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The Powell family

Five members of the Powell family sailed to South Australia in 1836. Charles Powell, his wife and child, his brother James and sister Mary Ann all sailed on the John Pirie, while another seemingly unrelated Charles Bendin Powell sailed on the Duke of York (Charles Bendin Powell was born in 1810 and listed upon emigration as a 25 year old gardener and dairyman from Wick Lane, Hackney). We know from Captain Martin’s letters and the South Australian Company records that Charles Powell was originally booked to sail with Charles Bendin on the Duke of York, but changed at the last minute to join his brother James and sister Mary Ann on the John Pirie. The Powell siblings came from Hackney, Middlesex. Charles and James seem to have created a positive impression on the John Pirie, willingly helping with ship board tasks. This summary will be updated as the journey progresses or as more information comes to hand.

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3 Responses to “The Powell family”

  1. May 7, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    There appear to have been three families named Powell involved in emigration to the new colony.

    The ‘Register of Emigrant Labourers’ lists Charles Powell (aged 34) and his wife (30), and James Powell (26), both labourers from East Acton. It was intended that James should sail by the John Pirie and Charles by the Duke of York, which would have resulted in two people of the same name being on board this ship. The Directors’ Minutes of the South Australian Company indicate that at some unknown time Charles was transferred to the John Pirie and the brothers were later joined by their 15-year-old sister Mary Ann, a domestic servant from East Acton.

    The second Charles Powell who remained on the Duke of York was a gardener aged 25 from Wick Lane, Hackney. Later records are entirely consistent with this being Charles Bendin Powell, who died at Walkerville in 1898.

    East Acton lies some seven and a half miles west of London and Hackney three and a half miles north-east, so their home districts were well separated.

    Frederick Powell, a labourer aged 38, from Chichester, was accompanied by his wife and five children, together with what appear to be two sons aged 15 and 17. They embarked on the Morley in 1840, and again there is no apparent connection with the others.

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  2. May 4, 2011 at 9:26 pm #

    This article on the Powell family claims that Charles and Charles Bendin were brothers but the preamble to the Duke of York passenger list inconsistently claims that they were unrelated.

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    • May 5, 2011 at 9:34 am #

      Hi Barry, thank you for picking this up – you are quite correct. Lately we have undertaken a lot of work in refining and validating the passenger lists for this project and in this instance have neglected to then go back and amend related information. I will make sure it is addressed today.
      Regards, Kristy – History SA.

      Reply

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