Chapter 8.3
Two Charlotte Farquharsons
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| Farquharson Family Coat of Arms “Fidelity and Fortitude” |
In different parts of this history you will find information about two people named Charlotte Farquharson. They were cousins. To avoid any confusion this Chapter brings together the fascinating story of their history and relationships. To simplify things in this Chapter they are called:
- Charlotte 1 (1828-1861) and
- Charlotte 2 (1835-1860).
The two Charlottes were cousins both born in Tarland, Scotland, near Aberdeen. They would have known one another when they were small children. They both came to Australia at different times and had very different close family relationships with the Mosmans.
Charlotte 1 (1828-1861)
Charlotte 1 came to Australia in 1842 at age 13 with her parents. During the voyage Charlotte’s father, Andrew, died of alcoholism just before they got to Sydney.
On arrival Charlotte 1 was assigned to work as a house servant at £12 per year. While she was initially assigned elsewhere, Charlotte 1 soon moved to work for Archibald Mosman.
Recent research of baptism records shows that in February 1843, when Charlotte 1 was 14, she had a son, Hugh. He was base born (illegitimate) and his baptism was recorded at George Mosman’s property Burrowel at Raymond Terrace on the Williams River. No father’s name is shown. Over the next four years she had two more base born children, Cecilia Jessie and Archibald Frederick also baptised and similarly recorded at George Mosman’s property.
Charlotte 1’s cousin Harriet Farquharson (1821-1883) was also born at Tarland. At age 20 she travelled to Australia with her half brother William on the same ship as Charlotte 1. In 1842 Harriet was also assigned to Archibald as a house servant at £15 per annum. In 1847 Harriet married her employer, Archibald Mosman, a common occurrence at the time when there were few available single free female settlers.
Most earlier Mosman family histories believed that Harriet and Archibald had three children before they were married. This was not the case and after their marriage Archibald and Harriet apparently ‘adopted’ Charlotte 1’s three base born children as their own and gave them a fairly privileged upbringing. This suggests that Archibald was their father.
Shortly after their marriage the Mosman family moved to Armidale where their first ‘real’ son Adam was born in 1849. Harriet had seven surviving children of her own.
By 1853 Charlotte 1 had left her children, moved to Sydney, and married Joseph Foster. In the next six years she had five more children. Charlotte 1 died of tuberculosis in 1861 at age 33 in the poorest and most disease prone area of inner Sydney. It is not known if she had any further contact with her first three children.
When Charlotte 1 died she left five children under eight. Her husband Joseph Foster married again about eighteen months later to Mary Jane Hornibrook who had arrived from Ireland several years earlier. They had a further four children.
Charolotte 2
Charlotte 2 (1835-1860) was a sister of Harriet Farquharson who married Archibald Mosman. She was only seven years old when her sister Harriet moved to Australia. She remained in Scotland with her parents Hary and Jessie. After Hary died in 1853 Jessie brought Charlotte 2 (then 17), Ada (then 15) and some of their siblings to Australia. They appear to have stayed with sister Harriet in Armidale at Bank Cottage. Charlotte 2 and Ada remained in Armidale when Jessie and some of her siblings returned to Scotland.
Little is known about Ada except rumours that she enjoyed the social life at Armidale. Ada died at Armidale in August 1856 at age 23, apparently of typhoid.
Charlotte 2 died of tuberculosis in Armidale in 1860. She is buried in Armidale’s old burial ground. She left behind this unfinished self portrait now in the State Library of NSW.
Tuberculosis
The really sad story is that the two cousins, Charlotte 1 and Charlotte 2, both died in Australia within a year of each other of the same pernicious disease - tuberculosis - which is now preventable and treatable. It is also sad that Charlotte 1’s illegitimate daughter Cecilia , then wife of Queensland Premier Sir Arthur Palmer, also died of that disease 15 years later.
Charlotte 1’s base born children
After their unusual births Hugh, Cecilia Jessie, and Archibald Frederick all had notable but very different lives. Despite Archibald’s financial difficulties both boys were sent to boarding school at The King’s School in Parramatta and it is likely that Celicia Jesse may have had a governess.
Hugh Mosman
With the aid of his Aboriginal ten year old ‘horse boy’ Jupiter, in December 1862 Hugh discovered gold at Charters Towers and became a wealthy mine owner. While having some fun fishing with dynamite he lost part of his right arm. For several years he was a Queensland MLC. He used his mining wealth to help his family and to build up his stable of pedigree racehorses. He was unmarried and left his money to a large number of family members.
More information - Chapter 6.1
Celicia Jessie Mosman/Lady Palmer
In 1865 at age 20 Celicia married Arthur Hunter Palmer, a successful businessman and politician twenty years her senior. In 1870 Arthur became Premier of Queensland and in 1881 he was knighted and Celicia became Lady Palmer. She died in 1885 at age 40 from tuberculosis. There were forty carriages in her funeral procession and flags on all government buildings were flown at half mast.
More information - Chapter 6.3
Archibald Frederick Mosman
After a few years working as a drover in outback Queensland, in 1883 Archibald Frederick (AFM) joined the Queensland Native Police Force which provided protection for outback settlers against local natives. After nearly ten years of hunting down and suppressing natives, AFM resigned and lived the rest of his life in Far North Queensland with his full blood Aboriginal partner, Meridah (Kitty) Guachamp. Before they were married in 1911 they had four daughters who they were able to legitimatise under recent legislation.
AFM’s legacy is a family of part Aboriginal drovers across Northern Australia.
More information - Chapter 6.4