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Australian Society of the Lacemakers of Calais Inc. |
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EMPEROR Emperor, a 672 ton ship, left Plymouth on 27 July 1848 under the control of Master J H Day and his crew of 34 sailors, and arrived at Sydney on 4 November 1848. Amongst 277 immigrants on board, she carried lacemakers Thomas Goldfinch, his wife Hannah, and their children, Anne (b. Calais 1837), George (b. Calais 1841) and Elizabeth (b. Calais 1843) as well as Frederick Gamble (b. Leicestershire 1826) and his brother, Thomas (b. Leicestershire 1829). The microfiche, The Relations Index of Immigrants to NSW 1848-1855 (copy at Society of Australian Genealogists - Call No. NSW-SHP-IMM:10) reveals that Thomas already had relatives in the colony. Thomas Goldfinch was born 15 January 1785 and baptised at St Clements, Sandwich on 6 February 1785. Ann Newing was baptised at Sutton near Dover on 14 January 1787. Thomas and Ann were married at Walmer in 1809. From this marriage there were three children: Ann Newing born 24 January 1810, Susannah Jane born 21 October 1811 and Thomas Barber born 4 March 1813 and baptised at St Leonards, Deal. They were all living at West Street, Lower Deal at this time. Ann Goldfinch (née Newing) died 8 April 1814 and is buried at Sutton near Dover. Thomas Goldfinch, widower, married Lucy Darby, spinster, at St James Dover on 16 May 1815 with John and Sarah Webster as witnesses. They had quite a few children, the youngest being born in Calais in 1825. With the exodus of many English to France, Thomas with his family went over to St-Pierre so he could try his hand at the lacemaking business. There he became a publican, then a lacemaker. Thomas Barber Goldfinch was only 12 years old and spent his life in Calais until he came to Australia in 1848. He probably met his first wife, Ann Mary Farley, in Calais. They were married in Dover on July 29, 1834. They had children there, some of whom died, and then Ann died in 1846. Thomas Barber Goldfinch married Hannah Plummer (née Smedley) on 25 August 1846. By then he described himself as a lacemaker. Hannah and her first husband, John, came from Nottingham to Calais. In 1848 Thomas Barber and his wife Hannah with their families left Calais for Australia. Family history tells how Hannah sewed sovereigns into her petticoat and while boarding the ship for Australia the stitching gave way and the sovereigns fell into the water below and were lost. On arriving at Port Jackson, Thomas was listed as a pork butcher and Hannah as a house servant and dairy woman. Amongst the passengers were 48 boys, 40 girls and 9 babies. Nine children died on the voyage of non-contagious infants’ diseases. James Mien, the Ship’s Apprentice died of dysentery. Thomas was called up by the Immigration Board as one of the witnesses of events on board regarding the gratuities paid to the Surgeon Superintendent and the Chief Mate. From their landing until 1851 little is known but at that time Thomas Goldfinch was listed as having a butcher’s shop in Clarence Street, Sydney. He was granted a Publican’s licence for the house known by the sign of the Friendly Port situated at 24 York Street for the period 1853 to 1854. Thomas and Hannah had at least two more children born in Sydney: Susannah Jane born in 1848 or 1849 and Richard born 16 October 1853 at York Street. In 1855 Thomas was still registered as the publican at the Friendly Port. On 15 April 1856 his daughter Elizabeth died of a disease of the spine, aged just 13. By 1858 Thomas had moved to become the publican at the Salutation Inn, Botany Road and in this year he also declared insolvency due to the general depression of business and because he had gone guarantor for the contractors who were building the Mariner’s Church in Sydney. When the congregation could not keep up payments, Thomas was called upon to pay and his guarantee cost him dearly. By 1861 he was inn keeper at the Buckland Hotel, Botany Street and 1864 saw him insolvent again due to "continued bad business and endorsing a promissory note for £20 for a person named John Stone who did not honour the said note on maturity". From 1863 to 1883 he was listed with a butcher’s shop in Botany Street, Waterloo and from 1884 to 1886 he had a butcher’s shop in Buckland Street. In 1885 while at Buckland Street, Hannah died and was buried at the Necropolis at Rookwood in Sydney. No more is known of Thomas from then until his own death on 28 June 1898 at Bargo. He was buried the next day at Thirlmere. It is believed that he was living with his son Richard and his family prior to his death. Richard trained horses for the Fire Brigade. He had trained them so that when the bells went they would back straight up to the wagons ready to be hitched and off in a hurry. He was also a carrier. Later Richard went to live in the Moorebank-Chipping Norton area near Liverpool, in Sydney, where their son James married and had an orchard. On board the Harpley was Richard Goldfinch, a cousin of Thomas. Richard was married in Dover in 1840 to Eugenie de Sombre, a Calaisienne. John Matthew witnessed this marriage, and so did John & Thomas’ sister Sarah Lucy. Richard and Eugenie had four children in Calais: Richard 1838, George 1841, William 1844 and Henry 1846. It is suspected that Thomas and his family were some of those who should have been on the Harpley but were offloaded to another ship They would have had evidence of their marriage so it can oniy be assumed that the number of young children they had from their combined families was considered too great a risk to other passengers to bear. (Lionel Goldfinch) Also on board Emperor was John Sedgwick, a labourer from Liddington, Bedfordshire and his family. John’s fifteen year old daughter was described as a “lacemaker and hatter”. Aboard too was Thomas Shelton’s family from Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, the centre for framework knitters - but he was an agricultural labourer. SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO EMPEROR & HER PASSENGERS
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