Dear Lu,
From a tentative enquiry about a woman who went off to NZ with her two children - reputedly leaving her husband behind - then returning to the UK, I now have a quite comprehensive history of two related families living in NZ and later Australia. You have provided me with names of ships they travelled on, their employment, their various addresses, and schools attended by their children. The only thing that you haven't provided seems to be their telephone numbers...
Robert & Elizabeth Duckworth went back to the UK and Robert resumed his previous employment as a weaver in the cotton mills, albeit in a different village some distance away from their home town of Blackburn. Their son, young Robert, was in the army in WW1 and had half his arm blown off, along with a very serious foot injury on the same side - it makes one wonder if that might have been avoided if they had stayed in NZ.
It is interesting to note that Edith Eaton (NZ born) was back with her parents in Australia in 1924. As previously mentioned, she went back to the UK in the summer of 1922 and her mother travelled alone back to NZ in December 1922. Edith must have followed along later.
I can now put together the story and type it up for my friend and her mother and I can illustrate it for them too - with the ships that the Duckworth and Eaton families sailed on. I have a superb photo of the "Wimerra" sailing from Wellington (I think), and photos of the Seydlitz, Britannia, Delphic and Orcades. The only one I cannot find is the "Omba" on which Robert & John first sailed to Sydney in 1901.
My friend's mum (daughter of the young Robert Duckworth) phoned her cousin (daughter of Eveline who went to NZ as a 9 month old) and they had a chat. The cousin has vague memories that Robert & Elizabeth Duckworth wanted to go back to NZ but were persuaded not to by the rest of the family - may or may not be true. It is known that
young Robert always remembered being at school in NZ and wanted to go back.
It is rumoured that the cousin has some school reports (or similar) from Robert's time in NZ but she is apparently a 'difficult' person and a hoarder. It seems that even if she could be persuaded to find the paperwork and share it, it would take a police search team to find it
That's a bit of a shame!
It is known that Robert Duckworth died in 1934 and Elizabeth re-married in 1938 aged 63, only to be widowed again. She had a reputation of always moving on - never staying in one place for long. She ended her days in 1947 aged 72, living in a very old 'one up - one down' cottage in a village called Grassington in Yorkshire. The bedroom floor had knot-holes in it and you could see down into the room below!
Thank you for all your effort Lu - I suspect you enjoyed the search. It is what we do when we can, isn't it. I remember producing a 12 page document for a lady in Vancouver (very distantly related) who was having difficulty tracing one side of her family. I got her back to about 1780. I did something similar for another very distant relative in Ottawa. And spent 4 years conversing on email with a lady in Arlington, Virginia - providing each other with information. All good and absorbing fun. I am a grumpy old bachelor
with health issues which keep me semi-housebound, so I enjoy the chase. I keep finding new bits about my own family background.
Unless you have something else hidden up your sleeve, I guess that is as far as we can go on ths topic. I am glad you found refuge from your heat wave in the library - it was productive for me. However, I cannot wait for you to start feeling chilly - it might mean that I can enjoy a little warmth over here
We have had 3 rotten summers in a row, it is time for a good one.
Best regards & keep well.
Malcolm
