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« on: Friday 02 November 18 09:53 GMT (UK) »
My great great grandfather was born, according to his obituary, in about 1828-1831 in Devonport, Plymouth, Devon. (His age seems to have decreased by about 2 or 3 years at the time of his second marriage to a woman 20 years younger!) He first shows up in a record in South Australia in 1854. I cannot find him on any passenger list arriving in Australia, despite extensive searches. There is a Henry Hopping born in Devonport who is recorded on the 1851 UK census as a Shipwright. This man's parents are John and Elizabeth (Frood). There is also a record of a Henry Hopping from Devonport being in the Merchant Navy sometime between 1852 and 1854. It is tempting to think that he may have jumped ship in Australia, but there is no actual evidence for that. (However it was at the time of the gold rush in Victoria!)
I have only circumstantial evidence to tie these two Henrys together. His family in South Australia believe that he arrived here in 1847, which is contradicted by the fact that he appears in the UK census of 1851. There are other men named Henry Hopping in Devon at around about the right time, but none of them fits as well.
If anyone can shed any light on this I would be exceedingly grateful.