Immigration records to Australia - PEARCE, William Francis

[davheid67]

I can't find any immigration records from England to Australia which would have been around 1893.

Where have you looked?

If you have taken his years in Australia from his death certificate then how do you know the figure is accurate?  Info on death certs only as accurate as the knowledge of the informant.

You call his wife Sylvia yet she is known by her second given name, Annie in the death notice.

According to my resource of transcriptions of headstones at Rookwood, he was born c1869.
Interred at Rookwood, Old Church of England, Section 3, Row 27, Grave# 2959, 2960

William Francis PEARCE
Died 11 Jun 1923  54 years
My husband, our father.

His parents were Lucy Sullivan and George Pearce.

Some speculative research!

There is only one marriage I can find between the following

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
Marriages Jun 1851   
PEARCE  George         St George Southk    4/529   
SULLIVAN Lucy         St. George Southk 4/529

1861 Census  RG9/385/115/14
Living at 3 Wilton Terrace, Peckham, Camberwell, Surrey
PEARCE George Head Married  32 years  Plumber  Born Lambeth, Surrey
PEARCE Lucy  Wife  Married  34 years   Born Southwark, Surrey
PEARCE Lucy  Dau  7 years Scholar  Born Camberwell, Surrey
PEARCE Mary Ann  5 years    Born Camberwell, Surrey
PEARCE William  2 years   Born Camberwell, Surrey
PEARCE Josephine 1 year  Born Camberwell, Surrey
SULLIVAN Ann  Wife's mother  Unmarried  67 years  Born St George Southwark, Middlesex
SULLIVAN Ann  Visitor  32 years  Unmarried  Born Woolwich, Kent

There are further census with George's occupation as plumber.

Deaths Mar 1901   
PEARCE Lucy    75 years Camberwell    1d/560

Deaths Dec 1901   
PEARCE George    72 years Camberwell    1d/551

And it looks as though their son was Wm Francis.....

Births Dec 1857
PEARCE William Francis Joseph  Camberwell    1d/465   

You have the details but how many certificates?

What was his father's occupation on the 1910 marriage cert?  What was Wm's age, place of birth and occupation?

Is it possible that Wm F wasn't honest about his age

All speculative research but you need to have an open mind if we are to locate his arrival in Australia 

Cando

Thanks Cando. Yes I have visited the grave site and have a photo of it. This is the information that I have so far also, and I noted with this same family that William is at home until the 1881 census and then is no more. The other interesting thing about this 'William' is the census has him listed as a gardener and his wife here in Australia was a florist, they ran a business together in Petersham. Very much looking like this may be him - just need to purchase a birth certificate from the UK to confirm I think

[davheid67]

Now to find his arrival.

Cando

Did you find anything - I have had a paid Ancestry account and couldn't find anything there - any other suggested places for me to look would be welcomed

[davheid67]

William Francis Pearce is listed as a bachelor on the marriage certificate, 42 years old (1910) - makes him born in 1868 (different again!) Occupation caretaker, both parents deceased - or did he just cut them off when coming to Australia and didn't really know (??) Oh the joys of this research! Father's occupation - builder.

[Kelruth]

Hello davheid67,
From all the information I have read I believe that your great grandfather William Joseph Francis Pearce born to George and Lucy is also my husbands great grandfather.

[Grad27]

I believe William Pearce to have been born in 1857/8 in Camberwell London. He is on the birth certificate of my Grandfather Laurence Joseph Pearce b15/2/1899 innMidlands UK as his father. Mother Emily Pearce nee Farnell. However Laurence was immediately passed to Emily’s Younger Sister Winifred Kelly and raised as Laurence Joseph Kelly.

William Pearce was still living with Emily Pearce in London at time of 1901 Census, though she remarried later that year. So he must have emigrated sometime between 1901 and his 1910 Australian Marriage.

I am keen to contact Davheid67 as we may be related

[KGarrad]

I am keen to contact Davheid67 as we may be related

Davheid67 was last online on 1st January 2016.