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John Southwell, peruke maker, London (ca. 1736–1788): A Timeline

  Richard Southwell of Halesowen, father of John Southwell (1736–1788), peruke maker of Nicholas-lane, Lombard-street, London (fl. 1757–88) appears to have been a descendent of the line of Richard Southwell (b. ca. 1600) and his wife Margaret Cartwright of Womborne. According to the obituary of John Southwell, headmaster of Stafford Grammar School (1722–1797), a descendent of another child of this line:
‘His grandfather, the Rev. John Southwell, educated under Mr Woodhouse at the dissenting-academy at Sheriff-Hales, in Shropshire, was successively chaplain to Philip Foley, Esq. Of Prestwood, assistant to Mr. Woodhouse, master of an academy at Kidderminster, which he removed to Dudley and thence to Newbury, Berks; and died of a consumption about the year 1694, aged about 32.

His paternal great grandfather, of Wombourn, Co. Stafford, farmer, served in the parliament-army and had two brothers, who were ejected ministers, one of whom, Mr. Richard Southwell, is mentioned, in Calamy, abridged by Palmer II 390, as minister of Baswick chapel, near Stafford.’1
ca. 1736 Birth of Birth of John Southwell, later peruke maker, London.

Birth of Jane Butler, later wife of John Southwell, said to have been of St Olave, Jewry (sister of the Revd. [Charles] Weedon Butler, a clergyman and schoolmaster.
1737 A John Southwell, son of Thomas (a cabinet maker) and Margaret was baptised at St Lukes, London in this year.
1751 John Southwell, son of Thomas deceased, was apprenticed to John Homm in the Barber’s company.
1756 John Southwell, son of Richard of The Grange, Halesowen,2 was made free in the City of London Barbers Company by redemption, 28 September 1756. It appears this is another John Southwell (perhaps a cousin) since this is only five years after John, son of Thomas was apprenticed to John Homm in the same company.
1757 Marriage of John Southwell and Jane Butler, St Martin Orgar, 24 November 1757.
1758 Birth of Mary Southwell, 27 September 1758; baptised St. Martin Orgar 15 Oct 1758.
1760 Birth of Jane Southwell, 22 June 1760; baptised St. Martin Orgar, 13 July 1760.
1763 Birth of John Aylward Southwell, 10 January 1763; baptised St Martin Orgar, 16 January 1763. Later appears in Register of scholars admitted to the Merchant Taylor’s School.
1764 Birth of Weedon Southwell, 21 November 1764; baptised St Martin Orgar, 16 December 1764. Later appears in Register of scholars admitted to the Merchant Taylor’s School.
1766 Birth of Daniel Southwell, baptised St Martin Orgar, 30 March 1766.
1767 Birth of Elizabeth Southwell, 18 November 1767; baptised St Martin Orgar, 14 December 1767.
1770 Birth of Edwin Southwell, 29 January 1770; baptised, St Martin Orgar, 16 February 1770.
1775 Birth of Matthew Southwell, 26 March 1775; baptised St Martin Orgar, 23 April 1775. He later appears in Register of scholars admitted to the Merchant Taylor’s School.
1778 William Shenston Southwell,3 born 15 July 1778, baptised 9 August 1778.

John Aylward Southwell, son of J Southwell of Lombard Street, peruke maker, was apprenticed to Joseph Read on 6 May 1778.4
1780 Daniel Southwell (naval officer and diarist), joined the navy in May 1780 as a first lieutenant's servant.5
1787 Daniel Southwell embarked as a midshipman in the Sirius in 1787 and was made a mate on the voyage to New South Wales, Australia. He kept a journal from the time of sailing until May 1789 and also corresponded with his mother, Jane Southwell, and his uncle, Rev. Weeden Butler, a highly respected Headmaster of a school in Chelsea.6
  Notes from Heritage Collection: Nelson Meers Foundation.
The First Fleet Journals, 1787-92.7
Extract:
‘The 11 ships of the First Fleet sailed from England in May 1787, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, carrying almost 1500 people of whom roughly half were convicts. Travelling via Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope and Tasmania, the Fleet arrived first in Botany Bay on 18 January, and settled at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.’
What distinguishes the journals from official records is their personal nature. Written by men of different ranks, travelling on different ships and harbouring different hopes and ambitions for the expedition, the journals record the most profound political revolution ever experienced on the Australian continent.
1788 John Southwell died. in his Will, proved in London on 16 September 1788 (executed on 10 September 1759 – a very simple will made early in his marriage when he had only one infant daughter), he left everything to his wife Jane.
1789 In 1788-89 [Daniel] Southwell was aboard the Sirius when she went to the Cape of Good Hope for stores. About March 1790, against his will when the Sirius was sent to Norfolk Island, Southwell was placed in charge of the look-out station on South Head.8
1794 On 11 February 1794 he [Daniel] was made a lieutenant.9
1797 He [Daniel]was wounded off Portugal and died in Lisbon Hospital on 21 August 1797 aged about 33.10

1 The Monthly Magazine and British Register for 1797 Vol 4 (London: Philips), 491.
2 City of London Freedom admissions paper for his admission to the Barber’s company by redemption, specifies the name and address of John Southwell’s father.(accessed via ancestry.co.uk, 2012).
3 The poet William Shenstone lived in Halesowen, near to ‘The Grange’, home of Richard, father of John Southwell. The families were related by marriage, Richard’s wife, Mary Shenstone appears to have been a cousin of the poet and was a beneficiary of his will in 1763. (Will of William Shenstone, The National Archives, UK PROB 11/884).
4 Dictionary of English Furniture Makers.
5 ‘Southwell, Daniel (1764?–1797)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, Melbourne University Press, 1967, pp 462-463.
6 Horton, ‘Southwell, Daniel’.
7 Heritage Collection - Nelson Meers Foundation - The First Fleet Journals 1787-92:
‘Of the surviving, contemporary records that document the First Fleet, the original, private manuscript journals written by those who actually sailed with the expedition occupy a central place. The Mitchell and Dixson Libraries hold a total of nine First Fleet journals, the most comprehensive collection in the world. The original journals of only two others — Rev. Richard Johnson and Daniel Southwell — are known to exist.’
8 Ibid:
... Southwell's journal and letters record details of the journey and the establishment of the settlement, provide an insight into the hopes and fears of a young naval officer in the colony, and reflect the attitudes and moods of some of the settlers. He comes to the conclusion that the colony will be a ‘long-continued heavy expence to the m'r country’, and his high regard for Governor Arthur Phillip changes: at first he had written of him as ‘very kind and considerate’ and ‘one of a thousand’, but by July 1790 the governor is one of those ‘people whose ill-nature sometimes get the better of their understanding’, and Southwell confessed to be ‘rather vex'd at myself for being so very lavish in my encomiums formerly’. The letters have much to say of the Aboriginals and include a brief vocabulary of their language ...
9 ibid
10 ibid
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