Many thanks for all your amazing help - most recently for the details of James Henry Horace Downey – as you say, a bit of a lad! I am quite sure that he is a brother of Catherine and Mary Eliza (given his father’s name on the marriage record, and the family significance of each of his forenames), and I looked up his burial record, as you suggested. A couple of weeks ago, when I first picked up the Downey-in-Australia trail, I had an email from someone in Australia (WA, I think) who said that James was her great grandfather, though she didn't mention that he had emigrated to Australia. She wrote:
“James and Theresa were about 8 and 4 years old when their mother Mary T(h)eresa died in 1854 and were raised in the workhouse. James was born 29th March 1846 (address unknown and not registered) but on one of his children’s birth certificates he states he was born in Devonshire, but more likely in or around Devonshire Street. He appears to be unsure of his proper year of birth, his death certificate states he was aged 95 when he died in June 1943, but was actually 97”.
[This is clearly the same person as in the burial record you pointed me towards. The age in the Australian records is not quite right, but James wouldn’t be the first man to lie about his age!]
I have written back to the person who wrote the above, and am waiting for her reply, hoping it may cast some light on when (and why) James came to Australia. I don’t think he accompanied his two sisters on board the Sacramento, but it seems likely that he joined one or both of them when he first landed in Australia.
In fact I do have a subscription to Ancestry, but not one that permits detailed perusal of the Australian electoral registers – perhaps I should upgrade now that I have found a family outside the UK. But for now I’m more than happy with what you have been kind enough to find for me already.
I’m interested in why he was given the name Horace: as I’ve written before, Mary Teresa had a brother Horace Haverhill Page, and her brother’s son (my ancestor) was Charles Horace Page.
Ian