Newlands Merchant Tailors, Tailors & Clothiers – and their Children

There were Newlands Merchant Tailors, Tailors & Clothiers in Glasgow, Scotland  and in Sydney, in the NSW Colony in the 19th Century, also possibly in Toowoomba.

I – GLASGOW – Merchant Tailors, Tailors & Clothiers 1805 – 1850

A search for  “Newlands” with “Tailor” in Glasgow Scotland in the Scottish Post Office Directory of 1828 – 1912, and also a search of Directories in Ancestry.com from 1805 – 1828 for Newlands reveals :

  • That there were maximum of only two Tailors/Merchant Tailors/ Tailors & Clothiers named John Newlands at any one time in Glasgow for the period 1805 – 1839.
  • Also on some occasions two John Newlands Tailors/Merchant Tailors/ Tailors & Clothiers shared the same premises – viz 1825, and also 1835 – 1836 – being in the final years before the death of John Newlands (1762 – 1838).
  • From 1840 – 1846 there were no entries for John Newlands or Newlands Tailors/Merchant Tailors/ Tailors & Clothiers – ie  following the death of John Newlands (1790 – 1840)
  • From 1847 – 1850 there was a return of Newlands Tailors and Clothiers – including Peter J Newlands / P J Newlands – who may be one of the youngest sons of John Newlands and Christian Brunton ?

Further details of all of these Newlands Tailor related entries for 1805 – 1850  can be found here. 

II – SYDNEY – Emigrants of the 1830’s – 1840’s – Tailors and Children of Tailors

There were two Newlands males who were Tailors and who emigrated together from Glasgow to Australia on the Portland in 1837, and several were Merchant Tailors and probably Journeyman Tailors at some time in Sydney.

  • James (1807 Glasgow – 1846 Sydney)  He established a Merchant Tailor, Clothier and Draper Business in Sydney by 1840 opposite the Bank of Australia, before relocating to Dobson’s old store in Glasgow House, George St Sydney – and was a prolific advertiser in the Sydney papers in late 1840  early 1841. And then then there was little advertising for the business in 1842 and 1843 until he became insolvent in early 1844. Then followed numerous advertisements of meetings regarding the insolvency – until in March 1844 there was to be a sale of everything – stock and fittings “The whole of the stock-in trade of the above- named insolvent, consisting of superfine cloths, cassimeres, doeskins, buckskins, cashmeres, moleskins, drills, valencias, tailors’ trimmings, cap peaks, straps, &c. ALSO, The shop fittings, counter, glass cases, gas fittings, &c.” On June 13 1844 – with a payment of 3 shillings in the pound on his remaining debts announced on July 15 1844. a Certificate was granted. On September 14 1844 James was able to resume his business at 610 Lower Geogre St Sydney and for the next month he advertised regularly. And things must have been looking up in August 1845, when James relocated to more commodious premises at 618 Lower George St Sydney. Again he began advertising on several occasions – being a more prolific supporter of political campaign subscription advertising in September – October  1845. A journeyman tailor, Crawford, left his employment in October 1845. And then there was silence until his June 1846 death in Sydney aged 39 years. Apparently he was affected with alcohol problems for the  6 months prior to his death. A month later in July 1846 the business was trading as Morgan and Newlands. Was that partnership was short lived and in August 1846, his son John announced that he was taking over his father’s business as John Newlands & Co. Tailors & Drapers. planning to set up at 641 George St Sydney. There were then two tailoring businesses claiming to be the successor to James Business – at 618 and 641 George Street for a short period until November 1846, when only John Newlands & co remained. There was little advertising from December 1846, until Newlands Co appears in a public subscription list in October 1848 – but nothing more for the tailoring business.  However John Newlands was still working as a Tailor in late 1851, perhaps as a Journeyman Tailor ? In 1853 John Newlands Journeyman Tailor was prosecuted for absconding from his employer Mr Patrick Connor  – though all seemed to be resolved.  Possibly it was John who died in Kent St in 1868 ? He had married in 1827 to Janet Stirling. One can wonder what desperate times she faced in the time leading up to and after his death – had she gone up to the Hunter to seek work, perhaps in domestic service at Berry Park, the estate of John Eales. She remarried to a convict in 29.1.1847 in the Maitland area – viz to James Gould of Somerset, convicted of horse theft and sentenced at Monmouth Assizes – transported for life on the Asia – 1837 (NSW BDN 458/1847 V1847458 32C). He had been allocated to James White in Parramatta and then to John Eales of Berry Park by 1845 in Morpeth near Maitland.  Clearly Janet had moved a long way from George St Sydney, since her husband’s death six months earlier in 1846. James Gould had gained a Ticket of Leave for Maitland in 1846 and a Conditional Pardon in 1851. There did not appear to be any children of Janet’s second marriage.
    • Isabella Newlands (1828 – 1841)
    • John Newlands (1829 – ) – he was also a Tailor and sought to continue his father’s Tailoring business.  possibly he married Margaret Carmody in 1856. There is a mention of a John Newland(s), Journeyman Tailor absconding from his master in 1853- 1. In 1857 his mother was trying to contact him when she was living in Mudgee – did she find him ? Was he an assistant draper to a Mr Long in 1859  – 2 ? Had he experienced difficulties in his marriage in 1864 ? Did he die in 1868 ? Did she die in 1891 ?
      • Isobella Newlands b. 1857 ??  – did she ever marry ?
  • William (1820 – 1869) – was he a son of John Newlands (1790 – 1840)  Merchant Tailor and Christian Brunton ? He was both a Tailor and Publican in Sydney, and perhaps a Tailor in Toowoomba as well. More details on William can be found here.

………………………………………………………………………………

Note – There was also John Newlands (1812 – 1852), listed as a Cabinet Maker, who emigrated on the Portland in 1837, who was the eldest son of John Newlands Jnr Merchant Tailor in Glasgow and wife Janet Chalmers / Chambers – mentioned in his 1852 death notices –  1 and 2.  More details on John can be found here.

Additionally –  there was a  female Newlands,  Isabella (1817 – 1864), a daughter and wife of  a Tailor. Isabella Newlands married in August 1840 to a Tailor in Sydney – John Aird. She emigrated as a Nursemaid, earlier in 1840 on the James Pattison, and is believed to be a sister to John Newlands (1812 – 1852), also related to James and William. Newspaper mentions of her August 1840 marriage refer to her father “daughter of the late Mr. John Newlands, junior, merchant-tailor, Glasgow, Scotland.”  More details on Isabella can be found here.

III – SYDNEY –  Emigrant of the 1850’s – Tailors & Children of Tailors

Another Merchant Tailor in Sydney was Ebenezer Erskine Newlands (1830 – 1865) of Glasgow Lanarkshire Scotland. He is believed to have lived in London from 1851, before sailing in 1858 to Launceston in Tasmania and then residing in Hobart. He then said to have lived in Sydney from 1860 until his 1865 death – with a second marriage in Sydney. It is not certain if Ebenezer was related to other Newlands associated with Tailors – James,  Isabella (Aird)  and William. However it is possible.

Ebenezer Erksine Newlands (1830 Glasgow – 1865 Sydney), Merchant Tailor of Sydney was claiming to be a nephew of the same Reverend William Newlands, as did Isabella Aird nee Newlands ie William Newlands, b. 1786 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, d. 13-12-1859 in 19 West Square, Southwark, London. Further Reverend William Newland’s great grandfather’s second wife was  Margaret Erskine. See more details below

1861 – On the 26th November, the wife of Ebenezer Erskine Newlands, nephew of the late Rev. William Newlands, of London, of a daughter, both doing well – 2, 3,
It was also believed that Ebenezer was the son of a  John Newlands and Christina (Christian) Brunton and that his father was a John Newlands Merchant Tailor (1790 – 1840) of Glasgow.

Working through  all of the above is altogether confusing – especially  two families with a father of the same name and similar birth/death dates ?  viz John Newlands (c.1790 – c. 1840)

So were there 2 different John Newlands who were Merchant Tailors in Glasgow and fathering children over the period 1812 – 1834 ?  

Yet there were not too many John Newlands Merchant Tailors in Glasgow  in the first half of the 19th Century ?  

Thus was it the same John Newlands (1790 – 1840) who was first married to Janet Chalmers / Chambers in 1811 and then to Christian Brunton in 1820 ? 

And would this explain why John Newlands (1812 – 1852), Isabella Aird nee Newlands (1817 – 1864) and Ebenezer Newlands (1830 – 1865) all claimed that the Reverend William Newlands (1786 – 1859) was their uncle ??

If so, could the list of his children of his possible two marriages  be as follows ?

John Newlands (1790 – 1840 )
Married (1) Janet Chalmers / Chambers in 1811 in Glasgow – did she die after the birth of her daughter Isabella in 1817 ? Finding a death record for Janet is proving challenging, unsurprisingly.
Married (2) in 1820 in Glasgow to Christina (Christian)  Brunton (1796 – ). She  lived in Glasgow in 1841 and  is recorded in the 1841 Scotland Census as a Yarn Winder.
  • William Newlands (1820 – )
  • James Newlands (1822 – )
  • Alexander Newlands (1824 – )
  • Robert Lyle Newlands (1826 – 1857 ?  )
  • Christina Newlands (1828 – )
  • Ebenezer Erskine Newlands (1830 – 1865)  – Merchant Tailor in Sydney
  • Margaret Lockhart Newlands (1831 – )
  • Patrick Newlands (1833 – )
  • Peter Newlands (1832  or 1834 – ) – did he conduct the Newlands and Peter J Newlands Tailor and Clothier business in Glassgow from 1847 ?

 

Or perhaps not ?

………………………………………………………………….

An interesting puzzle indeed ? Was it then that James Newlands (1807 – 1846) emigrated with his nephew John Newlands (1812 – 1852) and John’s step brothers William Newlands (1820 – 1869) and James (1822 – ) ? Or could they be related in some other ways ?

Perhaps one day we will solve this puzzle ?