Thanks for the info - the Gimblett/Hambly connection is high on my list of family history that needs to be researched!
Firstly, can you you contact me directly on my personal email:
rogerirving@fastmail.fmI live in Toronto NSW and in 3 weeks I'll be in Ballarat Vic, specifically tracing the Gimblett/Hambly boot business. I have pieces of your line: I could see that John was a bootmaker and moved to Gunnislake, but could not find the connection between him and Samuel Squires. I could see that George took over the business and that photography became part of the family business - around the 1920's - 1930's??
Where do you live?
I can give you all sorts of info regarding SS's life and the Hambly connection. I'm unsure how much you have collated so far, but briefly this is what I know:
SS came to Ballarat in 1853 and secured a block of land on the Main Street at the beginnings of the gold rush. A James Taprell Gimblett (b Calstock 1800) arrived around 1854/5 with his family and established a boot business on the site in Ballarat. In 1855 William Samuel Rawlings Hambly (Dee's brother) who had arrived in Australia in Dec 1853 joined with James Taprell Gimblett and the business was then called Gimblett and Hambly. JT Gimblett retired in 1861 and moved his family to Beechworth Vic to take up dairyfarming.
Two daughters of SS and Dee Gimblett migrated to Australia in May 1883 (Dee and Maryann) and then married New Zealanders and lived there.
You have now given me the connection between John and Samuel Squires Gimblett; I feel that JT Gimblett must have been a cousin? He was born in Calstock and then pops up in Calstock around 1850 after living in London. Dee and WSR Hambly's father (John) was a mover and shaker in the mining industry and living in Calstock at the time.
If you are in Calstock, please check out a property called "Gelling Park" - I think that it is heritage listed, this is where John Hambly lived for at least a decade before his death 1n 1864.
Good to meet you! I'd love to get copies of any info/photos etc that you have on the Gimbletts and am happy to provide you the full history of the Hambly/Gimblett connection that I have. I'm in my late 50's, looking forward to less than ten years before retirement; have jumped into the family history only a year ago; love a good red from the Coonawarra and like Cicero, believe that a garden and a library are needed for contentment!
Thanks again, look forward to any contact.
Roger Irving