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- He was the son of Joseph Oldham and his wife Mary Wood of Melton, near Ipswich, Suffolk, and was one of a small party that proposed to emigrate under the leadership of his brother Joseph Oldham but was subsequently absorbed by Bailie's party. In 1821 he complained to the colonial office of the neglect of religious observances. He applied unsuccessfully for a grant of land on the Torrens River which was too woody for agriculture, but would supply enough bark for him to follow his trade as a tanner. In 1822 he moved to Algoa Bay where he opened a shop, and again submitted a petition for land where he could set up as a tanner. This time he obtained a small grant of land, but does not appear to have utilised it. In May 1823 he purchased the wreck of the Dutch ship Zeepaard, stranded at Cape Receife, from which he built a 9-ton decked schooner, the Perseverance. He licensed her in 1825 for fishing and trading. He settled at the mouth of the Kromme River as a trader in partnership with his brother Joseph Oldham, then a storekeeper in Cape Town, and a Port Elizabeth merchant, James Scott. Thomas Oldham died in 1827, and the Perseverance was offered for sale in his estate.
PRO CO 48/44 p.962, list of J.Oldham's party, 18.8.1819; CO 158 no.185, 29.10.1821; CO 8451 no.l 1, 1.8.1821; CO 8452 no.49, 8.10.1822; Port Elizabeth Library, Griffin Haw¬kins' list of inhabitants of P.E., 1822; CO 8458 no.l 19, 30.8.1825; Gazette, 3.5.1823; CO 3929 no.534, 30.9.1825; CO 240 no.62, Port Captain to Plasket, 4.10.1825; MOIB 2/472 no.39; Gazette, 8.6.1827; MOOC 8/45 no.135, Inventory of estate T.W.Oldham.
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