Layer

NameWALBS bios - Adam Wallace Elmslie
DescriptionBiographical data and locations of Adam Wallace Elmslie from 1829-1842, as part of research into people of interest for WA Legacies of British Slavery project (ARC)
TypeOther
Content Warning
ContributorIsabel Smith
Entries7
Allow ANPS? No
Added to System2022-01-14 17:23:58
Updated in System2022-12-14 15:09:27
Subject
Creator
Publisher
Contact
Citation
DOI
Source URL
Linkback
Date From
Date To
Image
Latitude From
Longitude From
Latitude To
Longitude To
Language
License
Usage Rights
Date Created (externally)

St Katharine Docks, England

Placename
St Katharine Docks, England
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
51.506278
Longitude
-0.071694
Start Date
1829-07-18
End Date
1829-07-18

Description

Extended Data

Location notes
The Gilmore left from St Katharines Docks on 18 July 1829, and picked up more passengers from Gravesend and Plymouth. We do not know which port Elmslie embarked at. [5]
Date notes
Biographical information
Adam Wallace Elmslie was born in England in 1874 [7]. He was baptised in Nottingham in 1781. [1] One record indicates he married Sarah Ann Lloyd in Holborn in 1813 [1]. Another suggests they married in 1808 and had 12 children. [3] The following children have been documented: Sarah Ann, born 4 May 1809 in Marylebone; Mary Eliza, born 25/07/1810 and baptised 27/07/1810 in Marylebone; Kenwood Wallace, born 11/01/1812 and baptised 10/02/1812 in Marylebone; Arthur Cruickshank, born 1813 and baptised 1814 in Marylebone; Edward, baptised in St Olave's, London, in 1815; Edgar, baptised in Marylebone in 1824; William, born 10 April 1824 in Woodford; Alice May, born 1835; and Alexis Gordon, born 1838. [1, 3] Elmslie was recorded as a merchant of Crutched Friars when his son Edward was born in London in 1815. He was the business partner of John Wybergh Shaw; this partnership was declared bankrupt around 1824. [1] Alexandra Hasluck wrote that his 'family business had been in the West Indies but had failed'. [2, pp 91-92] In 1829 Elmslie accompanied Thomas Peel to the Swan River Colony aboard the Gilmore as Peel's agent or acting manager. He took his son Arthur and daughter Sarah. [2] Another record suggests he took with him 'Miss E. & Arthur', 2 of his then 10 children. [7]
Links to slavery the slave trade
Co-heir of John Elmslie, Jamaican slaver and West India merchant; co-owner of West India merchant Elmslie & Shaw; Secretary Jamaica Steam Navigation 1836-8
Attitudes around race
Attitudes around labour
Images
Images notes
References
[1] UCL database https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146645345 [2] Alexandra Hasluck, Thomas Peel of Swan River, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1965 [3] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Elmslie-45 [4] https://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/-/media/files/com/downloads/explore/museum/fact-sheets/thomas-peels-ships.pdf [5] https://www.anps.org.au/upload/ANPSPlacenamesReport2.pdf [6] Adam Wallace Elmslie letters, State Library of WA, ACC 603A [7] The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians [8] Shane Burke, Peter Di Marcho and Simon Meath, 'The land ‘flow[ing] … with milk and honey’: Cultural landscape', 2010 [9] http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/PrintSingleRecord/66ac6f42-adcb-4ec5-9338-c6548844f8fb

Sources

TLCMap ID
t79a5
Created At
2022-01-14 17:24:06
Updated At
2023-12-11 17:49:40

Woodman Point

Placename
Woodman Point
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-32.134361
Longitude
115.747
Start Date
1829-12-15
End Date
1829-12-15

Description

Extended Data

Location notes
Date notes
Biographical information
Passengers of the Gilmore finally disembarked at Woodman Point on 15 December 1829. [4]
Links to slavery the slave trade
Attitudes around race
Attitudes around labour
Images
Images notes
References

Sources

TLCMap ID
t79a6
Created At
2022-01-14 17:24:06
Updated At
2023-12-11 17:49:40

Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River)

Placename
Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River)
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-31.894278
Longitude
115.965889
Start Date
1829-12-16
End Date
1829-12-16

Description

Extended Data

Location notes
We have not identified the exact location of Elmslie's grant, however he describes it as 'about seven miles above Guildford on the North Bank of the Swan' [6]
Date notes
We are yet to obtain the original land grant to check the date Elmslie officially started occupying this land. This date is therefore an estimate.
Biographical information
Elmslie was alloted 4306 acres at the Swan River colony. [2] In a letter to James Elmslie Esquire, dated 10 March 1831 from the Swan River, he writes: 'overlooking the river with a few acres of meadow in front well adapted for building on; the situation for that purpose is really beautiful. It is about seven miles above Guildford on the North Bank of the Swan ... There is a much finer grant in point of size being about 5000 acres, which I should very much like to possess, I think it is the very best on the whole river.' [6] Elmslie struggled in the colony (see further details under biographical information for Vauxhall, London). Alexandra Hasluck wrote that Elmslie considered himself entitled to more land than he was allotted and was jealous of naval officers, and highly critical of the enterprise. [2] His eldest daughter, Sarah, returned to England on the Wanstead on 30 January 1830, less than two months after arriving. [7]
Links to slavery the slave trade
Attitudes around race
Attitudes around labour
Images
Images notes
References

Sources

TLCMap ID
t79a7
Created At
2022-01-14 17:24:06
Updated At
2023-12-11 17:49:40

Peel region

Placename
Peel region
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-32.17475
Longitude
115.775278
Start Date
1829-12-31
End Date
1829-12-31

Description

Extended Data

Location notes
There is disagreement over the exact location of the Peel settlement - archaeologist Shane Burke has located it at Mount Brown, whereas historians Pamela Statham Drew and Ruth Marchant James locate it at Woodman Point. [9] We have located it at Mount Brown.
Date notes
Biographical information
As agent or acting manager to Thomas Peel, Elmslie would have been involved in the failed 'Peel town' - a transient town operating between 1829 and 1830 to accommodate the rapid influx of British into the Swan River colony. Shane Burke, Peter Di Marcho and Simon Meath's analysis of Peel town explains: 'disease, low morale and the addition of further colonists from Britain into the camp area eroded the predetermined ideas of class segregation and the control of resources, seriously affecting the leadership group’s ability to maintain authority.' [8, p 5]
Links to slavery the slave trade
Attitudes around race
Attitudes around labour
Images
Map showing Peel Estate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peel_Estate#/media/File:Wagroupsettlement.jpg
Images notes
References

Sources

TLCMap ID
t79a8
Created At
2022-01-14 17:24:06
Updated At
2023-12-11 17:49:40

Launceston, Tasmania

Placename
Launceston, Tasmania
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-41.436167
Longitude
147.131056
Start Date
1831-07-24
End Date
1831-07-24

Description

Extended Data

Location notes
Date notes
Biographical information
On 3 July 1831, Elmslie left the Swan River to visit Tasmania. He arrived in Launceston aboard the Nimrod on 24 July.
Links to slavery the slave trade
Attitudes around race
Attitudes around labour
Images
Newspaper notice of Elmslie's arrival in Launceston: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/84775197
Images notes
References

Sources

TLCMap ID
t79a9
Created At
2022-01-14 17:24:06
Updated At
2023-12-11 17:49:40

Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River)

Placename
Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River)
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-32.035861
Longitude
115.758806
Start Date
1832-03-31
End Date
1832-03-31

Description

Extended Data

Location notes
Date notes
We do not know the exact date Elmslie returned to WA but records indicate he left Tasmania aboard the Eagle in March 1832. [7]
Biographical information
Elmslie left Tasmania in March 1832 to return to the Swan River colony aboard the Eagle. The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians states that he was 'attempting to transfer his land claims to Tasmania.' [7]
Links to slavery the slave trade
Attitudes around race
Attitudes around labour
Images
Images notes
References

Sources

TLCMap ID
t79aa
Created At
2022-01-14 17:24:06
Updated At
2023-12-11 17:49:40

Kennington Road, Vauxhall, London

Placename
Kennington Road, Vauxhall, London
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
51.486472
Longitude
-0.111306
Start Date
1842-06-01
End Date
1842-06-01

Description

Extended Data

Location notes
Date notes
We do not know the exact date that Elmslie returned to England, however records state that he was 'Of Kennington Street, Vauxhall, for the baptism of Alice May (born 1835) and Alexis Gordon (born 1838) in Lambeth in 1842.' [1] We have used an estimate of mid-1842.
Biographical information
Elmslie struggled in the colony - financially, physically and emotionally. In his letter to James Elmslie Esquire, dated 10 March 1831, he writes 'As far as I have observed, the conclusion I draw is that if I had a little money & had laid myself out for business on Peel's failure, I should have done well. But I see you are altogether for agriculture. Stick to the plough you say. And so I will, if I can get a plough to stick to with a team of bullocks and other things indispensable for a farm. But time wears away apace and there is still to be endured the heartbreaking separation from my wife & children. My constant reflections & anxiety about them keep me in such a state of agitation and at times throw me into such unspeakable agony of mind, that I am sure I cannot much longer endure it. I suffer, from this cause, most dreadfully in my health I am never well many days together. And I am in dread continually of another attack of the complaint which almost carried me off last year, as I have frequent symptoms & slight touches of it. Medicine does me no good, except of a restorative kind after I have subdued the complaint by starvation, my favourite remedy, and am become weak. Nevertheless I am obliged to get through a great deal of hard work, having no servant, such as hewing & bringing home wood for fuel, fetching water, & a good deal of other household work, especially when Arthur [his son] is from home, which he is frequently obliged to be in search of game & fish at both of which occupations he is very expert.' [6] Elsmlie seems to have returned to England in the mid-1800s. Records state he was 'Of Kennington Street, Vauxhall, for the baptism of Alice May (born 1835) and Alexis Gordon (born 1838) in Lambeth in 1842.' [1]
Links to slavery the slave trade
Attitudes around race
Attitudes around labour
Images
Images notes
References

Sources

TLCMap ID
t79ab
Created At
2022-01-14 17:24:06
Updated At
2023-12-11 17:49:40
All Layers