George Hunn NOBBS

NOBBS, GEORGE HUNN (b. Ireland, 16 Oct 1799; d. Norfolk Island, 5 Nov 1884). Community leader Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands.

Nobbs claimed to have been the unacknowledged son of Francis Rawdon Hastings, second earl of Moira, his mother being Jemima ffrench. From the age of 12 he served in both the British and Chilean navies, until he settled on Pitcairn Island 5 Nov 1828. Here (now the home of the descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty and their Tahitian wives) he married Sarah, grand-daughter of Fletcher Christian.

On the death of John Adams (q.v.) on 5 March 1829 Nobbs became the leader of the community. It was the end of an era: begun with mutiny; continued with drunkenness oppression and murder; and ending with a model Christian community which was to form the text of countless Victorian sermons. It was an irony that he was not ordained until 1852 when, through arrangements made by Admiral Fairfax Moresby, he crossed to London where he was ordained deacon (24 Oct) by the bp of Sierra Leone, and priest (30 Nov) by the bp of London.

Largely through Nobbs' influence the population of 194 persons moved to Norfolk in 1856. Although he was sometimes criticised he had the respect of his flock which was the entire community, serving them as teacher, doctor, almoner, pastor and liturgical leader. A man of simple faith, he was conservative in matters of doctrine. He was unswervingly loyal to the Church of England and he remained decidedly evangelical, despite the presence of the Melanesian Mission on Norfolk Island for the last two decades of his life.

George Hunn Nobbs, Diary (Copy at FM 4/7365 ML); George Hunn Nobbs, Papers 1829-1881 (A 2881 ML); R K Nobbs, George Hunn Nobbs, 1799-1884 (Sydney, 1984)

RAYMOND NOBBS