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Messages - Beany7143

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Suffolk / Re: Henry NEWSON decd NZ aged 80 in 1920 born Harwich?
« on: Wednesday 10 June 20 05:27 BST (UK)  »
Hi Colin
Thanks for your post.
1. Date of Arthur Watts desertion
It's good to have the actual date of his desertion 21 June 1861 in Auckland, rather than my speculation that he might have jumped ship in Australia. It solves a long-standing puzzle I have wondered about.
2,The voyage to New Zealand
I am puzzled by your statement "Fawn sailed 12/11/1859" (I assume you have used British rather than American practice, and this means 12 Nov 1859). It may be that this was the date that the Royal Navy commissioned the ship, but if had left for NZ then, it took an extraordinary time to reach New Plymouth on 23 July 1860 (about 253 days), even allowing for "touching at Madeira and Ascension", putting into the Cape, and the two weeks or so it spent at Sydney. Sources here say that Fawn sailed from Portsmouth on the 21st February 1860, hence my comment that Arthur sailed to NZ in 1860. Voyages were considered to start when the ship left the British port.
The usual length of a voyage Britain to NZ at this time by emigrant ships (non-stop) was about 100 days. Ship arrivals were eagerly awaited, overdue ships were a cause of concern: "HM screw sloop Fawn .....now 106 days from Portsmouth" (New Zealander 6 June 1860 p2) ;"There is no news at Sydney either of HMSS Fawn or the Niger" (Daily Southern Cross 26 June 1860 p2). Fawn arrived at Sydney on 1 July 1860, and left for NZ on 16 July. So for me, the voyage was entirely in 1860.
3.Identity of the Henry Newson drowned at sea on HMS Intrepid 1858.
Have you been able to confirm that the above Henry Newson was definitely the Henry Newson from Felixstowe Ferry?

Beany7143

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Suffolk / Re: Henry NEWSON decd NZ aged 80 in 1920 born Harwich?
« on: Tuesday 05 May 20 21:53 BST (UK)  »
Hi Colin
I did read both of your posts.
I have sent you a personal message with my email address.


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Suffolk / Re: Henry NEWSON decd NZ aged 80 in 1920 born Harwich?
« on: Monday 04 May 20 21:04 BST (UK)  »
Hi Colin
Thanks for your attempt to reply to my questions.
I was faced with the same problem of the word limit when I made my post. All I did was split it in half and turn it into the two posts that I actually listed - there seems to be no problem with sending two posts one after the other.

Beany7143

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Suffolk / Re: Henry NEWSON decd NZ aged 80 in 1920 born Harwich?
« on: Sunday 29 March 20 05:26 BST (UK)  »
4. Arthur Watts sailed as crew to NZ on HMS Fawn in 1860.
HMS Fawn sailed from Portsmouth on 21 February 1860 to join the R.N.'s Australian Fleet, and arrived at New Plymouth on 23 July. The Taranaki War had begun some months before and she disembarked 112 officers and men of the 12th Regiment of the British Army and 50 "bluejackets" (men of the Royal Marines) to join the forces fighting against Maori. Fawn was one of a half dozen or so British warships stationed in the SW Pacific, and she was here for about three and a half years. She mostly sailed in NZ waters. You can follow her voyages around NZ from newspaper reports in Papers Past from NZ National Library. The library also has a painting of the Fawn and another R.N. ship, HMS Miranda, at a regatta in January 1862 in Auckland.
From the information I have, I cannot determine the date and place of Arthur's desertion from Fawn. But the 1861 British census return shows that he was still on board on the night of Sunday April 7 1861, where he is listed as an Ordinary Seaman, single, aged 19 and born at Woodbridge, Suffolk. At that time the Fawn was at New Plymouth.
In his post of 10 August 2019 on this thread, Colin suggested that Arthur's actions in June 1861 "were pretty unequivocal" - perhaps he meant that he deserted at that time. In June 1861 Fawn went to Sydney for repairs to her machinery. While in Australia, an anti-Chinese riot by gold miners took place near Yass, and bluejackets from the Fawn helped the Australian police to put down the riot. Perhaps this was the the occasion and place of Arthur's desertion. Again the ship's log and muster roll should answer those questions. If he deserted in Australia, he must have come to NZ in another ship - I haven't found it.  Also he must have adopted his new name.
Arthur was not alone in deserting from Fawn. In January 1861 18 seamen deserted from Fawn in Wellington, and further desertions occurred from time to time. A newspaper ad in March 1862 listed 21 names of deserters from Fawn in Auckland. She lost 105 men, including two officers, to desertion during her three and a half years here. One of the officers was the first lieutenant who "was last heard of as a cattle drover". Some deserters were captured and returned to the Fawn, but the ship was "scarcely half manned" by the end of her service. Before returning to Britain, Fawn sailed to Hobart Tasmania and recruited 20 boys to join the crew.
Fawn cannot have been a happy ship. Conditions aboard seem to have encouraged desertion. During its time in NZ waters, Fawn gained a reputation as a "flogging ship" - "we were hopeful that the Fawn was an exceptional vessel .....and that the punishment of flogging so frequently in use on board of her was not practiced in any of the other [ships]". The Captain, Ralph Cator was regarded as an overstrict disciplinarian. He sailed Fawn back to England under a cloud from comments made about him by the Commodore in Sydney, and was "paid out of commission" on his arrival [sacked?]. Arthur's former shipmates and others who had deserted and been recaptured faced a court martial on arrival in England and were sentenced to 12 - 18 months hard labour.
But the greatest incentive to desert during the Fawn's time in NZ came from June 1861 onwards with the discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully in Central Otago. Men (and almost entirely men) flocked to Dunedin from all over NZ and many from Australia to "try their luck" on the goldfields. Otago's population rose from 12,691 in December 1860 to 30,260 in December 1861. As happened at San Francisco in 1848 during the Californian gold rush, ships' crews abandoned their vessels in port and captains found it difficult to find enough crew to sail away.
I haven't discovered if Arthur (now Henry Newson?) went to the goldfields as his brother Alfred and his wife Alison did (they lived at Bannockburn near Cromwell for a time), but perhaps his marriage to Sophia Ann Dowsett on 9 August 1863 anchored him to Wellington and her family there. But an older Henry Newson certainly showed considerable interest in gold rushes later in his life.

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Suffolk / Re: Henry NEWSON decd NZ aged 80 in 1920 born Harwich?
« on: Sunday 29 March 20 05:21 BST (UK)  »
Since my post a few weeks ago I have been doing some research on the events around Arthur's name change to Henry Newson. I cannot be sure about many of the details of what I have written below unless I see the critical documents at the UK National Archives, especially the ships' logs and muster rolls.These have not yet been digitised and must be viewed in person at Kew.
Any reader of this post may be familiar with the events described in it, and if so I would be grateful if you would correct my errors.
1. Arthur Watts signed to join the Royal Navy 7/9 November 1857.
His application states that he was born on 1 November 1843 at Felixstowe Ferry, Suffolk. His description: Height: 4 ft 8 inches; Complexion: fair; Hair: light; Eyes: hazel; Marks: none. He signed on as a "Boy 2nd class" for a term of 10 years from the age of 18. Two medical officers certified him "fit in all respects for Her Majesty's Service. Arthur was literate (he signed his own name). On 9 November his father Thomas consented to Arthur's enlisting by signing with his mark. The ship in which he was entered was Southampton. [Later he was assigned to HMS Fawn as you will see below].
Rdale: It is clear from your remarks in your email to me, that your cousin or the Newson at Tangimoana was familiar with this document.
2. Alfred, Arthur's brother, came to New Zealand in 1858.
A list of early Otago settlers states that Alfred Watts came to NZ in 1858. This list was compiled at about the time of Alfred's death in 1920. I have looked through some passenger lists from 1858, but haven't found him so far. He may have been a sailor and jumped ship as Arthur was later to do. I regard the date 1858 as probable, but not certain. I am certain that Alfred was here in NZ by late 1861 when he married, and I have ordered a copy of his marriage certificate. His Intention to Marry form would give an earlier date for this certainty, but I'm not planning to go to NZ National Archives in Wellington, any time soon.
3. A Henry Newson died "Drowned at Sea" on 13 November 1858.
I haven't found a record of a Henry Newson signing on to the Royal Navy at about this time.
The record I have seen is a list of R.N. deaths at sea. It gives no details of this Henry Newson's age or birthplace, so while it is probable that he is the Henry Newson closely connected to the Watts family of Felixstowe Ferry, I cannot be certain. All it states is that he was on HMS Intrepid and the place of death was "C G Hope", which I assume is the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. But the Intrepid was assigned to the R.N.'s Mediterranean Fleet, so it shouldn't have been there. I need to see the ship's log book and muster roll if this person is the Henry Newson whose name Arthur Watts  assumed. A record of his enlisting in the Royal Navy would also help.
(I have reached the maximum words for a post and will complete this in another post)

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Suffolk / Re: Henry NEWSON decd NZ aged 80 in 1920 born Harwich?
« on: Wednesday 11 March 20 08:25 GMT (UK)  »
Hi Shaye
Thanks for your welcome. I have followed your posts with interest. I have been working off and on for about 20 years looking at the various branches of my family tree. The two most troublesome of my ancestors have been Henry Newson and Richard Groombridge Butt (father of James Henry Butt). I haven't been able to find conclusive evidence of how/when both of these men arrived in NZ, probably because they both seem to have come as crew and jumped ship.
I have been in contact with Rosemary by email, and I agree we should work together if at all possible.I have got a fairly complete tree of Alice and "Harry" Butt's descendants and would be happy to share it

7
Suffolk / Re: Henry NEWSON decd NZ aged 80 in 1920 born Harwich?
« on: Wednesday 11 March 20 07:01 GMT (UK)  »
Hi
I came upon this thread a couple of weeks ago and hope I can join it.
I'm another descendant of Henry Newson and Sophia Dowsett. One set of my great grandparents were Alice Catherine Newson and James Henry Butt. My descent from them is through female lines.
Over 40 years ago my mother told me that Henry Newson was born a Watts, and about 20 years ago I started trying to find him. I quickly realised that Harwich on his obituary was a red herring and the IGI led me to Felixstowe. But I was chasing an informal adoption which I could never prove.
I have also been aware of the story about his adopting the name from a dead seaman on board ship, and also another story that he took the name from a shop billboard as he walked along a street in Wellington fearful of being stopped by police. I have been a little skeptical about these.
Another family tradition was that at age 19 he came to NZ on a ship called the Lucy Ann. For years I could not find this ship, but have recently seen references to it, but without any success in tying him to it.
Colin, your reference to the Royal Navy has been a real breakthrough for me. I've chased up his C.S.N (34983) but that's about as far as I've got so far, apart from finding him (at sea) in the 1861 census. I tried to request an entry to your secure email without success, but would be very pleased to be allowed to enter if you are agreeable.

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