Telford Family of Ellinbank
London in the 19th century
Tower of London and the Thames,
London in the 19th century was a busy city with a growing population, doubling from 1.5 million to 3 million between 1821 and 1861. At the same time the infrastructure was developing including Euston Station to cater for the London to Birmingham railway which opened in 1837.
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Queen Victoria came to the throne in June 1837 at the age of 18.
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In 1838 slavery was abolished in the British Empire and Charles Dickens published Oliver Twist highlighting the problems of the poorer class citizens.
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Thousands of Irish migrated to England during the 1845-6 potato famine. In 1851 the Great Exhibition opened at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.
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In the early 1830s cholera first made its appearance in London and remained endemic until the '60s, killing thousands. Combined with the smell of waste flowing down the Thames and a serious smog problem this made London a potentially dangerous and unpleasant place to live.
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Despite this a number of the ancestors mentioned on this website either chose to move there to earn a living or were born there.
Queen Victoria at the Drury Lane Theatre, November 1837 by Edmund Parris (Royal Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II)
The various family lines explored on this website which all originated in Britain, eventually converged in Australia with Telford and Gilbert families coming together in Ellinbank, Victoria.
In the meantime the metropolis of London was home to several of these ancestors for a time. These included:
Jeremiah Kirby was born in London in 1774, baptised 29 June at St Pauls, Covent Garden pictured left, ("The Actor's Church", completed 1633 and designed by Inigo Jones), before moving with his parents William Kirby and Mary Omer to Kent and finally to earn an M.D. degree in Edinburgh - his daughters Elizabeth and Jane travelled to Australia in 1835. In 1802 William's brother Walter Kirby M.D. was living at Red Lion Square, London.
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Donald McArthur ( later Captain) married Elizabeth Wemyss at St Andrews, Scotland in 1806; the next year in August 1807 their first child, Patrick was born in London, baptised at St. James, Middlesex (Picadilly). It was a brief stay because by 1808 the second son, David, was born in Gloucestershire.
Donald's widow and surviving offspring moved to Australia in 1835.
John Telford with his wife Jane and family spent around 4 years in London from 1834 where he was a trader / merchant before returning to Scotland in time for John Telford's departure for New Zealand in 1839. Three of their children were born in London - Margaret, Peter and Hugh, baptised at Moorgate in the Albion Chapel which was a Scottish Presbyterian chapel in the City of London, near Finsbury Circus, on the corner of London Wall and Finsbury Pavement. It was established by Reverend Alexander Fletcher on the site of the old Bethlem Royal Hospital in 1815 and demolished in 1879. It was designed by the noted architect William Jay.
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Jane later returned to London for medical treatment and died there, at Marylbone, in July 1856.
Matilda Williamson was born in London about 1812 to William Williamson, a bank officer with the Bank of England and Mary Matilda Parks ( the Parks name was carried on into future generations).
Thomas Smith married Matilda Williamson in London in 1834 - they subsequently migrated in 1853 together with daughter Matilda Smith who was born in December 1837, baptism on 21/1/1838 at Parliament Court Old Artillery Ground, Irvingite, Stepney, London; the family were living at 2 Paul St, Finsbury. Matilda had one sister, Ann born 1841.
The 1851 UK census shows the Smith family living in the area of Aldgate, St. Botolphs in London with Thomas's occupation as "carrier". Living with them was the older Matilda's younger brother Alfred Williamson.
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The death certificate of Thomas Smith ( 1880 at Cundare, Victoria) names his parents as John Smith, farmer, and Mary living at East Lynn, Norfolk, England at the time of Thomas's birth in about 1812. There is a record of John Smith marrying Mary Kent in 1799 at Lynn, Norfolk which could be Thomas's parents.
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All the families mentioned above lived within a small area encompassing Moorgate, Aldgate, Finsbury and Picadilly, all within a couple of km of the Tower of London and St Paul's Cathedral.
The other families of interest are the Ellis family who lived close to Buckingham Palace in Pimlico, and the Gilberts who spent a number of years around Camberwell and Bermondsey, south of the river
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Alfred Gilbert together with his parents William Ralph Gilbert and Mary Ann Buckley, and siblings, from about 1840 until 1858 when he migrated to Australia. His brother Charles continued to operate his wholesale hosier business until 1878.
Sarah Morgan was born to parents George and Sarah in the parish of Harrow St Mary, residence Sudbury in 180 ? She married John Ellis in 1820 at St George Hanover Square. Their daughter Mary Ann Ellis was born in 1828 and lived at Upper Eaton St, Westminster until her migration in 1858.
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For details of these families click the buttons: