George Thorne (1819 - 1875)

Born 1819 in Bampton, Devon, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 22 Oct 1875 at about age 56 in Gilgai, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

George was born in Bampton, Devonshire, England and from his death record in 1875 where he was shown as 56 years of age, it calculates that he was born in 1819, which contradicts his Immigration record which shows he was only 20 in August 1841. So I have taken the death record to be the correct date and shown his birth date as 1819.

George Thorn arrived Sydney NSW as an immigrant 6 August 1841 aboard the "Burhampooter" with his girlfriend Elizabeth Baker, and his brother John and his brother's wife Charity May Thorne nee Hawkins. The journey to the colony of NSW was sponsored by a William Walker & Co and character references for George were given by Thomas Davey and 3 others of Bampton. From the time that George arrived in Australia he left the E off the end of his name, and on most records for his descendants that is how the spelling of the name was shown. William Walker who George was contracted to work for had his business at Morepeth NSW.^[1]

George married Elizabeth Baker (born about 1819 in Devon, England, United Kingdom).

Their known children were:

1. George Thorn (1844–1914) .
2. Elizabeth (Thorne) Warwick (abt. 1846–1934)

Childrens birth records show George and Elizabeth in the Scone area till 1846, then Barraba 1848. Then they are shown living in Tamworth in 1850, with the last record found for Tamworth in 1854. this shows George Thorn as a subscriber for fencing in 5 acres of land donated by Australian Agricultural Company for use as a General Cemetery at Tamworth. This comes from an article in the Maitland Mercury of Saturday March 4 1854.

George Thorn Snr & Jnr are shown to have been issued a Timber License at Glen Innes for the cost of two pounds on 9 September 1862.

George is also shown to have been issued further Hardwood Timber licences at Glen Innes in September 1864 and at Wellingrove 16 October 1866.

George took a trip to Sydney to see his brother who he had not seen for some years, and while there he attended a picnic at Clontarf where the then Duke of Edinburgh was in attendance. During the event an assassination attempt was made on the Duke and George saw what was happening and rushed to either stop the assailant or try and protect the Duke and was wounded by one of the shots fired by the assailant. This took place 13 March 1868.

George died on 22 Oct 1875 in Gilgai, New South Wales, Australia, aged 56.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Passenger List: "New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896"
   State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood New South Wales, Australia; Entitlement certificates of persons on bounty ships; Series: 5314; Reel: 1321
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1204 #48900 (accessed 13 January 2024)
   Name: George Thorn; Birth Year: abt 1821; Age: 20; Gender: Male; Arrival Date: 6 Aug 1841; Vessel Name: Burhampooter.
2. ↑ *Death Index (NSW Registry of Births Deaths Marriages : accessed 13 Jan 2024), Index entry for THORN GEORGE; Parents: PHILIP and ELIZABETH; District: INVERELL; ; Registration Number: 6815/1875 DOD: 22 OCT 1865