by surname. These rolls were prepared from verbal information gathered by NSW police, answerable to their district's Police Magistrates. It was not compulsory to enrol...
http://www.family.joint.net.au/index.php?mid=1&cid=11
Here's live links to City of Sydney's Assessment books (includes tenants and landlords and owners)
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/search-our-collections/house-and-building-histories/assessment-books
ADD
One of my 'ancient' rellies is following this thread, and has phoned me to remind me that I forgot to mention that not all policemen could actually spell, and so some of the Electoral Roll spelling is 'way off the mark' anyway. So now I should also mention there could be concerns if there's any D ROBSON on the mariners website that has been mis-read or mis-recorded on the original manifests... (I am avoiding noting that I may have transcribed many a list on that project ::) )
JM
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Just a thought....
Has anyone looked for 'Robinson/Robison'?
I have Robson/Robinson in my tree (same families).....not the families of OP :D
Edit Well one never knows, same area, Newcastle-upon-Tyne/Durham, England :-\
Annie
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Actually, Annie ...
now you mention it, the good ship ADMELLA was in the port of NEWCASTLE in October 1858 .... but that is Newcastle New South Wales, ;D
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13019164 SMH 7 Oct 1858
ADD
with quite a number of stowaways suffering seasickness as well as gold fever http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128755048 Northern Times 9 Oct 1858
I think that would be the voyage up to Rockhampton that compliments the voyage back from Rockhampton that Sue located. :)
JM
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Thanks for the posts and help, the bottom line he seems to have disappeared, it's possible he could have sailed to a different country all together and settled, the family have trying to solve this for a long time.