Henry Pollard was born in Gwinear, Cornwall in 1830, the fourth child of Christopher and Mary Pollard (nee Floyd). His father was a miner. His elder siblings were James, Jane and Christopher. Siblings born after his birth were Mary, John, Joseph, Caroline, Elizabeth, Richard and Robert Floyd. He would not live to see his half siblings from his father’s second marriage.
Early life[]
Soon after Henry was born, his family moved from Gwinear to Perranzabuloe, about 5 miles north east of Truro. In 1841, when Henry was 11 years old, the family were located at Goosheaven, Perranzabuloe in the census. His father and older siblings were employed as lead dressers in the local mine.
Disaster[]
In 1964 a book was written by HL Douch, called East Wheal Rose. Chapter three called ‘DISASTER’ describes how on the 9.7.1846, a thunderstorm resulted in flooding and mud slides at the mine site, killing 36 men. A James Pollard of Perrranzabuloe is listed amongst the dead. The James Pollard was quite probably Henry’s eldest brother, who was shown as deceased in 1860 on his mother’s death certificate in Australia. It is believed this disaster may have been the trigger in the family’s eventual decision to move to Australia. In the 1851 census, the family are still living at Perranzabuloe, and eldest brother James is not recorded with the family, another indication that the James Pollard in the disaster refers to him. By this time, Henry is also a miner, along with his father and brother’s John and Joseph.
South Australia[]
The family left Cornwall not long after the 1851 census was taken. The ship ‘SULTANA’ left Plymouth on the 1.5.1851, arriving in South Australia at Port Adelaide on 10.8.1851. The shipping list showed that father Christopher was charged an additional amount due to the number of children that came with him.
The family’s first place of residence in South Australia was in the busy copper mining town of Kapunda, where many Cornish people settled. In 1852, father Christopher left Kapunda, taking most of the family with him. Henry and his brother Christopher would remain in Kapunda and settled there for the remainder of their lives.
Gold[]
On October 29th 1853, the South Australian Government Gazette published a list of persons who lost their SA Gold Escort receipts or failed to claim their gold from the escort. A H. Pollard is recorded as not claiming 44 oz of gold. Being from a mining family, and knowing that his father and family were on the goldfields in Victoria, it is possible this entry refers to Henry. If it is him, why he did not claim the gold is unknown. The escorts were instigated for the very purpose of trying to get miners back to South Australia with their gold, rather than having to sell it in Victoria. This was because the Burra and Kapunda mines lacked workers who had left to go to the goldfields.
Marriage[]
Henry married Mary Ann Hayes on the 8th January 1855 at Kapunda. She had been one of the many Irish potato famine orphans transported to South Australian on board the ship ‘Elgin’ a few years earlier. He was a miner by profession and could not write. A witness to the wedding was "William Floyd" (possibly related to his mother, Mary Pollard nee Floyd). The marriage was conducted by Rev. William Oldham, Mine Manger and Congregational Minister, at his residence.
Henry and Mary Ann had two children within a few years, James in December 1855 and Elizabeth Jane in January 1857.
Early death[]
In May 1860, Henry’s older brother Christopher, who had stayed in Kapunda with Henry when the rest of the family moved on, died. Within a short space of time, their mother (Mary Pollard nee Floyd) also died in Victoria. Then, very suddenly, within two months of Christopher’s death, Henry also died. The cause of death was peritonitis. He is buried in Kapunda.
When Henry died, his wife Mary became reliant on relief from the Destitute Board, as her sister-in-law (Christopher’s wife) was. She first applied for assistance Thursday July 26th 1860, only one week after Henry’s death. The South Australian Advertiser reports that “The Board thought some further particulars as to the circumstances of her husband at the period of the decease necessary before the application should be entertained.” She must have been granted them soon after, as on November 15th, she is granted renewal of rations for three weeks.
Third Child[]
Mary had been pregnant at the time of Henry’s death. On Christmas Day 1860, she gave birth to their third child, Henry Joseph. On 26th November 1861, Mary Ann married for a second time, to a man called John Wright. She would have two more children with him in Kapunda and then the family left South Australia to live in Victoria in approximately 1886, where she lived the remainder of her days.
Children[]
| Name | Birth | Death |
| Children of Henry & Mary Ann Pollard
| ||
| James | 18/12/1855 Kapunda, South Australia |
|
| Elizabeth Jane | 8/1/1857 Kapunda, South Australia |
1931 Werribee, Victoria
|
| Henry Joseph | 25/12/1860 Kapunda, South Australia |
16/8/1936 Largs Bay, South Australia |
References[]
- Information from Peter Underdown
- SA Birth Deaths and Marriages
- 1841 and 1851 census for Cornwall
- East Wheel Rose by HL Douch
- South Australian Newspaper records