William Blackwell (1867 - 1953)

Born 1867 in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Evangaline (Adams) Blackwell — married 5 Oct 1890 in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

Husband of Ada Primrose (Darlow) Blackwell — married 1893 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England

Descendants

Died 1953 at about age 86 in Pakenham, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

William married Evangaline Adams at the Regent Square Wesleyan Chapel by William Johnson. The witnesses to the marriage were Henry Garwood and Beatrice Adams.

William then married Primrose Darlow at St Andrews Church in Kettering by Frederic Llewellyn Dean. Witnesses to the marriage were William Darlow and Sarah Darlow.

At the 1871 and 1881 Census William was living at High Street Higham Ferrers. His occupation in 1881 was given as a shoe clicker. Shoemaker

The family story was that William left England around 1909 on the ship Arawa and travelled to Melbourne, Vic, Australia, where he found work and earned enough money to send for his family about 2 years later. It was thought that William's intended destination was Western Australia, but it now appears that story was inaccurate.

We now know that William Blackwell left London, England on the ship the Arawa which sailed on the 3rd of September 1910 and arrived in Hobart on the 15th March 1911. How and when he arrived in Melbourne is unknown. It is not known if the Arawa docked in Melbourne and William disembarked, or if he went to Hobart and somehow made his way to Melbourne at a later time.

Found on Find My Past and Ancestry.com.au 11 August 2015 First name(s) WM Last name BLACKWELL Gender Male Marital status S Occupation SHOEMAKER Departure year 1911 Departure day 3 Departure month 2 Departure port LONDON Destination port HOBART Destination HOBART State Tasmania Country AUSTRALIA Destination country AUSTRALIA Ship name ARAWA Ship official number 124461 Ship master's first name H Ship master's last name CLAYDEN Shipping line SHAW SAVILL & ALBION COMPANY LD City LONDON Ship destination port NEW ZEALAND Ship destination country NEW ZEALAND Ship square feet 8872 Ship registered tonnage 9371 Number of passengers 337 Record set Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960 Category Travel & migration Subcategory Passenger lists Collections from Australia & New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States & Canada Transcriptions © brightsolid online publishing ltd

Ada Primrose left England on 9 October 1911 on the Ship Demosthenes on a 54 day voyage to Melbourne, Vic, Australia, to meet her husband. With her were her step daughter, Inez, 19, and children Doris 15, Gilbert 14, Bernie 11, Vincent (Toby) 9, Ethel 8, Douglas 6, and Phyllis 3.

William met his family in Melbourne. He was share farming at Allambee at the time. As there was no work at Allambee for Inez, she remained in Melbourne. The remainder of the family travelled to Allambee with William. Some time later, William was seriously ghoured by a bull at Allambee and was unable to return to work on the farm, so after approximately 2 years at Allambee, the family moved to Nar Nar Goon, Vic, Australia, were William opened a boot makers shop. Robert Bernard Blackwell recounted how Allambee was totally covered by huge redgums and the family would lie in bed at night and hear the trees cracking and falling down in bad weather. One of the jobs on the farm was to clear the gum trees.

Inez had a dispute with her step mother a few years later and was never seen or heard from by the family again. I was finally able to trace Inez in early 2012.

The Melbourne Argus 4 March 1953 page 12 BLACKWELL. William Frank. On March 3, the dearly beloved husband of Ada (deceased), loving father of Doris (deceased), Gilbert, Bernard, Ethel, Vincent, Douglas (deceased), Phyllis, Eric, and Paul. Mother, daughter, son, and father reunited.

BLACKWELL. William. On March 3, dearly loved father of Eric, darling father-in-law of Lil, and grandfather of Darryl, Robert, Lance, Beverley, Lindsay, Lorraine, and Gail Peace perfect peace.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/23231230

Sources

• *England, Birth Certificate (See place of birth), CA 009571 Entry N0 198 Register Book No 15, District of Wellingborough, William Blackwell.
• Victoria, Australia death certificate 17251 (1953), William Blackwell
• England, Birth Certificate (See place of birth), unknown Northampton, No 63 1890, William Blackwell / Evangeline Adams.
• Various locations (see place of marriage) (England), "Registrar London, MX283618 No 387 1983 District of Kettering," William Blackwell / Primrose Darlow.