| Birth | William Wiles Farmar was born 15 July 1831 in Dover, Kent, England. |
| INFO | BIRTH RECORD. Dover Pent Side Baptist Church. William Wiles Farmar, son of Broadley Farmar and Hannah his wife was born in Dover in the Parish of St.Mary the Virgin, 15 July 1831. Note: 3 Farmar children on same page. (DovPentPR LDS917002#1, p.16.) |
| INFO | GREENWICH HOSPITAL SCHOOL. National Archives Index entry: School admission papers: William Wiles Farmar, parent names Broadley and Hannah Farmar, applicant born 15 July 1831. Admission date to school not recorded. Archives record ADM 73/224/29. (NatArchDisco) Note: probable admission year 1842 or 1843 at age 11 or 12. |
| INFO | MERCHANT NAVY INDENTURE. Apprentice register ticket #345024. William Wiles Farmar, age, age 15, indenture date 3 July 46, date of enrolment of indenture 17 July 46, term for which bound- 5 years, indenture expires 3 July 51, bound to- Robt Brooks, London, vessel- Achilles #309. Remarks: Drowned. Written below line: Cancelled ticket as app [?] 19/11/47 no. 389313. Drowned from "Victor" at Geelong. (AppMerchAnc.) |
| INFO | SEAMAN'S REGISTER. Register ticket #389313. William Wiles Farmar. b. Dover, Kent 15 July 1831, Capacity - App, height growing, Complexion fair, hair brown, eyes blue. First went to sea as app in the year 1846. When unemployed resides at City Rd. London. Ticket issued at London 19 Nov 1847. Age when ticketed 16. One voyage reported: OUT as an Apprentice in 1847 - 3307.64.12 (port rotation #3307. port of registry=London. 12 unknown meaning) 64.19.11 (Port & date of filing departure papers 64=London, 19.11=November 19). HOME in 1848: 3307.64.12 (to London) 64.29.12 (papers for return filed at London on December 29). Comments column-ren'd.(=renewed). (SeaReg1845 LDS1483140, BT113/184-195.) |
| INFO | LLOYD'S REGISTER. Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping for 1849/50 shows W. Kirkus as captain of the BK "Victor" owned by R. Brooks, home port London. Voyage from London to Hobart Town. (LloydsReg) NOTE: William Wiles Farmar apprenticed to R. Brooks of London and died on the "Victor." |
| Death | He died 2 December 1849 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, at age 18. |
| INFO | APPRENTICES DROWNED. Newspaper: Geelong Advertiser, 4 Dec 1849, p.2. " .... Captain Kirkus of the barque "Victor"," two apprentices belonging to the ship, and a gentleman, the newphew of Captain Davidson of the "Posthumous," ... drowned on ... Sunday [Dec 2] when a boat they were in . . . capsized . . . in a squall of wind ...." The accident occurred beween the jetty at Geelong where the men had gone to church and their ship, the "Victor," anchored off Port Henry. No bodies or debris were immediately recovered. Other reports of the accident included articles in the Argus [Melbourne], 5 Dec 1949, p.2; in the Maitland Mercury, 15 Dec 1849, p.4; in the Adelaide Observer, 29 Dec 1849, p.2, and in the Melbourne Daily News, 15 Dec 1849, p.2 which reported the recovery of a badly decomposed body, not at that point proven to be one of the members of the "Victor" party. (all reports indexed in Trove, National Library of Ausralia.) |
| Note | DEATH OF WM WILES FARMAR. The note of his drowning death on the apprenticeship indenture record matches the circumstances of the death of the "Victor" apprentices at Geelong on 2 Dec 1849. However, no identification of the apprentices drowned in this incident has yet been found. |
William Wiles Farmar