James Stormont: 18-20th.Century Summary

Stormont - Surname Database        

“Stormont is a Scottish surname, recorded also in Ulster (Northern Ireland), and in the city of London.

It may be partly French through the suffix of -mont or -mond. Recorded in several spellings including:- Starmont, Storment, Stormont, Stormonth, Stormount, Stormon and possibly Stairmond.

It originates from a place called Stormont in the former county of Peebles, Scotland. The name means the hill (mond or mont), covered by brushwood (storres), and this place was first recorded in the 12th century. After the conquest of England in 1066 various parts of Scotland particularly just north of the English border, were given as land grants to Norman knights by the king of Scotland. This was a form of insurance against attacks from the south, and provided him with the nucleus of a standing army that owed undoubted allegiance.

In Edinburgh the name is usually recorded as Stormouth or Stormonth, in Glasgow it hardly appears at all, whilst in Belfast it is always Stormont. In London there are a variety of spellings including Starmont and Storment. It also appears in France as Stormont, but this is a British Embassy recording from 1844.

According to the Scottish Dictionary of Surnames, the surname is first recorded with that of Richard Stormonth in the barony of Banff in 1507. However surnames were in use in Scotland several centuries before this date, and presumably earlier examples will exist, probably in unpublished charters.”

Source:- http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Stormont

India Office

1777 - 1789 -  the Court of Directors of the East India Company sent medical servants, amongst whom was Surgeon-Major John Stormont, whose qualifications had no doubt been amply certified by a medical board, before which he would have passed an examination, besides his probably possessing a diploma from the University of Edinburgh as M. D. Thereafter, employed in British India hospitals at Dinifar and Moorshedabar in Bengal, India.  John Stormont married Janet Guthrie in Calcutta, 1777 and their children were: Elizabeth (1778), Selina (1782), Anne (1783) and James (c.1780-1788).

Noted:

Roll of the Indian Medical, 1615-1930 shows
Surgeon John (James) P. Stormonth:-
Stormonth, John (b, c). Surg. Mate of 'Winchelsea,', 1761-64, lost on Gasper Sands, 20 Mar. 1764. (The East Indiaman was lost near the mouth of the Bengal River, India.[4]),
Assistant Surgeon (A.S.) 2 Apr. 1764 ;  Bengal.Consultations (B.Cons.).
Resigned on account of ill-health, 2 Jan. 1766.  
Surg. 'Kent,' 1766-1769.
Reappointed A.S.  25 Nov. 1768.
Surg.... 1777.
Resigned with leave to return, 29 Dec. 1788 ; (Medical Service) M.S. Army Lists Nov. 1788).  
Went home as Surgeon of the 'Glatton'. Did not rejoin.
Struck off 1793.
Dodwell and Miles East India Medical List. call him P. Stormonth and gives date of first commission as 25th Nov. 1768.
Service Army Lists Medical Bengal (S.A.L.M.B.) gives date of first commissionas 24th Nov. 1769.
First name sometimes given as James in records.

Pitscandly:- Elizabeth Farquliar, who was co-heiress with her two sisters, of Colonel Farquhar of Mounie, in Aberdeenshire, acquired the estate of Pitscandly in the second decade of the 18th century. She married James Stormonth, younger of Kinclune, in Kingoldrum.

In or about 1721 she executed a deed of entail of Pitscandly. The family lawyer, who took the copy of the deed away with him, died, and the family have never recovered it, and Mrs Farquhar, the proprietor, in consequence, is unable to verify the date. She had nine children to her husband. He followed Prince Charlie in 1745, was taken prisoner, condemned to death, and through the influence of his wife's sister. Christian, who had married a Mr Macneil, a nephew of the Duke of Argyle, his sentence was commuted to banishment, and he died in one of the West India Islands, as did also two of his younger sons.

Elizabeth Farquhar died in 1764. A flat tombstone in the churchyard of Rescobie, with the initials E. F., and the date 1764, marks the spot where she was interred.

She was succeeded by her son Thomas, who died unmarried, and was succeeded by his younger brother, John, who had been for nearly thirty years a surgeon in the East India Company's service. "- While he was in India he retained his father's name of "Stormonth," but on succeeding to Pitscandly he had, by the deed of entail, to assume his mother's name, "Farquhar." By his first wife, a Miss Guthrie of Craigie, Dundee, he had two sons and four daughters. His wife and two sons died in India, and the only descendant of the daughters is John Koby Leifchild, Esq., now residing in Kensington.”

• Between 1764-1789 - John Stormonth appears as Surgeon Major and Assistant Surgeon, Surgeon Major and chief Surgeon, all posts held with the E.I.C. by a John Stormont, progressively held in Dinapore and in Kolkata (Calcutta) with the EIC in British India (Presidency of Bengal).
• John Stormont’s children’s names recur in Jas Lancelot Stormont family Australia, particularly Bessie and George, names which may be in common with Kathleen’s family

British military regiments which served the EIC in India included the 71st Regiment of Foot.

• Thomas Stormont
• Samuel Stormont
• John Stormont, born Dundee, Angus, Scotland (1839-1849) served in the 71st Regiment of Foot / 70th. Regiment of Foot. Discharged aged 30.
• Another EIC member in 1880s was Alexander Stormont as Superintendent of Cotton in certain districts and he married Ruth Guthrie and their children were born in Bombay.

The above relationship to James Stormont has NOT been determined to date.

It is of interest in that Jas Lance Stormont claims to have been born in Hardwar (sic.), (Haridwar), Bengal, India and also signifies he is a surgeon on the death certificate of his daughter Bessie in 1857. .

Persons by the name James Stormont who settled in New South Wales 1800 - 1850.

19th. Century

1. 1810 - James L Stormont (1810-1893), born Forfarshire, Scotland known to have died in Victoria in c.1893.

2. 1815 - James Stormont (1815 - 1873), also from Forfarshire known to have died in Victoria in 1873, aged 58.

3. 1823 - James Lancelot Stormont origin Belfast arrived Melbourne/Geelong per Dale Park in 1844.  
4. He appears to be the same person as one who returned to Australia with wife Kathleen below, with his age adjusted. He may also be the person who married Jessie Nicholson in Bombala NSW and who died in 1902, Hayden’s bog, Victoria, aged 80.

1. 1829 - James Lancelot Stormont of origin in Hardwar, Uttarchad, India, (current day Hardiwar, Uttar Pradesh), and if so, he may have been schooled in England, or returned to family in Belfast.
2. He may have left Victoria (Melbourne) and returned about 1857/58, and on return is recorded as a Surgeon, (possibly meant) Surveyor / Civil Engineer.
3. He married 17 year old Kathleen Sarah (Wade) Russell, in Belfast (1857) and in Australia she bore him 4 children (2 infants deceased).

5. 1858 - James Stormont (1858-1xxx):- Note: 1866 Victorian Coastal Passenger lists shows a James Stormont (aged 8 yrs) arrived via vessel “Champion of the Seas”.

6. 1868 Jan. 13:- James Lancelot Stormont (1835-1898), farmer, aged 33,  from Forfarshire, Scotland married Barbara Brown (aged 22), daughter of merchant Thomas and Mary in Hobart, Tasmania. (index #: 37 1863 532). They travelled and lived in America before returning to the Monaro NSW. James died following the unfortunate death of two daughters.
7. 1869 - 1877 - J. L . Stormont either owner or rider of “Miss Chumpkins” a horse that appears in Steeplechase and Trotting events around Victoria throughout this period. This familiarity with horses may endorse that he was the same person appointed Inspector of Stock in Nov. 1877 (Government Gazette).

1. “Chumpkins” a term sometimes used for uncategorised natives of  Britain. Also it was a pseudonym used by provocative letter writers who submitted to newspapers in Australia, particularly those of Windsor and Randwick NSW and Melbourne, Victoria.
2. 14 July 1876 - newspaper article - SIR,-Are you acquainted with Chumpkins? No! Then permit me to introduce him. The illustrious individual above mentioned was a terror to the Civil Engineers of the Ballarat Water Commission, and fought with untiring zeal to make Wendouree a Lake. He is a plain matter-of-fact, man, possessed of plenty of good common sense, and not afraid of saying what he thinks in good round English. Last Monday this worthy, accompanied by myself, took a stroll to the Park,...(Albert Park, Melbourne)

19th Century Timeline for various persons by surname Stormont

1800’s

1810’s

• 1819 - John Stormont born Dundee, Forfar, Scotland. military Enlistment 1837 discharge 1849. (Reg# 2081 - Sergeant) 1st Bn 71st. Regt of Foot. (In New South Wales / Govn. McQuarie). Source: UK, Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Soldier Service Records, 1760-1920.

1820’s

1820 -  Kumbh Mela - Quote:  A stampede left 430 dead during the 1820 mela. Subsequently, the Company government undertook extensive and expensive repair works on the bathing ghats. This move reportedly impressed the natives. The Asiatic Journal quotes one pilgrim as: "May your rule be blessed! May your reign extend for ages to come! You have produced a magnificent kumbh! You have turned the kali yuga into age of truth and justice!".[Wikipedia]

1821 - Birth of Jemima Wade or Bloomfield (Brookfield) Boyd. place of origin Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland.

1823 -  James Lancelot Stormont stated place of origin Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland.

1825 - 14 June - Foundation date for Van Diemen's Land, a colony established in its own right; its name was officially changed to Tasmania on 1 January 1856.

1827 - Foundation date for Western Australia

1829 - Foundation date for Swan River Colony 

1830’s

1830-50 - Inland exploration - "The Overlanders"

1836 - Foundation date for South Australia 

• Robert Russell surveyed the site for a new city of Melbourne, while his horses rested before undertaking a journey to the goldfields.

James Lancelot Stormont may have completed an apprenticeship as “wheelwright” the occupation, according to passenger shipping details, probably in his native place of Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland.

1837 - Civil Registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1837, key events in a person’s life were  typically previously recorded by the Church.

1839 - June 22 - Birth of Kathleen Sara Wade Russell 

- View ImageView Record - 

Baptism Kathleen Sarah Wade Russell; 4 June 1854: Gender Female; Record Type Baptism; Baptism Date 4 Jun 1854; Baptism Place Barnsbury St Andrew Islington, England. Father James Russell. Mother Sarah Russell.

1840’s

1840 - Transportation of convicts to eastern colonies abolished.

1841 - New Zealand separated from New South Wales.

1842 - British Province of South Australia established and made a crown colony in 1861.

• England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1842 > Q4-Oct-Nov-Dec > S > 1. BMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915 / 1842 - Record for Jemima Wade / sub registrar district: York Vol 23 / p 665.
• London. Chadwick Report found: “there was a link between poor living standards and the spread and growth of disease. He recommended that the government should intervene by providing clean water, improving drainage systems and enabling local councils to clear away refuse from homes and streets. To persuade the government to act, Chadwick argued that the poor conditions endured by impoverished and ailing labourers were preventing them from working efficiently.”

1843 ~ Belfast street directory record for a James Stormont, Painter and Glazier, 50 North Street, Belfast.

1843 - December - Robert Stormont born in Belfast, son of James and Jemima.

1844 - Settlement on the Yarra Bend and hills of present day Melbourne was then an established Township.

• 30th. February 1844 -The “Dale Park” a barque of 401 tons, under Captain John J Coombes, set sail from port of Cork, Ireland with passengers from the northern counties of Ireland. James Lancelot Stormont from Belfast was amongst the assisted emigrant passengers onboard and he was appointment to "schoolmaster" during the voyage and paid 5 pounds.

• The bounty emigrants were selected to be of a class ‘desirable’ for the colony and were preselected by settlers for employment of specific trades and services   And James L Stormont was a “wheelwright”.

1844 - March - May - Geelong Meetings regarding submissions on Separation from New South Wales.

• 21st. July 1844 ~ Arrivals: James (aged 21) with a pregnant companion Jemima (aged 23) and her son Robert (aged 18 mths.) disembarked after 113 days at sea, on the Hobson’s Bay or the Williamstown dock in Port Phillip Bay, New South Wales then proceeded to Geelong on Corio Bay south of Melbourne, (Victoria).

• July 1844 - Elizabeth Selina Stormont (1844-1894) was born aboard ship in Port Phillip Bay or off Hobson's Bay.

1845-48 - Ireland’s potato blight:- The Great Famine or the Great Hunger was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. Many families and the poor including orphans were assisted passage to Australia, Canada and America.

• 1845 - James Lancelot Stormont worked under contract for William Roadknight who was building his property and stock portfolio with his brother Thomas. They later operated a land and stock agency in Geelong. James fulfilled his assigned engagement with William Roadknight of Gulgong, after a term of 12 months at wages of £25 .0.0, per annum with rations.

1846 - January ~ first recognised gold find in the colony at Castambul, north-east of Adelaide, by Mr Tyrrell, the captain of the Montacute Copper Mine.

This predates the New South Wales discovery of gold by John Lister and brothers William and James Tom, in 1851, for which Hargraves received a reward. Hargraves, a veteran of the California goldfields, returned to Australia in January 1851 and travelled to central western New South Wales in search of gold. There he met John Lister and brothers William and James Tom, teaching them how to 'pan' and 'cradle' for gold. (Wikipedia Jun 10, 2011).

11 February 1846 - a great storm swept through Melbourne.

• 1846 - Beyond the end of his assigned term of engagement, James may have assisted William and Thomas Roadknight’s enterprises by learning the process and use of equipment for conducting surveys and if so he may be the same James Lancelot Stormont practicing as a Surveyor around Sale in 1860s.
• Marriage records indicate one Elizabeth Boyd married George Frederick Grayson in 1846 and they lived in Ballarat.

• Was Elizabeth a widow and / or mother of Sinclair?
• Was Elizabeth Boyd related to Jemima Boyd ?
• Did they share a dwelling and care for Robert and Elizabeth while James and Jemima worked for William Roadknight.

1847 - Ireland - “Black 47”, the year famine took the worst death toll in Ireland. The British  Overlords’ relief strategy was improperly considered, with inadequate public work wages when prices of food and grain increased dramatically. Extreme hunger, disease and destitution mounted exponentially and overburdened workhouses were closed to new admissions. resulting in an escalation of desperate criminal acts.

• May 1847 : Death of Daniel O’Connell MP., who has pleaded within February ‘47, to provide support with grain to Ireland.

• 25 June - Melbourne proclaimed a city (gazetted 5 February 1848).

1847 - "Sinclair" Stormont (about 1847- ) born in England, both parents Protestant.

Geelong and Districts Database - Record id: 78943. Index entry: Stormont, "Sinclair". Group ID: 54; Group: Potpourri DB. ref:VPRS 1189 / P0 / 222 55/R16589 Inward Registered Correspondence 1 / Churches (Clerical)

• Return of Children who have left the Geelong Protestant Orphan Asylum since its establishment in 1855 (details provided by Helen Doxford Harris).

1848 - California Gold Rush created large scale production of gold and news of these events stimulated great interest in Australia and prospectors came from there and began marking out the gold fields by 1851.

• One American was an associate of James Lancelot Stormont (see - Law Report 1860 -” I had a mate, D. Laby an American - who worked with me. He advised me to go into quartz. He went to California.”

James Stormont is recorded as a ‘coach builder’ in 1848 (Geelong Trades & Businesses, Geelong Advertiser 1840-1851) and may have aspired to doing further training/work experience in the field as a land surveyor, a profession in demand.

• Geelong Trades & Business directory lists James Stormont as Coach builder in 1847-1848.

1849: climate extremes of drought and floods.

* 31 August - A snowstorm blankets Melbourne with ~ 10 - 30cm ~ snow accumulating in the streets. "The Argus" newspaper, reported on the following day that on ~ August 31, 1849, the first big snow event in Melbourne since European settlement".

- "Yesterday morning inhabitants of Melbourne were astonished at beholding the streets and housetops covered with snow to the depth of several inches, being the first occurrence of the kind which has happened since the existence of the town.".......The fall of snow was welcomed by our native-born youth, some of whom, at the age of twenty years, had never seen such a thing in their existence," the paper reported of the currency lads and lasses.

On the 28 Nov. 1849 a “Great flood” occurred in Melbourne. The wettest year in Melbourne’s history seems to have occurred in 1849, and included the wettest day in the extended record, when 7 inches (177 mm) was recorded on the 27th of November. The Government Gazette table reported rain from the 25th to the 28th of that month, with gales on the 27th.

• Newspapers at the time wrote that the event caused “Appalling Destruction of Life and Property”, claiming that the Yarra River “attained an unprecedented height” on the 28th (The Courier, 8 December 1849, p 2, link: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2964223).
• Flooding killed several residents and thousands of sheep, creating havoc for much of the settlement (The Courier, 8 December 1849).
• http://joannenova.com.au/2019/05/178-years-of-australian-rain-has-nothing-to-do-with-co2-worst-extremes-1849-1925-1950/

• 1849 - Sydney received about 27 inches less rain than normal.
• 1850 - Severe drought, with big losses of livestock across inland New South Wales and around the western rivers region.

1850’s

1850’s - James remained in Geelong until about September 1850, as a relative pauper at a time many settlers had difficulties maintaining a living wage.

In social gathering places, there was much talk about separation of Victoria from NSW. Excitement was growing with the discovery of minerals and the diggings in California and goldfields in South Australia which opened in the early 1850s.

1851 – “Surface Gold first discovered at Black Hill. “The first quartz crusher on Black Hill was a manual crusher built by James Lancelot Stormont in 1852. It may have looked like the two-person crusher in the centre of this photo (taken in Whroo around 1858). Stormont used his crusher for only 12 weeks, then broke it up to use the timber for shaft lining in a much more lucrative deep lead mine down on the flat. (Source: State Library of Victoria)”. Neil Huybregts on “Facebook 2020 - Friends of Black Hill Reserve”
1851‐1852 – Black Hill Quartz Crushing Company commenced shallow alluvial and open cut  mining.
1853‐1875 – Deep alluvial lead mining and underground and open cut mining developed.
1854‐1918 – Major mining of quartz reefs in the underlying Ordovician bedrock. Extensive  clearing of native vegetation continued, leaving the landscape treeless.

• 11 Jan 1850 - Elizabeth Boyd (b. 1834- ) Departure: Plymouth. Arrival: 11 Jan 1850 - Port Phillip Bay, Australia - source:- Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923

• 22nd. June 1850 - Christina Stormont departed Leith on the vessel “Young England” steerage to Adelaide. - Argus Passenger Index 1846 (microfiche - Linc Devonport).
• Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1847 -1851), Wednesday 26 June 1850, page 4 IRELAND. AWFUL DESTITUTION.- Published stories described in graphic detail the distress of people starving in Nenagh and Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland

5 August 1850 - Australian Colonies Government Act receives royal assent in Britain, providing for the separation from NSW of the Port Phillip District, to be known as Victoria (as well as for the eventual self-government of the Australian colonies). This does not reach fruition in Australia until July 1851.

August 1850 - Geelong- H.M.Gaol:- For some reason, perhaps celebrations and alcohol, Jemima Stormont was overwhelmed and arrested then sent to Melbourne gaol where two medical practitioners (J.Clark & W. Morgan) examined her and declared her to be of unsound mind. They recommending Jemima would benefits from treatments at Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum. This recommendation was approved by Sarah T Haslett M.D. who had been attendant on her prior to admission.

• 24th. August 1850  - James signed a petition for Jemima’s admission to residential care at Yarra Bend asylum and the courts and medical examiners concurred.
• 17th September 1850 - Jemima’s removed from Melbourne gaol en-route to Yarra Bend Asylum.
• 19th September 1850 - Jemima’s admission and residency at Yarra Bend Asylum began.
• Divorce was not available in Victoria, Australia until 1861.
• James Stormont was among the first alluvial miners on the diggings at Black Hill and Rotten Gully near Ballarat, Victoria.

• Sunday 3rd. Nov. 1850 - The barque Young England, arrived from Leith (408 tons, under master Robinson - dep. 22nd June). Passengers For Adelaide and Port Phillip included Christina Stormont in steerage. (Refer South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), Monday 4 November 1850, page 2 - SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. / ARRIVED).

1847 - 1850 -  Sinclair Stormont (maybe aka David St Clair ) born in England, arrived either as an orphan or with one or both parents, drawn to the goldfields and then settled around Geelong, Victoria in custody of James and Jemima Stormont. This occurred certainly before August 1850 (Jemima’s admission date),

1851

• 1st. July 1851 - Port Phillip district (1834) duly separated from the colony of New South Wales to become the colony of Victoria.  There followed debate as to who was the founder of Melbourne and it has been carried on since the early claims of John Pascoe Fawkner to this title. A.G.L. Shaw points out in “A history of the Port Phillip District: Victoria before separation”, the argument stems from "confusion between the idea of establishing a pastoral settlement in the Port Phillip District and that of establishing a village or township on the site of Melbourne." (p.55).

• August 15, 1851 - Black Hill  -  a formal proclamation was issued by Mr. Latrobe, declaring that all gold, whether found on private or Crown lands, belonged to Her Majesty, and anyone disturbing the soil in search for such gold, without having been so authorised by the Government, would be prosecuted, criminally and civilly. Three days later regulations for the issue of licenses to dig were published.

1851, Friday, 15th August. Argus (18 August 1851, 2/4-5): GEELONG - reports on the Buninyong goldfield near Geelong, and notes the the new gold field being the one engrossing topic.

• “The discovery of gold… will be productive of immense good, so long as peace and order prevail, ...let all possible publicity be given to the great fact, that an unlimited gold field exists in this, the finest colony in the Southern ...Our gold fields are in close proximity to our ports, one within four hours walk of Melbourne, another within one day’s walk of Geelong, and others within one hard day’s ride of either town.”

Geelong Advertiser 14 October 1851, 2/2: The Diggings:

Australian National University- School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics ,

• The population of male adults is immense, and if there were the usual proportion of women and children, Ballarat would be as populous as the metropolis was when the census was taken.
• There are, we should say, about a thousand cradles at work, within a mile of the Golden Point, at Ballarat.
• There are about fifty near the Black Hill, about a mile and a half distant, and
• at the Brown Bill Diggings there are about three or four hundred more;
• hundreds on the ground not yet set at work and allowing five for each cradle, the population within a radius of five miles must be a …

“The viral spread of enthusiasm for gold ..life changing potential is most readily apparent in the population statistics for this era.        In 1851, Victoria had a population of 77,000 people. That number skyrocketed to 237,000 by 1854 and 411,000 by 1857.

o        By 1861, the population of Victoria was 540,000… half the total population of Australia.
o        About a quarter of this meteoric multitude lived in Melbourne and the rest were scattered across the goldfields.
o        In his official account for 1853, Victorian Government immigration agent Edward Bell reported that 77,734 unassisted immigrants had arrived that year: 33,032 from the United Kingdom, 35,834 from other colonies and 8,868 from other countries.
o        In addition to this, 14,578 people had arrived through the government assistance schemes that had been introduced in the late 1830s to rid Great Britain of its surplus labour and supply the colonies with an economically advantageous mix of settlers.”

1852, March 1852 - James L. Stormont moved to the goldfields in Ballarat and built a quartz-crushing machine constructed by August of 1852  operated at Black Hill which produced 10oz. gold per 20 ton. “It was worked by hand I made it myself” until it was cut up about end January, 1853 as the timber was wanted. He had a mate D.Laby an American who worked with him.  He continued alluvial mining thereafter as it had better results and continued at least though to 1856.

• 5 Nov 1852 - James Stormont (Baker), birth year abt. 1810-15 (age: 42) arrived Port Phillip Bay from London, aboard the ship "Ballarat""Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839–1923"
•  Note also aboard ship “Ballarat” was a John "Sinclair" (age: 26), Warehouseman; Port Phillip Bay from London.

1853 - The summer of 1853 had been dry.

• 15th. February 1853  - A person of the name James Stormont (Junior), (age: 18 - born c 1835), arrived in Hobart on the 15th. February 1853. His origin was Forfarshire, Scotland and a farmer, possibly a relative of another Stormont family in Tasmania as he may have become the spouse of Barbara Brown. He does not appear to have moved to the Victorian goldfields rather he goes to America before returning to the Monaro district of  NSW.

William McLachlan discovered alluvial gold at Pleasant Creek in May 1853, but the yield was not in sufficient volumes to attract much interest, as the Ballarat and Bendigo fields were known to be giving better results, and had already established the infrastructure to support the miners.

• James Lancelot Stormont, of Sandhurst, a civil and mining engineer, had sworn by affidavit, that in August 1852, he invented and publicly used for six weeks, on the Black Hill, at Ballarat, and for six weeks at Rotten Gully, Ballarat, a machine for crushing quartz and minerals, with stampers which had heads circular in form, and which had a continuous horizontal motion imparted to them during the operation of rising and falling.

Gold Rush

1854  -“By May 1854, Ballarat was under siege. The wet season had come early. The summer of 1853 had been dry, and now the heavens had opened themselves upon an impermeable earth. Wind blowing hard for three weeks, Thomas Pierson recorded in his diary. Charles Evans wrote of the dull cloudy atmosphere and almost incessant rain. Mining operations had practically ceased.” Reference: The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright. 2013. Text Publishing, Melbourne, Victoria (extract) -

• 28 July 1854 - Death of William Stormont, Seaman,  registered in Hobart, Tasmania. He maybe the spouse of Jane and father of William J, Jane and John Stormont.

1854  3 December - Eureka Stockade 

~ Ballaarat, Victoria.

Reference: The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright. 2013. Text Publishing, Melbourne, Victoria (extract) -

“At 3am on Sunday 3 December 1854, a band of British troops and police stormed the rough barricades recently erected by a mob of armed miners. A few days earlier, the diggers had burned their mining licences in protest against the tyrannical rule of local authorities and pledged, in the words of their hastily appointed leader, Peter Lalor, to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties. The simple fortification of timber slabs, barrels and upturned carts was intended to protect unlicensed miners from arrest.

In the twenty-minute armed conflict that followed the surprise military attack, at least four soldiers and twenty-seven civilians were killed. The rebel stronghold was taken, and their blue and white flag—bearing the symbol of the Southern Cross—hauled to the ground. Following the short-lived battle, authorities continued to harass people within close proximity to the barricades, fearing that renegades might be hiding in surrounding tents. Homes and businesses were torched, suspected rebels and their protectors were pursued and cut down, hundreds were arrested.

This event we have come to know as the Eureka Stockade.”

It is assumed the children Robert and Elizabeth Stormont and their cousin "Sinclair" did not accompany James during times of rough travel by coach and tent living across central Victoria’s goldfields. They may  have remained in care or boarded in Geelong or Ballarat or Sandhurst. Robert Stormont by age 11 may have attended school at Geelong. He does not seem to be working with his father and was probably prepared by age 12 (1857) to undertaking a carpenter’s apprenticeship, the trade referenced in the 1870s in Deniliquin, New South Wales.

• Inconsistencies in later references to Jemima suggests her children had no contact and little recall of their birth mother. Robert and Elizabeth may have been raised with a foster mother possibly the mysterious Elizabeth Celina Boyd, who could also be the mother of “Sinclair”. Elizabeth Boyd may have stayed in Geelong about 1855 in Victoria and married (it is not known).

• "Sinclair Stormont” aged 8, was one of the first orphans admitted into the newly built Geelong Orphan Asylum completed in late 1855. This indicated James was not maintaining a place in either Geelong or the goldfields so may have left. See Comment for orphans.

1855 - A James L Stormont and companion (possibly Elizabeth Celina Boyd appear at Whipstick diggings (source:- ).

1855, 16 Oct. - Under an article in the Law Reports of  the “Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 - 1856), Thursday 13 December 1855, page 3”

• - reports that on the 16th. October 1855, at Mount Egerton Hotel, hearing of John Lemetre and Henry Dalles v. Henry Caughey & Co. - Held before arbitrators Messrs. (reads) James Launet, Stormont, (Jas Lanct. Stormont (sic)) & William M. Harrison; umpire: W. M. French etc. (Guided by Mr. Lane the resident magistrate). See Comment for Decision:

1856 - Whipstick diggings

“Compulsory registration of birth, deaths and marriages was not established in New South Wales untill 1856, although it began in Van Dieman’s Land in 1838. Deaths were patchily recorded in Western Australia from 1841, South Australia from 1842 and Victoria from 1853. Isolated, illegitimate and births among itinerants must have passed unregistered.” - source: Illness in Colonial Australia. F.B.Smith. 2011. Australian Scholarly Publishing. North Melbourne.

1856 - Court transcript makes it evident that in 1856, a man known as James Lancelot Stormont moved between Ballarat and Bendigo and continued to build a reputation as a C.E. (civil and mining engineer).

• 1856: Law Reports for the Supreme Court “Stevens vs King”, James Lancelot Stormont, of Sandhurst, a civil and mining engineer, had sworn by affidavit, in the hearing of a case regarding copyright to the stamping machine.

• A James Stormont appears in the Bendigo district with a partner and a child. If this was James L.Stormont the partner may have been Elizabeth Celina Boyd. Whipstick diggings. (?).

Robert would have been 14 and by then apprenticed in Echuca while "Sinclair Stormont” and/or David St.Clair Stormont was placed in an orphanage in December. Elizabeth was than 11 years old.

• Some researchers suggest David St.Clair Stormont was born in Victoria in 1856; others on acncestry.com suggest between 1846-1850 and state he did not know his mother first name. If David is the same person as Sinclair, then he was born in England about 1847 and arrived in Victoria either in 1848 with an orphan intake or else before Dec. 1855, at which time Geelong Orphan Asylum admission records state both Sinclair’s parents were deceased.

There were other persons of similar name arrived in the 1850s.

• 1856 - Mrs. Jane Stormont aged 42, from Scotland, together with William James Stormont age 22 (born 1834), John, aged 14 (born c.1842) and Jane, aged 17 (born c.1839) arrive aboard the ship “Cheviot” - John Morrison (captain) - Victoria Inwards Passenger Lists (1839-1923), Unassisted passenger lists (1852-1923) Record Series Number (VPRS): 947. Did they continue on to Tasmania?
• 1856 - Electoral rolls Railway division - William James Stormont painter and decorator advertises for work from Spencer Street. He partners with a Mr. Wallace for a short period then appears to go to Tasmania and dies there shortly after his marriage.

1857 - Whipstick diggings

1857 - 9th April, 1857 - At a public meeting convened by the chairman of the committee appointed by J. Panton, Esq., Warden, at Phillips's Gully, Whipstick, the proposed resolutions were unanimously carried, upon the 9th April, 1857 :

— Mr. Stormont was a speaker to this committee, formed to determine how to build a reservoir and store water and how to manage water distribution.

1857 15 June,  - Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918), Mon 15 June 1857, page 2.

- THE WHIPSTICK and PHILLIPS'S GULLY.

“We have been furnished with the following resolutions, passed by the miners at the new diggings in the Whipstick, and we are gratified to observe such indications of co-operation amongst them. The intelligence concerning this new place is very favourable. It is said that many claims yield from one to six pennyweights to the bucket of stuff. The population is increasing and gold is found in various places in the vicinity. The letter of our correspondent, which we subjoin, gives detailed particulars, which will be found of interest.”

• At a public meeting convened by the chairman of the committee appointed by J. Panton, Esq., Warden, at Phillips's Gully, Whipstick, the following resolutions were unanimously carried, upon the 9th April, 1857 :—

1. Proposed by Mr. Gilman, seconded by Mr. Cook : — That reservoirs or dams are indispensably necessary, and the Committee be requested to choose the site or sites best adapted.
2. Proposed by Mr. Stormont, seconded by Mr. Emmett :— That each party of four and each party of two or three at present resident here, contribute two men's labour respectively towards making and completing the proposed dams or reservoirs,
3. Proposed by Mr. Stormont, seconded by Mr. Phillips :— That all parties who shall contribute their labour, shall hold a vested interest in and to the water to be contained in the said dams or reservoirs, and that their names be recorded by the Committee in a document kept by them for reference hereafter ; and that if the parties or party so registered leave the said Phillips' Gully diggings, it shall and may be lawful for them or him to convey their right and interest in and to the said dams or reservoirs, in writing, to whom they may think proper.
4. Proposed by Mr. Stormont, seconded by Mr. Lay : — That any person or party whose names are not registered with the Committee, shall not be allowed to use the water contained in the dams or reservoirs, for other than culinary purposes, unless each party of four pay to the chairman of the Committee the sum of £2, and each party of two or three the sum of £1, or perform work to their respective value, in repairing, altering, or cleaning out the said dams or reservoirs, as the Committee may appoint.
5. Proposed by Mr. Stormont, seconded by Mr. Rennie :— That no person or persons be allowed to sluice from the water contained in the said dams or reservoirs to the detriment of others, nor allow the debris or tailings from tubs or cradles to flow into the water in said dams or reservoirs.
P. J. EMMETT, Chairman. ( FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. )
Whipstick, June 11th, 1857.

1857 Aug. - Pleasant Creek - more extensive prospecting and mining occurred at what became known as Commercial Street, Pleasant Creek.

1857 Aug. - According to information on the death certificate of child Bessie, James Lancelot Stormont married Kathleen Sara Wade Russell in 1857, Belfast, Ireland. Kathleen aged 17, (b.1839) states she is the daughter of a London barrister (sic). Source: Victorian death certificate Bessie 1857 and George Frederick Stormont (1872).

• Early steamship (1852) could travel Southampton - Melbourne voyage in 90-110 days. Thereby James Stormont per Dale Park, may have returned UK and come back to the goldfields, in a minimum cycle of 6 months -  eg. April to October, 1857.
• This makes the period between April 1857 and birth of Bessie on 9 Oct. 1857, the more probable time of travel, or is one of these events in 1857 involving a different J.L.Stormont.

1857 Oct. 9 *- Birth of Bessie Stormont daughter of James Lancelot and Kathleen Stormont nee Russell at the Whipstick diggings. Reg # 17077 -  Sandhurst. Require copy of Birth Certificate also.

1857 Oct. 19. - Pleasant Creek - The Post Office opened on 19 October 1857 and the settlement was later named Stawell. The mining population of the Stawell field remained relatively small (averaging 200 or less) until 1857 when a series of new alluvial gold discoveries were made.

1857 Nov 25 * - available Victoria Death certificate:- Bessie Stormont died an infant 25th. Nov. 1857, aged 47 days, Surgeon’s daughter namely James Lancelot Stormont and mother Kathaleen (sic.) Russell. Reg # 7124 - Sandhurst. James is then resident on the Whipstick diggings, District of Bendigo.

• “Doctor’s were struck by the prominence in the Colonies of diarrhoea and dysentry as infant killers, compared with Home...1857 was an exceptional epidemic year with 47 deaths compared to 10 in 1858..His alarm echoed doctor’s alarm at Home: they discovered infant diarrhoea as a serious killer in 1856, coinciding with a sudden rise in medical practitioner’s public assertiveness”
• quote:  F.B Smith, The People’s Health 1830-1910. London. 1990. P. 85.
• (also in Illness in Colonial Australia. pp. 33)

1858 - Whipstick diggings

1858 - birth of a second child also named Bessie Stormont to James Lancelot(t) and Catherine Russell  (sic.) at Whipstick. Reg. # 19659.

• 08 Mar 1858 - also a child was born to James Stormont, shepherd, and Margaret Grant near Ross, Tasmania.

In 1858 diggers opened the Great Western goldfield, which was worked by some 9,000 prospectors. The prospecting spread to nearby Deep Lead, about 6 kilometres to northwest, and it was reported that at the height of the rush there were over 25,000 people in the area. At the same time, shafts were being sunk around Big Hill, becoming known as the Quartz Reefs. Much alluvial gold was found in the area but the 'fossicking' petered out by 1859.

The Medical Act 1858 - After a lengthy campaign to abolish quackery, the Medical Act 1858 established the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom (later the General Medical Council) and some control over the syllabus and those who could examine students.

The act required the council to appoint a registrar who was responsible for keeping an up-to-date record of those registered to practice. The registrar was also required to publish the list annually. The act gave powers to the council to remove registered medical practitioners from the list if they were judged to have been ‘guilty of infamous conduct in any professional respect’.

1859 

- Queensland separated from New South Wales.

• 1859 - Jessie Elizabeth Nicholson (1859-1927) future wife of Jas Stormont, born in Aston near Bombala, New South Wales
• 23 Feb. 1859. Argus, Melbourne missing person advertisements - “For James Stormont, late baker, Aberdeen. Wanted. W. Duthrie, 119 Collins St. West. Melbourne.

Post Office opened at Quartz Reef, Pleasant Creek on 1 June 1859.

• 3rd. November 1859 - Case “Stevens vs King” - Breach charged against the Defendant was his sale on 3rd. November 1859, at Melbourne, of a machine made in imitation of and adopting the principle and several of the details of the plaintiff's patented invention.

"Sinclair" Stormont left the Geelong Protestant Orphan Asylum on 12 Dec. 1859 and apprenticed to a Mr. Underwood, possibly a carpenter.

• See:- Geelong and Districts Database - Record id: 78943. Index entry: Stormont, "Sinclair". Group ID: 54; Group: Potpourri DB. ref:VPRS 1189 / P0 / 222 55/R16589 Inward Registered Correspondence 1 / Churches (Clerical) Return of Children who have left the Geelong Protestant Orphan Asylum since its establishment in 1855 (details provided by Helen Doxford Harris).

1860’s 

- Mining and its associated industries continued to be a major driving activity in the region and a range of secondary industry, mostly concerned with supplying the needs of the mines, had arisen.

• 1860 - 2 April -  LAW REPORTS for the Supreme Court. Before Chief Justice Sir William Stawell, Mr. Justice Barry, Mr Justice Pohlman. “Stevens vs King”:

Transcripts referenced for the first time James Lancelot Stormont of Sandhurst, a civil and mining engineer, who used a machine for crushing quartz and minerals for six weeks at Black Hill near Ballarat, and for six weeks at Rotten Gully, Ballarat etc. (The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Tue 3 Apr 1860  Page 6).

• “Mr. Stormont, engineer, was recalled to give his professional opinion whether the descriptions and drawings of the American machine were such that the machines could be constructed from them by machine makers of common intelligence. He deemed them clear and sufficient”. ( The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) - Fri 1 Jun 1860 / Page 3  LAW REPORT).

• 1860: Sands Melbourne City Directory Stormont, W.J. house painter, glazier and decorator, Cremorne and Wellington Streets, Rd. This is William James Stormont who returned to Tasmania and passed away shortly after his marriage.

1861

- Pleasant Creek - Stawell. In 1861, the township was renamed to honour Sir William Stawell (1815–89), the Chief Justice of Victoria resulting in the name of the Pleasant Creek post office becoming "Stawell".

• SEP 1861 - STORMONT, GEO Ship: LIGHTNING; Arrival :  Age: 29; Destination: OTAGO NEW ZEALAND; Master: CLARKE JAMES; Outward Passengers index. Film Ref date: SEP 1861; Page of list: 2.

1861 - Divorce was not available in Victoria, Australia until 1861.

1862 - Victoria Rates Book shire of Stawell (District Roads Board - Assessment for the Year 1862) shows  - L Stormont - Quartz Reef - dwelling valued at 20 pounds rates 10 shillings.

25th. January 1862 - Saturday Newspaper Empire (Sydney, N.S.W. (1850 - 1875 ) - “Mrs. QUAIN the wife of the clerk of petty sessions whose only child lately met with a shocking death by the kick of a horse is now either lost in the bush or it is feared is more probable drowned in the lake near Mt. Dryden” (near Stawell).

• 31st January - Inquest into the death of Mrs. Charlotte Quain at Lake Lonsdale, Victoria in the neighbourhood of the Silver Shilling and Deep Lead Diggings. A statement was made in this regard by James Lancelot Stormont and his wife. (see F.Quain Comment)
• 1862 - S Stormont, Residence: - Stawell, Victoria, Australia (Ancestry.com). (Possibly Sinclair?.)

• Victoria, Australia, Rate Books, 1855-1963
• Wills, Probates, Land, Tax & Criminal.

1862 March 6 - “from illness for some time. A short time ago he went to Melbourne for medical treatment, and was put under the care of a female herbalist (named Stormont, or some such name) who gave him vapor baths, and medicines, as he said, which almost tore his liver out.”

Robert Stormont, the great grandson of JLS, submits the following comment (dated 30 Feb.2015) - “It is interesting to note that Mrs Stormont is mentioned. No doubt Catherine/Kathleen, who would have been James’ common law (ie. de facto) wife.” I would add there is a doubt here.

• 15 August 1862 - death of Jane Stormont aged 45 widow, Launceston, Tasmania. Cause of death:- consumption. Although the age differs, Jane appears to be the mother of William James Stormont, Jane and John who arrived aboard the ship “Cheviot” in 1856 aged 42.

1863 

- Control given to the Province / State of SA (formerly NSW since 1825)

1863 - Herbert Stormont born of  James Lancelot Stormont (C.E.) and Kathleen Russell at Pleasant Creek. Reg # 4083. - a son, presumably Herbert at Pleasant Creek (now Stawell, Victoria).

• 15 Jan. 1863 - John Stormont married Jane Holme according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of Scotland, in Campbell Town, Tasmania. (Index #:- 37/1863/532).

• 14 Nov 1863 William James Stormont, painter married Susannah Richards according to the rights and ceremonies of the Church of England, in Launceston, Tasmania. (Index #:- 37/1863/522).

1864 

• 8 Jan. 1864 - a female child is born at Campbell Town, to Jane Holme and John Stormont (overseer) of Mount Morriston by the Macquarie River near Ross, Tasmania (index #: 33/1864/113). During the 1820s Surveyor Thomas Scott took up residence on a large property in this area.

• On the same day 8 Jan. 1864, John Stormont, painter aged 21 died of consumption in Launceston, Tasmania. (Index #:- 35/1864/532).

• He appears to be the same age as John who arrived aboard the ship “Cheviot” and a brother of William James Stormont who practiced painting and decorating in a Melbourne partnership.

24th May 1864 - Smythesdale, Ballarat - Elizabeth Selina Stormont married Thomas Spence Anderson (1832-1877), a miner from Shetland. Their marriage certificate stated that her mother had died in her infancy and she did not know her name.

1865 - James L Stormont (C.E.) Land Agent and Surveyor advertises “Free Selectors and Conditional Purchases of Land”. He is resident in Moama, NSW,  a border town linked with Echuca, Victoria.

’A Tour in the Riverine District’ (letter to the editor), Sydney Morning Herald, 13 July 1865, p. 2’

signed  - A RIVERINE TOURIST

• I found the Murray very low,- too low for the navigation of any kind of vessel, and the country along the river's banks appeared in a wretched condi- tion through the want of rain ; insomuch that not a   particle of vegetation could anywhere be seen. No rain, it is said, has fallen in the neighbourhood for upwards of seven months!
  
  The township itself is improving, having now seve-ral fine large brick buildings completed. Mr Hopwood has nearly finished a neat two storey brick house for his own residence, besides making an attempt to establish a vineyard of some six or eight acres. Whether he will succeed, time alone can prove; but, so far as I could judge, it is likely to be a hopeless case unless he incurs considerable outlay in irrigation, as the soil, a deep red clay, requires a great deal of moisture. The fruit on the vines was parched and withered, but, not-withstanding, Mr. Hopwood was trying to make a little wine from it. I was not favourably impressed with Echuca; but people told me I ought, in order to see the beauties of the locality, to visit it in the spring, after a wet winter. Leaving Echuca, I took a seat in Cobb and Co.'s four-horse coach for Deniliquin, the intended capital of Riverina. This vehicle leaves Iron's Hotel about 2 p.m. daily, immediately after the train arrives from Melbourne. Cobb and Co.'s coaches have become a great institution in Victoria as well as New South Wales. I always feel quite safe in their mail coaches, which are strong and good, while the drivers are gene-rally first rate, and the horses in excellent condition. Throughout their long journeys these coaches travel at about six miles an hour.
• “Immediately after crossing the Murray on a large punt (the Pontoon bridge being too narrow for drays or coaches is used only for crossing sheep and horses), you pass through Moama. Here are erected a few straggling houses of wood or brick, while the land around is wretched, and for about six miles along the main road I passed through the most miserable country I ever remembered; a country covered with stunted gum and apple trees, growing so close that you can hardly see one hundred yards ahead; a country without vegetation of any value, and which, I imagine, is at various periods (perhaps once or twice in ten years) all under water for a considerable time.
  
  Of all the places I have visited in the Australian colonies, the lower banks of the Murray, near Echuca, are the very last on which I should ever establish an agricultural farm. I am told that the soil and the country continue the same for hundreds of miles on each side of the river, and I felt relieved when we reached the open plains, where observing on the road side a great many pegs, at short distances from each other, I asked the driver what this indicated? "Oh," said he, "the Government of New South Wales has surveyed and marked off some 10,000 acres, in small blocks of 320 acres each, for agricultural farms , so that at the expiration of the old leases, which termnate at the end of this year, these ten thousand acres may be taken up by free selectors under the Land Act of 1861."
  
  

1866 - James Lancelot Stormont advertised as carrying out "all types of surveys" from an office in Sale, Victoria. (Noted: He may also have carried out a claim survey for the Illinois Gold Mining Company).

• March 1866 - 1867 - Illinois Gold Mining Company, registered 1866, Gippsland Stock Exchange at Foster St. Sale, Victoria. James L Stormont was listed as holding 40 shares; the company operating in North Gippsland, Glenmaggie, Stoney Creek, Blanket Hill. And a survey error was disputed when the company was wound up (decree nisi) on 23 Feb. 1867. (Gippsland Times, Sat. 31 March, 1866. Page 4).
• Victorian Coastal Passenger lists a James Stormont born 1854 (1858). Journeys at age 12 in 1866. (See Champion of the Seas - Comment). 

1866 - 18 August.

1. Gippsland Chronicle and Crooked River and Stringer’s Creek Advertiser. (Vic. : 1866),

1. Saturday 18 August 1866 / page 2 - Mr. Stormont was for reducing footpaths to. the uniform width of twelve feet and for this purpose had commenced to cut the water channel in Foster Street… <See article extract in my google doc *>

2. Gippsland Times (Vic. : 1861 - 1954),

1. Saturday 9 February 1867, page 2
2. Tuesday 1 December 1868, / page 2

1867 - James L. Stormont C.E. provided a professional services to Bairnsdale Council and meets with contention over his Hydraulic survey and  contractual issues with builders and plumbers in their construction to survey data which results in James termination with Council.

1867 - James Lancelot Stormont occupation as a practicing Surveyor including work for the Council of Sale, Vic. The case shows that James was in this area of Sale, Gippsland Victoria.

1867 - Gippsland Times (Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 9 February 1867, page 2.

• Mr. Ross has given notice than he will move at next meeting of the Council, "that the services of Mr. Stormont, as surveyor, be dispensed with, and that he receive one month's notice to that effect."

• 31 August 1867 - (Gippsland Times, Saturday 31st August 1867) Rosedale Police Court - Stormont V. Grant - J.L. Stormont took out a complaint against a Mr A. A. Grant, that Grant had “detained”, a theodolite that was James’ property.- The case was adjourned, from Rosedale[i] for the production of a witness.

• [i] Rosedale is a pastoral and agricultural town 184 kilometres east of Melbourne. It is situated on the southern side of the LaTrobe River. (See Comment re: Newspaper report).

• 31 August 1867 - Victoria Petty Sessions Registers. (Gippsland Guardian (Vic. : 1855 - 1868), Tuesday 3 September 1867, page 2) SALE Police Court. Saturday, Aug. 31. 1867 - The defendant in this case was summoned, for the illegal detention of a theodolite, valued at £35.  The Bench dismissed the complaint with costs £2.

1868 - Jemima Stormont was transferred from Yarra Bend Asylum on December 14 and arrived there on  17th December and was admitted to Beechworth Asylum.

• 13 Jan 1868 - at age 33, another James Stormont (1835-1898) married Barbara Brown aged 22 in Hobart Town, Tasmania, Australia. (Tasmania Marriages (1803-1899) # 37/1868/173) & Australia Marriages (1803-1899)).  They travel to America and return between 1873 - 1880, then settle on property in the Marulan, N.S.W.  

1869 - James Stormont, aged 35 (b.1834) arrived from London aboard the ship ‘Lightning’. He is arrested by Darlinghurst Police in 1870 as a pickpocket and sentenced. (born c.1834)

• 24 September 1869  - (Released)  SA Govt & Police Gazette 1869 - James Stormont alias Frederick James Williams (no. 846) released from Adelaide gaol (served 2 years for larcenies).
• See Nov 1867 - 22 September 1869 - SA Govt. & Police Gazette - James Stormont alias F.A. Williams ^[1].

1869/3809 - PROV. Series title: Civil Case Files Description: James Fawns v James Stormont. Date range: 1869 - Public access: Open. Format: Physical. Location: North Melbourne and is part of - Series number: VPRS 267 Consignment number: P0007, Unit number: 199.

1869-1877 - Victorian Horse racing / Trotting and Steeplechase / J.L.Stormont “Miss Chumpkins”

1. Geelong Racing Club, winter Steeplechase 7 - 28 July, 1877.
2. Ballarat,
3. Ararat and
4. Bendigo.

   ---

1870’s^[2] 

 (see Comment)

1870 - Oct 31 - James Lancelot Stormont, occupation Civil service is resident at Burwood Rd. Hawthorn in premises of James Cook at 36 pounds per annum.

• 1870  - James Stormont of London, aged 25 (ht. 5’ 5.75”, hair Bk.) - occupation Shoemaker arrives via ship “Lightning”. Source Passenger list “Lightning”:

• NSW Police Gazette 1869 - James Stormont pe “Lightning”.

3. References to Mr. Mayne : The Riverine Herald (Echuca Vic. : Moama NSW.) 1869-1954; 1998-1999)

1. Sat. 14th. Sept. 1872. Echuca Borough Council.
2. Sat. Dec. 1873. Echuca Borough Council.
3. Weds. 11 Nov. 1874 / p.2. / Court of Investigation under the Lands Act.
4. Weds. 8 Feb. 1876 page 3. Advertising.
5. Sat. 2 Sep. 1876 page 3.

4. The Age (Melbourne 1854-1954)

1. Tue. 12 Mar. 1878 p.3. Australian Telegrams Echuca / 11 March.

1871 - James Larmeelos Stormont, occupation CE is resident at Truman St., Prahran in premises of William McKee at 30 pounds per annum.

• 26 Jan. 1871 - Alexander Stormonth (Superintendent of Govt. cotton Dept.) married Ruth Slade in Bombay, (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India), on 26 January 1871 when she was 26 years old and he 28 years.
• JUN 1871 - Ship: HERO; James Stormont Arrival Age: 29; Destination: AUCKLAND VIA SYDNEY; Master: LOGAN THOMAS; (Outward Passengers index) Film Ref date: JUN 1871; Page of list: 1,
• 9 December 1871 -death of  Janet Stormont widow of William Stormont, Ladyloane, Arbroth parish, aged 70, daughter of Thomas & Elizaeth Dorward, farmer, Arbroth. Informant was son, James Stormont a ropemaker in Arbroth. This shows Jas Lanct was not their son.  

1872, 2nd. February - A man of the same name using qualification C.E.  is referenced in the newspaper - 6th February 1872: - “Births. Stormont - On the 2nd inst. (2nd. Feb.), at Hawthorn, the wife of J. Lancelot Stormont, (C.E.) of a son”.

• A Victorian Birth certificate (2965): shows George Frederick, born in the Borough of Hawthorn. Father: James Lancelot Stormont (Civil Engineer) aged 43, born Hardwar, India. Mother: Kathleen Sara Russell aged 35, London. James and Kathleen Sara Russell married August 1857, Belfast Ireland. James signature matches that on the 1857 death certificate for Bessie.

1872, 13th. June - Death of George Frederick of general debility and diarrhea. Father: James Lancelot Stormont (Civil Engineer) aged 43, born Hardwar, India. Mother: Kathleen Sara Russell aged 35, London.

• 1872 June - Victorian Death certificate 1872/Reg Number: 4227. of George Frederick Stormont: age: 4 months. Father: James Lance/Laws (sic.) Stormont (Mining Speculator). Mother: Kathleen Sara Russell; buried WhiteHills cemetery (no minister): James is resident, Sailors Gully, Eaglehawk, (Bendigo) where the certificate was registered.

• 26 Feb, 1872 - James Stormont  (occupation Baker) aged 57, single - admitted Maryborough Hospital. See Index to Victorian Goldfields Hospitals' Admissions: St Amherst, Ballarat, Castlemaine, Creswick, Dunolly, Kyneton, Maldon and Maryborough.

• 1872 - Victoria - a James Stormont appears on the Victorian Petty sessions Registers. 

• SEP 1872 - STORMONT, S - Ship: OMEO; Arrival; Age: 22; Destination: NEWCASTLE CLEVELAND BAY & DARWIN; Master: CALDER, GEORGE. Refer Outward Passengers Index SEP 1872; Page 8 of list.

Australia, City Directories, (1845-1948) / Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands)

• 1872 -  James L. Stormont - Power Street Hawthorn. Page 208

• -Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands) under Hawthorn.

• 1872 - James L. Stormont - Burwood Road, Hawthorn Page 632

• -Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands) Sands Melbourne Directory /  under Alphabetical - shows James L Stormont on Burwood Rd. Hawthorn.

1873 - 31 May - James Lancelot Stormont arrives 2nd class (F) in Melbourne per ship “Bangalore"

• The mail steamer "Bangalore" via Glenelg had transferred passengers and the mails from the P.& O. branch steamer Bangalore, via Galle to the "RANGATIRA" which arrived in Melbourne. "RANGATIRA" had departed King George's Sound on Sunday, 25 May, 1873. and arrived in Port Adelaide on Friday 30th. May 1873 _(Masters: Paddle, Benjamin)
• From foreign port - Bombay Pt Ae Galle Vc. source: Unassisted passenger lists: (1852-1923) Record Series Number (VPRS): 947 / Victoria Inwards Passenger Lists (1839-1923).

10 Jun 1873 -  James Stormont (Miner) aged 58, (born c. 1815) single - admitted Amherst Hospital (Goldfields).

• 06 Nov 1873 - James Stormont (Miner) aged 58, single - admitted Maryborough Hospital. (See Index to Victorian Goldfields Hospitals' Admissions: St Amherst, Ballarat, Castlemaine, Creswick, Dunolly, Kyneton, Maldon and Maryborough).
• James Stormont of 78 Commercial Rd. Prahran, Victoria’ dies at age 58. He was from Forfarshire, Scotland. (BDM 10101/1873 - Refer Victoria Deaths (1836-1960) & Newspapers.)*^[3]
• Sat Dec 1873 / p.2 / Echuca Borough Council - to the Town Surveyor - specification for the enlargement of the Echuca water tank.

• to Mr. Mayne, the local agent ordering the delivery of the Age.

1874 - 7th April 1874 - It is noted that among unassisted British persons were Mr. and Mrs. Stormont and a Miss Boyd, arrived at Hobson's Bay, aboard the ship "Baroda" (John C Almond, commander) via Port de Galle, King George's Sound and Adelaide. Passengers for Melbourne; The ship departed Point de Galle, Ceylon. VC. (Point de Galle is a point in Southern Province, Sri Lanka).

• Possibly: James and Kathleen or - James Stormont and his wife Barbara (Brown) of Tasmania - (daughter of a merchant who formerly had been a ship owner).
• Mrs Stormont
  Arrival Date:        7 Apr 1874
  Arrival Port:        Melbourne, Australia
  Departure Port:        Parit De Gade
  Ship:        Baroda

14th. August 1874 - Coastal shipping. 

• James L Stormont in steerage via Port of Departure: Maryborough, BRISBANE - Port of Arrival: Sydney, New South Wales - Voyage Arrival Date: 14 Aug 1874  / Vessel Name: Governor Blackall.
• 1874 - A James Stormont appears on the register for Queensland Unclaimed Letters.

Weds. 11 Nov. 1874 / p.2. / Court of Investigation under the Lands Act. - Refers to Mr. Andrew Mayne of Echuca. (Newsagent).

1875 - 25 September - Robert Stormont a bachelor, age 29 (actually 32) married Catherine Hargrove at Echuca Anglican Church on 25th September 1875 (Vic. BDM#1875/2548). Catherine aged 20, was born in Victoria, daughter of John Hargrove, labourer. Robert was shown as having been born in Belfast, Ireland and his parents are listed as James and Jemima. Robert’s occupation was carpenter and his father’s occupation was ‘coach builder.

• Bob Stormont writes “Lyn Morgan has been kind enough to provide copies of the Certificate of Marriage and the Form of Declaration from the Church records…. The presiding minister at the wedding was the Reverend John Garlick. Margaret Hargrove, presumably the sister or mother of Catherine, was one of the witnesses.”

1876-78 - Robert worked as a carpenter in Deniliquin during these years and moved between Echuca and Deniliquin, possibly by river-boat.

• Source: NSW or Vic. Government Gazette. letters returned from the country show they were there.

1876 -  James Stormont - Lit. Perth St.  Pra (Prahran).  Page 606.

• Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands).

• In 1876 (August) a James L Stormon advertises as a Land Agent in a survey practice in Moama, NSW, which is a village across the Murray River adjacent to Echuca, Victoria.

• 6 July 1876 - TOWN LOTS. Echuca, parish of Echuca. county of Rodney. In Hopwood, Francis, and Stawell streets. Upset price £13 per lot.- Charge fur survey £1. Lot 1-lr., allotment 5, section 35 a; Katherine Stormont £14.

• Source: economy:- Newspapers: Riverine Herald (Echuca, Vic. : Moama, NSW : 1869 - 1954) -  6 Jul 1876 - Page 3 - SALE OF CROWN LANDS.
  

• 1876 Victoria - A James L Stormont appears twice on the Victorian Petty sessions Registers.

1877

Advertisements in the Leader (Melbourne 1862-1918)

1876 - 1877 - Robert Stormont advertises in the Leader newspapers (Melbourne, Victoria (1862-1919) every Saturday from 17 June 1876 to 10 Feb. 1877: Family Notices:-

• “If this should meet the eye of JAMES STORMONT, Sinclair Stormont, or Elizabeth Stormont, send your address to Robert Stormont, care Mr. Mayne, Echuca, Victoria.” (see Comment).

• J. Lancelot Stormont advertises in the Leader newspapers (Melbourne, Victoria (1862-1919) every Saturday from 29 July to 26 August 1876 - Houses, Farms, for Sale and To Let -
• Riverina, New South Wales. – Free Selectors and Conditional Purchases of Land Agency. Address for all information J. Lancelot  Stormont, C.E.,  Agent and Surveyor, Moama, (N.S.W.)

• Sat. 29 July. 1876
• Sat.  5 Aug. 1876
• Sat. 12 Aug. 1876
• Sat. 19 Aug. 1876
• Sat. 26 Aug. 1876

James L. Stormont may have ceased practice as surveyor and agent for Free Selectors and Conditional Purchases of Land Agency and marks his namesake, beginning as inspector of stock.

Doubts arises whether it is the same person based upon:

1. the existing families and
2. set of skills required for such different occupations and
3. stated age variations on his termination (1893).

1877 - Aug. 18 - birth of Gemima Stormont in Deniliquin, NSW, daughter of Robert Stormont and Catherine Hargrove.

Transformation to Inspector of Stock and Commissioners of the Supreme Court for the purpose of collecting moneys in his position as Inspector.

1877 - 27 Aug. 1877 to 1885 - refer Blue Book - Civil Establishment  - James Lancelot Stormont appointed Officer of Customs assigned to the Department of Agriculture, Victoria and also appointed CATTLE INSPECTOR OF STOCK. (Permanent staff).

• Refer also:- (The Argus Monday, February 2, 1885) - The Victorian Public Service Board Return for 1884.
• 10 September 1877 - gazetted;  JLS appointed Inspector of Stock at Delegate Crossing. Source: URL Blue Book 1880/1881

1877 - James Stormont - 32 Argyle St. S.Y (South Yarra) -

• Page 60 - Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands).

25 Sept. 1877 - James Stormont, 32 Argyle St. Prahran, Robert Dalton landlord.

•  - Victoria Australia Ratepayers Book.

July 1877. - Govt. Gazette vol 221 Supplement  - list of Letters returned from the country - Deniliquin post: (#60) Mr. Robert Stormont, (#61) Mr Stormont, carpenter.

10 October 1877 - New South Wales, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1854-1930 - states "A warrant has been issued by the Deniliquin branch for the arrest of John Hargrove, charged with fraudulently obtaining goods from Messrs. Franzen & Fieldham, storekeepers Deniliquin on 28July last. Hargrove is between 50 and 60 years of age, 5 feet 6 0r 7 inches high, dark complection, black hair and beard turning gray; left Deniliquin about 3 weeks ago; supposed to have gone up the Murray towards Albury.

Note: He may have followed Robert and Catherine after the birth of Jemima (Gemima) Stormont.

25 Oct 1877 - James Stormont, aged 21, departed Liverpool, England, aboard the ship “Dunnottar Castle” bound Arrived 14 Jan. 1878, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, a voyage of 140 days. Source:- The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)  Tue 15 Jan 1878 -  Page 4 -  SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

30 Nov. 1877 -  James L. Stormont appointed Commissioners of the Supreme Court for the purpose of collecting moneys in his position as Inspector.

1878 -

1878 - James L. Stormont  F - 1 Montpelier Rd. Domain Rd. SM (Sth Melbourne).

• - Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands) - page 615.

16 Oct. 1878 - Sinclair Stormont of Deniliquin, NSW - name appears in the N.S.W. Gazette in regards items of unclaimed mail.

• Source:- New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney NSW: 1832-1900) Fri. 25 Oct. 1878. (Issue # 336, (supplement) page : 4333 # 18 - (list of letters returned from the Country and now lying at this office unclaimed)

1879 - Victoria Australia Ratepayers Book - James Stormont - Prahran.

• 1879 - James L. Stormont - West side High Street. Prahran - Page 178  - Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands).

• 1879 - James L. Stormont  - Donald Streets. Prahran

•  - Page 637 - Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands)

This is a cross reference for the James L Stormont

• One living in Melbourne. Where his family maybe with Kathleen Russell in Prahran
• Another living in Bombala - Delegate, employed as an inspector of stock“.
• Question this as a doubt arises whether it is the same person living at two locations and different family.

1880’s

1880 - House breakin on James Lancelot Stormont living in Bombala, NSW.

1880 - James L Stormont aged 57, married Jessie Elizabeth Nicholson aged 21, in Cathcut, New South Wales.

1881 - Fulke Greville Le Poer STORMONT born in Delegate, NSW, son of James L Stormont and Jessie Elizabeth Nicholson

• 1881 - James L. Stormont registered at - 78 Commercial Rd. Prahran

• Victoria, Melbourne CITY Directory (Sands) - Page 694

1883 -

1884 - The Victorian Public Service Board Return for 1884, reads the same as The Argus Monday, February 2, 1885) - “Stormont J.L. a public servants aged 48 (last birthday) was first appointed on the 27 Aug. 1877 and assigned to the Department of Agriculture, Victoria”. (This implies the person was born circa 1836).

Between:- May 1884 - 1888 (repeatedly) 

• Gippsland newspapers reads (eg. Bairnsdale Advertiser and Tambo and Omeo Chronicle. Sat. 22 May 1886, page 2.):

• - Accounts are at the receipts and pay office Bairnsdale, Bairnsdale Post Office, for J.L. Stormont.

Bairnsdale Advertiser and Tambo and Omeo Chronicle. (Vic. : 1882 - 1918),

• Tuesday 10 March 1885 / page 2 / Gazette
• J.L.Stormont (on a list of names)

• Omeo 22 April, (1884)
• General sessions : Bairnsdale : 14 May  (1884)
• Courts - Assize : Sale : 26 Oct.  (1884)

1885 - A son, George Le Poer STORMONT b:1885 in Bombala, New South Wales died an infant 1885 aged 4 months.

May 23. - J. L. Stormont travelled from Melbourne to Sydney on 23 May, 1885 aboard the ship “Cahers” 1254 tons, Capt. David Walker. (Source:- SMH, & NSW Advertiser (NSW 1871-1912) Sat. 30 May, 1885 page 1157 - Shipping).

1886 - Trustees.—Mr. James Lancelot Stormont has been elected a trustee of the Delegate Common for the unexpired period of three years from January, 1886.

• 1886 June - Mr. James Lancelot Stormont appointed Inspector for the Central Board of Health. James Lancelot Stormont,was resident in Delegate in 1886.

1887 - James L Stormont appears in the Victorian Parliamentary Papers and in The Sydney Morning Herald 12 Oct. 1887 - Trustees.- Mr. James Lancelot Stormont has been elected a trustee of the Delegate Common for the unexpired period of three years from January 1886,  vice-Gibson resigned.  (i.e until Jan.1889).

1888, 18 Sept. - Bairnsdale. “Accounts are at the receipts and pay office Bairnsdale, Bairnsdale Post Office, for J.L.Stormont”.

1889 - Trustee term expires after three years since January, 1886.

1890’s

1890 

• 30 Sept 1890 - Jemima Jane Stuart Stormont aka. Mima, only daughter of John Stormont married Robert Scott, fourth son of James Scott, Surveyor, at the residence of the bride's parents in in Auburn, Campbell Town, Tasmania, by James Scott, according to the rights and ceremonies of the Presbyterian Church. Marriage registered in Hobart.
• 22 Aug 1891 birth of their child Mimi Tasma Stormont Scott, in Launceston, Tasmania.

1891 - Census – Delegate, Bombala, Wellesley D - James Lancelot Stormont, 26 Bombala Street.  1 male 1 female.

1892 - Jan. 28 - Robert Stormont railway employee of Junee voluntarily sequestered his estate to-day. Mr. Stephens was appointed official assignee for the estate. (Wagga Wagga Advertiser newspaper p. 2 section: Intercolonial-Sydney).

1892 - 28th February. - Jemima Stormont (1821-1892) died at Beechworth Lunatic Asylum (Vic Deaths Reg.# 480). Warder records show her family had not visited her and she was not concerned about it.

1892 - Aug. 5 - James was relieved of duty as the Inspector of Stock at Delegate,

• 1892 (5 Aug. 1892) - EVASION OF THE STOCK TAX - BENDOC - Proceeding against both James and Jessie for introducing 130 head of cattle into Victoria about May 18, 1890, without payment of border duties.

1893

James L Stormont born Forfarshire, Scotland died c.1893 in Victoria, Australia. (This maybe the husband of Kathleen Russell).

10 March 1893 - The role of stock inspector is taken by either James, John or Jassy, (one or all of whom were resident in the Sandhurst / Bendigo district). Source: The Argus Friday 10 March 1893; Also Newspapers - Bairnsdale Advertiser and Tambo and Omeo Chronicle (Vic. : 1882 - 1918) Thursday 4 May 1893, page 2:

15th March 1893 - Extract from the NSW Police Gazette:- James Lancelot Stormont, late Inspector of Stock and Customs Officer of Victoria, charged with embezzling cheques for 52 pounds 7s, 13 pounds 12s, & 26 pounds, the property of Her Majesty, has been arrested by Senior-constable Evans and Constable Keating, Delegate Police.

• Remanded to Victoria, and committed for trial at Bairnsdale Quarter Sessions.

6th April 1893 - James Lancelot Stormont, and former stock and Customs Inspector in the Bendigo district, has been committed for trial at the Bairnsdale Supreme court, to be held on the 6th April, on the charge of embezzling moneys paid to him as taxes for cattle coming across the border.

• Friday 6th April 1893 - At the Melbourne Criminal Court, on Friday last, before Justice Hodges, James Lancelot Stormont, a man 56 years of age, who had acted as inspector of stock and Customs Officer at the Delegate crossing on the border between New South Wales and Victoria was arraigned on three counts, charging him with embezzling a sum of 171 pounds 10 shillings. It appeared from the evidence offered for the prosecution that it was the duty to give permits, receive duty in connection with the crossing of stock, and transmit the money to the receiver of revenue at Bairnsdale.

6 May 1893 - Leader (Melbourne Vic 1862-1918) Sat. 6 May 1893.  

• Before Justice Hodges:- A Customs Officer convicted of embezzlement" ....the prisoner was a very deaf and infirm old man named James Lancelot Stormont. He stated he was 56 years old and had been sixteen years in the employ of the Government.

• Stated age of 56 in 1893, suggests this man was born about 1837 and either was misrepresenting his age, or was a different man to one who arrived in 1844 aged 21. The age matches other persons of the name, James Stormont, one of whom arrived in 1867 aboard the ship Lightning from London and was arrested in Sydney as a pickpocket. This man may not fit one with 16 years of government employment (circa 1877-1893).

12 Aug 1893 - The Snowy River Mail and Tambo and Croajingolong Gazette (Orbost, Vic. : 1890 - 1911)  Sat 12 Aug 1893 -  Page 3 -  BENDOC POLICE COURT.

• Was this the man who married Jessie Nicholson in 1880?
•  James per Dale Park, would have been 64-69 years.

1894 - Elizabeth (Selina) ANDERSON nee Stormont died in Walhalla, Victoria.

Jan. 1894 - Birth James Lawrence Stormont (1894-1942), son of Mary, Wellington New Zealand.

1895 - 1st. Feb. - Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)  LAW REPORT Fri 1 Feb 1895  Page 3.

• Smith V. Stormont - On the application of Mr. J. Armstrong, who appeared for the plaintiff, William Smith, chairman of directors of the Australian Alliance Assurance Company, it was ordered that execution should issue against defendant, James Lancelot Stormont, on a memorial of a judgement signed in Victoria  for the sum of 287 pounds 7s 1d.

The Land Surveyors Act 1895 gave power to the Surveyors Board to register and licence surveyors whom they considered suitable to practise in Victoria.

1898 -  James Lancelot Stormont, spouse of Barbara Brown, (Tasmania) of resident of Marulan, N.S.W. died in Goulburn shortly after the deaths of his two daughters. New South Wales Deaths  (1788-1945).

1900s

1901 - Federation of Australian States established.

1903 - James Lancelot Gordyce Stormont aka Jassa and John, died aged 80 years (1823 - 1903)

• 1903 Electoral Rolls record a Jessie Elizabeth Stormont and (Fulke Greville) Le Poer Stormont, as graziers in Bendoc, Gippsland, Victoria
  

1910’s

1911 - Australian Capital Territory established..

• 1911 - James Stormont died in Granville. New South Wales Deaths  (1788-1945).

• 1911 - Herbert Murray Stormont married Susan Alice Selby In Victoria (1911 / 2530R)
• 1914-1918 - Death of James Lawrence Stormont (WW1 Soldier).

1920’s

1921 - James Lawrence Stormont - New Zealand Electoral Rolls

1924 - Kathleen Russell Stormont died in Springvale, Melbourne.

1927 - Jessie Stormont died in Bombala, New South Wales after residing some years in New Zealand.

1930’s

• James Gordon appears in Homebush Reid, New South Wales. Australian Electoral Rolls.

1940’s

• 1942, 12 March -  James Lawrence Stormont son of Mary died Wellington, New Zealand Death Index.

1950’s

• 28 May 1951 - Death of Alice Susan Stormont Residence Victoria Occupation:        M W