William Tonks born c 1754

[Ozegirl]

This man is a mystery!!!! William Tonks was a marine on the HMS Sirius, which was the flagship of the First Fleet to Australia. He enlisted in the marines in England in 1793 at Portsmouth. Apparently he was a Gimlet Maker before he joined the marines. I have a feeling he was born in Worcestershire, but can't be 100% sure. I have pages of info on him and his family in Australia, but can't find any trace of him before he left England. I have spent hours looking on the Royal Marines website, but can't find anything there. He married a convict on Norfolk Island named Sarah Lyons, who came to Australia on the "Lady Juliana".
Naturally have tried BMD, Familysearch etc but no luck. Can anyone suggest any aother websites.
Cheers Ozegirl

[Raffaele]

FreeReg has this one

Staffordshire, Wolverhampton, St Peters
Register Number 23088
BaptismDate 19 Nov 1758
Forename William
Father Thomas Tonks
Mother Sarah
FileNumber 4223

https://www.freereg.org.uk/cgi/Search.pl

There are some more and I used the Worcester, Warwick, Stafford counties to cover the Birmingham region.

Give it a try and it might give some clues

[Coromandel]

There is much online about him, mostly under the name William TUNKS.

This may be of particular interest:

"William Tunks Update by Joyce Cowell

Since the above was written, research by Joyce Cowell, Judy Steel, Gillian Hughes (an English genealogical researcher) and Alice Clark has enabled us to fill in much of his early life. But there are still some question marks and hopefully others may be able to solve these doubtful assumptions.

The Starting point for research into his origins was found in the ‘Description Book, Enlistment of the 100th Company Marines – Chatham Division’. A William Tunks is listed as age 18, 5ft 4ins. high with brown hair and fair complexion, born in the city of Worcester, enlistment date 14/3/1778. The International Genealogical Index of the Mormon Church turned up a William Tunks baptised on 4th. June 1758 in the parish of North and Middle Littleton, Worcestershire. His parents were recorded as John and Mary, but there is no record of such a marriage. Now for the problem! This date would make him 20 and not 18 on enlistment in the Marine Company . But we thought this was our man until the minister at St Nicholas’ Church said that the death of a two year old William was recorded in the churches records.

A possible solution! The father, John Tunks married a Margaret Perkins 21 months after William’s baptism. Did the married couple have another child at about the time William I died, and did they call the new baby William after the deceased toddler as was often done in those day. If so, this would make the age of William the marine at enlistment correct. This is a puzzle for other descendants to solve.

However his career in England from the age of 18 to his arrival in Australia is now known and substantiated from original documents and is as follows.

He served as a marine during the War of American Independence and was discharged from the Marines at the war’s end. Eighteen months later when there was a recruitment drive in Warwickshire, he joined up again as a member of the 69th Company, Portsmouth Division. He served on the Ganges, a British training vessel for the next 20 months and was then discharged to Haslar Hospital at Gosport. While being victualled ashore, his age is recorded as 26 which ties in with his age of 18 when he first enlisted. In May 1787 he joined the First Fleet for the voyage to Botany Bay.

Joyce Cowell March 2001"

This is from

https://www.
tunksaustralia1788.com.au/index.cfm/ancestory/

(the website of the Tunks Descendants Association Incorporated).

[Ozegirl]

Thanks Raffaele, I will have another go. I have been in touch with a gentleman from The Worcestershire Historical Society, and he told me there are a lot of Tonks in that area. I am chasing a long shot, but haven't heard anything back from the lady concerned yet.
Thanks Ozegirl

[Ozegirl]

Thank you Coromandel. I have a book written by Joyce Cowell, but it does not have all this information in it. I believe Joyce died about 3 years ago, so we no longer have any more valued research. Joyce was related to one of William's sons.
Cheers Ozegirl

[Hogster]

Hi Ozigirl.
I too have been finding it hard to discover much about William the Royal Marine pre his arrival in Australia onboard the HMS Sirius. But I did see a claim made that he was born in Shropshire in 1754. You have the year 1793 as the year he joined the Marines. First time was more like 1775 to fight in the American war of Independence at the end of which he was discharged from service. He rejoined the 1786-1787 to set sail for Bottany Bay, arriving on 20th of January 1788.