More on Hiding in Tasmania

[Ranolki]

I should have added more information on this.

Christiana and her three children arrived in Lyttleton, NZ first aboard the Rimutaka. She travelled as “Mrs Whitfield and family”. They arrived days before Basil was registered for school.

Isaiah’s son (also Isaiah) had previously emigrated to South Africa and been visiting the UK. He then returned to Natal on this sailing, ie later in 1905. He had previously arrived in England with his wife and two children but only had one child for the return trip. I’ve assumed his daughter (Dorothy N born 1896 in Cape Colonies) had died, although I can find no evidence. It crossed my mind that she may have died on the trip over from South Africa.  So Isaiah Jnr, wife and son account for the three Oldburys. I believe the two Whitfields are in fact Isaiah plus Christiana’s oldest daughter Irene, her second illegitimate child. She seems to have kept out of the saga - once she arrived she took a job with a man named Reed Johnson and stayed with him in the Christchurch area for the rest of his life. I haven’t found their onward sailing from Natal to NZ although there were certainly sailings that fit.

Isaiah arrived back in London from Sydney on the Osterley on 30th April 1919. He was shown as John Wilson aged 78.

[Lucy2]

It's good to have that clarification.   

[PatLac]

I should have added more information on this.

Christiana and her three children arrived in Lyttleton, NZ first aboard the Rimutaka. She travelled as “Mrs Whitfield and family”. They arrived days before Basil was registered for school.

Isaiah’s son (also Isaiah) had previously emigrated to South Africa and been visiting the UK. He then returned to Natal on this sailing, ie later in 1905. He had previously arrived in England with his wife and two children but only had one child for the return trip. I’ve assumed his daughter (Dorothy N born 1896 in Cape Colonies) had died, although I can find no evidence. It crossed my mind that she may have died on the trip over from South Africa.  So Isaiah Jnr, wife and son account for the three Oldburys. I believe the two Whitfields are in fact Isaiah plus Christiana’s oldest daughter Irene, her second illegitimate child. She seems to have kept out of the saga - once she arrived she took a job with a man named Reed Johnson and stayed with him in the Christchurch area for the rest of his life. I haven’t found their onward sailing from Natal to NZ although there were certainly sailings that fit.

Isaiah arrived back in London from Sydney on the Osterley on 30th April 1919. He was shown as John Wilson aged 78.

Thanks Ranolki. Did Mrs. Whitfield and family travel in the steerage? I can't find their names in the saloon passengers list.

[PatLac]

Do you have access to FindMyPast?

I wonder if they went to Durban (Port Natal, South Africa) in 1905 before heading to NZ?

PatLac ... I'd also found this shipping information earlier but as the New Zealand thread had progressed to other matters, I thought it not worthwhile to include it there.

I'm sure I also found information concerning the mystery of the children's whereabouts (in UK or other Court (divorce) reports c. 1909) - and it seemed to have been presented by a lawyer contradicting William I'ANSON's statement that OLDBURY had some part in the children's disappearance.

Yes, Isaiah OLDBURY did go to South Africa (September ?  1905) ... ostensibly for a holiday and business trip ...and he made an announcement locally to that effect - although at the time he did not relinquish the Mayoralty of Wednesbury.

Of course the UK (and other) newspapers are chock-full of this "scandalous" divorce case in 1909. 
I've tried to again locate the article(s) which carried information clarifying dates and other important  matters - it's very time consuming.      Also re-read the divorce file @ ancestry.com).

The following newspapers carry quite lengthy reports re: divorce.   ("Tip of the iceberg" ... a hell of a lot more to be read in others papers.  )

*   "The Leeds Mercury" - 30 July 1909  -- Mayor's Elopement
*    "Hull Daily Mail" - 31 July 1909 - Ex-Mayor as Co-respondent
*    "Illustrated Police News" - 7 August 1909 - An Eloping Mayor

   ~  Lu

Thanks Lu. I don't have access to FindMyPast, BNA and Ancestry UK records. I'm good at seeing patterns and the big picture though, so it's very important to get all the known facts even if they seem unrelated to the main question 

[Ranolki]

I’m pretty sure Christiana and children travelled Cabin Class when they initially went to NZ. I’ll check what I have on that.

I don’t think Isaiah had anything to do with the children disappearing. I think he was keeping a low profile and pretending he was off for a family visit to Natal and intended returning. I know he denied to William I’Anson that he had any idea where she had gone. He was probably tied up with his son and family being back from South Africa too. I know Christiana disappeared to Birmingham (not that far from Wednesbury, but a major city) once she left home and then sent word for the children once their passage was booked. Apparently (per Basil) they went on a visit to see her family in Durham too.

With all the scandalous reports about the elopement you may not have seen that Isaiah tried to have himself declared non-domiciled in the UK so he could say UK courts had no jurisdiction over him (and presumably his money). That was denied by the courts directly before they moved to Tasmania. His lawyers told the court they had no idea where he was at that point.

[PatLac]

This is the saloon passengers list I'm referring to, but maybe it's not a complete list.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT19050701.2.93?end_date=01-07-1905&items_per_page=10&page=2&query=rimutaka&snippet=true&start_date=01-07-1905

So, Christiana left on 14 Feb 1905, the children around first week of March, they went to Durham, and embarked on the Rimutaka in London on 18 (or 28?) May 1905. Is that right?

I wonder why there is nothing in the newspapers regarding her 'disappearance' in 5 years?!

[Ranolki]

This is a report of the divorce from a local paper which gives extra information.  In yet another article William I'Anson said that the children disappeared about six weeks after Christiana left, which seems to fit in reasonably well with leaving England in mid May.

Initially I think William thought they had gone to America and along with Isaiah apparently carrying on as usual and then the smokescreen about a holiday visit to South Africa I suppose William wouldn't have known where to start.  But as you say, it does seem odd that there were no news articles about his missing wife and children in the interim.  I know he said in court that someone he knew just happened to see the couple in Christchurch and told him, but he revised that at some point to say he had used a detective to track them down.  Isaiah and Christiana first heard that he was looking to file for divorce in Sept 1907 and he had filed those papers the previous February so it was in fact only two years after she left.

[PatLac]

Thank you Ranolki, much appreciated  Maybe William wanted to avoid the scandal by not advertising his wife's disappearance, but that turned out to be impossible in the end.

[Ranolki]

You can see from the news article that the story was still not quite right. William and Christiana only had three children together and Isaiah didn't travel on the Rimutaka. Although her oldest son Anthony stayed behind for a while this was because he had a place at Birmingham University and was finishing his course. He turned up in Australia in 1909.  The other child, Irene, finally left at the same time as Isaiah. One strange thing is that she always used the surname of Oldbury from then on...