Thomas H. B. Hovendon

Thomas Hovendon was born in Stradbally, Queen's County to Anne (nee Budds) and Nicholas Hovendon. He was the grandson of Thomas Budds of Timogue.

Thomas immigrated to Australia in 1842. He spent his early years in shipping from Sydney, NSW to Portland, Victoria. His shipping business supplied goods to his brother William Hovendon, who had a store in Belfast, Port Fairy, Victoria. In October 1849, Thomas skipped out on debts that would have been worth millions today. He fled to Tahiti and thus earned the unenviable nickname of “Bolter” Hovendon.

Thomas went into hiding and reappeared under his own name about 30 years later in California. In America, he became a very astute businessman who was often brewing up schemes to make more money. His final years were spent working with his brother Arthur W. Bunster 1827 | Ireland Reaching Out (irelandxo.com) in the real estate business.  Arthur had operated several brewing businesses and had also been the Member for Vancouver in Canada's Parliament. Thomas died in 1892, just a few months after his brother Arthur.

See life story at https://rosemaryrope.com/Books/Bunster%20Hovendon.html