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James Philcox

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James Philcox was an early settler in the colony of South Australia. He was a land speculator and property developer in the 1840s and 1850s, and is credited with naming the inner eastern Adelaide suburb of Marryatville as well as the outer northern suburb of Evanston.

Early life

A "Memorial" record (336/96), extracted from the South Australian General Registry Office shows that he had married on 18 October 1838, presumably to Ann Taylor, with whom he first emigrated.[1]

Life in South Australia

Philcox and wife Ann Taylor Philcox and a child arrived in South Australia aboard the barque Fortitude on 5 April 1842, along with W.P. Auld, later a noted vigneron, and his family.[2][3]

In February 1845 his name is listed in a petition, along with 1674 other "memorialists" who were opposing a plan to start transporting convicts to the new colony of South Australia. His address is shown as South Terrace, Adelaide.[4]

Philcox must have returned to England on his own sometime during 1845, because he is listed on a passenger on the barque Enmore, captained by Henry Wilmott, carrying 15 passengers from London, arriving 15 January 1846. He is described as "Land and estate agent; Adelaide, The Croft North Adelaide". Among the other passengers were George Morphett and his family, also on a return journey to the colony.[5][6] with his wife and children.[7]

On 25 September 1848, Philcox puchased 20 acres (8.1 ha) adjacent to the land of George Brunskill who laid out the "Village of Marryatville". This followed an announcement in the press in July of the engagement of "Miss Marryat, niece of the Lord Bishop of Adelaide" to Sir Henry Young, the new governor of Adelaide, before their departure from England. The suburb's name thus came from Augusta Sophia Marryat, wife of the fifth Governor of South Australia.[8][9]

His presence is noted at a kangaroo hunt with "the Adelaide Hounds" at Clarendon on 13 July 1849, as reported in The South Australian, 17 July 1849.[10]

Memorial 15/36 shows Philcox as "formerly of Adelaide but now of England 1851".[1]

In 1850 Philcox named sections 3220 and 3221 in the Hundred of Munno Para, creating the town of Evanston, now an outer northern suburb of Adelaide.[9][11] In 1853 a plan of the Evanston township was lodged at the Lands Title Office, when it was transferred to Sir John Morphett,[11] elder brother of Philcox's friend George Morphett.[1]

His name appears as a buyer and owner of many properties between 1852 and 1853, in the city of Adelaide and also in the County of Frome, near Mount Remarkable in the Flinders Ranges area.[12]

Memorial 9/75 records his location as Rottingdean (Sussex) in 1854. It notes that "his great friend, George Morphett Esquire, retired there as well".[1]

Philcox was named in an article in the Adelaide Times in December 1856, along with George Morphett, John Grainger, Edmund Trimmer, and George Aston condemning certain land speculators for underhand practices, including conspiring to purchase government land at less than market prices. They were referred to as "land sharks" in the article.[13]

Information on James Philcox's departure from South Australia is in The Register on 10 November 1859, in a report from a meeting in Peachey Belt (later Penfield). The report mentions a dinner given by Philcox at "Smidt's Hotel" (possibly the Engine and Driver in what is now Gawler South, licensed by J.F. Schmidt around that time[14]) before his departure. The report says that Philcox had urged his 13 tenants to turn their attention to the cultivation of vineyards.[15]

Memorial 336/96 shows that he was in Brighton, Sussex in 1855.[1]

Later life and death

Philcox died on 31 March 1893[1] aged 81, with the death registered in the Steyning district in West Sussex.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Extracts from SA General Registry Office (GRO) Information". localwiki. Adelaide Hills. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Immigration to South Australia – Shipping Lists 1836 to 1890: Overseas arrivals to South Australia – 1842". localwiki. Adelaide Hills. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Death index searched by "Ann Philcox", year 1866". Government of the UK. HM Passport Office. General Register Office. GRO Reference: 1866 J Quarter, in STEYNING, Volume 02B, Page 164. Retrieved 23 July 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ "Memorial by the Colonists of South Australia Against the Introductiont of Convicts". South Australian. Vol. VIII, , no. 600. South Australia. 14 February 1845. p. 2. Retrieved 21 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  5. ^ "Immigration to South Australia – Shipping Lists 1836 to 1890: Overseas arrivals to South Australia – 1846". localwiki. Adelaide Hills. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Arrivals". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 21 January 1846. p. 3. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Family Notices". Adelaide Observer. National Library of Australia. 24 January 1846. p. 4. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  8. ^ Brown, Rosemary (March 1989). "The Brunskills of Sandford" (Document). Burnside Historical Society. pp. 24–28. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |access-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |issue= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |volume= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |work= ignored (help)
  9. ^ a b Bowden, Tom (9 October 2013). "The A-Z story of the history behind Adelaide's suburbs". AdelaideNow. The Advertiser. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Place names of South Australia: C". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  11. ^ a b Pocius, Daina (18 August 2014). "Evanston". Playford's Past. Cites Geoffrey H. Manning, Manning’s Place Names of South Australia, Manning, Adelaide, 1990, p.110, and Rodney, Cockburn, South Australia what’s in a name?, Axiom, unknown, 1908 (1990),p.71.
  12. ^ State Library of South Australia. "Morphett Family (Summary record, finding aid, series 2" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |others= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help) See this page for catalogue details.
  13. ^ "Land Agents — Land Speculators — Land Jobbers — Land Sharks — Land Conspirators". Adelaide Times. Vol. XI, no. 1889. South Australia. 11 December 1856. p. 2. Retrieved 21 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "Hotels & Inns in Gawler since 1839". Then and now. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Peachey Belt". South Australian Register. Vol. XXIII, , no. 4080. South Australia. 10 November 1859. p. 3. Retrieved 21 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  16. ^ "Death index searched by "James Philcox", year 1893". Government of the UK. HM Passport Office. General Register Office. GRO Reference: 1893 J Quarter, in STEYNING, Volume 02B, Page 181. Retrieved 23 July 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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