John Gay, it is tempting to assume his parentage. I’ve looked at three genuine contenders, but without a document that firmly identifies who his parents are, as yet I have no conclusive evidence that can definitively link his parentage. Apprenticeship papers and recording of mariners details that name John were not mandatory at the time he went seafaring. At best bet I’m hoping for a DNA match that will open up this line of confirmation.
Cordelia Bristow was born in 1794 in Brighton, Sussex.
At the age of twenty, John married Cordelia Bristow by license on the 24 January 1816 at St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe, in the maritime district of Rotherhithe.
Being married by licence in 1816 meant that John Gay and Cordelia Bristow had chosen a more formal and expensive route to marriage than was customary for most couples. Rather than having the marriage banns read publicly in church on three successive Sundays, they applied for a marriage licence, which permitted the ceremony to proceed without this requirement.
To obtain the licence, one of the parties was required to swear a formal allegation affirming that there were no legal impediments to the marriage, such as a prior existing marriage, prohibited degree of kinship, or lack of consent where required. The licence was then issued under ecclesiastical authority, typically through the Archbishop, Bishop, Archdeacon, or their appointed officials.
A marriage by licence was considerably more costly than a marriage by banns and was often favoured by couples wishing to avoid the delay and publicity associated with the traditional process. It was also commonly used by those of greater financial means, by individuals whose occupations required travel, or where practical circumstances made a speedy marriage desirable.
As a mariner whose livelihood was dependent upon the uncertainties of overseas voyages and sailing schedules, John Gay may have found a marriage by licence a particularly convenient option. Whatever the reason, the licence allowed the couple to marry promptly at St Mary’s, Rotherhithe, on 24 January 1816.
The young couple quickly began their family. Their first child, Cordelia Bristow Gay, was born on 16 December 1816, within the year after their wedding. She was baptised on 8 January 1817, also at St Mary’s, Rotherhithe, following the same Anglican traditions as her parents.
The following year on the 22nd May 1818, their second daughter Ann was born. Ann was christened on the 12th June 1818. At this time they were living in Lucas Street, St Mary’s, Rotherhithe.
On the 6th January 1820 their first son William was born like his sisters William was baptised at St Mary’s on the 5th February 1820 in Rotherhithe.
Son John Gay Jnr born 28 December 1821, baptised 13 Feb in 1822.
Daughter Mary was baptised at the family church but had been born in Barbados.
There are many roads in Rotherhithe that appear repeatedly throughout the historical records relating to the Gay family. Among them are Jamaica Road and Lower Road, together with routes leading to familiar neighbouring districts such as Bermondsey, Deptford, Greenwich, and Tower Bridge. Other local thoroughfares include Brunel Road, Salter Road, and Redriff Road, all names that would have been well known to generations of local seafaring families.
Rotherhithe itself is a peninsula formed by a great bend in the River Thames. For centuries it contained some of London’s most important docks and wharves, handling the constant flow of ships, cargo, and passengers entering and leaving the capital. Today it forms part of the London Borough of Southwark, though in earlier times it fell within Bermondsey and, before that, the historic county of Surrey. It is therefore not unusual to find varying place names in official records.
The name Rotherhithe dates back to the Middle Ages and was frequently recorded as Redriff in older documents. It is generally thought to derive from a Saxon word meaning “mariner’s landing place”, a fitting title for an area whose fortunes were tied so closely to the river. One of the places they lived in Rotherhithe was Lucas St. Lucas Street was In close proximity to Paradise Street and Mill Pond Bridge, an area tied closely to the shipping industry of the area.
Shipbuilding and all things nautical had been central to life in Rotherhithe for as long as anyone could remember, and this was certainly the case during the years when the Gay family lived there. The principal parish church was St Mary’s, Rotherhithe, where the Gay children were baptised and where John Gay and Cordelia Bristow were married.
The Gay family were very much a local seafaring line, bound to the rhythms of the Thames and the wider ocean beyond. The scent of tar and rope, the forest of masts lining the waterfront, and the constant movement of vessels up and down the river would have been a familiar backdrop to everyday life. It seems almost inevitable that young John would be drawn towards the sea.
By adulthood, his occupation was recorded as Master Mariner, a title reserved for a man entrusted with command of a merchant vessel. Such a position required years of experience, practical skill, leadership, and a thorough knowledge of navigation and trade. It is likely that John first went to sea as a young apprentice, learning his craft through long voyages before gradually rising through the ranks to command his own ship.
There were, admittedly, a great many John Gays living at around the same time as our John Gay, which has occasionally made research rather entertaining. One John Gay was murdered in Pará, Brazil. Fortunately for our family tree, that was not our John. Another was a builder. Yet another was the celebrated eighteenth-century poet and playwright responsible for The Beggar’s Opera. One was even an aristocrat involved in British politics, which can likewise be ruled out.
Our John Gay was none of those things.
Our John Gay earned his living at sea. As a merchant mariner, he spent much of his life travelling between England and Brazil, carrying goods, passengers, and correspondence across the Atlantic. While less glamorous than a famous poet or politician, his life was no less remarkable, being shaped by distant ports, ocean crossings, and the opportunities and dangers that accompanied maritime trade in the early nineteenth century.
Belem as it is now known or Para as it was then was a bustling port city. Indigenous communities had been colonised by the Portuguese in the mid 1500’s. The Brazilians did not welcome the Portuguese colonisation and the political mood was frequently tense with skirmishes.
Canny & Pagden (1987) in their book Colonial Identity in the Atlantic World 1500 – 1800, discuss the problems that existed between the Brazilians and the Portuguese and Europeans and particularly the planters who saw themselves as a type of nobility in the Para region by right of their acquisition of the area by force.
These ‘foreigners’ had frequent dealings in government and trade and the access and control of the land they occupied. What was also a feature when our family were there was the surge of people from the northern colonies of the Americas. Brazil was a population of mixed diversity.
The South Sea Company had been set up by the British in 1700. From 1713 to 1870 it would transport and sell thousands of slaves across the world to the Americas, the Spanish Indies and the Caribbean. The treaty of Utrecht gave the South Sea Company the authority to trade their human cargo to the South American colonies on its Atlantic face. Thomas, H. (1997). The slave trade: The story of the Atlantic slave trade, 1440-1870. Simon & Schuster.
Our John and Cordelia were certainly travelling between Britain, Brazil, and other parts of the world at a time when slavery formed a visible and accepted part of everyday life within much of the Atlantic trading system. During the centuries of the transatlantic slave trade, Brazil received more enslaved Africans than any other destination in the Americas, with approximately 5.5 million people transported there against their will.
It is an uncomfortable reality to contemplate, but one that should not be ignored. Whether John was directly involved in any aspect of the trade or not, he would almost certainly have been aware of it. As a merchant mariner operating in the Atlantic world, he lived and worked within a society where human beings were bought and sold as property and where the trafficking of enslaved people formed a significant part of the economic system.
Family history sometimes requires us to confront aspects of the past that are difficult to reconcile with modern values. While there is presently no evidence that John participated in the slave trade, there can be little doubt that he witnessed a world in which human lives were treated as cargo and people were regarded as commodities. It was a tragic reality of the age in which he lived..
The South Sea Company also transported supplies across the ocean to Brazil. Aside from the South Sea Company there were many other companies and privateers from across Europe and the America’s who also provided transport and supply of all manner of cargo including humankind.
The privateers greatly resented the monopoly the formed companies held and would frequently seek to undercut the larger organisations to secure a cargo. It was not uncommon for any party to engage in bribery to seek contracts or avoid paying taxes and dues at ports. In some cases privateers would even engage in the theft or destruction of property if it meant that they could ‘steal’ bounty or a contract.
Into this mix also were the pirates, unlike the privateers their sole intention was to acquire through organised crime. Merchant ships were reasonable pickings and less likely to have the guns and the resources of the navy ships. It was part of the price you paid as a merchant navy trader that you undertook the risk of being attacked at sea and losing your cargo, your ship and often your life.
The British politician William Pitt the younger said in the House of Commons in 1792, “No nation in Europe has plunged so deeply into this guilt as Great Britain”. So, it’s not enough to say that this was the way of the world and everyone was comfortable with it. Because they certainly weren’t. However, it would not be for some time yet before the slave trade would become illegal. Slave trading in Brazil would not end until 1888.
European and Portuguese planters also came to Brazil intent on making a living off the land. The colony of Brazil had been built on slave labour. Merchants who could ply their trade by water-borne means were able to be the suppliers and transport for their cargo and crops to and from the trading ports and of course back and forwards to Europe. The British, Portuguese, French and Dutch all had a particularly high visibility in Brazil.
The country was deemed to be under the control of the Portuguese until 1822 when it declared independence from Portugal. Even though its first Emperor Dom Pedro had been born in Portugal he later declared for the Brazilians and all armies loyal to Portugal continuing to rule Brazil were defeated.
It was at Para and Santarem about 600 miles further up the Amazon river that John made his living and eventually brought his family. A ship could sit in the Para port for several months waiting for produce to be brought down different waterways by river craft. Once loaded the ship would sail away.
John was engaged not only with international shipping but also in traversing the rivers with bringing in produced goods. John kept a house at Para and another at Santarem where he could stay and he employed a man there Jeffries whose job it was to mind and run the place whilst he was away. The trip from Santarem to Para was 3 days by river boat. During these years John and Cordelia were back and forwards to England with their family.
1820 – The Pomona
The Pomona, under the command of Captain John Gay, departed London bound for Pará, Brazil. Records note that the vessel arrived safely at Pará on 23 May 1820, but not without incident. During the voyage she was reportedly boarded and plundered off the Canary Islands, suffering losses estimated at £500, a substantial sum at the time.
To modern eyes, the theft of £500 may not sound especially dramatic, but in 1820 such an amount represented a significant financial loss. The incident serves as a reminder that, despite the decline of the great age of piracy, merchant vessels crossing the Atlantic still faced dangers from theft, privateers, and opportunistic criminals operating along major shipping routes.
Fortunately for Captain Gay and his crew, the Pomona completed her voyage and reached Pará safely. For families dependent upon maritime trade, such arrivals could never be taken for granted. Every voyage carried risks from storms, disease, shipwreck, and crime, making a successful return something of an achievement in itself.
From the Morning Post Newspaper on the 22nd July 1820 in Ship News reports came that John’s ship had been pirated on one of his journeys. The ship he was in charge of The Pomona. ‘The Pomona, Gay, from London, arrived at Para, 23rd May, after being plundered off the Canaries of property to the amount of 500 pound’. (Not unusual, the Canaries was famously home to pirates, located off the west coast of Africa).
From the Morning Post Newspaper, 29th August 1820 in Ships News. ‘ August 27. Arrived yesterday and sailed for the River, Pomona, Gay, from Para.’
From the Liverpool Mercury Newspaper on the 22 December 1820, ‘Pomona, Gay, from London, at Para.’ News that John’s ship had arrived in Brazil.
From the Morning Post, Newspaper on the 25th January 1823 in Ship News reports. ‘ Plymouth Jan 22nd arrived Pomona, Gay, from Para to London’. Then the next month, in Trewmans Exeter Flying Post; ‘Thursday 6th February 1823‘ news that John was on his way back home. ‘Plymouth. Sunday. Sailed Pomona, Gay for London.’
Santarem
Around 1823, John had established his trading business at Santarém, in the Brazilian province of Pará. Situated deep within the Amazon Basin, Santarém occupied a strategic position at the confluence of the Tapajós River and the Amazon River. One of the more remarkable features of the area is that the darker waters of the Tapajós and the lighter, sediment-rich waters of the Amazon flow side by side for some distance before gradually mixing.
The surrounding landscape was, and remains, a complex network of waterways. Numerous smaller rivers, channels, streams, and islands dotted the region, creating an environment in which travel and commerce were often conducted by boat rather than by road. For a merchant mariner such as John Gay, Santarém was ideally situated, providing access not only to the Amazon itself but also to the vast hinterland beyond.
To a sailor from Rotherhithe, accustomed to the busy but comparatively confined waters of the Thames, the immense scale of the Amazon and its tributaries must have been both impressive and challenging. Here, amid the tropical forests and seemingly endless waterways of northern Brazil, John established his commercial interests and built a life far removed from the docks and shipyards of London.
John had his family with him during this period of his life. In 1824, the family spent some time in Barbados before returning once more to Pará, Brazil. It is tempting to wonder whether this visit may have brought the Gay family into contact with the Brereton family, who were resident on the island at the time. At present there is no evidence to prove such a meeting occurred, but the possibility remains an intriguing one.
While the family was moving between Barbados and Brazil, life continued much as it always had for seafaring families. Children were born, baptised, and carried from one side of the Atlantic to the other as business and circumstance dictated.
A daughter, Mary Gay, was born in Barbados on 24 April 1824. Her baptism did not take place until 13 March 1825, almost a year later. This delay may well have been the result of the family’s travels and frequent absences from their home parish.
The family’s sixth child, James Gay, was born on 9 April 1826, adding another member to what was becoming a sizeable household. Sadly, there was likely at least one further child, an infant daughter, who died in Pará, Brazil, before reaching adulthood. Around this time, John had established his trading interests in Brazil and maintained a family residence known as “A Rosa” (“The Rose”). While little is presently known about the property itself, the name suggests a Portuguese influence and provides another small glimpse into the family’s life in northern Brazil.
Such losses were an unfortunate reality of life in the early nineteenth century. Disease, tropical fevers, and the hazards of living far from established medical care meant that not every child survived to adulthood. For families such as the Gays, whose lives were divided between the ports of Britain, Barbados, and Brazil, the risks were even greater.
In April 1828 John died at Para and a few days later so did his youngest daughter. There was an outbreak in the area in 1828 of Yellow Fever. This is believed to be the cause of death of John and his infant daughter.
We have an eyewitness account of this as an Officer in the British Navy was travelling through Para and Santarem at this exact time and several records regarding the Gay family made it into his diary of his journeys.
Journal of a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic: crossing the Andes in the northern provinces of Peru, and descending the River Marañon or Amazon. (1828) Henry Lister Maw
Thursday March 27th 1828. Henry Lister Maw and his traveling companion Mr. Hinde stayed at John & Cordelia’s house at Santarem (even though the Gay’s were in Para at the time, as fellow Britons the custom was to extend courtesty. John’s man at Santarem provided them with somewhere to stay and convivial comforts. Whilst there Henry read the only book that John had in the house. The history of the buccaneers.
Lister Maw and Hinde had experienced some trouble whilst they were at Santarem with their passports and the local authorities and were aided by John’s Man, Mr. Jeffries in getting it resolved and them back on their way to Para
The British vice-consul of Para was a Mr John Hesketh. (John Hesketh, an overview). The consul from the United States was a Mr. Allen.
The travelers remarked that there were large populations of what they called ‘Indians’ away from the largely European townships. These people were actually the Tapajo tribes who were the indigenous inhabitants of the area. There was also a well-known merchant in the city a Mr. Campbell whose home at Para, Henry Lister Maw was staying at, and he recorded the following in his diary:
‘ Within a day or two after our dining with Mr Hesketh, as we were sitting at dinner at Mr. Campbell’s a girl of about ten or twelve years of age, daughter of Mr. Gay, an English Merchant, to whom Mr Jeffries acted as agent at Santarem, and who had died only a few days previous to our reaching Para, came running into the room crying, saying her little sister was just dead. We had seen the child since our arrival, when it appeared not to be unwell, though delicate. It had been slightly indisposed that day and the day before, but went off in a convulsion. (The girl mentioned would have been one of the older girls who were reporting the death of their youngest infant sister.)
It may be imagined the mother’s feelngs, at losing her husband and her infant within so short a period; nor were these the only sufferings she had to struggle with, Mr Gay not having left her in affluent circumstances. The attention of Mr. Campbell and his circle was not wanting on the occasion and as I had nothing in particular to occupy my attention, I sat up with Mr. Henderson a young man in Mr. Campbell’s house, to watch the body; the following day it was buried in its father’s grave, in a piece of ground cleared away in the jungle, and allotted as an English or Protestant burial-ground.
Most of the merchants attended, and the funeral service was read by one of the oldest residents, Mr. Hesketh, who as vice-consul, generally officiates being too unwell to attend. There had been several deaths within a short time, another British Merchant and the master of an English merchant brig, having died about the same time as Mr. Gay.
Para is not, however considered to be an unhealthy place; it had been long since so many deaths had occurred before these took place, and Mr. Campbell assured me he was never so well as in Para.
Mr. Gay had left a small place called A Rosa, about two miles from the city; it consisted of a building, containing two rooms, with a large and broad veranda, cooking place, a garden and thirty or forty acres of ground planted with a few coffee shrubs, but indented principally for himself and his family to go out to occasionally.
This place had been purchased by Mr. Williams, one of the English merchants, and a large party was invited to go out to breakfast on Sunday, when there was no mercantile business to attend to, and pass the day.‘
July 1829 Cordelia married Lawrence (or Laurence) Williams Esq. at Maranham. Now here is something interesting when John died in Para, the Vice-Consul was a Mr. Hesketh, (who as vice-consul, generally officiated funerals but for John him being too unwell to attend.)
However, fast forward a year and Mr. John Harketh Esq. British Consul officiated the wedding of Mrs. Cordelia Gray (of London) and Mr. Lawrence Williams Esq, a London merchant at Maranham. Which is located in Brazil but is more recognisable by its name Maranhão. Both Para and Maranhão being in reasonable proximity to each other.
I’m satisfied that Cordelia married the same Mr. Williams who bought the property A Rosa in Santarem from her after her husband John died.
Cordelia and Lawrence had a son together Laurence Williams who was born Dec 21, 1830, in France. He was baptised at the family church, St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey: Bermondsey Street on the 19th of July 1837.
This son Laurence would be quite the world traveler himself before settling in Melbourne, Australia where he would work as an auctioneer before dying a very young man.
The Argus 24 October 1862; – Williams – On the 22nd inst., at 39 Gore Street Fitzroy, Mr. Laurence Williams, aged thirty-two of pulmonary consumption and tuberoulos disease of the brain. London papers, please copy.
Cordelia signed her son Williams apprentice paperwork in England in 1835.
Nine years later John and Cordelia’s daughter (Cordelia Bristow Gay) married Robert Oliphant (October 1837) and John was recorded as dead on her marriage banns record.
On the 1841 census, Cordelia Williams, aged 40 was married to Laurence Williams, and was living in the parish of St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey.
Laurence Williams had been a principal partner in the London mercantile firm William, Inglis & Co. Operating prominently from Philpot Lane in the City of London, the firm coordinated an extensive network of commercial and financial activities throughout Central and South America. Among its principal exports were Manchester cotton goods, which were distributed through well-established trading connections supported by the firm’s banking and mercantile interests.
Laurence later relocated to Pará, Brazil, where he managed the export of Amazonian commodities, including rubber, cacao, and hides, for shipment to markets in Europe and North America. As a merchant deeply involved in the Atlantic trading economy, he occupied a position within a commercial system that was closely intertwined with slavery and enslaved labour.
While no evidence has yet been found proving that Laurence personally owned enslaved people, it is difficult to separate the prosperity of nineteenth-century Atlantic commerce from the institution of slavery. The economic structures within which he operated frequently benefited, either directly or indirectly, from enslaved labour.
One of the firm’s principal financial associates was Hugh McCalmont, whose family held substantial interests in Jamaica. Historical records document the involvement of the McCalmont family in plantation ownership, and in later years the business of William, Inglis & Co. was absorbed into that of McCalmont Brothers, further strengthening the commercial ties between the two enterprises.
During the years in which our family lived and worked in Brazil, slavery remained a legal and widespread institution. Enslaved labour underpinned much of the country’s agricultural and commercial economy, and its effects were visible throughout everyday life. Whether through commerce, shipping, finance, or agriculture, few individuals engaged in international trade during this period were entirely removed from a system that relied upon the exploitation of enslaved Afro-Brazilian people.
Census 1841
Laurence gave his occupation as Gent (gentleman) and head of the house. They were residing comfortably in their home in Bermondsey. With them were their son Laurence (aged 10) and Mary Gay (aged 15) daughter of Cordelia and the late John Gay.
Residing with them at this time were Cordelia’s daughter Cordelia Bristow-Gay (now Oliphant), her husband William Oliphant, occupation Watchmaker and their children Robert (2) and Cordelia (1). By 1856 this branch of the family had immigrated to Australia.
1842
1842 and Cordelia’s son William had married Eliza Brereton Howard of Barbados.
1843
1843 and Lawrence Williams Senior died at Bermondsey aged 44 years. Leaving Cordelia a widow again. The circumstances of his death quite extraordinary.
The Observer Sun May 07, 1843
Suddenly, Laurence Williams, Esq., of Para Brazil, late partner of Inglis, Williams and Co., Para, son of William Williams Esq., of New York, United States
The Standard 29 April 1843
Death from Joy – Yesterday an inquest was held before Mr. Carter, at the Rising Sun, (near St James Church,) Bermondsey on the body of Lawrence Williams, Esq. It appeared by the evidence of Miss Mary Gay, the stepdaughter of the deceased, that he was formerly a partner in the firm of Inglis and Co, Brazilian merchants, but had long since retired from the house and lived at 26, New Church-Street. (It was remarked in the papers that he was retired and living on his fortune.)
For some time past he had been in a declining state of health, arising from an attack of paralysis. On Sunday morning last she went to his room for the purpose of taking him his breakfast, and found him out of bed, but lying across once corner of it. He was quite dead. He had been in the habit of sleeping by himself. His face was very black, as if he had been strangled. On the previous day he complained of being very weak, but he had not had regular medical attendance since last summer. Mr. Paul, a surgeon, was sent for, and he was of the opinion he had been strangled, as his head was hanging over the bed, as if he had been attacked with a fit.
Mr. Ransford, a relation of the deceased, said his family had cause to believe his death was the immediate result of excessive joy, which arose in a manner that his weak frame was unable to bear up against. His father, who held a very high and responsible situation in America, had been supposed to be dead for many years, but on Monday week he unexpectedly returned to this country, and the interview so affected him (deceased) that he fainted.
Ever since that day he has been visibly declining and the departure of his father who could make but a short stay here probably caused another sudden reaction. He had now doubt in his own mind that his death was then accelerated. The Jury then returned a verdict of natural death.
On the 1851 Census Cordelia was remarked as Head of the House indicating she is the primary owner of the property in Whitechapel. Living with her are her son John Gay and his family in the parish of St Mark, Whitechapel, Town of London.
John Gay aged 29, wife Elizabeth (Ellis-Rodgers) aged 21, mother recorded as Caroline William. (it was Cordelia), aged 56. There is a Laurence Gay (aged 21) recorded as a brother and having been born in France. John’s occupation was given as a beer retailer. Cordelia’s youngest son, Laurence Williams would have been twenty by this time. John and Elizabeth would live their lives around the London area with John dying in 1879.
By 1856 Cordelia’s daughter, Cordelia Bristow-Gay Oliphant had moved to Australia with her husband William and their family. They would live around Hobart with Cordelia dying at Lansdowne Crescent, Hobart, Tasmania in 1877.
In 1857 Cordelia’s daughter Ann (who had married Joseph Henry Green) like her siblings moved to Australia. First to Tasmania and then later residing in Queensland with Ann dying in Rockhampton QLD in 1890. Her mother was recorded as Cordelia Briston, her father John Gay. Ann’s children Ernestine and Lawrence Green are recorded on the shipping records with her arriving in Tasmania.
On the 1861 Census Cordelia (by now an elderly woman of 67) was living with her son John aged 39 and his family with John listed as the head of the house at St Paul, borough of Greenwich, town of Deptford, 16 Amersham Road. Also residing there was John’s wife Elizabeth (31) and children, Justina (10), Cordelia B (5), Alfred (3), Arthur (1). Cordelia listed as mother (of John) aged 67. The house also afforded a live in servant. Mary Ann S. Smith (17).
By the 1871 Census, Cordelia aged 75 was living with her daughter, Mary Thorpe (44) head of house and her grandson William Thorpe (17)in London. As Mary’s husband, William Thorpe is not listed it is possible that he had died and left Mary widowed.
Cordelia who was recorded as Cordelia B. Williams, died 6th of May 1875 aged 81 and is buried at Nunhead Cemetery
Click here. William Gay and Eliza Brereton Howard
Typical of houses in the street.
