Thomas Alfred Bray

  General Notes:

Migrated to Australia with 3 children on ship Blackfriar (which sailed direct to Newcastle, NSW). He arrived in Newcastle from Cornwall in England 10th March 1855

Some people have suggested that he was a sergeant in the Cold Stream Guards in the Crimea War at the Battle of Inkerman but this is unproven.
Farmed at Rosebank near Hinton on Hunter River, NSW. After floods moved to Waratah. Discovered copper at Gulf Creek. Had 10 children.


Marilyn O'Neill (researcher) notes:
Both Thomas b1821 and his sibling William left Cornwall. Thomas Bray b1821 emigrated to Australia and William initially to Canada before settling in Michigan.
The reason that Thomas Bray emigrated to Australia is probably because of his marriage to Sarah Ann Landeryou. Following his marriage, the couple moved to St Pancras, Middlesex to work on the Kings Cross Station along with Sarah Ann's father John Landeryou.

Kings Cross Station The first temporary station was built by Great Northern Railway at Maiden Lane in 1850 but closed two years later with the present station opening on 14 October 1852. The architect was Lewis Cubitt whose uncle and cousin were engineers on the construction of the Great Northern Railway. The station roof was the largest at the time and was supposedly modelled on the riding school of the Czars of Moscow. The station was built by John and William Jay of the Euston Road. The land was acquired for £65,000
and the station cost £123,500 to build. (today's value: £6,344,320 for the land and £12,054,210 station cost)

As mining was beginning to decline from the mid-19th Century onwards Thomas and John probably took their sawyer skills to where there was work, namely St Pancras.
This decline forced many miners to emigrate to developing mining districts overseas where their skills were in demand. Miners emigrated in their droves. In the first 6 months of 1875 over 10,000 miners left Cornwall to find work overseas.
This is probably why, following the completion of the station and with work being difficult to find, Thomas and Sarah decided to emigrate to NSW '96 especially as with their skills and employment history they could have assisted passage.

The parish of Gwennap is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Kerrier. It is bounded on the north by St Agnes, and a detached part of Kenwyn and Kea, on the east by Peranarworthal, on the south by Stithians, and on the west by Wendron and Redruth. Little is known about the saint that gave her name to this parish which is situated to the south-east of Redruth.
Gwennap is better known for its strong associations with Methodism and John Wesley. In the 18th century Wesley preached here to huge crowds in the stepped open-air amphitheatre known as Gwennap Pit.
At that time Gwennap was the hub of Cornwall's richest mining area, but by the 20th century most pits had closed down. This parish is now a scene of desolation and dreariness; the mines are of great depth, and have been worked for ages, but they are
now all stopped. For long periods together their produce exceeded in value £1000 per day, and often more. The value of the whole produce of the parish, in tin and copper, during the 19th century, cannot have been much less than £10,000,000 sterling.
Villages in the parish are the Churchtown, CARHARRACK, Trevarth, Crofthandy and Sunnycorner.
Gwennap Parish Council was formed on 4 December 1894 and CARHARRACK formed part of the area looked after by that Council until, after a government review and pressure from the local inhabitants, CARHARRACK became a civil parish in its own right in 1985. The first meeting of the newly-formed CARHARRACK Parish Council took place on 28 May 1985.

On 23 August 1852 Henry Blee (nephew to John Landeryou) married his cousin Elizabeth Landeryou (John's daughter & sister to Sarah Ann Bray nee Landeryou) at St Pancras Church. Thomas Bray was a witness to the wedding.

  Research Notes:

Marilyn O'Neill notes:
Both Thomas b1821 and his sibling William left Cornwall. Thomas Bray b1821 emigrated to Australia and William initially to Canada before settling in Michigan.
The reason that Thomas Bray emigrated to Australia is probably because of his marriage to Sarah Ann Landeryou. Following his marriage, the couple moved to St Pancras, Middlesex to work on the Kings Cross Station along with Sarah Ann's father John Landeryou.

Thomas Alfred Bray was born on 5 June 1848 and baptized on 3 February 1848 at St Pancras, Middlesex where his father was working as a sawyer, possibly at the Kings Cross Station at St Pancras.
As mining was beginning to decline from the mid-19^th Century onwards Thomas and John probably took their sawyer skills to where there was work, namely St Pancras.
This decline forced many miners to emigrate to developing mining districts overseas where their skills were in demand. Miners emigrated in their droves. In the first 6 months of 1875 over 10,000 miners left Cornwall to find work overseas.
This is probably why, following the completion of the station and with work being difficult to find, Thomas and Sarah decided to emigrate to NSW - especially as with their skills and employment history they could have assisted passage.
Thomas Bray b1791 died in 1858 and Jane Trevena died in 1869 - both in the parish of St Day, Cornwall.

The original parish of Redruth was situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Penwith. It is bounded on the north by Illogan and St Agnes, on the east by Gwennap, on the south by Gwennap and Illogan, and on the west by Illogan. Redruth was formerly the capital of the largest and richest metal mining area in Britain. The town's setting is dominated by the granite heights of Carn Brea and Carn Marth. Granite is an igneous rock formed from molten material generated at great depth below the surface. Vapours from the granite carried minerals into the rock's fissures before it finally set. In later ages the granite was lifted by earth movements, and exposed to weathering.

On Carn Brea can he seen the remains of one of the oldest and largest human settlements in Cornwall, a 46-acre Neolithic hillfort. Minerals were probably worked here since the Bronze Age, and by the Middle Ages mining was well-established. Tin was obtained from deposits in the flats of streams the ore found in material produced by the weakening of veins in the granite. By 1300, streamers were working along the brook that ran along the bottom of Fore Street. The iron oxide from the workings discoloured the water. The red river in turn gave its name to the ford from which the town derives its Cornish name (rhyd= ford, ruth = red). There were a great number of mines in this parish, many of which were highly productive in both copper and tin.

A charter for two weekly markets and two annual fairs was granted in 1324, and the Stannary Courts were sometimes held here in the later Middle Ages. From Tudor times control of the mining industry passed increasingly into the hands of the gentry, as more costly underground working developed. In 1591, Redruth was visited by the plague which occasioned the death of 91 of the then population of around 1000 people. The main villages are the Churchtown and Plain-an-guare (Plain-an-Gwarry) were already suburbs of Redruth in the mid-19th century. Highway and North Country are also areas near the town.

REDRUTH HIGHWAY is an area off the A393 heading towards Treskerby.

GENUKI - Gwennap
The parish of Gwennap is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Kerrier. It is bounded on the north by St Agnes, and a detached part of Kenwyn and Kea, on the east by Perranarworthal, on the south by Stithians, and on the west by Wendron and Redruth. Little is known about the saint that gave her name to this parish which is situated to the south-east of Redruth. Gwennap is better known for its strong associations with Methodism and John Wesley. In the 18th century Wesley preached here to huge crowds in the stepped open-air amphitheatre known as Gwennap Pit.
At that time Gwennap was the hub of Cornwall's richest mining area, but by the 20th century most pits had closed down. This parish is now a scene of desolation and dreariness; the mines are of great depth, and have been worked for ages, but they are now all stopped. For long periods together their produce exceeded in value £1000 per day, and often more. The value of the whole produce of the parish, in tin and copper, during the 19th century, cannot have been much less than £10,000,000 sterling.

Villages in the parish are the Churchtown, CARHARRACK, Trevarth, Crofthandy and Sunnycorner. Two new parishes were created from parts of this parish: St Day in 1833 and Lanner in 1845.
Gwennap Parish Council was formed on 4 December 1894 and CARHARRACK formed part of the area looked after by that Council until, after a government review and pressure from the local inhabitants, CARHARRACK became a civil parish in its own right in 1985. The first meeting of the newly-formed CARHARRACK Parish Council took place on 28 May 1985.

St Day
The parish of St Day is located in the Hundred of Kerrier and Deanery of Carnmarth (which is actually located within this parish). The parish is named after St Day who, whilst not well known in Britain, is often found honoured in Brittany. The old pronunciation of 'St Dye' was in common use until fairly recently.
The parish was formed in 1835 from within the parish of Gwennap. It lies about 2 miles east of Redruth. The area is heavily populated with houses that were once occupied by local miners. The tin mining industry has now died out in the area.
St Day is an attractive village situated in the centre of the once-extensive mining district.

In the 1851 Census Thomas Bray age 28 is living with his wife Sarah Ann age 29 and children Sarah Ann and Thomas Alfred at 36 Union Street, St Pancras, London, Middlesex. Thomas is employed as a miner and sawyer whilst Sarah Ann is at home with the children who are both recorded as scholars. As can be seen from the census their first child Sarah Ann born 1846 was born at St Pancras. This means the family must have moved to London between 1844 and 1846.
(Note that Union Street is approximately 3 miles from Werrington Street)

As can be seen from the 1851 England Census for John Landeryou, they are also in St Pancras living at 48 St Clarendon Street, St Pancras. (redeveloped now, but near Werrington Street, Kings Cross NW1 - approx. 3 miles from Thomas Bray and family)

On 23 August 1852 Henry Blee (nephew to John Landeryou) married his cousin Elizabeth Landeryou (John's daughter & sister to Sarah Ann Bray nee Landeryou) at St Pancras Church. Thomas Bray was a witness to the wedding.
One can therefore deduce therefore that when Thomas and Sarah Ann moved from Cornwall to St Pancras, they did so along with Sarah Ann's father, mother and siblings in 1844/5.
It is worth noting that when Thomas and John were at Kings Cross, St Pancras the Kings Cross Station was being built and it is highly probable that all the men were working on the building of the station.

Kings Cross Station
The first temporary station was built by Great Northern Railway at Maiden Lane in 1850 but closed two years later with the present station opening on 14 October 1852. The architect was Lewis Cubitt whose uncle and cousin were engineers on the construction of the Great Northern Railway. The station roof was the largest at the time and was supposedly modelled on the riding school of the Czars of Moscow. The station was built by John and William Jay of the Euston Road. The land was acquired for £65,000 and the station cost £123,500 to build. (today's value: £6,344,320 for the land and £12,054,210 station cost)

Emigration:
On 20 November 1854 Thomas and his family set sail on the ship Blackfriars from London to NSW, Australia, a barque of 621 tons build in Newcastle. On board were 172 people: 89 adult males, 41 adult females and 37 children under 14 = 23 males and 19 females. When she arrived in NSW on 10 March 1855 no deaths on board were recorded. British Parliamentary Papers, 1856 XXIV (2089), 393.
On the voyage was Thomas, his wife Sarah Ann and their three children: Sarah Ann age 9, Thomas Alfred age 7 and John William age 2.

  Noted events in his life were:

• alt christening, 15 Jul 1821, Ruan Major, Cornwall England.

• Occupation: tin miner, 1844.

• Medical.

• Occupation: Escavator / miner / Farmer, 2 Mar 1844.

• Census, 1851, 36 Union St, St Pancras, London.

• Emigration, 1855.

• connection.

• Death Reg.: 14678.

• Census: 1851.

• Occupation.

• Occupation, 3 Feb 1857.

• Occupation: Carpenter building wagons and drays for the AA company - age 37, 1858.

• Occupation, 7 Oct 1869.

• connection. ²²

• connection. ¹⁹

• 1881 census: worked as mine carpenter, 1881, lived at No 35 Hamblys Redruth, Cornwall.

• note. ²³

Thomas married Sarah Ann Landeryou, daughter of John Landeryou and Elizabeth Davis (Betsey) (Betty Davey) Pitman, on 2 Mar 1844 in Gwennap With St Day, Cornwall England.²¹ (Sarah Ann Landeryou was born on 20 Oct 1826 in Gwennap, Cornwall England, christened on 30 Apr 1827 in Kea, Gwennap, Cornwall England England Births & Christenings 1538-1975 Index Family Search Ref.ID item11 p95, died on 26 Feb 1885 in Lambton or Mayfield, Newcastle, NSW Australia and was buried on 28 Feb 1885 in St Andrews C of E, North Waratah, Newcastle, NSW Australia.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• source.

• source.

  Marriage Notes:

Marilyn O'Neill notes:
On 2 March 1844 Thomas marries Sarah Ann Landeryou (1826-1885) by banns at St Day in the parish of Gwennap (this is prior to St Day becoming a parish in its own right - this period is commonly referred to as the parish of Gwennap with St Day). As can be seen from the marriage certificate below Thomas was of full age whilst Sarah Ann was age 19, both were unmarried and Thomas' profession was that of a Miner. Both the groom and bride were living in Carharrack where Thomas Bray b1791 was also working as a Miner, whilst Sarah Ann's father, John Landeryou was working as a sawyer.