Doctor John McAulay Hamilton - Surgeon Superintendent of a convict ship to N. South Wales

Started by Peter Hamilton Locke on Sunday, June 11, 2017

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Peter Hamilton Locke PRO

6/11/2017 at 8:35 PM

This was John Hamilton's only voyage as Surgeon Superintendent of a convict ship. The prisoners were embarked on the Buffalo between 17th April and 3rd May 1833. A Medical Journal was kept from 17th May to 10th October 1833.........

After embarking the last of the convict women on 3rd May, the Buffalo departed from Portsmouth on 12 May 1833. All the women were confined below in consequence of them being in the way of the working of the ship out of the harbour. They put into Rio de Janeiro on 28th July and on 13th September arrived at King George Sound in Western Australia. Sir Richard Spencer and family came passengers and were to voyage as far as King George Sound.

The Perth Gazette reported in February 1834: The Buffalo arrived at the Sound on the 13th September with Sir Richard Spencer the new Lieutenant Governor; Lady Spencer, and nine children, and eleven servants, chiefly agricultural labourers. Sir Richard brought out some live stock from England with which to stock his own Estate, and other requisites for a settler who sits down on his farm, which is to be his future stay, and that of his family. On his arrival, he found 36 souls forming the Settlement at King George's Sound, composed of two or three settlers and their servants, and the officers and troops sent there for their protection. The Government at Swan River had neglected to send the usual supplies for the troops and when the Buffalo arrived, their rations had been reduced to four oz of peas and half a pound of flour a day, for each person; they had, however, abundance of vegetables, fowls, eggs, pigs etc., Previously to leaving England, Sir Richard had stipulated with the Government, that no prisoners should be sent to the Settlement. During his stay, Doctor Hamilton explored the country in the vicinity of the Sound; he described the soil as being of good quality and made a collection of plants which were later pronounced by Mr. (Richard) Cunningham to embrace a greater variety than can be found elsewhere in the colony. TITLE H. M. S. "Buffalo"

DESCRIPTION The "Buffalo"(originally named the "Hindostan") was built of teak at Calcutta by Bonner and Horsburgh and launched on 4th January 1813. In October 1813 she was bought by the British Navy, renamed and classed as a sixth rater. She served as a convict ship in 1833 before her 1836 voyage to South Australia with Captain John Hindmarsh. She was an important ship in South Australian maritime history, serving many useful purposes before her eventual wrecking on the 28th July, 1840 in a storm at Mercury Bay, New Zealand. [On back of photograph] 'H. M. S. "Buffalo" / Copied from a pen and ink drawing by Lieutenant Y.B. Hutchinson, R.N. (One of the passengers, 1836)

Peter Hamilton Locke PRO

11/3/2020 at 8:06 PM

John Macauley Hamilton R.N.
Convict Ship Surgeon

John Macauley Hamilton was born on Orkney Island in 1799, son of Rev. Gavin Hamilton and Penelope Macauley. [1]

He was appointed assistant surgeon on 13 September 1826.

Surgeon on Buffalo 1833
He was appointed Assistant Surgeon on the convict ship Buffalo on 21st January 1833[6].

The Buffalo departed Portsmouth on 12 May 1833 and arrived in Port Jackson on 5 October 1833 with 178 female prisoners. A Medical Journal was kept from 17th May to 10th October 1833.

Signature of John Macauley Hamilton from the Medical Journal of the voyage of the Buffalo.[4]

Pigot's Directory 1837
In 1837 Pigot's Directory he is listed as Surgeon at Stromness Orkney Island (south end).

1850's
In the 1851 Census John Hamilton resided at Stromness, Orkney with his wife Marion age 42. Others in the house hold included Marion age 18, Gavin age 15, John age 13, Helen Hamilton age 11, Margaret age 9, Katharine age 7, Thomas age 4, Colin age 3 and Jessie age 1. [2]

He was described in The Reminiscences of Doctor John Sebastian Helmcken.....

I saw Dr. Hamilton the medico, a tall quiet well built man - who had a big open sail-boat with which he used to visit patients in the neighbouring islands and of course was a good sailor. I had to leave one of our men with him for axillary abscess, as no one wished to have helpless people aboard. He introduced me to Mrs Ray (Rae), a venerable old lady - very nice and quiet. Dr. John Macaulay Hamilton married Marion, a sister of Dr. John Rae and the couple later joined her brothers Richard and Thomas in Hamilton, Upper Canada. [3]

British Medical Directory 1854
He is listed in the British Medical Directory 1854 Address Stromness, Orkey. M.R.C.S. Edin. 1826; formerly R.N. (Retired).

Canada
The family immigrated to Canada in the 1850's

Death
John Macauley Hamilton died at Hamilton, Ontario Canada in 1872. [5]

Notes and Links

1). John Macauley Hamilton's wife Marion was a sister of John Rae. - Dr. John Rae, the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Association By Dr. Ludvik Prevec, June 2007 J

References
[1] Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950,'database, FamilySearch, John Mccaulay Hamilton, 28 Nov 1799;Hoy and Graemsay, Orkney, Scotland, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 990,502.

[2] Parish: Stromness, ED 3, Page 4, Line: 7, Roll, CSSCT1851 6; Year: 1851 Source Information Ancestry.com. 1851 Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

[3] Blakey-Smith, Dorothy, The Reminiscences of Doctor John Sebastian Helmcken, p.90

[4] Ancestry.com. UK, Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1857. Medical Journal of John M. Hamilton on the voyage of the Buffalo in 1833. The National Archives. Kew, Richmond, Surrey.

[5] Find a Grave

[6] Navy List

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Doctor John McAulay Hamilton - Surgeon Superintendent of a convict ship to N. South Wales

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