October 2014

The old photo at the top of the article shows the Boston Church Yard, with St Botolphs Church towering in the background.

The couple settled in William’s home town of Boston, which I have described previously in the context of its famous church (St Botolphs).

To summarise, Boston is about 90 km to the east of Gainsborough. Dating back to Roman times, in the mid 19th Century Boston was a market, fishing and trading town. There was also a network of canals, giving boat access to villages and farms in a large rural area. In the 1800s it had a Poor House, jail and schools (including a Grammar School founded by Queen Mary in 1554 supported by the town Corporation).

In 1821 Boston had a population of 10,373.

The introduction of street gas lighting in 1825 was a progressive move, and the railway reached the town in 1848. For a brief time the town was actually on the main line from London to the North.

The 1841 Census shows them living in Church Yard (as it was then known), which ran off the Market Place. The Yard is shown in the foreground of the above modern aerial photo taken from the Church. It is possible that the family lived in one of the substantially built houses at the bottom left.

Living near the Market Place, coupled with the Market Place’s shops and commercial buildings (as shown in the photo at the head of this article), the family were well-placed in the commercial centre of the town.

Despite the charms of Boston, for some reason Elizabeth and William decided in 1850 to migrate to Melbourne in Australia in the sailing ship “Anna Maria”. But why did they emigrate?

The gold rushes?

Originally I had thought that my great great grandfather Thomas held the distinction of being the first Jerrems person to migrate to Australia, but it is now obvious that his older sister Elizabeth preceded him by at least a year. This is not merely a matter of academic interest, because it places Elizabeth and William as definitely coming out to Australia before the gold rushes started. So we can rule the gold rushes out as the reason for their migration.

At that time Melbourne did not seem to have any more to offer a 50 year old surgeon than Boston, when Melbourne had a population of only 23,000. Boston had quite a large population capable of supporting a surgeon (at the time it had a similar population to Gainsborough). Other surgeons I have researched were well off, and they enjoyed a prominent status.

Changes in Boston’s economy?

At that time (the 13th year of Queen Victoria’s reign) England as a whole was doing very well. Its colonies were expanding and business was thriving from colonial trade and the burgeoning industries resulting from the Industrial Revolution. However rural production in England was languishing, due to the introduction of “free trade” in the 1840s.

Free trade

The philosophy of the growing “free trade” movement was that tariff protection should be removed, so that cheaper goods could be imported into England without any tariff loading designed to protect local industries. This removal was favoured particularly by the industrialists because it meant that they could obtain many of the raw materials they needed more cheaply from overseas.

Included in these raw materials were corn and wheat, which were used in some industrial processes. In 1846 the so-called protective Corn Laws (which covered all cereals) were repealed, and cheaper cereals were imported from places like India, with devastating effects on English farmers.

The vast railway network, which was playing an integral part in the Industrial Revolution, also meant that cheaper overseas products could be supplied to rural areas, undercutting local agricultural production. The drop in demand for local cereals caused a dramatic downturn in the economies of many towns located in cereal-growing areas.

The state of commerce appears to be by no means flourishing. The export trade is chiefly in agricultural produce. This has increased greatly since the draining of the extensive fens, from which upwards of 70,000 acres of rich marsh land have been obtained.

Boston also supported a fishing industry and had a very modest number of industrial works comprising two iron-foundries and three shipbuilding yards where vessels up to 200 tons burden were constructed.

As described in a previous article, the high tidal change and narrow river channel (see side photo) placed serious limitations on the size of boats.
vessels up to 200 tons burden were constructed.

It is likely that the effects of the repeal of the Corn Laws could have negated the benefits of the drainage of the fens, taking effect by the time Elizabeth and her family set sail for Melbourne.

Gone were the halcyon days of the 14th Century when Boston’s trade exceeded the trade of London!

Other possible reasons for migration

At least when the family set off for Melbourne William was established in a profession which could be pursued anywhere. However, at the mature age of 50, he was comparatively old for those days (for instance three of his wife’s brothers died at younger ages). He was not therefore of an age when a person would be seeking fame and fortune in far off lands.

Family reasons?

Perhaps Elizabeth did not keep good health and it was decided that the family would move to a warmer climate. She only had three children, with a five year gap between the second and third. As it turned out, she lived in Melbourne until she was almost 90 (almost 50 years)!

Another reason could have originated from the careers of the children. Thomas was later a surveyor and Jabez a carpenter. Probably their job prospects would have been better in Melbourne.

The ship had been plying the England-Australia routé before the voyage involving Elizabeth and her family, which brings me to an interesting angle. On a previous voyage in 1848 and a later one in 1852 it transported convicts to Australia, leading it to be described in historic records as a “convict ship”. Having convict ancestors is now quite fashionable, so, if readers feel so inclined they could say (tongue in cheek) that some of the Jerrems family came to Australia on a convict ship!

I doubt whether Elizabeth’s family would have had much choice regarding ships prior to the gold rushes, when the main payload would have been bringing a load of wool back to England. They were not built to be passenger ships Having previously carried convicts the Anna Maria was obviously very basic.

The above photo shows the frigate (denoted by its three main masts and its rear “mizzen” mast) “Hougoumont” when it brought the last shipload of 279 convicts to Western Australia in 1868.

Incidentally, it is estimated that four million Australians have convict ancestors.

The perils of the voyage

I have described in earlier Journals the perils of these voyages. However the family would have avoided the contagious diseases and unhygienic conditions which were the lot of steerage passengers (a modest 89 passengers in this case) by travelling as the sole “cabin” passengers, who reputedly dined with the ship’s officers. Even so, although the food would have been a lot better, potentially polluted drinking water would still have posed a health risk.

At least the children, aged 16, 15 and 10 were at an age where they could fend for themselves on a long voyage.

The ship completed the voyage in a surprisingly fast three months, arriving in Melbourne in mid November 1850.

When the Small family landed in Melbourne it was the start of summer, a season for which it is notorious for being hot. No doubt this came as a shock to the Small family.

This situation did not improve because during the following summer a quarter of the State was burnt out by bushfires.

At that time the main role of the city (as it was officially described) was servicing the pastoral industry. Melbourne had already become a centre of Australia’s wool export trade.

In 1851 the successful agitation of the Port Phillip settlers led to the establishment of Victoria as a separate colony.

Unlike most cities, the centre of Melbourne had been planned, with streets surveyed in 1837 in a grid pattern, the major streets like Bourke Street being very wide. Port facilities were nearby. Melbourne had only been incorporated as a city in 1847, and by 1851 it had a population of 23,000, a quite small population (in fact less than twice the population of Boston) compared with major UK cities. It was a progressive city, holding an International Exhibition (the first in Australia) in a huge new building in 1852. Railway construction and other Government projects were soon under way.

Although the Small family would not have known this would happen when they landed, the city grew dramatically following the gold mining boom to 60,000 by 1855 and 140,000 by 1861. This made it Australia’s largest city.

When the family landed in Melbourne the population was concentrated in the surveyed area now comprising the CBD, but it had also spread beyond this to places within walking distance. These included East Melbourne, where Nicoll the Tailor later lived and Richmond to the south east where my great great grandfather Thomas and his family later lived..

It could be said that William and Elizabeth landed on their feet in Melbourne because the expanding population resulting from the gold rushes would have led to an increased demand for surgeons.

Conclusion
In later articles I will describe the interesting lives of William and Elizabeth’s children.