Trove Tuesday: Where are you Walter Le Pelley?

My Great (x4) grandfather, Walter Le Pelley (c.1840-?), the youngest child of Ernest Le Pelley (1801-1849) the 16th Seigneur of Sark, migrated to South Australia presumably due to the reversal of fortune encountered by the family. He married Elizabeth Gunther, the daughter of John & Mary Ann Rendall in 1863, and the couple had two children: Louisa Elizabeth (1864-1941) and Frances (Fanny) Amelia (1866-1885).

In April 1869, Walter makes his first appearance as 'missing.' Going missing of course, is a curious thing. I doubt Walter himself considered himself missing, that is, if he wasn't dead. But he was un-contactable and people rather wanted to contact him.

Missing Friends. (1869, April 21). The South Australian Police Gazette (Adelaide, SA.), p. 55
Elizabeth died in childbirth later that year,  and it is rather ambiguous as to whether he had returned by then or not. In any case two years later, a warrant was issued for his desertion of his children.

Deserting Wives, Families, Service, &c. (1871, March 15). The South Australian Police Gazette (Adelaide, SA.), p. 43
Still considered to be in the land of the living later that month.
Deserting Wives, Families, Service, &c. (1871, April 26). The South Australian Police Gazette (Adelaide, SA.), p. 66
The Government had stopped looking by 1879, but others had not.
Advertising. (1879, June 14). Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), p. 37. Retrieved August 6, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70939164
Display Advertising. (1881, May 28). The Queenslander(Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 676. Retrieved August 6, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20707260
Advertising. (1881, September 13.) New Zealand Herald Volume 18, Issue 6185 (Auckland, NZ.: 1863 - 1924) p. 1. Retrieved August 6, 2013, from http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZH18810913.1.1&e=-------10--1----0--

James Robin and Co., was not a Law Firm as I first assumed, but a wholesale import business. James Robin too was Guernsey born, was there a family link? Was someone looking out for Walter's daughters when he so obviously was not?


POLICE COURTS. (1882, December 4). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 6. Retrieved August 6, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43330536
Family Notices. (1885, June 18). South Australian Register(Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 4. Retrieved August 6, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44528961
Family Notices. (1886, February 25). South Australian Register(Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 4. Retrieved August 6, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50182423

Where were you Walter Le Pelley?


You can find all the #TroveTuesday posts over at Branches, Leaves & Pollen or search the hashtag on twitter

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