Robert LADLOW

  Research Notes:

Info from David Ladlow May 2002
(confirmed ancestor)

Robert Ladlow. Born 15 Feb 1818, Bishop Norton, Lincolnshire, England. Died 14 Jul 1892, Mt Gambier S.A. Aged 74. Buried, Mt Gambier Lake Terrace. Sect F. No. 353. Religion / Methodist. He married Mary Bell, daughter of Joseph Bell & Sarah Marshall, 15 May 1845, Church of England, Bishop Norton, England. Born 1827, England. Christened 4 Feb 1827, Blybourgh, Lincoln, England. Died 28 Feb 1916, Mt Gambier S.A. Aged 89. Buried Mt. Gambier Lake Terrace Cemetery. Religion / Methodist.

Little is known of Robert and Mary's life back in Lincolnshire, Bishop Norton, England -
Robert and Mary Ladlow /Ludlow left behind their beloved home in England with their first child Sarah Jane for a new life in Australia. They arrived at the port of Adelaide on the l7th July 1847, on the ship -
" The "Royal Sovereign ", which was described in the Adelaide paper The Register as " this fine emigrant ship". It left Plymouth, its point of final departure from England, on l5th April. The voyage from there to Adelaide took 95 days. There were 206 emigrants on the "Royal Sovereign". They comprised of two different groups, the agricultural workers from Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire and miners from Cornwall. There were 38 married couples, 32 single men, 25 single women and 73 children. The Surgeon Superintendent on the ship was Captain J. Cow. He reported that all adults had a good voyage, with scarcely, a single complaint (ie, presumably, illness). There were five births during the voyage, but seven young children died.

The Register referred to items published in newspapers that were brought to Adelaide on the ship. These included references to the successful sales of minerals from South Australia, mainly from Burra Burra and Kapunda; food riots in Scotland and the advancing to Ireland of a million pounds (sterling) a month by the English Government to provide food in the famine areas (caused mainly by the failure of the potato crops, due to blight).

The first land transaction recorded under Robert Ladlow's name in the Memorial Books at the Lands Department Archives in Adelaide is the purchase of one and a half acres in the village of Springbank. Information obtained from the South Australian Department of Lands in 1977 states that Springbank no longer exists as a named area. The original township, a few miles south of central Adelaide, was surveyed in 1858. Today, the northern portion is part of the suburb of Clapham, and the southern portion is part of the suburb of Panorama. The name " Springbank " is still maintained in the name of the boundary road between these two suburbs - ie, Springbank Road.

In this transaction, Robert Ladlow's address was given as Willunga, and his occupation as farmer. The seller of the land was Edmund Clarke, labourer, of Springbank. The purchase price was "Twenty five pounds of lawful English currency ". The date of this purchase was 2nd March 1853.


Info from Marge Blake July 2007 - details from her booklet and research "Family of Robert Ladlow 1818-1892 and Mary Bell 1827-1916. To Australia"

Robert married Mary BELL, daughter of Joseph BELL and Sarah MARSHALL, in 1845. (Mary BELL was born in 1827, christened on 4 Feb 1827 in Blybourgh, Lincolnshire and died on 28 Feb 1916 in Mt. Gambier, South Australia.)