Descendants of Caroline Gordon

Alured Tasker Faunce
1833 portrait by Richard Reed
 

       Caroline was Robert and Ann Gordon's eldest daughter. She arrived in Sydney 3 August 1817 with her parents and born on the voyage sister Maria on the barque Matilda. She never married and lived with her parents at the Parramatta Female Factory, where from 1827 to 1836 her mother was the Matron in charge, and after they left Parramatta until her death in 1853 with them at Maitland.
        A 1836 factory Committee of Management report stated Ann Gordon's eldest daughter had two illegitimate children living with her in the Factory. These two were to be Caroline's only children. The father of the first-born is known. However as the name of the father of her second born, who would have been conceived about the third week of January 1835, was not recorded in the church parish baptism book it cannot be established with certainty. His surname was most likely Parker as it was the surname 1835 born son Frederick James gave when he married in 1874. ³.
       Because of her mother's high profile position as the Female Factory Matron the identity of the father of unmarried Caroline's children was a natural target for scuttlebutt and rumour manufacture, especially for those critical of Ann's management and for convict and free factory inmates and former inmates. In that regard Sir Richard Bourke, Governor of the colony of NSW from 1831 to 1837, resided mainly at Government House in Parramatta and had two sons who arrived with him from England in Dec. 1831. Naturally the sons were also targets for gossip and rumour manufacture most especially by vocal opponents of the Governor's policies such as the self-styled "Major" James Mudie and his ilk. So a linking of Caroline Gordon with the Governor's sons would not be unexpected. The eldest son John was an invalid, so much so it was said when young he could scarcely see or walk because of a spinal disability. Upon their father's death because of his infirmities the younger son Richard Jr. inherited the bulk of his father's estate with John provided for by way of an annuity ³⁹. Shortly after their arrival in Sydney the able-bodied son Richard Jr. was appointed as his father's private secretary and remained so until replaced two years later in Dec. 1833 by George Kenyon Holden a qualified solicitor who also arrived with the Governor in 1831 and was the Governor's Private Secretary from his Dec. 1833 appointment until Oct. 1837 ⁴⁰.
        So against that background, easily dismissed as unfounded and absurd, is a rumour from those days that was repeated without qualification in a Dec. 2005 online published Ann Gordon biography implying it had legitimacy, that the father of BOTH of Caroline's children was Governor Bourke's disabled and invalid son John ⁴¹. In fact the father of Caroline's first born child was unquestionably 4th Regiment (King's Own) officer Lieutenant Alured Tasker Faunce (1807-1856) and the unidentified in the baptism record father of her second child was seemingly a "Parker" whose name was probably not disclosed in the church parish register as say a married government official, married local merchant, or a then stationed at Parramatta military officer.
        This same rumour, but with the identity of the father of Caroline's second born changed from having been the Governor's invalid son John to being his able-bodied son Richard, reached a peak of creativity when embroidered by the Ann Gordon and Governor Bourke antagonist James Mudie in his February 1837 London published book titled The Felonry of New South Wales. Employing a kill two birds with one stone approach, Mudie vented his spleen against these two perceived colonial enemies, the Governor and Ann Gordon, claiming the father of the son of one of Ann Gordon's daughters had beenthe Governor's younger son and private secretary Richard Bourke Jr. He also claimed such was well known and the Governor had been aware of the relationship and the resulting illegitimate child had actually been christened as "Richard Bourke". In the Walter Stone edited 1964 reprint of the Mudie book a marginal note initialed "R.B.", taken from a surviving copy and believed made by Sir Richard Bourke himself, described the claim quite succinctly as - "a lie"! ⁴²  It was absolutely a lie as the fact was the Governor Bourke's able-bodied son Richard, who lived until his early 90's and was his private secretary only until Dec. 1833, departed the colony for England in March 1834 to further law studies in England where after admittance to the bar he practiced law as a barrister in Dublin ⁴³. Thus he departed Australia the best part of a year before Caroline's second child was even conceived in Jan. 1835! Obviously unless the conception was achieved by some miraculous and unknown telepathic means Richard Bourke Jr. could not have been the 20 Oct. 1835 born boy's father. Needless to say the church christening record for Caroline's son Frederick, and indeed the NSW birth indexes for all the children baptised in the colony during those years fully supports the book's "R.B." marginal comment as there is no indexed baptism of a "Richard Bourke" as was claimed by Mudie.
       At the April 1837 hearings of the Molesworth ‘Select Committee on Transportation’ in London, Mudie who had been refused women convicts from the female factory as assigned servants by Ann Gordon, vengefully repeated the allegation knowing full well when it got back to Sydney it would be grist to the gossip mill. Evidence given by a confederate of his E. A. Slade concerning Richard Bourke Jr. and likely Ann Gordon's daughters, who Mudie described in his book as "dashing", must have been even more scandalous but the wording is unknown because Slade's statement in that regard was expunged from the record of evidence. John Macarthur Jr. a son of Australian wool industry pioneer John Macarthur who also gave evidence to the Committee drew it to the attention of Sir George Grey with the result that Slade was recalled for cross examination and his statement was shown to be false ⁴⁴.
       The father of Caroline's first born child Jessie Maria was recorded in the church parish baptism book as Alured Fonce ⁴. This record, and another with the Faunce surname phonetically spelt Founce, leaves no doubt Jessie's father's full name was Alured Tasker Faunce. The "Fonce" phonetic spelling was likely recorded in the Liverpool, NSW, Church of England baptism register because, being a unique name in the colony the correct spelling was unknown to the cleric so he just spelt it as heard. Confirming Jessie Maria's father was 4th Regiment officer Alured Faunce is that after the requirement for official BDM registration was introduced in NSW in 1856, in 1858 Jessie Maria gave "Founce" as her surname when she registered the birth of her only child Oscar Henry ⁵. Jessie's use of Founce as her surname for Oscar's birth registration indicates she was fully aware from her mother having told her that her father had been Alured Faunce. Usually children born out of wedlock were registered under their mother's surname which in this case should have been Gordon. It is presumed at the time unmarried Jessie felt it appropriate, for the official purpose of her son's birth registration, that her surname be recorded as that of her biological father which would have been her actual surname if Alured had married her mother. There is no indication from later private and official records that other than in this single instance Jessie ever used Faunce as her surname. When Oscar Henry drowned nine years later in the Hunter River his surname was recorded as Gordon which no doubt was the surname under which he was actually raised ²⁹.
        Phonetic spellings of uncommon names such as Faunce are often encountered in early church and official records. Confirming the Fonce and Founce spellings were just phonetic renditions of Faunce, is that the NSW Birth, Deaths & Marriages indexes from first Australian white settlement in 1788 to the current (as at 2003) published index termination year of 1945 contain no instance of a surname spelt Founce or Fonce. Also Alured as a given name is so rare it does not occur in the NSW BDM indexes except in respect of Alured Tasker Faunce and his descendants. The first occurrence in these indexes of the Faunce name spelt as such was when Alured Tasker married in 1835 in the same St. Luke's, Liverpool, NSW, Church of England where his illegitimate daughter Jessie Maria Gordon was baptised two years earlier in 1833.
        The family military service backgrounds of both Robert and Ann Gordon, and Robert's own approx. 28 years of army service, suggest they would not have been adverse to the prospect of a Caroline marrying an army officer. Their youngest daughter Sarah Ann later married the senior NCO of the 58th regiment. There is of course no evidence they encouraged the relationship with then Lieutenant Alured Faunce in the belief or understanding a marriage would result any more than in a similar four years later out of wedlock relationship between Caroline's sister Maria Matilda and Captain Frank Adams of the 28th regiment (later a Major-General), who after he and Maria had two sons similarly to Faunce married someone else - for the Adams/Maria Gordon details see the Maria Gordon Descendants web page.
        Jessie Gordon's birth date of 21 Aug 1833 indicates a date of conception about the 3rd week of Nov 1832. At that time Alured Faunce had been in the colony of New South Wales with the 4th Regiment of Foot for only six weeks. Perhaps they met at ball held at Parramatta to welcome the officers to Sydney, or at a theatrical production in the Long Room at the ‘Woolpack Inn’, a debate, a regimental band concert, or after a Sunday St. John's Church of England service conducted by Rev. Samuel Marsden who was rector until 1838 and also chaired the Management Committee of the Female Factory. Faunce may have met her at the Female Factory whilst there on official business. Perhaps some of the 200 convicts who arrived in Sydney on the Dunvegan Castle from Cork on 16 Oct 1832 under a guard of the 4th regiment commanded by Alured's younger brother Thomas Faunce were women who upon landing were delivered up-river to the Female Factory under a part military and part civil escort. On record is that in October 1832 and again in March 1833 there was unruly behavior at the Factory occasioning the attendance of the soldiers. After the October '32 attendance there could well have been one or more follow-up visits by an officer during which he would likely have been invited by the Matron to luncheon or to partake of some refreshment at her residence in the grounds and then met nineteen year old Caroline ³⁷.
         A detailed family and Australian history of Alured Tasker Faunce who arrived in Sydney on 9 Oct 1832 on the Lord William Bentinck is given on a linked web page.

Children of Caroline Ann Gordon and Alured Tasker Faunce were:
     1.       Jessie Maria Gordon
Children of Caroline Ann Gordon and an unkown (surname possibly Parker) were:
+   2.      Frederick James Gordon

1.    Jessie Maria Gordon b. 21 Aug 1833 ⁴ possibly at Parramatta was christened on 10 Nov 1833 ⁴ at St. Luke’s Church of England, Liverpool, NSW. Australia, daughter of Alured Tasker Faunce (1807-1856). She died about 1883 likely in South Brisbane, Queensland ²⁴.

        19th century Ada Gordon letters described Jessie as having been "a handsome woman very Jewish looking" and that "she was a fine girl with dark eyes and most agreeable manners"  ^{25, 26}. Ada Gordon also wrote that Jessie likewise to her mother and aunt Maria Fullford had been tall ²⁷. Jessie's christening record gave her mother’s place of abode as Parramatta suggesting her mother Caroline was living at the Female Factory with her parents at the time of the birth. Her father's name appears in this record as Alured Fonce with his occupation given as "gentleman". Such was the term employed to describe the occupation of the fathers of eleven of the fourteen baptsms recorded on that page of the baptisms book. At that time he was actually a Lieutenant in the 4th regiment so if present at the baptism perhaps did not identify himself as such to the minister or as the child's surname was being recorded as Gordon exercised a discretion in respect of the entry for his occupation.
       Jessie's only known child Oscar Henry died on 26 Nov 1867 at nine years of age by accidental drowning while playing truant from school and bathing unaccompanied in the Hunter River at Maitland. His official death record gave his mother’s maiden name as Parker and her married name as Gordon. His father's name was given in this record as a seemingly non-existent George Gordon, by occupation a draper, which unless it was an amazing coincidence of same names was presumably to substantiate the boy's Gordon surname and disguise his illegitimate birth status! Although as evidenced by Oscar's birth registration Jessie clearly knew her own father had been Alured Faunce, her giving of her maiden name as PARKER instead of Gordon (or Faunce) on this occasion was seemingly both an attempt to hide her son's illegitimacy and to be consistent with her brother Frederick's use of Parker as his surname.
       Jessie's marital status from time to time, both before and after she left Maitland, is obscure. In a surviving 1870 letter notifying Letitia Garmonsway in New Zealand of Ann Gordon's death she signed herself "Mrs. J. Gordon" and gave her address as Maitland, so seemingly was not then married although styling herself as "Mrs". A late 1881 Maria Fullford letter indicates Jessie must have left Maitland sometime before the 5 Jan 1880 death of Maria's husband James. There are mentions of genealogical significance re Jessie in surviving Gordon family letters which remain unresolved to this day. In a 1887 letter Ada Gordon wrote: "Jessie died four years ago leaving no family. She married first a Mr. Smith and secondly a Mr. Cameron. They had all Grandma's things including a silver service that I heard has been given to Grandma in pieces at different times. I suppose they are in the hands of strangers now" ²⁴. There are no BDM indexed records in Australia or New Zealand of either of these two purported marriages suggesting they were in fact defacto relationships. No record of her death has been found in NSW or Queensland. It is understood she was not a Jessie Cameron who died in 1883 in Dunedin, New Zealand. In the context of a Cameron family being in possession Ann Gordon's valuables, it seems possible prior to her circa 1883 death Jessie may have been living in South Brisbane in Queensland as a six years after her death 1889 Ada Gordon letter to her aunt Letitia Garmonsway mentioned Jessie's cousin Henry Fullford had told Letitia that "your grandfathers sword and medal, or your uncles sword and medal, are in South Brisbane" ²⁷.
       In the latter years of her life Jessie must have suffered from a medical condition affecting one of her hands. The 1881 Maria Fullford letter mentioned that Maria had not had a letter from Jessie for almost two years, and that the letter she had received then had been - quote "sad to read. She had a small pimple on her wrist some years since. It got before she left here into four or five holes. The Doctors told her it was partly consumption settled there and in time it would work its way out her finger end. So her last letter to me was that she thought it was making that way which then prevented her from writing" ²⁸.

Child of Jessie Maria Gordon and an Unknown was:
     3.      Oscar Henry Gordon (birth reg. as Oscar H. Founce) b. 1858 ⁵ Maitland, NSW; d. 26 Nov 1867 ²⁹, buried St. Peter's Old Burial Ground, Maitland.