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Historical revision XXII: John White (c. 1756-1832), surgeon-general of New South Wales: biographical notes on his Irish origins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

E. Charles Nelson
E. Charles Nelson*
Affiliation:
National Botanic Gardens, Dublin
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Extract

John White was appointed chief surgeon to the First Fleet on 24 October 1786 and sailed with that fleet, aboard the Charlotte, on 13 May 1787 for Botany Bay on the eastern seaboard of New Holland (Australia) where a penal colony was to be established. Between 18 and 20 January 1788 the entire fleet arrived at its destination and thus began the settlement of Australia by Europeans. White served as surgeon-general of the new colony, New South Wales, for almost six years until 17 December 1794 when he sailed on the Daedalus for Europe, never to return to Australia.

Type
Historical revision
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 100 , November 1987 , pp. 405 - 412
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1987

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References

1 White, John, Journal of a voyage to New South Wales (London, 1790).Google Scholar For details of other editions, see Crittenden, Victor, A bibliography of the First Fleet (Canberra, 1981).Google Scholar A facsimile, with a modern biographical and bibliographical essay by the present author, is in preparation by Boethius Press, Kilkenny

2 Phillip, Arthur The voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay (London, 1789).Google Scholar

3 Some details of White’s collections are published ( Apfelbaum, Joan ‘Collections of John White in the herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia’ in Taxon, 25 (1976), pp 331–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Clements, M.A. and Cribb, P.J, ‘Australian orchids in the J.E. Smith Herbarium’ in Kew Bulletin, 40 (1985), pp 649–55).CrossRefGoogle Scholar Work is in progress on other aspects of White’s natural history specimens. For discussion of the water-colours, see Rienits, Rex and Rienits, Thea, Early artists in Australia (Sydney, 1963), pp 36–40 Google Scholar et passim.

4 [Dundas, W Harloe], ‘Ulster and Botany Bay’ in Belfast Newsletter, 29 Jan. 1938, p. 6 Google Scholar; [Coffey, H.W], ‘The first notable Irishman in Australia’ in Ulster Link, no. 174 (Mar 1976), pp 1–2 Google Scholar; Andrews, G.C., ‘One of the first notable Irishmen in Australia’ in Portora, no. 73 (Dec. 1976)Google Scholar; Nelson, E.C., ‘The first Ulsterman in Botany Bay Surgeon-General John White’ in Linen Hall Review, 3, no. 3 (recte 2) (summer 1986), pp 8–9 Google Scholar; Rowan, P & B. The eighteenth century: a catalogue of books and manuscripts (Belfast, [1986]), no. 417Google Scholar

5 Alexander, W.B., ‘White’s Journal of a voyage to New South Wales’ in Emu, 23 (1924), pp 209–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; MacPherson, John ‘Surgeon-General John White and the surgeons of the First Fleet’ in University of Sydney Medical Journal, 21 (1928), pp 115–24Google Scholar

6 Anderson, Douglas ‘John White, surgeon-general of the First Fleet’ in Medical Journal of Australia, 1 (1933), pp 183–7Google Scholar

7 This slab, of white marble, is still in St Mary’s Parish Church, Broadwater See Whitley, G.P ‘Naturalists of the First Fleet’ in Australian Museum Magazine, 6 (1938), pp 298–301 Google Scholar, J.W.B., ‘Broadwater’s First Fleeter’ in Broadwater (Worthing) Magazine, July 1984, p. 13.Google Scholar On 10 June 1984 a new plaque, marking White’s connexion with the First Fleet, was unveiled in St Mary’s Church. See Cowell, Joyce C., ‘Our first plaque in England’ in Fellowship of First Fleeter s Newsletter, 15, no. 4 (Aug.-Sept. 1984), p. 1.Google Scholar

8 Barr, Flinders, ‘John White, First Fleet’s surgeon-general’ in Sydney Morning Herald, 3 Oct. 1931 Google Scholar

9 Anon., ‘Centenary of the death of an English pioneer: first man to fight a duel in Australia buried in Broadwater Church’ in Worthing Herald, 20 Feb. 1932.

10 Patricia Gill, West Sussex county archivist, to Robert Lowries of Broadwater, 29 Oct. 1985; Burial register for parish of Broadwater, Sussex, for 1832, entry no. 1063 (West Sussex Record Office, Chichester).

11 Whitley, ‘Naturalists of the First Fleet’ See also Whitley, G.P ‘Some early naturalists and collectors in Australia’ in Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 19 (1938), pp 291–323.Google Scholar

12 Jaques, Maude M. ‘A Sussex link with Australia’ in Sussex County Magazine, Mar. 1943, pp 79–80.Google Scholar

13 Anon., , ‘John White’ in Australian encyclopaedia, 9 (Sydney, 1958), p. 295.Google Scholar

14 The will was made on 28 Sept. 1830 (P.R.O., London, PROB 10/5305 82886).

15 Rienits, Rex and Rienits, Thea, Early artists in Australia (Sydney, 1963), pp 36–40 Google Scholar et passim.

16 Rienits, Rex ‘John White’ in Australian dictionary of biography, ii (1788–1850) (Melbourne, 1967), pp 594–5.Google Scholar

17 Rienits, Rex ‘Biographical introduction’ in White, John, Journal of a voyage to New South Wales, reprint ed. Chisholm, Alec H., (Sydney, 1982), pp 17–34.Google Scholar I have seen one letter, dated May 1965, from Rex Rienits to Mrs Dorothy Shier (née Dundas) which clearly indicates that Rienits knew of the claim that John White was of Irish descent; this correspondence took place after the book on early Australian artists and the reprinted journal were published. It is surprising, however, that Rienits did not note this claim in the entry he prepared for the Australian dictionary of biography.

18 See above, n. 8.

19 A directory for Brighton, Baxter’s stranger in Brighton & directory (Brighton, 1824), lists a Mrs Pleydell as the owner of nos 13 and 14 Bedford Square. The Brighton poor rates books for 1827 list Mary Pley dell as owner of nos 12 and 14 to 16 Bedford Square, but no. 13 is stated to have been sold and to be under repair. There are no entries for Dr John White. (Reference Library, Brighton.)

20 John White’s marriage in 1829 (see below, n. 32) and that of his daughter Augusta Catherine Anne in 1831 are recorded in the registers of St Nicholas’ Parish Church, Brighton (East Sussex Record Office, Lewes).

21 As n. 4.

22 The Rev W.H. Dundas MSS (a miscellaneous collection hereinafter called Dundas papers) are deposited in Fermanagh County Museum, Castle Barracks, Enniskillen, and are catalogued as ‘Genealogy of Dundas family’ (accession no. 85–8). The document quoted is a notebook and the entry begins on f. 23.

23 Ibid.

24 Loose single leaf in Dundas papers. On recto is a letter from Anna (Dundas) to William Harloe Dundas, 19 Jan. 1938; on verso is the item quoted.

25 Dundas, W.H. ‘Ulster and Botany Bay’ in Belfast Newsletter, 29 Jan. 1938.Google Scholar

26 Leslie, J.B. Clogher clergy and parishes (Enniskillen, 1929), p. 238.Google Scholar

27 This deed has not been traced in the registry but it is mentioned in the deed cited below, n. 28.

28 Indentured deed 728,403,495938 (Registry of Deeds, Dublin).

29 Ibid.

30 P.R.O., London, PROB 10/5305 82886.

31 Cf. Bagenal, Philip Henry, The life of Ralph Bernal Osborne, M.P (London, 1884), p. 8 Google Scholar; W.P Courtney ‘Ralph Bernal’ and ‘Ralph Bernal Osborne’ in D.N.B. These biographies of members of the Bernal family are erroneous and confusing. Bagenal states that Ralph Bernal’s first wife was the daughter of Dr Henry White, R.N., and merely notes that Bernal married for a second time. Courtney states that the first wife was the daughter of Richard Samuel White of London and the second wife the daughter of ‘Dr Henry White R.N., the surgeon of Chatham dockyard’ This should read Dr John White.

32 Marriage register of St Nicholas’ Parish Church, Brighton (East Sussex Record Office, Lewes, XA/30/14); Brighton Gazette, 25 Apr 1829.

33 Rex Rienits, ‘Biographical introduction’ (above, n. 17), names her as Elizabeth Priscilla White. I have seen all the MS sources noted by Rienits but cannot trace any document or record in which the second Christian name is used.

34 Notebook in Dundas papers.

35 The present author’s own link with Dr John White is, like that of the Rev. William Harloe Dundas, through Jane White. She married Edward Boyd and they had at least one son and one daughter, Sarah (or Sally), who at the age of eighteen married James Dundas. James and Sarah Dundas had four children, including James, the father of William Harloe Dundas, and Margaret, who married James Graham. One of James and Margaret Graham’s daughters, Charlotte, married Thomas Nelson; they were my paternal grandparents.

I am most grateful to Robert Lowries (Broadwater), Mrs Patricia Gill (West Sussex Record Office), Mrs H. Lanigan Wood (Fermanagh County Museum), John Gray (Linen Hall Library) and the staff of the East Sussex and Kent County Record Offices, the State Library of New South Wales and Brighton Reference Library for their courteous help. Mrs Hilary Wright, Dr I. Shier, Mrs M.E. Beaumont, Mr and Mrs R.G. Nelson, Peter Rowan and Victor Crittenden also assisted in my research; my thanks are due to them and to Dr W.E. Vaughan for reading an early draft of this paper.