Captain Robert Gudgeon Johnston, British Army and N.S.W. Magistrate

[Rodney53]

I am hoping for some help in piecing together the details of the life of Captain Robert Gudgeon Johnston. An ancestor of mine married into the Johnston family and my cousins have found the trail has gone cold. We've had no joy trying to find the details of his parents.

Captain Robert Gudgeon Johnston, born 1794. His marriage certificate lists his birth in Wexford, Ireland, around the time of the New Ross rebellion. The town listed is New Towns, Wexford, Ireland. We have no firm idea of who his parents were. There is a record of a Martha Gudgeon,  baptized 1771 in Suffolk, father Robert and mother Elizabeth. These names repeat across the generations, suggesting maybe Martha was Captain Johnston’s mother, however no link has yet been found.

Married Anna Maria Hartley in 1822 in the British Embassy, Paris.

3 children:

John Cockburn Johnston 1823-1856

Eliza Martha Johnston 1834-1924

Rawson Parke Johnston 1837-1899


All three children died in NSW/Victoria

Was living in Plymouth in 1838. (Baptism records of children confirm this). 

Was in the British Army.

Arrived in the colonies in 1852.   

Was in 1854 appointed magistrate for Port Macquarie NSW.

He died on the way back to England and was buried at sea near the Falkland Islands in 1859.  His will was lodged in NSW,  witness and executor was Edward Denny Day, the famous Police magistrate who locked up lots of bush rangers.

There are a number of unanswered questions about Captain Johnston’s story.

Any assistance will be much appreciated.

Rodney53

This inquiry is also listed in the Australia area.

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=822463

[AMBLY]

The first inclination is to wonder where the middle name s of their children came from....
For fyi of lookers - this appears to be the source of son John Cockburn Johnston's middle name:

The two witness' of Robert Gudgeon Johnston & Anna Maria Hartley's 1822 Paris marriage were:
William James Cockburn and Caroline Hartley.

who themselves married right afterwards, same day, same place, with their witness' being:
RG Johnston & AM Johnston.

Hi Rodney,

Do you know what the connection to "Rawson Parke" is  - the b 1837 third child's given names?

(I also note, an Army Birth for a  Rawson P JOHNSTON registered in France 1826, 100th Regiment - so possibly this child died and RGJ and wife AM used the name again later)

Cheers,
AMBLY

[AMBLY]

There is this found, Gazette - an earlier Rawson Parke Johnson?:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/20308/page/263/data.pdf
48th  Foot,  Rawson  Parke-Johnston,  Gent,  to  be Ensign,  without  purchase, vice  Pitt,  promoted in   Dated  26th  January  1844

48th Regiment of Foot - The Northamptonshire
Embarked for Service 19 Sep 1838
Serving at Jamaica. Depot at Dublin
3 Yrs Service: Ensign Rawson Parke Johnston, Ensign from 26 Jan 1844

Cheers
AMBLY

[shume]

Found this in the National Library Australia newspaper archive:
rchive-irishnewsarchive-com.rp.nla.gov.au/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/Default.aspx#panel=document

Deaths: Mrs Eliza Martha COCKBURN only dau of the late Robert Cockburn Johnston died Spa, Belgium
23 March 1880 age 55 ( so born 1825).

A couple of other entries from 1840's re his promotions. Interestingly he was Royal Canadian Rifles Regiment.
ADD From www.trovenla.gov.au "Rawson Park (sic) Johnston son of the late RG Johnston d March 1889 age 61 at Port Melbourne (so born 1828)

[majm]

Hi,

At the NSW Archives online index there is an entry giving the reference numbers for a Probate Packet for Robert Gudgeon JOHNSTON, date of death 13 April 1859, Probate granted 9 November 1859.

NRS-13660-1-[14/3316]-Series 1_4504

https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/

See the following thread : https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=703011.0

JM

[AMBLY]

Rawson Parke - found the connection.........drats, not on the Johnston side!

Rawson PARKE, of Crowle House, Worcestorshire, then later of Southhampton Street, Bloomsbury. Middlesex. Died 1841. In his will he left bequests to his two nieces - Anna Maria Johnston the wife of Robert Gudgeon Johnston and to Caroline Cockburn, wife of William James Cockburn.

Also, double checking.... you had written above, the son Rawson born 1837 died 1899.  Is the birth year a typo - and the death year? Online trees have him born 1827, marrying 1852 (which he did, in Liverpool, Lancashire) and died in 1889 (in NSW, by his own hand) - in which case, he himself is the ensign in 1844?

Cheers
AMBLY

[majm]

Capt R G JOHNSTON of the 68th Regiment.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/196997437  The Age, 29 March 1889

Deaths
JOHNSTON, On the 28th March at Port Melbourne, Rawson Park JOHNSTON, late Lieut 48th Regt, son of capt R G JOHNSTON of the 68th Regt, aged 61 years, father of Mrs Backhouse and Mrs T P Dowling, and Robert Johnston, fisherman, Esplanade, Port Melbourne, Deeply regretted.

JM

[Rodney53]

Wow! The responses to this are extraordinary, to say the least.

I will be ringing my cousins tonight, to work our way through each contribution, then respond individually to all.

They will be extremely pleased and appreciative.

In the meantime ... thanks a million.

Rodney53

[Wexflyer]

Congratulations, you are today's big winner!
"New Towns" is clearly one of the townlands named Newtown. And there are 20 (or is it 21?) of them to choose from in Co. Wexford!
Several sites on the web giving details and locations for Irish townlands, you can trawl through them.

As for his British Army career, that should be traceable in the London Gazette, which is available online.