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Alexander LEARMONTH

Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 15 Oct 2008 2:07PM GMT
Classification: Query
My great-great-grandfather James Peebles and his brother Robert emigrated to Tasmania in 1855. My information is that they were "sponsored immigrants by bounty tickets, their sponsor being Alexander LEARMONTH".

Does anyone know who Alexander LEARMONTH was?

Harry D. Watson

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 26 Oct 2008 3:22PM GMT
Classification: Query
Alexander Learmonth was an accountant working for the Cornwall Fire and Marine Insurance Company in Launceston. He was later President of the St Andrews Society and director of the Australian Joint Stock Bank and the United Insurance Company. He died from apoplexy in Sydney in 1877.

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 26 Oct 2008 4:08PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thanks, that's interesting. Is anything known about his family's origins in Scotland? (which I'm assuming because of his name). The best-known family of Learmonths in Scotland were from Fife, and one branch were hereditary provosts of St. Andrews. One descendant of this family was the Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov. The DNA-testing organisation Oxford Ancestors has a project afoot to test volunteers called Learmonth to see if they are related to the poet. Presumably the latter has descendants at the present day who can provide DNA for comparative purposes.

My interest in Alexander Learmonth stems from the fact that he sponsored the emigration of my ancestor James Peebles and his brother to Tasmania in 1855. I wondered if he knew them personally, or if he was sponsoring Fife emigrants in particular, or ...?

Harry

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 27 Oct 2008 7:12AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi Harry, This explains it "...were recruited in a drive to bring to Tasmania a superior kind of immigrant. They were wanted specifically to work on the farms of Scots free settlers and larger landowners, who found themselves suddenly bereft of convict labour at the end of transportation. To make up for this deficit, the St Andrews Caledonian Society joined with the British Government in a bonus scheme, based on a form of sponsorship. Agents scouted the agricultural areas of Scotland looking for farm workers and their families." The references to Alexander are from Tasmanian newspapers, and I only know that he was born in 1820 and married Mary Louisa Ramsay at the Sydney Scots Church in 1850. They called their home "Yasmar" (Ramsay spelt backwards) He looks to be the same Alexander as the one in Tasmania as the info on him matches up. He seems to have had a finger in a few pies in Tasmania, Victoria, and NSW. A bit more checking is probably needed though. No parents names are listed in the index for his death, which seems a bit odd - you would think that if he came from a distinguished family these details would be known. His marriage certificate would probably be more informative. There is a public family tree listed on Ancestry which has him born 10 years earlier in 1810 at Linlithgow in West Lothian to Alexander and Jessie. Hope this helps.

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 15 Mar 2009 11:19PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hello Denis, Harry and dj72green,
(Seem to have lost March 2009 and some earlier posts on this thread on the message board so am replying to an earlier post)
Many thanks for your responses and helpful contributions. Apologies for confusion caused by my reference to "farmers" in VDL. My interest was in the connection between James and Robert Peebles and Alexander Learmonth because I was wondering if Alexander Learmonth, in sponsoring the Peebles brothers, was acting as an agent for immigrants in Launceston, rather than employing them to work for himself. Apart from his home and business in Launceston, I doubt that he ever owned any other sizeable property to "expand his income".

Some of my family arrived in VDL as bounty migrants in the early 1840s (with Henry Dowling of Launceston acting as agent) and were agricultural labourers and members later married former convicts. Most of them moved to Victoria later, but took very little "money to greener pastures" as they didn't have any. Alexander's brother, William Learmonth, who was a very much "hands on" farmer, went broke in VDL.

The Learmonth Square, hotel etc. in Edinburgh was named after John Learmonth (1789-1858) who was Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1832. He is a different man to John Learmonth (1783-1823), a flesher (butcher) in Edinburgh, who was the father of Alexander, William, etc. mentioned above.

Over the weekend of 28th March & 1st April 2009, there was a Learmonth gathering held in Hamilton, Victoria, which included guests from the UK, USA, Russia (Lermontov) and New Zealand, as well as most Australia states, which was most successful and enjoyable.

The Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) did not have issue, but there are descendants of other members of his family, who hosted a similar gathering in Moscow about two years ago.

Hope this has sorted out some of the topics covered in previous posts and answered the original question about Alexander Learmonth. The Peebles link has added to his story.

Cheers,
Kathy

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 18 Mar 2009 12:35PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hallo Kathy

I hope that you get to read this before it is deleted. Regarding the dissolution of the said vast estates may I recommend the reading of "The Whitehead Letters Tasmanian society and politics 1871 – 1882"

"During the years of his governorship of Van Diemen's Land (1824-1836), the military Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur created a dependency in the free settlers on the assignment of a captive labour force to develop their sometimes vast estates. With the support of the Commissariat, they constructed their excellent houses, grew their crops and minded their sheep, while a police state ensured a seemingly ordered society.

But all this changed with the conclusions of the 1837 Molesworth Select Committee ....... decided that the system whereby a prisoner by assignment became effectively the property of the settler, with most of the moral implications of slavery, would cease."

Extract from a 2004 lecture on John West by Patricia Fitzgerald Ratcliff OAM

Russia?

Best regards Denis

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 27 Aug 2014 4:42AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Hutton
I have just found that my great great grandparents (John and Catherine Hutton) came to Tasmania in 1855 under the indentured system under Alexander Learmonth. All very interesting. Have you been able to find out anymore about what happened once people arrived under this system? And how Learmonth was connected to them? I wonder what the story is behind his sponsoring of so many emigrants. My ancestors were coachman and lady's maid in Scotland but worked as bootmaker and flax reeler when they came here. I am wondering about the system by which they paid off their ticket and how they gained employment upon arrival. within three years they had made their way to Melbourne so they must have had some freedom to choose where they went. Any thoughts gratefully received. Cheers

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 5 Jun 2015 11:58AM GMT
Classification: Immigration
Surnames: Learmonth Ramsay
I have researched the Ramsay family and Mary Louisa Ramsay did marry an Alexander Learmonth 18 July 1850, but he died 28 July 1877. As far as I can work out, he is not the Alexander Learmonth who was in Tasmania and who died about 1874, but most likely was firstly in New Zealand and moved to Australia about 1848, probably acting as a merchant and agent trading firstly as Buyers & Learmonth and then as Learmonth & Dickinson. I recommend Trove, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ as an invaluable site for searching for information on Australian relations, it is free and easy to use.
Hope this helps

Re: Alexander LEARMONTH

Posted: 27 Jul 2015 11:11PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Learmonth
The St Andrews Immigration Society (of which Alexander Learmonth was President), and indeed other immigration societies in the Colonies were set up to introduce a better class of immigrant, at the time the majority of whom were convicts or ex-convicts. The societies were somewhat philanthropic, but also with motives of improving the community and social class of the population. The Bounty system meant that all but 5 pounds of the immigrants passage was paid by the Colony, the balance being paid off by the immigrant within 6 -12 months along with an agreement to reside in the colony for 4 years. The societies vetted the immigrants as to their capabilities and usefulness to the colony, their moral character and literacy. I believe they also either arranged employment on arrival or at least assisted the immigrant. In Tasmania there was something called "The Depot"...no information on this as yet.

At the time (1840-1860s) competition for immigrants was high with the majority of Scots and Irish being tempted to the USA with promises of free land and the gold rush, as well, the Scots, and in particular the Scottish Highlanders were quite suspicious of immigration. Representatives of St Andrews Immigration society visited the highlands in the 1850s to attempt to break down their reserves. My 3GGF Alexander Hill, was one such Highlander who came to Van Diemens Land in 1855 under the sponsorship of Alexander Learmonth.
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