Queensland immigration 1911 - Herbert Frank BEAUCHAMP

[HugoBeauchamp]

Thanks again Ruskie - youre a star 

[cabrach]

Fascinated to see this correspondence.  I wonder if I could tempt anyone to check out another immigrant - Thomson Low - who ended up in Far North Queensland as a sugar planter.  Thomson was born at Forgue, Aberdeenshire in 1847.  He was back in Scotland in 1891 in time for the census which is how I know he was a planter.  By then he was married to Barbara Alexander, again an Aberdeenshire girl (and very distant relative of mine), though they did not marry in Scotland so I'm intrigued to know if she had emigrated and they met in Australia.

Thomson's name turned up the other day in an item in the real estate section of the FNQ Independent.  It mentioned a Thomson Low Drive in Shannonville, near Mossman.  Apparently the Drive is named after "... one of the valley's early, and infamous cane planters".  Why infamous?  Was he a blackbirder?

I don't have worldwide Ancestry but the indexes show that Thomson died in 1902 while Barbara lived on until about 1938.  She appears in many of the censuses in the district of Herbert.

Any thoughts on when they might have arrived in Australia and where exactly they lived and why Thomson became notrious?  Thomson was the youngest of 10 children, 9 of them boys, to a farmer so would probably have arrived in Australia with no money.  I wonder if he ever rose far enough to own a plantation or if his notoriety was just through the way he managed some owners interests?

[tropicalj]

Qld on line BDM show
https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/BirIndexQry.m
reg no 1903/C913
Thomson Low
father John Low  mother  Margaret Thomson


reg no 1938/C2424
Barbara Low
father George Alexander  mother Christian Reid


the C in the registration denotes country qld.

Jenn

[judb]

Can't see a marriage or children in Qld before 1891 with either name.

Did he return to Australia?  There is a cemetery record as follows:
Thomson LOW, 55, b abt 1847
Died: 12 Dec 1902, buried Port Douglas Cemetery
Cairns and District Family History Society Inc have information apparently.

The BMD index for this shows:
1903, Thomson LOW, parents: John Low,  Margaret Thomson.  Reg no: C913
(The death was obviously not registered for a month or so)
https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/queryEntry.m?type=births

Can't see either of them in assisted shipping lists for Qld.
http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/research/index/immigration.asp

Judith
 

[tropicalj]

Barbara Low is on  the Electoral Rolls with a Robert David Low .

I cannot find a death for him up to 1964

but  the newspapers online do carry a couple of stories about him re the Mossman Mill.
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2819932

Jenn

[cabrach]

Thank you so much.

Jenn, that newspaper link is to an item about the 100,000th immigrant?  I've not found any mention of Thomson Low in a general search or by searching on Mossman Mill.  What am I missing here?

What is interesting though is that Robert David Low by 1911 or so is the chairman of the Mossman Mill.  He indeed travels about with Mrs Thomson Low so presumably is a son. However he does not appear in the QLD births!  Intriguing too is that the pair of them travelled a couple of times at least with a Miss Jensen.  Who was she?

Judith thanks for the thought about the Cairns and District FHS.  I'll get in touch with them.

I've now checked and discovered that the Low family mostly disappeared from Scotland between 1851 and 1861. That would be John Low (b1803) and his wife Margaret Thomson (bc1807) and possibly eight children (James, William, David, Margaret, Alexander, Gavin, Robert and Thomson) - the two eldest (George and John) definitely ended their lives in Scotland.  There is no sign of the children thereafter though the parents were back by 1871, John having retired.  Perhaps they all came to Australia?

[tropicalj]

regarding the newspaper link
you have to put into  the search engine who or what you are looking for.

Jenn

[tropicalj]

I don't know about being a Son  as he would have had to have been born 1881 or earlier?

Not impossible  but where was he born?

Could he be Thomson's brother Robert?

Jenn

[tropicalj]

I spoke  to a very lovely lady at  the Douglas Shire Council  who tells me she has passed info onto  a Mr McDonald who I am assuming is Cabrach

Just to dd in here for others who may do a google search etc etc etc 

Barbara low is also buried in the Same grace as Thompson Low

Robert David low was Thompson 's nephew but no sign of his burial in Ay where he resied up to 1954 by  the Electoral Rolls

kind thoughts Jenn