Butler Records - Part 7 (Antipodean edition)

I’ve been marking over the last couple of weeks, and marking means... displacement activities! In this case I’ve been dipping back into matters genealogical, spurred by contact from a third cousin who’d come across some of my previous ramblings on the subject, and sent me a sheaf of new information and intriguing leads. I’d never heard, for example, that my grandfather was said to have wept publicly on learning that a racy book was to be translated into Esperanto. Not only that, I turn out to be the fourth cousin twice removed of Helen Bannerman, of Little Black Sambo fame. Who knew?

But today I’ve been chasing up Daniel Southwell, nephew of my great*5 grandfather Weeden. We last met Daniel a while ago, taking part in the battle of the Glorious First of June, 1794. What I hadn’t realised then, and what a brief entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography informs me (courtesy of my correspondent) is that, prior to that, Daniel had been to Australia with the First Fleet and played a part in the founding of the colony. Throughout that time he described his experiences in letters to Weeden, giving us some of the earliest first-hand accounts of life in and around Sydney (as they called it, rejecting a popular move to name it Albion – according to Daniel - and wouldn't that have been nicer?). All this brushing-with-history makes Daniel's movements quite easy to trace.

( Australia Day )

Daniel was fascinated by the Aboriginal languages, and makes numerous records of their vocabulary in his letters to Uncle Weeden. However, prepare to have your sensibilities grated as you read of this encounter with some of the natives of Manly Cove ("so named by the Governour at our first coming, from the people being numerous, more hale and robust than the generality"). Daniel and his men are in canoes some way off shore, conversing as best they can with a crowd of some 200 Aboriginal people, who are by turns friendly and edgy, especially when catching a glimpse of the British muskets.

( Boxing Britons and Sooty Sirens )

When the Sirius set sail back to England Daniel was, much to his vexation, left behind to take charge of the South Head Signal Station. (As it turned out, this was a good thing, as the Sirius broke up on shoals off Norfolk Island, and the crew had to be rescued.) It wasn’t until March 1791 that he was relieved, and able to make his way back to Europe aboard the Waaksamheyd, eventually reaching Portsmouth in April 1792, almost five years after he had left the same port. Two years later he was made Lieutenant, and fought in the Glorious Battle; but just three years after that he was wounded off Portugal - I assume at the ill-fated Battle of Santa Cruz, where Nelson took one in the arm.

Daniel Southwell died at Lisbon Hospital on 21st August, 1797. He was 33 years old.

Butler Records - Part 7 (Antipodean edition)

I’ve been marking over the last couple of weeks, and marking means... displacement activities! In this case I’ve been dipping back into matters genealogical, spurred by contact from a third cousin who’d come across some of my previous ramblings on the subject, and sent me a sheaf of new information and intriguing leads. I’d never heard, for example, that my grandfather was said to have wept publicly on learning that a racy book was to be translated into Esperanto. Not only that, I turn out to be the fourth cousin twice removed of Helen Bannerman, of Little Black Sambo fame. Who knew?

But today I’ve been chasing up Daniel Southwell, nephew of my great*5 grandfather Weeden. We last met Daniel a while ago, taking part in the battle of the Glorious Fourth of June, 1794. What I hadn’t realised then, and what a brief entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography informs me (courtesy of my correspondent) is that, prior to that, Daniel had been to Australia with the First Fleet and played a part in the founding of the colony. Throughout that time he described his experiences in letters to Weeden, giving us some of the earliest first-hand accounts of life in and around Sydney (as they called it, rejecting a popular move to name it Albion – according to Daniel - and wouldn't that have been nicer?). All this brushing-with-history makes Daniel's movements quite easy to trace.

( Australia Day )

Daniel was fascinated by the Aboriginal languages, and makes numerous records of their vocabulary in his letters to Uncle Weeden. However, prepare to have your sensibilities grated as you read of this encounter with some of the natives of Manly Cove ("so named by the Governour at our first coming, from the people being numerous, more hale and robust than the generality"). Daniel and his men are in canoes some way off shore, conversing as best they can with a crowd of some 200 Aboriginal people, who are by turns friendly and edgy, especially when catching a glimpse of the British muskets.

( Boxing Britons and Sooty Sirens )

When the Sirius set sail back to England Daniel was, much to his vexation, left behind to take charge of the South Head Signal Station. (As it turned out, this was a good thing, as the Sirius broke up on shoals off Norfolk Island, and the crew had to be rescued.) It wasn’t until March 1791 that he was relieved, and able to make his way back to Europe aboard the Waaksamheyd, eventually reaching Portsmouth in April 1792, almost five years after he had left the same port. Two years later he was made Lieutenant, and fought in the Glorious Battle; but just three years after that he was wounded off Portugal - I assume at the ill-fated Battle of Santa Cruz, where Nelson took one in the arm.

Daniel Southwell died at Lisbon Hospital on 21st August, 1797. He was 33 years old.