THOMAS WOORE, R.N.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 1 (Supplement)

THOMAS WOORE, R.N.

BT KRIC RASISDKX

A BUSBY LINK WITH WAITANGI

The presence at the Waitangi celebrations of Miss A. D. M. Busby (a grandniece of the former British Resident, Mr. James Busby), representing the Australian and senior branch of her family, is interesting for another reason. Miss Busby is a great-grand-daughter of Lieutenant Thomas Woore. of H.M.S. Alligator, the centenary of whose visits to the Bay of Islands falls this year. Nothing of a biographical character has hitherto been published concerning Lieutenant Woore. For some unknow r n reason ho has been referred to as " Lieutenaut Woottori." The valuable collection of sketches which this naval officer made on the Taranaki coast (where he participated in the rescue of Mrs. Guard), also at Waitangi, Te Puna, Pailiia and other places of interest at the Bay of Islands, is in the possession of Miss Busby's father, Mr. T. W. F. Busby, of Sydney. Lieutenant Woore lived for more than forty years after witnessing tho dreadful sights associated with the rescue of Mrs. Guard, in connection with which, to quote his own words, " occurred the first brush between Engliind and tho New Zealander." He subsequently settled on the well-known property Pomeroy, in the Goulburn district. Annie, his only daughter, married Air. William Busby, M.L.C., the youngest brother of James of New Zealand fame. From a journal in the possession of Mrs. K. A. Donkin, a granddaughter of Lieutenant Woore's, it has been possible to trace his early history. Woore's career in tho Royal Navy was of more than ordinary interest. Unfortunately, however, in the autobiography, compiled in old age, the most interesting phase of his life to the students of New Zealand history—the visits to Norfolk Island and New Zealand in 1834 —is not mentioned. Yet sufficient is available from contemporary records te till in the gaps. Meeting With George IV. Thomas Woore, the fourth child and eldest son of Captain Thomas Woore and Catherine Ann Darcus, his wife, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, on January 29, 1804. Mrs. Woore, a woman of considerable wealth and property, was a descendant of the family of Sweetenham, long established the North of Ireland. Thomas Woore entered the Navy in 1819. At the time of George IV.'s visit to Ireland ho served on H.M.S. Lea, one of the Royal escorts. The young midshipman on that day in May, *lß2l, saw the King arrive at the pier at Holyhead, and " smartly go on board the mail steamer in plain clothes." Young Woore had an even closer glimpse of the First Gentleman in Europe at the conclusion of the fetitivities in Dublin. The midshipman was in charge of an orderly boat when the King arrived at his yacht late in the afternoon. Tiring of his task, he climbed on board the Royal vessel " to see what was going on on the quarter deck." To quote from his autobiography: There I saw a select, party of gentlemen promenading and talking as if on an ordinary occasion. There was the King. The Mnrquis of Anglesea was hobbling along on his cork leg; there was the Duke of Wellington with his big nose; the LordLieutenant and several other notables. When His Majesty strolled up to the gangway where I and another youngster were standing and asked us what ships we belonged to, I replied, " Your Majesty's corvette Lea." " Ah! Definite!" exclaimed George IV., satisfied that tcie midshipman had at once indicated both name and class of' ship. " Would you like some supper?" the King inquired. "If so, go down below." An officer saw that the lads had " a rare blow-out " at the King's expense. Arrival in Australia

In the Sappha, which he next joined, Thomas Woore had some exciting adventures chasing smugglers on the Irish coast. Sir John Phillimore Bart, then in charge of a special vessel designed " to carry Ambassadors out to foreign courts on secret mission," was subsequently a real influence in the young officer's life. Woore was appointed naval attache to the Hon. Henry Ward; Ambassador to the Mexican .Republic. " His kindness to me was beyond anything I could have expected," he declared. The only way the young officer could repay the Ambassador was to make " some trifling sketches for him." After various experiences in Mexico, Africa, Portugal, Constantinople and elsewhere, Thomas Woore spent some time on the China station, visiting India, Ceylon and the Dutch East Indies before finally coming to Australia. Sketches made in all these countries have been preserved. He first came to Sydney in 1829 on His Majesty's sJoop Zebra, which was " freighted with British coin to replace the mutilated dollars then in circulation in the colonics." On that occasion he visited Botany Bay to see " the spot where the unfortunate La Perouse and his companions were last known to have refitted their ships." Ho again visited this area in 1833, accompanied by Baron von Hugel, who had travelled with him on H.M.S. Allirator, and subsequently visited New Zealand. it was the intention of the authorities to send the Alligator to New Zealand early in 1834 in search of the Government brig Frederick, which had been piratically seized by convicts on her way to Hobart Town. Eventually she carried to the Bay of Islands the flags which Mr. Busby had requested for the chiefs. The visit to Norfolk Island that year was occasioned by a revolt on the island, the loader of which was the notorious Fitch, or Knatchbull. Captain Guard arrived from New Zealand in August with news of the happenings on the Taranaki coast, just about the time that the Alligator returned from Norfolk Island with Mr. Justice Burton and party. Governor Bourke immediately despatched the frigate to New Zealand, with consequences known to all interested in that bloody rescue. W. Barrett Marshall, the surgeon, has written: " Nothing can justify so foul a deed of blood." Sketching at Bay ol Islands * Marshall, incidentally, makes two references to his brother officer, in his well-known work. On March 10 he noted: " Acting-Lieutenant Woore and myself landed at To Puna, the name of the spot on which the missionary settlement is built." Tho second was on October 2, when the frigate was forced to leave tho Taranaki coast owing to squally weather and shelter in the south: "At anchor in Port Hardy, of which Acting-Lieutenant Woore has now time to complete the survey." Marshall's earlier note is of interest, as it was on that date that Woore signed the most interesting of his Bay of Islands sketches. Ho called it "a hippali, or native fortress, at Ranghehoo." Thomas Woore was invalided out of tho Navy toward tho end of 1834, as " there seemed little chance of promotion." The following year he sailed with his bride, Mary (daughter of Mr. James Dickson, a New South Wales pioneer), for Ireland. They returned to Australia in 1839, settling in tho Goulburn district. The old officer died at the home of his son-in-law, Mr. William Busby, on June 21, 1878, and rests in the churchyard of St. Jude, Randwick, Sydney.