Discovering the History of Frances Susan Marian Noblett Frances Susan Marian Noblett was born in Sydney in 1849, the first- born child of William John Noblett and Frances nee Staines. Because she was named after her mother and grandmother, she was known as Marian Noblett. Marian Noblett married James Murray Jr of Warrawang. James and Marian settled on Green Vale property north of Baffle Creek, Queensland. Their large branch of the Murray Family has known very little about Marian's early history as she was orphaned at age 2, with the subsequent loss of connection with her relatives and her history. Marian's father was William John Noblett, a protestant from Ireland. He native place was the town of Gorey in County Wexford. He was the son of a farmer, John Noblett. (There are Nobletts in the Gorey area today and I have been able to contact them by phone as well as speak with some of that family who are residents in England – at Leeds, West Yorkshire and Windermere, Cumbria.) In 1841 William Noblett was a Bounty immigrant and sailed on the "Pearl" from Plymouth with about 210 other Irish immigrants on a "dry" vessel. There were no "Irish rows" or fights on the voyage. After arriving in Sydney, William became a draper, and established a business in Pitt Street, Sydney. His wife, Frances Staines, was also a Bounty immigrant in 1841. She came from North Kilworth, a wharf village on the Grand Union Canal in Leicestershire, not far east of Rugby. I believe her father came from London and presumably was hired as a construction worker to build the canal. He settled at North Kilworth around 1810 and operated as a blacksmith - a business that would have been a busy enteprise as the canal was recently opened and canal business boomed immediately. For a glimpse of the canal, go to the new link on the bottom of this "Black Murrays of Warrawang" website. Frances Staines was one of 9 children of Thomas Staines and Sarah nee Davis. She found employment as a lady's personal maid to Mrs Dobson, the wife of Captain William B Dobson. Dobson had been captain of immigrant vessels to Sydney ("William Glen Anderson" in 1836, "Woodbridge" 1838, Feb 1840, Aug 1840 and must have liked what he saw in regard to opportunity. He decided to emigrate with his wife and her maid, Frances Staines, to Sydney. They all sailed as passengers (the Dobsons paying, while Frances was an assisted Bounty immigrant) on the "Burhampootra" in 1841 arriving, as it happens, only a few days before the "Pearl", on which was Frances' husband- to-be. I wonder how long it took them to meet, and in what circumstance. I know they both went to church. I suspect that the draper started out as a hawker and would have visited the Dobson residence and traded with Mrs Dobson's maid. Then once he was established in Pitt Street, Frances probably found more than one opportunity to visit his drapery. Anyway, they did choose to marry each other and in 1848, in Scots Church (Dr Lang's Church it was usually called) the wedding was celebrated. Frances Staines and William Noblett had 2 children, William (1850- 1850) who died in infancy and Marian (1849-1934). But in January 1851, William Noblett (the father) died from a "lingering illness". Ten weeks later, the widowed Frances (nee Staines) died, in a boating accident, in Rushcutters Bay. [A report of the inquest into her death was published in "The Empire" newspaper. The notice of her funeral was published in the "Sydney Morning Herald".] On the evening of the 30th March 1851, Frances Noblett was in a small sailing boat owned and sailed by a Mr McDonald. Also in the boat were Mr and Mrs Woods. As they were on the point of returning home to Sydney, Mr McDonald climbed the mast to disentangle a red flag. With him up the mast, the boat pitched and the two women went to the high side of the boat, and so the small boat with a man up the mast pitched in that direction and both women were thrown into the sea. Mrs Woods sank immediately and Mrs Noblett was not rescued either though Mr McDonald did all he could to save her. The two women drowned together in the warm water of the bay. There bodies were later recovered and an inquest was held in the public-house of Mr Douglass, corner of Pitt and Market Street, Sydney. The coroner's verdict was "accidental drowning". Frances' funeral left her residence in Pitt Street, Surry Hills at 3pm one day, and it was followed by the funeral of her friend, Mrs Elizabeth Wood, at 4pm, also from the Frances' residence. It is possible that Mr and Mrs Woods had been living with Mrs Noblett prior to this unfortunate accident, as it would have been means for the widowed Frances. Now let's go back to North Kilworth, Leiscestershire. The siblings of Frances Staines were in order Thomas, William, Elizabeth, John, Anne, Samuel, Catherine and John. Samuel also migrated or visited Sydney, for he was a witness at his sister's wedding to William Noblett. (As yet I haven't identified his date or means of migration.) The interesting side issue in all this is to know more of Captain Dobson. Captain Dobson was Master on the immigrant vessel "Woodbridge" to Sydney in 1838. So in 1841 he comes to settle. I understand he acquired land in Redfern. I suspect he is also the captain sent as part of the disastrous Kennedy expedition to Cape York. He captained the "Ariel" as a supply vessel that was intended to bring Kennedy and his party back, but only Jacky Jacky made it to the Cape and the vessel, and on the way back they located survivors who had been too weak to go on with Kennedy. That was in 1848, the year that Frances was married. Dobson also took a vessel to Wellington NZ and I am sure had quite a lengthy naval record. More to research! Those who are descended from the family of James Murray of Green Vale are also descended than from the Staines of North Kilworth and from the Nobletts of Gorey, Wexford, Ireland. And as Samuel Staines has descendants in Australia, you all have more relatives around than you previously knew. Ian Stehbens 24.09.2006 & 16.12.2006 Dobson footnote: Unfortunately the first name of the Captain Dobson R. N. that arrived as a passenger on the Burhampooter in Sydney on August 7, 1841, was not listed in the shipping news published in The Sydney Herald dated August 9, 1841. A Captain William B. Dobson was master of the following vessels on their arrival in the port of Sydney: Date of arrival Name of vessel 25 October 1836 William Glen Anderson 15 September 1838 Woodbridge 26 February 1840 Woodbridge 9 August 1840 Woodbridge 8 March 1842 Woodbridge The Schooner named Ariel was partially owned by a William Dobson (21 shares) between November 1847 and 1851, the master of this vessel when it arrived in Sydney on the following dates was: Date of arrival Whence Master 9 May 1848 Tahiti Captain Stugeon (a Mr. Dobson was listed as a passenger in the newspaper shipping news published in The Sydney Morning Herald, dated May 10, 1848.) 28 August 1848 Port Fairy, NSW Captain Wm. Dobson 5 March 1849 Cape York, NSW Captain Wm. Dobson 25 May 1849 Circular Head, VDL Captain Wm. Dobson