Thomas Burnett Biddulph

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 970
• Name: John Burnet (Mid) Biddulph 1820
• Occupation: a Naval Officer
• Settler: 3 Dec 1819, Gravesend, Kent, England
• Residence: 22 May 1826, Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape, South Africa
• Occupation: 1828, Albany District, Eastern Cape, South Africa; a Farmer

Notes:

Midshipman, Royal Navy. He was born in the village of Wigginton, near Tamworth, Staffordshire, the fifth son of Simon Biddulph and his wife Ann Burnet. He served as a midshipman in the Royal Navy for five years and was discharged from the service at the peace of 1814 without qualifying for a commission. He emigrated to the Cape of Good Hope with his parents and four of his brothers and sisters. On reaching Algoa Bay the Biddulphs separated from the rest of Bailie's party, and Simon Biddulph was granted a farm adjoining John Bailie's, as well as a building erf and ten morgen of land at Bathurst. J.B.Biddulph's request for a separate grant of land was not acceded to. In October 1820 he surveyed and sketched the Kowie River mouth, and recommended to the colonial authorities that it be brought into use as a harbour for Albany. In 1823 he purchased a farm at Kaffir Drift Post from the widow of Captain George Scott, but the land was subsequently requisitioned by Government and he was granted the Old Kap River Farm in exchange. In 1824 he negotiated for a government contract to provide a mail service from Uitenhage to Grahamstown and the Kowie, but the scheme fell through because of financial difficulties. His attempts to obtain a government loan and a further grant of land were unsuccessful. He married Wilhelmina Theodora Elizabeth Wahlstrand at Graaff Reinet in 1825. In 1826 he made the first of a series of profitable trading expeditions beyond the colonial boundaries, travelling north as far as Dithu-baruba in partnership with A.G.Bain. He made three expeditions to Natal between 1828 and 1830.
Continual stock thefts by Xhosa marauders caused J.B.Biddulph to leave the exposed Old Kap River Farm and rent Harewood, adjoining his father's farm Birbury, in 1828. In 1832 he offered his property in Albany for sale and moved to Graaff Reinet to set up in business as a commission agent. He became a dealer in gunpowder, and erected a private gunpowder magazine under government licence in 1834. He was appointed Captain in the Graaff Reinet Municipal Force in 1835, during the Sixth Frontier War. He died at Graaff Reinet in 1837 after a brief illness, leaving his wife and five young sons, Gilbert Burnet, Ernst Wahlstrand, Edward John, Thomas and Charles Henry. His estate included two farms in the Graaff Reinet district, his house on the Market Square, Graaff Reinet, and erven in Graaff Reinet and Colesberg, as well as household furniture. His widow died at Birbury in 1843. { M D Nash }


Settler:
Bailie's party on the Chapman

John married Wilhelmina Theodora Elizabeth Wahlstrand on 2 Apr 1825 in Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Wilhelmina was born est 1802; died on 11 Apr 1843 in Birbury farm, Bathurst district, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Grahamstown Journal CO53/15 National Archives, London
Transcribed by Sue Mackay
Thursday April 13 1843
Died on the 11th instant at Birbury, near Bathurst, at the residence of T.J. BIDDULPH Esq, Wilhelmina Theodora Elizabeth BIDDULPH, widow of the late John Burnet BIDDULPH Esq of Graaf Reinet, aged 36 years, after a long and painful illness, borne with exemplary patience, leaving five orphan children to deplore her premature death.

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 972
• Occupation: a Farmer
• Residence: Tamworth, Staffordshire, England
• Settler: 3 Dec 1819, Gravesend, Kent, England
• Residence: 1822, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Notes:

He was the son of Walter Biddulph and his wife Mary Adcock of Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire. He married Ann Burnet, daughter of Captain Thomas Burnet RN, and lived at Tamworth and Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.
He emigrated with his wife and five of their surviving 11 children, and a capital of £500. They withdrew from Bailie's party on arrival at Algoa Bay, and Simon Biddulph was granted a separate farm which he called Birbury, as well as a building erf and ten morgen of land at Bathurst. He built a house and general store at Bathurst on land belonging to Henry Ellis, which was more centrally situated than his own, but he suffered heavy business losses when the magistracy was removed to Grahamstown, and he was forced to sell his cattle and breeding mares to pay his creditors. When Bathurst was evacuated at the outbreak of war in 1834, Simon Biddulph and his wife lived in Grahamstown for two months before moving to Graaff Reinet where their son John Burnet Biddulph had established himself. After the latter's death in 1837, Simon Biddulph was appointed storekeeper of his gunpowder magazine, but subsequently returned to Bathurst where he purchased a house from John Morris in May 1840. He died at Bathurst in January 1842, leaving his wife, three sons and a widowed daughter (Mrs Edward Roberts) living in the Cape Colony, a son and a married daughter living in New South Wales, and three married daughters in London. His estate included Birbury, his house at Bathurst, a mortgaged house at Graaff Reinet, and an erf at Bathurst given him by Colonel Bird, in addition to movable property and a trust fund that had been established for his children at the time of his marriage. Mrs Ann Biddulph died in 1844.

Settler:
Bailie's party on the Chapman

Simon married Ann Burnet, 1820 Settler on 11 Jul 1785 in Halesowen, Worcestershire, England. Ann (daughter of Thomas (Capt) Burnet, RN and Mary Hinchley) was born in Aug 1765; died on 10 Feb 1844 in Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried on 12 Feb 1844 in Bathurst Church (St John's - Anglican), Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 968
• Settler: 3 Dec 1819, Gravesend, Kent, England
• Residence: 1822, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Notes:

Thursday February 15 1844
Died at Bathurst on the 10th instant, in the 79th year of her age, Ann BIDDULPH, widow of the late Simon BIDDULPH Esquire, formerly of Tamworth in the County of Staffordshire.
She was the only daughter of Thomas BURNET Esquire, Captain and Commander in the Royal Navy, and great granddaughter of the celebrated Gilbert BURNET, Bishop of Salisbury and (upon the death of her brother the late Major General John BURNET) became sole legal personal representative of that learned Prelate.
From the Grahamstown Journal CO53/15 National Archives, London
Transcribed by Sue Mackay

Settler:
Bailie's party on the Chapman

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire, England

Walter married Mary Adcock on 24 Sep 1745 in Old Radford, Nottinghamshire, England. Mary was born est 1725 in Shenston, Staffordshire, England; died in 1779. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Tamworth and Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England

Thomas + Mary Hinchley. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]