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Historical records matching Joseph Docker, Reverend
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About Joseph Docker, Reverend
THE BONTHARAMBO FAMILY.
The Bontharambo family is an offshoot from the parent stock at Newby, and a branch of the senior line, which still owns and lives at the ancestral home in that township. The founder of this Victorian family was he Rev. Joseph Docker youngest son of William Docker, "statesman", of Newby Head, and Jane, daughter of Matthew and Sarah Betham, of Towcett. He was born at Newby Head on the 19 December 1793. Before he was five years of age his father died and his mother and family removed to Appleby. Residence in the county town conveyed the privilege of free education for her sons at the Appleby Grammar School. Joseph and his elder brother, William, became pupils at this venerable institution. Registers of the school are wanting until 1860, but the present Head Master has kindly furnished evidence that the Docker brothers were pupils. In some old library lists, beginning 3 December 1807, William is entered as "Docker, primus", and Joseph as "Docker, secundus.".
From Appleby Joseph is said to have proceeded to the University of Oxford, where he studied for the Anglican ministry. On the 29 August 1817, he was ordained deacon and licensed as assistant curate to his brother William at Martindale, Westmorland. In the following year, on 19 July, he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Carlisle. He resigned his appointment at Martindale on the 9 November 1821, and twenty days later was licensed to the curacy of North Meols, near Southport, Lancashire, which office he held until September 1823. Thereafter, until he left England, it is said, he assisted his brother William, who was vicar of Christ Church, Southport..
Owing to the influence of Lord Stanley, a friend from Oxford, afterwards Earl of Derby, the Rev. Joseph obtained one of the Colonial chaplaincies, his warrant of appointment bearing date30 January 1828. On the 16 June following he and his young wife left England in the ship "Adam" for Australia. After a tedious voyage of five months, theylanded in Sydney Harbour, then called Botany Bay, on 11 November 1828. The cure to which Mr Docker was appointed was St. Matthews Church, Windsor, about 30 miles from Sydney, of which he took charge on the 1 January 1829. Very little is on record regarding Mr Docker's incumbency of St. Matthews, and that little of but slight interest..
To those who were fond of pastoral pursuits Australia,with its virgin soil and unopened tracts of country, offered special opportunities of insulging them. Mr Docker, a descendant of a long line of "statesmen", inherited in a marked degree the ancestral love of husbandry and soon perceived that the colony gave promise of more congenial and profitable employment as a pastoralist than as a pastor. Accordingly, he resigned his living at Windsor in March 1833, and purchased a small estate called "Clifton", about 1 1/2 miles from Windsor, which he farmed until 1837. It was in that year that Major Mitchell explored the southern part of the continent, now called Victoria. The reports of the expedition have such hope of successful "squatting" that many were induced to undertake an adventurous journey and view the promised land for themselves. Among them was the Rev. Joseph Docker, who decided to sell Clifton and settle in Victoria..
Mr Docker had first intended to send his wife and children to Port Phillip by a schooner then leaving Sydney, but at the last moment it was decided that they should accompany him on the overland journey. This decision proved to be providential and wise; providential, as the vessel was wrecked on the voyage and all hands lost; wise, since Mrs Docker's capability and courage were of much value to her husband en route to Victoria..
The story of the journey from Sydney to Bontharambo is told under Mary Docker's name.[1]
Sources
"Notes on the Docker family of Westmorland" by George Lissant 1917. Page 87-89.
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Joseph Docker, Reverend's Timeline
| 1793 |
December 19, 1793
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Newby Head, Westmorland, England (United Kingdom)
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| 1828 |
June 27, 1828
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Land's End, Cornwall, United Kingdom
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| 1865 |
April 10, 1865
Age 71
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Bontharambo, Wangaratta, Austrilia
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| ???? |