Hello everbody
I have now got more of an update on the Cotter ~ Young relationship. John Thomas Young 1805~ 1851 who arrived in Sydney on the Sovereign in 1834 traded as a Tobacconist in Lower George Street then sailed on the Nereus 1839 from Sydney to Adelaide. He died in 1851 and his last Will and Testament shows that he is Dr Thomas Young Cotter's uncle [TY Cotter's mother's youngest brother] and he made TYC his executor of his Will. Uncle? well Dr T Y Cotter was. born out of wedlock and his mother was on 17 at the time and married Richard Cotter January 1806.
TYC's younger brother was looking for their youngest brother Richard b.1830 in an advert placed in The Argus newspaper of Melbourne Vic. Australia dated Tuesday 11th of January 1853 stated Mr Pownall P. Cotter is informed that his brother is residing at Mr Sinclair's, 167, Great Lonsdale-street, East, this in April 1853 being named as the residence of one Peter Sinclair and later an advert in the Victoria Government Gazette 22nd of April 1856 by the Chief Secretary’s Office Melbourne stated “The undermentioned persons are requested to apply at this Office without delay to receive information of private interest to themselves or to enable the Government to reply to the enquiries of their friends, In the event of the decease of any of these parties, information is likewise requested. Signed “By His Excellency’s Consul William C. Haines”. Among the undermentioned persons was Cotter, Mr. Pownall Pellew, master in the Royal Navy, formerly of St. George’s Terrace, Camberwell, who sailed for Melbourne, by the Wandsworth, in September 1852 and was seen in Melbourne last February. Pownall had left England for Melbourne Australia some 3 years after being declared an insolvent debtor and we know his youngest brother Richard had emigrated to Melbourne Australia in 1852 and it is likely that it this brother who was residing at Sinclair’s.
In May 1853, Pownall Pellow Cotter, a ship sailing master, was appointed to organise and supervise the time signal service. Cotter had acted as the sailing master of HMS Terror during Captain James Clark Ross’s (1800-1862) magnetic expedition for the British Admiralty to study the global magnetic field and to establish a chain of magnetic observatories in British colonies. [this is incorrect he was only master of HMS Terror 1839 to 1843 on the Antarctic expedition, Master's then were Warrant Officers who were the senior navigators and ship managers ] the ship was commanded by Capt Francis Crozier] Cotter had settled in Melbourne and was in charge of the naval depot at Williamstown. When, after several weeks, minimal progress had been made with establishing the time signal service Governor La Trobe appointed Ellery in Cotter’s place. The first public timeball drop from the flagstaff came in August 1853. Cotter resigned soon after. A few months later, however, before the time signal was fully operational Ellery was appointed to supervise the time signal and to make the necessary observations (Andropoulos, 2014),
Pownall Pellew Cotter returned to London by 1857
