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| tlm-p_s_childhood [2021/09/15 11:44] – judith | tlm-p_s_childhood [2022/07/14 21:16] (current) – judith |
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| The family later returned to the continent, as TLM-P's entry in //Australia's Representative Men// states that he 'was educated at Brussels, by the Rev. Wm. Drury and Monsieur Giron'. The school these men ran was an elite one, located at 1 Rue du Commerce, near the royal palace.(({{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-prior-thomas-lodge-4282}}; Richard Clarke, email to J. Godden, 13-14 February 2018.)) When TLM-P later met someone he had not seen since about 1827, they talked of [[wp>Bruges|Bruges]] days, so it appears the family lived there for a time.((TLM-P, Diary, 22 August 1882, ML.)) \\ | The family later returned to the continent, as TLM-P's entry in //Australia's Representative Men// states that he 'was educated at Brussels, by the Rev. Wm. Drury and Monsieur Giron'. The school these men ran was an elite one, located at 1 Rue du Commerce, near the royal palace.(({{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-prior-thomas-lodge-4282}}; Richard Clarke, email to J. Godden, 13-14 February 2018.)) When TLM-P later met someone he had not seen since about 1827, they talked of [[wp>Bruges|Bruges]] days, so it appears the family lived there for a time.((TLM-P, Diary, 22 August 1882, ML.)) \\ |
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| {{:rev_drury.jpg?300| }}\\ TLM-P's wife Nora had the above photo in her album,((Provenance: J. Godden)) with a note on the back that it was the (rather alarming looking) Rev. W. Drury and that he died 7 February 1878, aged 86. The connection with the Rev. Drury was easily maintained from the 1850s and 1860s when two of the Rev. Drury's sons migrated to Australia. Both ended up in prominent positions in Queensland. Edward Drury dominated Queensland banking from 1872 (([[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/drury-edward-robert-3445]])) while his brother Albert became a long-term clerk of the Executive Council of Queensland.(([[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/drury-albert-victor-3444]])) Both men moved in the same political circles as TLM-P.\\ | {{:rev_drury.jpg?250| }}\\ TLM-P's wife Nora had the above photo in her album,((Provenance: J. Godden)) with a note on the back that it was the (rather alarming looking) Rev. W. Drury and that he died 7 February 1878, aged 86. The connection with the Rev. Drury was easily maintained from the 1850s and 1860s when two of the Rev. Drury's sons migrated to Australia. Both ended up in prominent positions in Queensland. Edward Drury dominated Queensland banking from 1872 (([[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/drury-edward-robert-3445]])) while his brother Albert became a long-term clerk of the Executive Council of Queensland.(([[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/drury-albert-victor-3444]])) Both men moved in the same political circles as TLM-P.\\ |
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| A two-volume book, //Jérusalem Délivrée, Poëme Traduit de L’Italien// - [[wp>Jerusalem_Delivered|Jerusalem delivered, poem translated from Italian]] confirms TLM-P's schooling in Brussels. The long poem is by the Italian Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581; TLM-P’s edition was published in 1825. The poem was ‘hugely successful’ with its depiction of Crusaders, ‘love, violence, and an exotic setting’. TLM-P probably was not a fan as the volumes do not give the impression of having being read. However, they do provide evidence about his schooling as, on both volumes, an inscription reads (in faded ink in French)((Deciphered and translated by Dr Hamish Graham, with thanks, 28 July 2017.)) that it was awarded to Th[omas] Prior as second prize when at a boarding school run by A. Giron during the academic year 1830-1831 when Thomas was 11 years old. The dedication was signed by Monsieur Giron, "Ixelles, 18 August [1831]".[[wp>Ixelles]] is now a suburb of Brussels, Belgium. ((this suggests that Isobel Hannah's claim that TLM-P 'studied with the celebrated French scholar, M. Giron, at Reading' in England, is incorrect. Isobel Hannah, 'The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster-General of Queensland', Queensland Geographical Journal, vol. LV, 1953-54, p.11.))\\ | A two-volume book, //Jérusalem Délivrée, Poëme Traduit de L’Italien// - [[wp>Jerusalem_Delivered|Jerusalem delivered, poem translated from Italian]] confirms TLM-P's schooling in Brussels. The long poem is by the Italian Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581; TLM-P’s edition was published in 1825. The poem was ‘hugely successful’ with its depiction of Crusaders, ‘love, violence, and an exotic setting’. TLM-P probably was not a fan as the volumes do not give the impression of having being read. However, they do provide evidence about his schooling as, on both volumes, an inscription reads (in faded ink in French)((Deciphered and translated by Dr Hamish Graham, with thanks, 28 July 2017.)) that it was awarded to Th[omas] Prior as second prize when at a boarding school run by A. Giron during the academic year 1830-1831 when Thomas was 11 years old. The dedication was signed by Monsieur Giron, "Ixelles, 18 August [1831]".[[wp>Ixelles]] is now a suburb of Brussels, Belgium. ((this suggests that Isobel Hannah's claim that TLM-P 'studied with the celebrated French scholar, M. Giron, at Reading' in England, is incorrect. Isobel Hannah, 'The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster-General of Queensland', Queensland Geographical Journal, vol. LV, 1953-54, p.11.))\\ |
| {{ :duckworth_s_action_off_san_domingo_6_february_1806_nicholas_pocock.jpg?direct&400|}}//'Duckworth's Action off San Domingo, 6 February 1806' painted by Nicholas Pocock. HMS Donegal is on the left, engaging the Jupiter. Courtesy Wikicommons.// | {{ :duckworth_s_action_off_san_domingo_6_february_1806_nicholas_pocock.jpg?direct&400|}}//'Duckworth's Action off San Domingo, 6 February 1806' painted by Nicholas Pocock. HMS Donegal is on the left, engaging the Jupiter. Courtesy Wikicommons.// |
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| We don't know why he left the navy, but one likely factor is that he was prone to being sea-sick. As well, the long peace after the Napoleonic Wars meant that a naval career no longer provided opportunities for ambitious middle-class young men. That he joined the navy rather than followed his father in the army was likely to be due to economic reasons: promotion was not by purchase in the navy. However, it helped to have a patron who could recommend you for an improved position or better ship.(({{ https://www.quora.com/In-the-days-when-officers-bought-their-commissions-in-the-British-Army-was-it-the-same-in-the-Royal-Navy}})) TLM-P’s patron was [[wp>Edward_Brace|Admiral Sir Edward Brace]], who was unable to take up his command, so TLM-P served instead under Admiral Sir John Ommaney.((//Australia's Representative Men//, ed. T.W.H. Leavitt, Improved Edition, Melbourne: Wells and Leavitt, c.1889, entry for T.L. Murray-Prior. The book used is the one TLM-P owned, signed by him and dated 14th June 1889.It is likely that TLM-P provided the information. Provenance: J. Godden.)) Service without a patron was another bar to ambition, so it is understandable that TLM-P soon resigned.\\ | We don't know why he left the navy, but one likely factor is that he was prone to sea-sickness. As well, the long peace after the Napoleonic Wars meant that a naval career no longer provided opportunities for ambitious middle-class young men. That he joined the navy rather than followed his father in the army was likely to be due to economic reasons: promotion was not by purchase in the navy. However, it helped to have a patron who could recommend you for an improved position or better ship.(({{ https://www.quora.com/In-the-days-when-officers-bought-their-commissions-in-the-British-Army-was-it-the-same-in-the-Royal-Navy}})) TLM-P’s patron was [[wp>Edward_Brace|Admiral Sir Edward Brace]], who was unable to take up his command, so TLM-P served instead under Admiral Sir John Ommaney.((//Australia's Representative Men//, ed. T.W.H. Leavitt, Improved Edition, Melbourne: Wells and Leavitt, c.1889, entry for T.L. Murray-Prior. The book used is the one TLM-P owned, signed by him and dated 14th June 1889.It is likely that TLM-P provided the information. Provenance: J. Godden.)) Service without a patron was another bar to ambition, so it is understandable that TLM-P soon resigned.\\ |
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| Traditionally, as seen, the men of the family had three career options: the military; as a member of the landed gentry; and (in the sole case of [[john_murray_murray-prior|John Murray]]) the clergy. Despite his mother, TLM-P showed no sign of wanting to be a minister of the church; the military was no longer offering opportunities for impoverished men; and the family no longer had the land to support them as members of the gentry - at least in the United Kingdom. Like so many others at this time, TLM-P decided he had a better chance in one of the many British colonies. If his family's downward social mobility and lack of opportunity in Britain were the major 'push' factors, glowing descriptions of opportunities in the colonies from the time of his birth was likely the key 'pull' factor.\\ | Traditionally, as seen, the men of the family had three career options: the military; as a member of the landed gentry; and (in the sole case of [[john_murray_murray-prior|John Murray]]) the clergy. Despite his mother, TLM-P showed no sign of wanting to be a minister of the church; the military was no longer offering opportunities for impoverished men; and the family no longer had the land to support them as members of the gentry - at least in the United Kingdom. Like so many others at this time, TLM-P decided he had a better chance in one of the many British colonies. If his family's downward social mobility and lack of opportunity in Britain were the major 'push' factors, glowing descriptions of opportunities in the colonies from the time of his birth was likely the key 'pull' factor.\\ |
| {{https://pictures.abebooks.com/THOTH/md/md14182898044.jpg?300}} W.C. Wentworth's 1819 book extolling the virtues of migrating to Australia// | {{https://pictures.abebooks.com/THOTH/md/md14182898044.jpg?250}} W.C. Wentworth's 1819 book extolling the virtues of migrating to Australia// |
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