John Theodore Thomas

Son of Alexander (b. 1792), brother of Alexander (b. 1817) and uncle of Alexander (b.1852)

Born at Tralee, County Kerry, 14th November, 1825.

He joined his father's regiment and became a Captain of the 11th Foot (North Devons).

He came to Australia aboard the 'Marion' which brought convicts to Van Deiman's Land (now Tasmania) in 1845.

Assistant Military Secretary to the General commanding the Australian Forces (Macarthur) he was part of the viceregal establishment.

On the 4th February, 1857, having been rejected as a son-in-law by Dr. Robert Martin J.P., a wealthy pastoralist, formerly of the East India Service, of Banyule and Viewbank, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia , he borrowed a carriage from a friend and eloped with Miss Lucy Charlotte Martin. It is said that the same evening he returned to explain to his father-in-law what he had done.

Lucy was the 6th 'Lucy' in a direct line back to Lucy de Guzman wife of Domenicus de Guzman and related to the Empress Eugenie. The 'de Guzman' pearls, a spanish mahogany dining table (which in inheritance came to my father - I used to eat off it as a child), and painting by Balthasar Van der Ast were part of this inheritance to be handed down through each daughter - all to be named Lucy. Unfortunately their daughter Lucy de Guzman Gurner had no daughter and thereby the tradition was broken.

A 5,000 pound dowry was settled on Lucy and they moved to the Otago Province in New Zealand in 1859 where they took up land.They lived there until 1875 at Opoho, just outside Dunedin. After which they returned to Australia.

In 1876 the Boyds purchased their family home Glenfern, cnr Inkerman Street and Balaclava Road, St. Kilda (currently belonging to the National Trust as an historic homestead).

An obituary notice compared him with Colonel Newcome.

He died 8th March, 1891, leaving children:

1. Robert Alexander
2. Theodore Fielding born 12th October, 1860 dsp
3. Arthur Merric (my great grandfather)
4. Lucy de Guzman, born 1864, married John Gurner, KC and Acting-Judge of Melbourne, son of Mr Gurner, the Crown Solicitor for Victoria, Australia
5. Frederick Arthur, born 1863, dsp
6. Thornton Martin, born 1867, married and had two children: John and Lucy
7. Harry Lascelles, born 1869, dsp 1918
8. Reginald Septimus
9. Rupert Montague, born 1871, married Nancy Mechan, dsp
10. Kirby Montague, born 1873, married Evelyn daughter of Cozzo Newbury, Esquire, CMR and had a son Kirby
11. Enid Born 1874, married Arthur Mahaffy, DD etc, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, the famous scholar and wit.
12. Norman Cear, born 1876, dsp the same year and is buried at Heidelburg, Victoria, Australia.

Ship records for the 'Marion'

Marion (2)
Second voyage
Male convicts on board

Departure Port: London / Woolwich Departure Date: 14 Jun 1845
Arrival Port: Hobart Arrival Date: 16 Sep 1845

Convicts landed: 300

Notes:
Surgeon's Journal possibly available on AJCP microfilms.

Sources:
Archives Office of Tasmania, Guide to Convict Records by Ship Reference.
Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships 1787-1868, Brown, Son & Ferguson Ltd 1985.
Broxam, Graeme, Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Tasmania, 1843-1850, Roebuck, 1998, p54.
Phillips, Margaret E., Australian Joint Copying Project, Handbook Part 7, Public Records Office Admiralty Records, National Library of Australia 1993, pp 75-77.

Convicts on board listed by Researchers
COLLINS Thomas
DONNEY David Henry

Non-convicts on board listed by Researchers
No current listings