John Blaxcell Tonkin
I'd appreciate any information or pointers to knowledge of the above and descendents.
John Blaxcell Tonkin was my maternal grandfather who emigrated to NSW, Sydney area sometime in the late 1880's.
He was born in 1872 in Sheerness, Kent, England.Until the turn of the century this was a significant military naval base as it lies at the head of the Thames estuary and guarded the "entrance" to London.It is possible he joined either the Royal or Merchant Navy since later in his life he was said to have been a purser on a liner from Australia to the UK.There is no record of him in the UK 1891 census, nor of his brother Henry Richard Tonkin.
In 1897 he married Edith Margaret Fairclough (born in Lancashire UK in 1878)She died in 1910.Marriage location was Woollahara(?) NSW.At that time he was a bread carter. He was known to be alive in 1954 in the Sydney area.
There were 3 (known) children: Edith Margaret (my mother) b1899 Randwick NSW, Winnifred (married name Brooke) and Nellie (married name Erskine).
At about the time of the 1914-18 war the family returned to the UK- this is when John B was said to have been a purser - stayed a while in Scotland, my mother Edith Margaret remained and married my father.The others returned to Australia.Thereafter, correspondence appears to have been very limited – family estrangement?Winnifred was still alive in 1970 living in Kingscliffe NSW.
So, if anybody has any information, I will be most grateful - there seem to be a lot of Tonkins in Oz!!