Doctor BENSON or Quack?

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hi

Just troving 'Trove' and whilst the article isn't about Barker his brother Col (at the time) Robson is. I've seen the start of Robson's journey to address Tharawaddie in one of the Asiatic Journals but this article is interesting as a time in history (and I've been there myself) and also an insight into what a struggle Robson had (not surprising he made General!   

    Southern Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1838 - 1844) Wednesday 25 September 1839 p 3 Article
    ... appa. sitios ; Md ttiat^oBt MaluMned' Jbl j a'r^tu;* in íhemouniaiBS. T»eso favearabtereparta1 may ... troops, hiiUocWs, gu s, andeil the uiaoitione of war at Moat mein ; s nd Col.' Benson is «pi ˇeily ... 3099 words

Cheers

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hmm. This is an interesting case:

As we all know Barker rented property from Samuel Peek in East Gosford so I wonder if I'm the only one wondering what this 'case' is all about. See:

Trove: The Sydney Herald (NSW : 1831 - 1842) Tuesday 24 May 1842 p 3 Advertising

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Here's another one: guessing Barker was in Sydney between the dissolution of his and Parkinson's business and he(they) stayed in King St.

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Monday 19 December 1842 p 1 Advertising

[lou4lou]

Many surgeons were admitted to Licentiate of Apothecaries Company of London, and their records appear to be poor (or non-existent?)  Another relative - John Yates Rutter was admitted on 12.05.1836, but there is no record of his father, Thomas, who was also a surgeon.  Rutter was the father of Ida Florence, who married William Robson Benson, parents of my grandfather, Theodore

[SimoneAllaston]

My focus of research is Qualitative research into Barker's and my family history based on personal interest in his and his families character. Facts must be accurate if they are to be used and JM I think keeps us on track here.

My focus is on learning about Barker's character and personality where possible. For me this is where the story is. Facts give us the locations his life took place but personal diaries and family stories are what interest me.

To Carcoar or not to Carcoar... who knows, maybe we never will. If the descendants of the son born in Carcoar believe and are ok with the Carcoar story then that suits me just fine. Life at this time was one of 'introduction' so as Barkrelsonthepoint points out other broader connections such as friend of General Robson Benson, or as I've have been wondering..Where is Hannah's sponsor Mrs Lancaster.. is there a Lancaster in Carcoar? may just turn out that we need to look and think more laterally to solve the Carcoar mystery.

Apothecaries were often schooled by apprenticeship to a doctor or licensed apothecary. Records were not always kept. Not the ideally scenario but we could all be looking for something that doesn't exist.

I was given the address in London of the place Barker worked as an apothecary as being:

29 Spencer st Goswell.

Goswell, if you google it, is not a suburb. So it either used to be or relates to the fact that Spencer st crosses Goswell Rd. Either way no google search returns any concrete proof of this address.

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hi Simone,

Here's the summary of the info and the site you can find the two documents I told you about. I'm putting a summary of the 'Apple Incident' as it is Crown Copyrighted and I paid to download it - don't want to upset anyone. I'm also going to list off anyone who I think the Benson's might have been 'associated' with as such in 1840 when the subscriber's list was commenced. The Seaham Harbour Church Bazaar held at the Athenaeum in Bishop -Wearmouth in September 1841 was attended by Sarah Benson the Mum but not by Barker as he was in NZ/OZ at the time.

Barker's misdeamour as I have named the file is the summary of the court case in the London Gazette 24th Dec 1837. Now as we all know or should thanks to the blurb that keeps coming up on Google relating to Beresford Genealogy that he was on a boat 'the Somersetshire' to Bombay in January 1838 and didn't get back for 12 months in Jan 1839 it seems highly likely to us that this is the incident which cheesed of his parents no end. Question - Who was the Barrister friend who paid his fine? All things considered Barker is darn lucky he got away with it.

The article in summary:

- described as a man of fashionable exterior  who had already been charged for stealing 'knockers'.

- Mr. Twyford and Mr. Tarrant are the judges.

- Barker is of Woburn Pl St Pancras.and was described as very tipsy at the time of the incident - ie being found with the basket of apples on his head!!!

- Philip Cambrey was the Covent Garden Marketer who owned the apples.

- the magistrates were probably very amused if the truth be known and Barker got away with a fine of 5 l (shillings I'm presuming) and as I said it was paid by a barrister friend of his.

Now for the Marchioness' diary which can be found on-line at:

w.w.w.archive.org/stream/journalofthreemo00lond/journalofth...

Otherwise put Full text of "A journal of a three month tour in Portugal, Spain, Africa into Goog;e and it should come up.

What I have gleaned from the document:

In the subscribers lists is:

Mrs Benson, 16 Upper Woburn Pl, Tavistock Square
J. Benson, Esq ditto.

I have taken this to be Joseph Barker Benson or our Barker Joseph Benson,  because I feel the family may have called him Joseph rather than Barker. Also Sarah's father who was Joseph Barker was dead by this time so it is not him. No other child of Thomas and Sarah's starts with J. Alternatively this is her nephew son of a brother?

Other subscribers known to the Bensons are:

Possibly all the royals:
Margaret Barker of Wynard Park
The Archbishop of Canterbury
Aaron Chapman
John Chapman
William Goodrich
John Nicholson (Barker's sister Dorothy's husband)
Several Robsons - relatives from Thomas' mother
Willis of Wolverton

Realistically all to just many of the people listed could have been known to the Bensons.

As for William Heard Vandervord - Have a look at the site on Vandervord Bargemen and you'll get some idea of who the Vandervords were!!!

Well all for now, I'm off to choir practice for Anzac Day.

As Riljke says 'Keep asking the questions and one day the answers will fit into themselves' or something along that line.

Cheers barkrels   

-

 

[SimoneAllaston]

Barkrels,

Thank you so much. The attachment on th email hasn't opened but I will try on my office computer later.

I have a few questions for the fact hunters... dates that seem to not add up:

Firstly, in one of Barker's journals around 1834-1835ish he mentions he was a lawyer, he was with a law firm for 4 years and disliked the profession. So Angela maybe this is the link to who paid his fine in the Apple incident. P.S the apples just make me love him more... not the first person to wake up tipsy with carzy head appreal!!!

-Barker & Hannah arrived in New Zealand 18/6/1841 and got married.
-Arrived in Sydney (married) aboard Harrington 13/9/1841.
-Barker and Hananh are listed as passengers aboard the Whitby (a coal ship) leaving Port Nicholson (Wellington? Again ?) 6/1/1842 and then on to the Isle of Pines 17/4/1842. The 'Whitby' was a chapman owned ship sailing out of Wellington Port.
-THEN..... 30/5/1842 BJ Benson and A Parkinson were placed under sequestation.

If Barker was in the Isle of Pines April 1842 when did he find time to have a business in Gosford?? No wonder he went bankrupt.

So Barker and Hannah arrived in Sydney went to gosford.. started a business.. and only 4 months after arriving sailed off again to NZ/Isle of Pines... then got back to Sydney to be bankrupt 1 month later!!!!!

Does any one know of Barker's diary from the England to New Zealand... there must be one he wrote journals on every other voyage.....

[majm]

 

Well, among the many questions I have:
I want to know
a) how Barker and Hannah  got from the Isle of Pines in April 1842  ...
b) why they went there in the first place....
and .... oh there are far too many questions that I want answers to, and I am not even a descendant, so I can well imagine all the many questions you are all asking!

Has anyone introduced Simone and  Lou to Carna yet?

Cheers,  JM

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hi Simone, Lou4Lou, JM who seem to be the ardent ones at the moment. Where are you Carna, Blynch2 and Gill (Robson's rellie)

I'm loathe to ask this question but since what Simone has written implicates Abraham Parkinson as running the business while Barker and Hannah were off galavanting (or business venturing) is there any info out there rather than just the bankruptcy details???

The later papers (and journal Blynch 2 has?) paint a picture of Barker becoming a doctor and being very much at home in the East Gosford area, especially as he knew Rev. Arthur Glennie, Edmund Hargraves, Charles Ventemann, Samuel Peek, Henry Kendall (his brother -in-law) The Bishop of Newcastle, just to name a few and don't forget Major John Bowler at Carcoar.  The tone of the bankruptcy aftermath is not good with Barker once again trying to hold up the good name of 'Benson' but seeming to have got himself into hot-water 'as usual'.

On the Parkinson front - they too are a well-known Whitby family right back to the Burgesses of Whitby in the 1600's and all the way down the line they are linked in some way to the Benson's just as the Chapmans, Walkers, Nobles, Boulbys, Clemeshas, Clarkes, Coultas', Skinners, Willis', Newtons, Lascelles, de la Poles, Earls of Suffolk, John of Gaunt, Edward 111, and Henry 111, Temples, Robsons, Allatsons, Goodriches, Cholmleys, Lotheringtons, Lunds, Boyes, and Captain Cook are!!! Hope I haven't missed anyone - possibly Beresford as they have info on their site I haven't accessed yet. Note I said linked not related as relations only applies to a few, the others were 'business venturers' the same as the Benson's and are linked by association only. You said you wanted a 'back picture' Simone so this should get you started - Oh and don't forget those Vandervords.

I'm fascinated by this generation of the family - Barker doesn't seem to like to sit still - possibly the gout it tends to drive people mad! Hannah must have loved the travelling life also as she seems from the posts to be with him all the way.

To add more fuel to the fire:

Was his travelling bug inherited from his parents (father) or were they sending Barker off around the world when he was only 11???

The Whitby Museum records which are on-line show the Bensons as donating

in 1826 a Wasp's nest from Surinam,
1827 Some valuable Egyptian Antiquities,
1827 A Mummy Cat from Upper Egypt,

At this point you could also ask was Barker (if left at home) left too much to his own devices???

In 1841 the same year Barker leaves for OZ his father donates a large and valuable collection of Shells, Corals and Minerals from the West Indies. and also Two large stone cannon balls taken out of the sea near Rhodes; A musket from an ancient wreck of a vessel off Cornwall and the Steels' Navy list assortment.

1844 a part of a foot-rope taken out of the sail room of the Royal George at Spithead in 1843,

and in 1845 a large Terebratula, from the top of a high mountain in Peru!!!

Are we getting a picture of a well travelled family or parents???  The Marchioness has got nothing on the Bensons!

Have fun digesting all this I try the Parkinson Track and anything else that comes to mind to investigate.

Cheers for now barkrels