Enfield

Help finding William Chandler

Miss W. Bryant, Chandler , ,

On WikiTree this week, the challenge is from the London Westminster and Middlesex Family History Society. I replied that I would try to help with their research but I also commented that I had a brickwall from Enfield area which is a place covered by the society. A reply from Elizabeth asked could they help me. So this post is about what I know about my great great grandfather.

William Chandler arrived in Hobart Town, Tasmania on 15 February 1855 on board the ship Fortitude. It had sailed  from Plymouth on 1 November 1854.  According to the arrival record he was aged 22. He was one of 147 immigrants under the bounty system and his passage was certified by John Leake, a large property owner in the midlands of Tasmania. William’s single ticket was number 227. James Axton, ticket number 230, also went to John Leake as a gardener the same as William. He was also from Middlesex, was 23, could read and write and was Church of England like William.  Book 5, pages 191-192

George Jobson, his wife and two sons from Yorkshire also went to John Leake’s property as a coachman and general servant. The family were also Church of England.

Caroline Bryant was a worker at Rosedale with Leake family at same time as William Chandler. She took over as housemaid from Susan Green in April 1857. page 216

Had William known Caroline back in London and asked John Leake if he could organize for her to come out as an immigrant? Or did they first meet at Rosedale?

In 1859, William married Caroline Bryant who had arrived with her mother Charlotte on 19 January 1856. They came from London to Sydney on the ship La Hogue then by steamer to Tasmania. The person who applied for them to come out was R.W. Nutt, an important solicitor in Hobart Town at the time. Book 34, pages 203-204

On the marriage certificate for William and Caroline, he was 24 and she was 22. One of the witnesses was R. G Winter who was Caroline’s brother in law and married to Esther Julia Bryant back in London. Esther’s mother Charlotte had applied for her daughter, son in law and his parents to come out to Tasmania. They left London on 7 October 1856, arrived Hobart Town on 29 December 1856 on the ship Woodcote. Pages 18-21

The other witness at the marriage was Emma Minns who arrived also on the Woodcote with her parents and sister.

By the time of his marriage, William was a gardener at Government House and was sometimes mentioned in the diaries of Lady Gore Browne, wife of the governor.

Children of William and Caroline. Might be helpful to find parents and siblings of William if naming pattern followed.

  • Julia Charlotte 1860 – 1905
  • William Charles 1863 – 1944
  • Robert Henry 1865 – 1929
  • Mary Ann Eliza 1867 – 1940
  • Caroline Louisa 1870 – 1958
  • Sarah 1872 – 1873
  • George Edward 1874 – 1918
  • Ada Ellen 1877 – 1955
  • Fanny Ethel 1882 – 1951

What have I found prior to his arrival in Hobart Town?

1. I have found a William Chandler from Enfield, Middlesex aged 16, unmarried and a gardener lodging with the family of John and Jane Frayne living at Railway Gate House in the district of Edmonton in 1851 English census. The family is still there in the 1861 census but William is not there anymore.

Class: HO107; Piece: 1703; Folio: 221; Page: 18; GSU roll: 193611

2. There is a possible baptism on 10 Jan. 1835 at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, Hackney, England

Father John Chandler and mother Mary Chandler nee Youngman??

3.  There is a possible baptism on 4 Aug. 1833 at St Andrew, Enfield, Enfield, England

Father Daniel Chandler and mother Mary Chandler nee Chivers??

4.  From 1841 census with parents Daniel (a carpenter) and Mary  Class: HO107; Piece: 653; Book: 2; Civil Parish: Enfield; County: Middlesex; Enumeration District: 3; Folio: 25; Page: 7; Line: 22; GSU roll: 438772

Hope this information and the links included can help Elizabeth find some more information about William Chandler my great great grandfather.

UPDATE: I was listening to a talk about gardeners in Tasmania and William was mentioned. The speaker Ann Cripps has written a book including a chapter on the Chandler family. I found a library with a copy of the book and this information now takes me to Williams employment back in England.

For two years 1852-1854 William had been working for, and living with William Everett Esquire at Chase Side which was an estate in Enfield.

Story 3 – A New Adventure

Miss W. Chandler, Stories ,

Is this going to be my life for the next few years? Living in a couple of rooms, walking to my job as a gardener in Enfield or do I want some adventure?

Reading the local London newspapers, I see advertisements for emigrants to Van Diemen’s Land. That is a new British colony thousands of miles across the seas on the other side of the world. This might be my chance to eventually develop my own business rather than work for someone else.

After visiting the bounty immigrant office mentioned on the advertisements, I have now been assigned to Mr John Leake who lives in the Midlands in VDL. The immigrant agent told me Mr Leake was very important in VDL; he was a member of the Legislative Council and had the ear of the governor.

Surely a person of this stature would have need of a gardener and if I worked extremely well, maybe he could give me good references for future gardening jobs.

Travelling on the ship Fortitude with about 140 other immigrants, I arrived in Hobart Town early in 1855. Disembarking quickly, six of us were met by a servant of John Leake. George Jobson, who arrived with his wife Harriet and two young sons, was a coachman while both James Axton and I were gardeners.

It took two days by horse and cart to travel on the well worn road from Hobart to Campbell Town, a total of 82 miles. What was this property we were going to work at like?

My new adventure was about to begin.

…………………………………………

This was my first story written in first person rather than third person. Two students commented mentioning the tense changed from past to present a couple of times. They also said I needed to get more of his feelings and thoughts rather than all the factual info. Maybe I am trying to include too much in a short story.

This is about my great great grandfather, William Chandler, who began the Chandler’s Nursery in Hobart. Read more about it here http://www.chandlersnursery.com.au/our-history.html

Readers: Where else could I improve this writing? As it is only going to be published on this blog, feel free to re-write whole paragraphs if you want.