Frederick Gurney [4762] ¹³¹

  General Notes:

Given Names:
A family name, Frederick - possibly after Frederick Phillpot, an uncle by marriage to his aunt, Elizabeth, or an uncle Frederick who died in infancy - per notes from Refs E and F..

Education:
No detail.

Marriage:
Frederick married Lucy Knaggs c 1845 possibly in Adelaide S.A.

Issues:
Mary Ann, Frederick, Alfred, George, Robert, Emma and Arthur.

Occupation:
Soldier (English), gold miner and South Australian Mail/Coach Driver.

Comment:
Frederick enlisted into the British Army in England and, after serving in India, arrived in Adelaide in 1840 on the
Natillus II' (Ref G) as a Corporal in the1/96th Manchester Regiment of Foot. The Nautilus II was a convict ship, sailing from Dublin on 17 September 1839 with 399 convicts for Norfolk Island, Sydney, and Hobart Town. It arrived at its final destination port on 9 February 1840 then, it is assumed, sailed for Adelaide to disembark the Military Personel of the 1/96th Manchester Regiment of Foot. Frederick was a member of that group.

He took his discharge in Adelaide, married Miss Lucy Knaggs and set off for the Ballarat Goldfields, where he had no luck - probably in finding gold.

Returning to South Australia, he became a coach and mail driver from Gawler to Angaston, Gawler to Clare and Gawler to Burra. After the railway was opened to Kapunda he drove the mail coach from there to Burra. He maintained his employment on these routes with different employers for more than twenty years. He could have driven a coach for Cobb and Co, possibly when at Ballarat, Victoria.

The family was resident at Kooringa S.A., when on 1 January 1872 he suffered a fatal fall from a
Coach and Two', when returning from the Burra Races to Kooringa. His son, Frederick (Junior) was sitting beside him on the Driver's Seat when he fell. The coach belonged to a Mail Contractor, Mr Michael Terry.

Frederick's oldest child, Mary Ann Gurney, was 19 years old when her father died. After his death she carried much of the responsibility for raising the younger members of the family. She later married Samuel John Hall and their daughter, Nessie Irene Maria Hall, married George May at Broken Hill on 1 April 1901.

Both Frederick and his wife Lucy are buried in the Burra Burra' Cemetery.

Frederick married Lucy Knaggs [15147] [MRIN: 4012] about 1850 in Adelaide? S.A. (Lucy Knaggs [15147] was born about 1828 in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, died on 30 Jul 1890 in Kooringa, Burra Burra, South Australia and was buried in Aug 1890 in Burra Burra Cemetery, S.A..)