Peter Miller Cunningham (1789 - 1864)

Born Nov 1789 in Dalswinton, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Died 6 Mar 1864 at age 74 in Greenwich, Kent, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Peter Cunningham is Notable.

Peter Miller Cunningham (1789-1864), naval surgeon and author, was born in 1789. He was the son of John Cunningham and Elizabeth Harley. He passed away in 1864.

The following includes excerpts from Australian Dictionary of Biography:

Peter Miller Cunningham was born in November 1789 at Dalswinton, near Dumfries, Scotland, the youngest son of John Cunningham, a factor of Dalswinton, and his wife Elizabeth, née Harley, the daughter of a Dumfries merchant.

Cunningham studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He entered the navy on 10 December 1810 as an assistant surgeon, serving off the coasts of Spain and North America. He was promoted surgeon on 28 January 1814, and saw service also in the East Indies, and when the coming of peace threatened him with retrenchment he applied for employment as surgeon-superintendent in convict transports. In this capacity he made five trips to New South Wales between 1819 and 1828, in the Recovery (August-December 1819 and April-July 1823), Grenada (May-September 1821 and October 1824–January 1825) and Morley (November 1827–March 1828).

In 1825 Cunningham was granted 1200 acres (486 ha) on the Upper Hunter River in New South Wales, with a lease of 1340 acres (542 ha) adjoining, and in 1826 he applied for an additional grant of the leased land, which was issued in 1830. He hoped to establish himself as a settler but did not succeed, partly because of a severe drought, and in May 1830 he returned to England.

For the next ten years he was again employed on various ships on the South American and Mediterranean Stations, being present at the blockade of Alexandria in 1840. He went on half-pay in May 1841, was classed as unfit for further sea service in 1850 and retired in 1860.

In the 1851 census he was listed age 61, Surgeon Royal Navy, a lodger at 11 Lovegrove Place Greenwich, in the household of James Seager 36 engineer, his wife Charlotte Seager 35, and daughter Charlotte Seager 12.^[1]

In the 1861 census he is still a lodger, age 71, at this address.^[2]

Death: Peter Miller Cunningham died at Greenwich on 6 March 1864. He was buried on 12 March 1864 in Nunhead Cemetery, London Borough of Southwark, the burial register recording his abode 11 Lovegrove Place Greenwich, and age 74.^[3]

Death notice, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, 31 December 1864:

Peter Miller Cunningham surgeon R.N., author of "Two Years in New South Wales," &c.^[4]

Probate was granted to Charlotte Seager (Effects under £50).^[5]

Publications

Peter Miller Cunningham published three books:

• Two Years in New South Wales; a Series of Letters, Comprising Sketches of the Actual State of Society in that Colony; of its Peculiar Advantages to Emigrants; of its Topography, Natural History, etc. etc. in two volumes (1827)
• On the Motions of the Earth and Heavenly Bodies, as Explainable by Electromagnetic Attraction and Repulsion, and on the Conception, Growth and Decay of Man, and Cause and Treatment of his Diseases, as Referable to Galvanic Action (London, 1834);
• Hints for Australian Emigrants; with Engravings and Explanatory Descriptions of the Water-Raising Wheels, and Modes of Irrigating Land in Egypt, Syria, South America, etc. (London, 1841).

Legacy

L. F. Fitzhardinge wrote: "Two Years in New South Wales remains the best as well as the fullest picture of the colony in the 1820s. He was the first writer to give a full account of the native-born, of whom the first generation were growing up."

Sources

1. ↑ 1851 England Census for Peter Cuningham Kent Greenwich Greenwich East Ancestry sharing link
2. ↑ 1861 England Census for Peter Cunningham, Kent Greenwich St Alphege, Greenwich East Ancestry sharing link
3. ↑ Burial: London, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-2003 for Peter Miller Cunningham, Southwark, Nunhead Cemetery, Linden Grove 1862-1869 Ancestry sharing link
4. ↑ Death notice, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, 31 December 1864, British and Irish Newspapers, Find my Past database https://www.findmypast.com.au/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000421%2F18641231&page=8&article=137&stringtohighlight=peter+miller+cunningham
5. ↑ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Peter Miller Cunningham, 1864 Cable-Searby Ancestry sharing link

• L. F. Fitzhardinge, 'Cunningham, Peter Miller (1789–1864)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cunningham-peter-miller-1942/text2325, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 26 October 2023.

See also:

• Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22 Craik - Drake (Vol 05) 'Cunningham, Peter Miller (1789–1864)' Ancestry.com sharing link
• "Convict Ship Surgeon-Superintendent: Peter Miller Cunningham - Dalswinton", Free Settler or Felon: Convict and Colonial History https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com/peter_cunningham.htm
• "Peter Miller Cunningham", Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Miller_Cunningham
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117570663/peter-miller-cunningham: accessed 26 October 2023), memorial page for Peter Miller Cunningham (1789–1864), Find a Grave Memorial ID 117570663, citing Nunhead Cemetery, Nunhead, London Borough of Southwark, Greater London, England; Maintained by YJ (contributor 48000174).