Travancore 1852-1853
I had two foremothers on the Travancore, one of the "Bride Ships" that came to Fremantle, Western Australia. This ship left Plymouth in October 1852 and arrived in Jan 1853. I have a book on the bride ships that says the single women on board mostly came from the workhouses and orphanages of Cork and Dublin.
However, I have found reference in Irish papers to Limerick and Nenagh workshouses sending thirty girls each on the Travancore to the Swan River. I've looked though the Limerick minutes and been confused. First it talks about Van Diemen's land, then it talks about recommending Matron Charlotte O'Sullivan to a post on the boat - then it says that it has been ordered to send the girls to meet the Travancore at Plymouth by the 24th September (she sailed on the 1st Oct). Yet there is no Charlotte O'Sullivan on the Travancore passenger list, and I think I found a woman of that name actually turning up in Van Diemen's Land. There was also a record of a Mary O'Brien being one of the girls sent - there are two on the Travancore's list.
Does anyone know if the Limerick ones went on to another ship (with Mrs O'Sullivan)? Or if they really did end up on the Travancore?
One of my foremothers on the boat was Annorah Mary Ryan (sailing under the name Honor), 19 years old from County Clare, her father, Michael Ryan, a farmer (or James depending on you take her word or her family's) and her mother possibly Annorah Kelly.
The other sailed under the name, Eleanor Tully but was always called Ellen. She was 23. Her father was James or Thomas Tully (depending on which marriage), a linen draper. I have no idea where she came from and have been assuming Dublin or Cork - but if Limerick and Nenagh really did send 30 girls each on the Travancore, I may be looking in the wrong place.