A bright red beetle

Reading, I really like you. I wish you were a bit more amiable about renting us somewhere to live though. I guess we'll just have to wait until we have found ourselves jobs and try again.

We decided that we should just put the whole rental hunt on hold and see other parts of the country in case we had to alter our entire plans. So we left the cramped little icky B&B we had been staying in and got another rental car. 

The B&B was well located, close to the Thames Path, so nice riverside walks and about 1km to the town centre or maybe 2km in the opposite direction to Caversham and the best pub ! Baron of Cadogan - go there. It's a Wetherspoons pub and they have a great menu for meat eaters and non meat eaters. So great that we had dinner one night, breakfast the next day and then dinner again ! Why would you go out for breakfast when you are staying in a B&B ? Because the selection was rubbish and hardly appetising. We won't go into the other negatives like the stained linen, broken shower, bathroom door that wouldn't shut and security light outside the window which was more like a strobe light - I'm saving all that for TripAdvisor. 

We collected the car. A nice red beetle ! Very cute, but not quite as easy to get all our stuff in as the last one was. But we did it. We have been through a part of a number of counties today. Berkshire (where we started), Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and finally Kent. 

As we left Berkshire we went here, no time to go in or look at the gardens this time though. Did you know filming has started for Series 5 ?

In Surrey we found Jane Austen's house in Chawton, where she lived for the last 10 years of her life with her mother, sister and a friend. It is lovely, and without the hordes of people in Bath visiting her home there.

Then on to Royal Tunbridge Wells for the night. I had never had it on my list of places to go but now that we are here I think I will have to make a return trip with more time. We chose it because it is close to Hever Castle which we'd like to visit and some places in Kent which have family associations. But there are heaps of things to do and see; castles, gardens, coastal towns, cathedrals...

We enjoyed a nice dinner at a local restaurant and are now relaxing watching the opening of the Commonwealth Games. The B&B we are staying in tonight is at least a 300% improvement on the last one. Superb host, great room, the promise of an amazing breakfast. We'll definitely be back here.

Industrial Action leading to Emigration

Goodness knows where yesterday went - but I am sure that somewhere in the world it is STILL Christmas Day. I'm sure I just read that Hawaii is 23 hours behind NZ, and I know LA is about 19 hours behind, so my cousin there must still be celebrating after Santa's visit.

I had great intentions for this post after having rediscovered some events in my family tree. Three sets of my 2 x great grandparents were married in Christmas week. December 25, 26 and 27. My great great grandparents Sarah Elizabeth Laney and George Bartlett were first generation Kiwis when they married at Bartletts Creek, Marlborough in 1870 but the others were married in England. Maria Ann Horskins married Julius Fuller at St Mary, Newington, Surrey in 1859 and were bound for New Zealand just a few months later. Their youngest son would marry the daughter of Sarah Ann Daniels and Edward Mark Vose in 1901.

Sarah and Edward were married on December 25, 1862 - 150 years ago this Christmas Day - at St Margaret, Plumstead, Kent. Edward was the 3rd or possibly 4th son of Edward and Elizabeth (nee Weller) Vose. Edward snr was in the Royal Sappers & Miners, Edward jnr had been born in Ireland while they were stationed there surveying and mapping the country. Sarah was the 5th daughter of Josiah & Hannah (nee Carter) Daniels born in West Lavington, Wiltshire. Edward jnr and his brothers all seem to have found employment  of some sort at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, Edward was a labourer at the time of their marriage, but by 1871 was listed as a Gas Stoker on the census. Sarah moved to London perhaps with her sister Elizabeth by 1861, as both are employed in the household of Walter Mitchell M.A. Assistant Hospellier (?) at St Barts Hospital. I'm not exactly sure what that means but since his wife's occupation was given as "Clergyman's Wife", I'm guessing it is something along those lines. Sarah, aged 17 (18 on the census) was the nursemaid. There were eight children ranging from 12 down to 2 year old twins - I bet she was busy. Eighteen months later she was married.

In 1879, the little family with their four children emigrated to New Zealand. They came on the Stad Haarlem, a steamer and made the trip in 51 days. The Vose family became market gardeners in Canterbury at Prebbleton and Riccarton. Sarah was a well known local midwife in her new community - I wonder if she had worked as one in England before they emigrated. So, where does Trove come into all this ?

Well its all about the Stad Haarlem. I had read the diary kept on board through the voyage, and some snippets from local papers, but I found more on Trove which I hadnt seen before, and which give a bit more insight into the decision to emigrate that these people made, and of the "experiment" to take large numbers at once on a ship not actually designed to take so many.

Gippsland Times (Vic. 1861 - 1954) Wednesday 5 March 1879 page 3 article62026700-3-001

 South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Thursday 13 March 1879 page 5 article42973041-3-001

The following was an article from Plymouth Thursday 30 January 1862, but published in Australia in March.

South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Thursday 13 March 1879 page 6 article42973028-3-001

  The Argus (Melbourne Vic 1848 - 1956) Tuesday 15 April 1879 page 5 article5939453-3-001

Table Bay, I discovered is in South Africa - the stopover there was reported in the South Australian register as well, from the Cape papers - but appears to have been shorter than the eight days reported at her arrival in New Zealand.

South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Monday 14 April 1879 page 7 article42970688-3-001

And the final decision about this "experiment" in emigration

 South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Tuesday 27 May 1879 page 5 article42976128-3-002

So, there we go, Happy Sesquicentennial Anniversary to Sarah and Edward - and now I know a bit more about their voyage and their fellow emigrant shipmates.

This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.