Elizabeth & Sinclair

Elizabeth Selina Stormont and David Sinclair Stormont

In July 1844, the barque "Dale Park" docked at Hobson's Bay on Port Phillip and Jemima Wade Boyd (aka Bloomfield), wife of James Lancelot Stormont gave birth to a daughter, christened and named Elizabeth Selina Stormont. Once in Corio bay, they disembarked near to the village of Geelong and the children were Robert born c.1842, Belfast and the infant babine Elizabeth Selina newly born 1844, so a third child Sinclair, is not then present.

• Sinclair Stormont (1847-1938) aka Dave Sinclair, David St Clair, Peter Sinclair, David S Stormont.

Possible Arrivals of a child of uncertain name:-

• with one or both parents or a guardian:- parents may have arrived in Australia or they may have died during a voyage or died in England.

  • If Sinclair was an orphan he may have one of the following backgrounds:

  • Many 'orphans of the state' were orphaned by the state. They were not orphans at all, but the children of convict mothers. Some had sailed with their mothers on the prison ships, and must have been quite disoriented by the time they entered the dormitories of the Orphan Schools... Many children were 'orphaned' because they were born in the female factory hospitals to which their prisoner mothers had been sent after becoming pregnant"-- See Lucy Frost, in a Foreword to:- "Voices from the Orphan Schools: the children's stories." Dianna Snowden. Note:

• Transportation to the colony of New South Wales was finally officially abolished on 1 October 1850.

  • • He may have come via a military institution possibly in Calcutta, Madras or Bombay, (India) or Qu County, China.

      • Orphans from India arrived first, in 1841 under the sponsorship of the East India Company which covered emigration costs. Sinclair was not a name on the list of seven boys, with this group in Sydney, he was not born then so was he amongst those ships with orphans that followed this transport route.¹

• Was he an assisted emigrant passengers, possibly on 24 Jan 1848, via the "Sir Edward Parry", a ship from England to Port Phillip: see Arrivals: (The Australian 4 Feb 1848 (Sydney) p.2 - Port Phillip):- Sir Edward Parry, barque, 575 tons. B. D. Freeman, commander, from London ana Plymouth, 5th. October; This vessel brings 214 bounty immigrants, which comprise principally the children of the bounty immigrants who arrived in New South Wales in the years 1843.44, together with eleven families and a few single adults of both sexes. Eighty only of the entire batch are to remain here, and these include five of the families above mentioned; the remainder will proceed to Sydney. After disembarking those destined for Melbourne, the ship sailed for Port Jackson on 2 February arriving on 17 February.

Geelong Orphan Asylum record show that on 4th. December 1855, a Sinclair Stormont aged 8, was accepted into the newly built Geelong Orphan Asylum. See <Orphanage link > after 1862 later Geelong Protestant Orphan Asylum.

• "Foundation Stone was laid on 14 March, 1855 at the site in McCurdy Road, Fyansford, after the committee received notification that the Government had allocated further funds to complete the profect. In 1856 the first 9 children were admitted and one year after opening 44 children were housed in the orphanage."

• Sinclair was said to be aged 8 in Dec. 1855. He was recorded as born in England, Protestant and his parents were both deceased. Sinclair left the orphanage on 12 Dec 1859 and was apprenticed to Mr Underwood.

This may be William Underwood who is recorded in VPRS 815 VPRS 815 VPRS 815 VPRS 815 / 5 / 60

/ 61 / 1492: Judicial and Law Notices. (Newspaper): J. DRURY, for the Commissioner of Insolvent. Estates, Circuit District of Gcolong. IN the INSOLVENT ESTATE of WILLIAM UNDERWOOD, of Moorabool, near Geelong, in the Colony of Victoria, Splitter.- No.1492 - Geelong Circuit District.- Whereas the estate of William Underwood, of Moorabool, near Geelong, in the colony of Victoria, splitter, was, on the 27th day of September, 1864, placed under séquestration in my hands, by order of his Honour Sir Redmond Barry, Knight, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the colony of Victoria, and who did by further order under bis hand, appoint George Webster, Esq., of Geelong, one of the Official Assignees of Insolvent Estates for the colony of Victoria, to be the Official Assignee of and for this estate, I hereby appoint a PUBLIC MEETING of the CREDITORS of the said William Underwood to be holden before me, at my office, Myers- street, Geelong, on Monday the 28th day of November inst., at the hour of eleven o'clock in the forenoon, for proof of debts, and for the election of an Assignee, if necessary, to sit with the Official Assignee; and unless it shall be shown at such meeting that the goods and effects of the said William Underwood exceed the sum of one hundred pounds, I shall summarily proceed to rank the debts which shall then be proved upon the said estate, and direct the proceeds to be distributed accordingly.

Dated at Geelong this 18th day of November, A.D. 1864.

Reference: Sinclair Stormont

• 1. Return of Children who have left the Geelong Protestant Orphan Asylum since its establishment in 1855 (details provided by Helen Doxford Harris). Refer:- Geelong and Districts Database - Record id: 78943. / Search: Index entry: Stormont, Sinclair. Group ID: 54; Group: Potpourri DB. Ref:VPRS 1189 / P0 / 222 55/R16589 - Inward Registered Correspondence 1 / Churches (Clerical).

  2. Date 4 Dec. 1855. Comment: Age 8, born in England, Protestant, both parents Protestant and both deceased. Child left the orphanage on 12 Dec. 1859 as an apprentice to Mr. Underwood.

• It is assumed that Sinclair was eight on admission in 1855 and twelve when apprenticed.

  • On Social Welfare - https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000815b.htm - and https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/vic/E000795

David Sinclair & Elizabeth Celina Boyd

David Sinclair (St Clair) Stormont may be one and the same person as Sinclair Stormont.

1. Was his mother Jemima Boyd or Elizabeth Boyd or were his parents deceased in 1850 ?

2. Was the person known as Elizabeth Celina Boyd, a relative of Jemima Bloomfield Boyd, and did she arrive as a parent with Sinclair still an infant?

David Sinclair Stormont states on some records that he was a child of James Stormont and Elizabeth Celina Boyd whilst elsewhere records show David did not know his mother's name. Was this attributed incorrectly by his informant and or his decendents?

• • David Sinclair Stormont was born either before August 1850 possibly in England or in 1856, to an unknown woman somewhere in Victoria, Australia.1885. His name is recorded as David St Clair Stormont when he married Agnes Crawford on 1st December 1885, and they resided in Brisbane at the time. The marriage certificate states he was born in 1856 in Victoria Australia and his occupation was "maildriver" possibly with Cobb & Co.

• Dave Sinclair (Stormont) drove for Cobb & Co. Queensland by 1888. See Coaching Staff (URL). And this extract post off facebook shows he was a driver on the Charleville-Windorah track sometime between 1881 and 1915.