Keeping up with the Gores (1/?) - Introducing the Players

Written By JK Spallek, Contribution by Katie Pitt

If there’s one universal truth, then it is that people are fundamentally shaped by their upbringing, may it be for the better or the worse. This applies today just as it did in the 19th century. To understand Graham Gore as a person, we also need to understand where he came from. This post shall serve as a small introduction to the core members of his family.

Rear Admiral John Gore II, RN [c. 1775-1853]

Born as the only (known) child of Captain John Gore I, RN, the younger Gore struggled to step out from the shadow of his father for most of his life. The older Gore had not only circumnavigated the globe four times during his service in the British Royal Navy but also gained notoriety when he successfully saw the crew of Captain James Cook’s, RN, final expedition home following the deaths of both Cook and his second Captain Charles Clerke, RN, in 1779. 

Even though he only joined the Navy himself aboard HMS Guardian on June 3, 1789, John Gore II had already gained first experiences offshore while sailing aboard MS King George in 1785-88 as a young boy. His first voyage as Midshipman, however, soon turnt into a disaster. On Christmas Eve 1789, the ship collided with an iceberg and ultimately ran aground in Saldanha Bay at the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) after two months of being desperately kept afloat by the remaining crew, most of the other men having fled the ship in the jolly boats. Out of the over three hundred passengers, mainly convicts which were to be shipped to the Colony of New South Wales / Australia, less than a third survived, all but one of the jolly boats being lost to the sea. A later employment in 1791-93 would see him serve aboard HMS Assistant, accompanying HMS Providence under the command of Captain William Bligh, RN, of HMS Bounty fame.

While still commissioned as Lieutenant aboard HMS Fame he married Sarah Gilmour in Portsmouth (Hampshire, UK) in May 1806. The couple would proceed to have three sons and three daughters. Following his last commission as Commander of the HMS Doterel [Dotterel] in 1821 (the ship's crew included his two oldest sons John III and Graham as well as the future Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier, RN), John Gore II, now Captain, RN, retired from service.

In March 1834, the Gore family settled in the Colony of New South Wales / Australia. By 1837, they had moved into Gilmour Estate, near Lake Bathurst (Argyle, Col. New South Wales /Australia), most likely named after matriarch Sarah Gore. John Gore II would receive his final promotion to Rear Admiral in retirement on March 8, 1852, before finally passing away at his residence in March 1853. The two sons who had accompanied him on the HMS Doterel [Dotterel] were both dead by this point.

Sarah Gore (née Gilmour) [c. 1777-1857]

Little is known about Sarah Gilmour's life before marrying Lieutenant John Gore II, RN, in May 1806. The marriage register lists her previous place of residence in Alverstoke (Hampshire, UK). While the idea proposed by John Robson is tempting, that John Gore's II supposed companion on MS King George, HMS Guardian and HMS Assistant David Gilmour (or Gilmore) was in fact a brother of his wife-to-be, we cannot back this up with any evidence apart from their surname. In fact, it’s not entirely clear either whether a single David Gilmour served on the three aforementioned ships or rather different men of the same name.

Due to not being commissioned between 1808-18 and ending his naval career for good in 1821, Sarah Gore’s husband was uncharacteristically involved in the upbringing of their young children, first at their home in Plymouth (Devon, UK) and later in Bickington, near Barnstaple (Devon, UK). Having moved Down Under at the respectable age of 57, Sarah Gore eventually died at Gilmour Estate, near Lake Bathurst (Argyle, Col. New South Wales /Australia), in April 1857. The year prior she had her second son, Commander Graham Gore, RN, declared dead.

John Gore III [1807-1824]

The Gores welcomed their first son in September 1807. Named John like his seafaring father and grandfather before him, the new parents must have had great plans for their firstborn but fortune sometimes has a sick sense of humour. Signed up as Volunteer of the First Class aboard HMS Doterel [Dotterel] on November 1, 1819, John Gore III served for almost two years alongside his father and younger brother Graham before being paid off in July 1821. Soon afterwards he must have entered the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth (Hampshire, UK), graduating as second best student of the semester and being awarded a medal before July 1822. 

The next time we hear of John Gore III, in August 1824, he's dead. The circumstances that led to his untimely death are unknown at the time of this publication. Lieutenant John Gore, RN, lost at sea in 1835, with whom he often gets confused with, is, however, the son of an entirely different Gore family, his father being Admiral Sir John Gore, RN, of Datchet (Buckinghamshire, UK).

Ann Gore [c. 1811-1891] & Charlotte Gore [1813-1885]

The two oldest Gore sisters, baptized in Fremington (Devon, UK) in May 1811 and born in Bickington, near Barnstaple (Devon, UK), in January 1813 respectively, are the two members of the Gore family we know the least about and yet those who kept their flame burning for the longest, outliving both their parents and siblings by decades. Charlotte died five days before her 72nd birthday at Gilmour Estate, near Lake Bathurst (Argyle, Col. New South Wales /Australia) in January 1885, Ann in May 1891, having been bedridden for the last twenty years of her life.

Neither of them ever got married, a fact that Ann had predicted back in 1837 and grieved just the same. Interestingly enough, a letter from Graham Gore to their father in 1839 seems to suggest that Charlotte was at least being courted at some point, since the younger Gore inquired whether he should address any future letters to her as “Miss C. Gore or Mrs. C. Wylde”.

Eliza Stewart (née Gore) [c. 1815-1872]

The youngest daughter of the family, Eliza, was baptized in Fremington (Devon, UK), in June 1815. Marrying George Stewart, a police magistrate, in May 1839, she ended up giving birth to at least ten children. At the time of the birth of her youngest daughter Edith (who would eventually marry her first cousin Graham Gore II, the oldest son of Eliza’s brother Edward, in 1886) she was already 42 years old. Due to her husband’s profession the Stewart family would move all across the country, first living in Goulburn (Argyle, Col. New South Wales /Australia), then in Rosebrook, near Belfast / Port Fairy (Villiers, Col. Victoria / Australia) and finally in Brighton (Adelaide, Col. South Australia / Australia), where she passed away in November 1872.

George Stewart would eventually move back to New South Wales, living in Kishnaghur Estate, Dundas (Cumberland, Col. New South Wales /Australia), living there with his second wife until his death on May 12, 1890.

Edward Gore [c. 1817-1863]

The Gores would round up their gaggle of children with a third boy named Edward, baptized in Fremington (Devon, UK) in June 1817. Unlike his older brothers, he never went to sea, his profession instead being listed as gentleman or landowner in official records. Still being a bachelor at the age of 42, he finally married Eliza Strang in March 1859 but died only four years afterwards in September 1863, most likely at Gilmour Estate, near Lake Bathurst (Argyle, Col. New South Wales /Australia). His third child, a son also named Edward (Robert), would be born a few months after his death on March 4, 1864.

The modern Gallaways of Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) are descendants of his only daughter Jessie Ann Gallaway (née Gore).

If you are interested in more information about each member of the Gore family, then check out the Family Tree.


Stay tuned for our next blog post and find out more about the connection between Graham Gore and the ship dog(s) on HMS Erebus.

JK Spallek, Contribution by Katie Pitt
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