Family:James Nuttall and Elizabeth Wilkinson (2)

James Nuttall was born, according to the Nuttall family prayer book:

James the son of James and Elizabeth Nuttall was born at Toad Lane Rochdale on December 20th 1806, 10 minutes past 4 o’clock in the morning and baptized of the Reverend John Leach registered at the Methodist Chapel Rochdale.

As the Prayer book stated, James was indeed born on the 20th of December, 1806 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. Although there is no evidence to confirm that it was exactly ten past four in the morning that he entered the world!! James' parents were James Nuttall and Elizabeth Clegg (2).

James was the first child of his parent's marriage. His father James had been married previously. His first wife Ann Stott had died in June, 1794, the same day as their two month old baby daughter, also named Ann. James was left a widower to bring up his young daughter, Martha who was then aged three. A little over eight years later James remarried to Elizabeth Clegg. And their first child was "our" James. James was to have seven brothers, and one more sister.

The Nuttall family lived in what was then the main street of Rochdale, Toad Lane. Rochdale was a bustling place at this time, with many woollen and cotton mills in the area as the industrial revolution got into full swing. James followed his father's profession and became a weaver.

Of James' seven brothers, one died as a baby, two aged fifteen, one aged nineteen, one twenty, and one thirty three. It is also believed his sister Elizabeth may have also died young. So James saw almost all of his siblings die as young adults. This experience must have drawn the remaining family close together, and as two of the surviving children of James Nuttall snr., James and his half-sister Martha both ended up emigrating to Australia together in later years.

On the 16th of January, 1828 when James was 21 years of age he married Elizabeth Wilkinson at St. Chad's Church, Rochdale. James listed his residence as Toad Lane, and his occupation as a weaver.

Elizabeth Wilkinson was born in Chester, Cheshire, England. Or more precisely, according to the Nuttall prayer book:

Elizabeth the daughter of Charles and Jane Wilkinson was born at number 5 Mr. Finchett’s Entry, Honey Stairs, East-Gate Street, City of Chester on Tuesday the 21st day of April 1807, half past 6 o’clock in the morning and was baptized at St. Peter’s Church in that city

Elizabeth was probably the first child of Charles Wilkinson and Jane Davies. Charles and Jane were married in 1806 in Chester where Charles worked as a tailor. The family may also have lived in Tarporley for a time, the village Charles originally came from. Only two years after Elizabeth's birth, Jane died at the age of 28 from consumption.

Home to Elizabeth Wilkinson and her father Charles. Image taken from the book "Old and New Rochdale and its People" by William Robertson, 1881.

We know little of Charles and Elizabeth's life after Jane died, and don't know if Elizabeth had a baby brother or sister when she died, or if Charles later remarried. The next time we have found them appearing in the records is when Elizabeth married James Nuttall in Rochdale, Lancashire. At the time of Elizabeth's marriage she was living in with her father in Packer Street, Rochdale, just around the corner from the Nuttall family in Toad Lane. Charles worked as a tailor and "habit maker". Packer Street seems to have held quite a notorious reputation as one of the poorest and worst streets of Rochdale at this time .

Almost a year to the day after James and Elizabeth's marriage, on the 12th of January, 1829, Elizabeth gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Jane Davies Nuttall, named for her grandmother. Jane was born in Toad Lane, Rochdale, probably at the Nuttall family home. It was another ten years before James and Elizabeth had another child. Elizabeth Anna was born in 1839 in Harpurhey, near Manchester (now a Manchester suburb). She was quickly followed by James Charles in 1841, also born in Harpurhey. Gilbert was born in 1843, and Walter in 1846, both in Cheetham (Manchester). William Alfred followed in 1848 in Openshaw (another Manchester suburb), a couple of months after Gilbert, aged four had died. And last of all came Francis Robert born in 1852 at Ardwick, Chorlton-on-Medlock (also Manchester) who sadly died two and a half months later and was buried with his brother Gilbert in the Openshaw Cemetery.

Very soon after Francis' death, James and Elizabeth decided to leave their lives in England behind and head to Australia. Their two daughters and three surviving young sons went with them, as did James' older sister Martha Mason (nee Nuttall). Martha's daughter, Ann, her husband John Grindrod and their family had emigrated to Australia in 1849. No doubt this was the impetus for James and Elizabeth to emigrate, and to choose Australia as their final destination. James' sister Martha was a widow, and must have come to Australia to join her daughter. It is believed she had other adult children who remained in England, but at least two of these, her sons, William Mason and James Nuttall Mason emigrated at a later date.

The family embarked for the long sea voyage at Liverpool on the 12th of October, 1852 aboard the Ship:Condor. The family travelled in Intermediate Class, which no doubt made the journey a little more comfortable than it could have been. Shortly before their departure James was presented with a bible by the Conductor, Officers and Teachers of the Openshaw Wesleyan Methodist Association Sunday School where he had worked as a Conductor. The bible has remained in the family, now in the possession of one James and Elizabeth's descendents in Canada.

A section of family notes from the Nuttall Prayer Book thought to have been written by James Nuttall. Relates details of the family's emigration from England to Australia.

Of the possessions James and Elizabeth brought with them to Australia, a number of items have survived to the present day. These include a beautiful toiletries case which holds a hair brush and comb, tooth powder and tooth brush and other personal items. They also brought a life size portrait of James Nuttall snr., which has been referred to in the family ever since as "the Grandpa". James also brought with him the Nuttall Family Prayer Book. This had been given to James' father, James Nuttall snr., by his grandfather, James Sharples in 1781. The book was published in 1768 and includes such things as a prayer for the plague. A number of births, deaths and marriages had been written in the book before James jnr. received it from his father. And he himself added to it significantly, including an early history of the family, as well as information relating to his children's births, and the details of their voyage to Australia.

The ship arrived in Port Phillip bay, Melbourne on the 20th of January, 1853. The family all disembarked safely, ready to begin their new life. A notice appeared in the Melbourne newspaper "The Argus" on the 22nd of January, 1853 and I have transcribed it below.

TO W. H. LEIGHTON, ESQ.

Commander of the ship CONDOR Melbourne, January 20th, 1853.

   DEAR SIR, - At the request of the Passengers of the ship Condor (in the annexed list mentioned), arrived here from Liverpool, we beg to address you previous to our separating, and entering on those avocations that Providence may assign to each of us, and to express for them and ourselves the sentiments of regret and regard we entertain for you personally, as well as our high sense of your merits and untiring exertions as a commander to which we are indebted, under God’s protection, for a happy and prosperous voyage. And as you have been to all of us, individually and collectively, kind and attentive in the extreme, and anxious for the promotion of our health and happiness, and as worthy in every way of the high trust reposed in you, we feel we should not be doing you the justice you merit if we did not thus (before disembarking) acknowledge those sentiments of regard and admiration which at best we can but feebly express; and while thanking you for that care and attention which has carried us all, under the Almighty’s protecting favour, thus happy and healthy to this land of our adoption, we desire that "He who guides the sparrow’s fall" may render your future voyages as happy and prosperous as the past, and commending according to His infinite wisdom and fatherly goodness. 

   In conclusion, ‘Dear Sir’, we beg your acceptance of the accompanying piece of plate as a souvenir of our esteem and attachment. 

   We are, Dear Sir,
   Your very sincere friends.

   Sam Corrie, Presbyterian Minister

   Robert William Malcolmson, Solicitor

   John Ellerker

   Thomas Wilson

   James Nuttall.

A response was also published by W. H. Leighton - go to the Ship:Condor page to read it. The "Condor" probably never completed another voyage after the Nuttall family disembarked in Melbourne. It was burnt on the oceans off Pernambuco on the 10th of June, 1853. Fortunately nobody died in the fire, and the passengers and crew were transferred to the French baque "Canaries and Pauline" which had come into sight. You can read the article which appeared in "The Argus" entitled "The Burning of the Liverpool Ship Condor" in October 1853 at the Ship:Condor page.

James and Elizabeth don't appear to have followed the goldrush which had begun only a year or two before their arrival, and was now hitting fever pitch, changing the history of the sleepy Victorian colony forever. The family settled in Melbourne, where firstly they ran a general store in Collingwood. Soon after James took up work as a "painter and paper hanger", a trade that was later passed on to his own sons, and grandsons. The family lived mostly in the Collingwood and Fitzroy areas of Melbourne. We know a number of addresses the family lived at thanks to old Melbourne directories and electoral rolls.

   * 1856: 77 Smith Street, Collingwood (General Store)

   * 1857: Smith Street, Collingwood (James a painter & decorator)

   * 1860: George Street, Collingwood (between Condell & Moor Streets, James a painter & decorator)

   * 1862: Charles Street, Collingwood (James a painter & decorator)

   * 1867 & 1868: 170 George Street, Fitzroy (James listed as a painter)

In 1858 Martha Mason, James' sister died at Merri Creek, near Melbourne (as it was recorded in the Nuttall prayer book). It is believed that it was sometime after her death that her two sons William and James Nuttall Mason immigrated to Australia.

As James and Elizabeth's own children grew up, married, and had families of their own, James and Elizabeth moved to Northcote. This was also the area of Melbourne that their niece Ann Grindrod (Martha's daughter) and her family lived. James Charles and Walter took over from their father in the painting business, and branched into wood graining. On the 3rd of March, 1872 James died. He was occupation was described as a "gentleman" on his death certificate and he was buried in the Wesleyan section of the Melbourne General Cemetery.

Elizabeth died on the 19th May, 1875 in Moor Street, Fitzroy, probably the home of her eldest son, James Charles Nuttall. She was also buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.