________________________________________________________________________ PAPERS OF THE DAVENPORT FAMILY PRG 40 Series List ______________________________________________________________________ Of the three Davenport brothers who came to South Australia, George Francis arrived first, on the Rajasthan on 6 February 1840. He made a return visit to England in 1841, coming out again in 1842 via Sydney. He arrived back in Adelaide on the Emma on 25 February 1843, but met an untimely death from typhus on 8 April of the same year. His wife and children returned to England. Robert and Samuel Davenport arrived via Hobart. The schooner Adelaide, which they chartered in Hobart, reached Port Adelaide on 14 February 1843. Samuel died childless on 3 September 1906. Robert died on 3 September 1896, leaving eight children. Samuel became a distinguished South Australian. He invested enthusiastically in sheep, cattle and other enterprises. His public life took many forms. After a period as a Legislative Councilor from 1846 to 1848 he was from 1849 to 1852 a City Commissioner. He was an executive commissioner at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, and at other international exhibitions between 1876 and 1888. He was nominated again for the Council in 1855 and was a member of the first elected Legislative Council in 1857, subsequently serving as a Commissioner of Public Works. In 1860 as a trustee of the Poonindie Mission he was a member of a Select Committee upon the Aborigines. He resigned from the Council in 1866. Between 1864 and 1872 he published several pamphlets on olive, silk and tobacco cultivation. He was elected president of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society and later of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch. He was also a director of several companies, a trustee of the Savings Bank of South Australia, and president of the Chamber of Manufactures. He was knighted in 1884 and received honorary doctorates at Cambridge University (in 1886) and elsewhere.* Biographical notes on Sir Samuel Davenport appear in (amongst other sources) the Australian Dictionary of Biography, v.4 (1972), p.25-26; the Australian Encyclopedia (1958), v.3,, p.204; Percival Serle Dictionary of Australian Biography (1949), v.1, p.217- 218; Rodney Cockburn Pastoral Pioneers of South Australia (1925), v.1, p.78-79; The Advertiser, Adelaide, 4 Sep. 1906, p.7; The Observer, Adelaide, 8 Sep. 1906, p.17 and p. 38; The Times, London, 4 Sep. 1906, p.7. Robert Davenport, in addition to his successful farming pursuits, was a Justice of the Peace and entered public life as a Member of Parliament between 1851 and. his resignation in 1854. He wrote frequently to the press on a variety of topics. Biographical notes on Robert Davenport appear in John Blacket History of South Australia (2nd ed., 1911), p.424; W.F. Morrison Aldine History of South Australia (1890), v.2, p.557; The Observer, Adelaide, 5 Sep. 189b, p.29. * LL.D (Cantab), 1886; LL.D. (Adel.0, 1888 PRG 40 Series list Page 1 of 57 ________________________________________________________________________ The career of Robert Davenport's youngest son Cecil John Davenport is particularly interesting: he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and a medical missionary in China. Cecil John's son, Robert Cecil in turn became a surgeon and ophthalmologist of considerable note in England. It is to Mr Martin Robert Davenport, a son. of Cecil John, that the Archives owes a large part of the papers and some extremely useful typescript transcripts of the correspondence. Two of the other main sources from which the Archives has received papers of the Davenport family are descendants of Robert Davenport's eldest son, Ernest Devereux Davenport: his daughter, Miss Emily Dorothea Davenport, and his grandson, Mr. Dion Fulford Davenport. The Archives owes most of the important papers of Sir Samuel Davenport to his grand- nephew (on Lady Davenport's side), Professor Sir John Burton Cleland. Arrangement of certain records under the names of particular members of the family is inevitably to a certain extent arbitrary. Abbreviations The following abbreviations are used to denote provenance: JBC - SirJohnBurtonCleland,Adelaide EDD - Emily Dorothea Davenport, Port Elliot DFD - Dion Fulford Davenport, Penola MRD - Martin Robert Davenport, Oxford PRG 40 Series list Page 2 of 57 ________________________________________________________________________ 1 George1782-1846(45) 2 Henry Devereux 1822-1906 (5) 3 Mary1808-1883(19) 4 Samuel 1818-1887 (16) 5 Jane Rose 1811-1887 (16) 6 Robert 1816-1896(11) 7 Rhoda Grace 1815-1904 (12) 8 George Francis 1806-1843 (21) 9. Jane Devereux 1778-1840 (49) 10 John Marriott 1809-1882 (17) 11 Maria 1812-1879 (15) Silhouette 44" x 17" of George Davenport of Shirburn and Oxford and his family Signed: August Edouard. Dated 1827. Original held (1983) by Dudley L. Davenport, Rose Cottage, Harmaker, Chicht W,Sussex. Information supplied by Mr. M.R. Davenport. Letter 83/660 Aclaim.of 10/4/1983. PRG 40 Series list Page 3 of 57 ________________________________________________________________________ . PRG 40 Series list Page 4 of 57 ________________________________________________________________________ INDEX TO CONTENTS George Davenport of Oxford, 1782-1846 • Papersonlandholdings(includingcorrespondence) 1-3 • Will 4 • Notesonthefamilyofhiswife 5 • SpeechesasDirectoroftheSouthAustralian 6 Company (copies of material from another record group, placed here for convenience) George Francis Davenport, 1806-1843, eldest son of George Davenport • Papers chiefly on land holdings 7-8 • Wills 9 • ListsofreferencestoG.F.Davenportinthe 10 correspondence of the Colonial Secretary's Office John Marriott Davenport of Oxford, 1809-1882, second son of George Davenport • Correspondence and statement on property holdings 11-14 • Photograph of house 15 Henry Devereux Davenport, 1822-1909, youngest son of George Davenport • LetterfromD.Fulford 16 Samuel Davenport, 1818-1906, fourth son (to survive) of George Davenport • Correspondence 17-19 • Paperschieflyonbotanicalmatters 20-22 [Further papers of Samuel Davenport on olives and vines are to be found in the Cleland Papers] • Papers on Samuel Davenport and William Lennox 23-45 Cleland on sericulture [Dr. W.L. Cleland was a nephew of Samuel Davenport, being a son of John Fullerton Cleland, brother of Margaret Fraser Davenport, nee Cleland. The donor of the papers in this section was Professor Sir John Burton Cleland, Samuel Davenport's grand-nephew.] • Papersconcerninglandholdings 46-50 [For notes on the Macclesfield Special Survey see South Australian Archives accession 1324/203. See also items under Robert Davenport.] • Miscellaneousitemsincludingpassport,will, 51-61 scrapbook, memoranda and items pertaining to his wife, Margaret Fraser Davenport, nee Cleland. [For other items, including papers of Margaret Fraser Davenport, a copy of her will and a number of books that belonged to Samuel Davenport and his wife see the Cleland Papers, PRG 5/32.] • Material chiefly of a genealogical or biographical 62-74 nature (including correspondence) • Photographs 75-77 [For additional photographs see the Cleland Papers, (PRG 5/32). For.Gill's view of M'sfield see Peake-Jones, ed Recoll. Of DJB, pl. XIII.] • Copiesandlistsofrelatedmaterialfromother 78-84 record groups, etc. PRG 40 Series list Page 5 of 57 ________________________________________________________________________ Robert Davenport, 1816-1896, third son (to survive) of George Davenport • Correspondence 85-97 • Diaryandcorrespondenceofhisfirstwife, 98-104 Dorothea Davenport, nee Fulford • Legal documents, certificates and related material, 105-112 excluding papers wholly relating to land holdings • Papersconcerninglandholdings 113-126 • Miscellaneousitemsincludingverseanddrawings 127-131 • Photographs and scrapbook 132-141 • PrintedbooksownedbyRobertDavenportor 142 members of his family • Press cuttings and references tomaterial in other record groups 143-144 Frances Dorothea Davenport, 1848-1930, eldest daughter of Robert Davenport and wife of Robert Charles • Lettersreceived(excludingcorrespondencewith 145-151 Cecil John Davenport) which is arranged with the latter's papers) • Photographs 152 Mary Fulford Davenport, 1850-1928, second daughter of Robert Davenport • Photographs 153 Robert Noel Davenport, 1852-1934, second son of Robert Davenport • New Testament inscribed 'Robert N. Davenport' 154 • Photographs 155 Howard Davenport, 1859-1927, third son of Robert Davenport • Lettersreceived 156-164 • Verse 165 • Papersrelatingtocattlefarming 166-167 • Presscuttings 168 • Books 169 • Photographs 170 • Illuminated manuscript 249 Samuel Alfred Davenport, 1862-1919, fourth son of Robert Davenport • Letterreceived 171 • Photographs 172 Ernest Devereux Davenport, 1850-1932, eldest son of Robert Davenport • Correspondence, etc. 173-180 • Miscellaneous papers of Florence Elizabeth 181-188 (see also ser. 176) Davenport, nee Harris • Photographs 189 • Books 190 PRG 40 Series list Page 6 of 57 ________________________________________________________________________ Amy Florence Davenport, 1885-1957, eldest daughter of Ernest Devereux Davenport • Photograph 191 Emily Dorothea Davenport, 1886-1970, second eldest daughter of Ernest Devereux Davenport • Correspondence 192-196 • Biographicalnotesandmemoranda,etc,on 197-204 Davenport genealogy • Miscellaneouspapers,includingchurchitems 205-216 • Photographs 217-220 • Book 221 Cecil Devereux Davenport, 1889-1974, son of Ernest Devereux. Davenport • Lettersreceived