COMMANDER THEOPHILUS MOULTRIE KELSALL, R.N. & HIS SON CONRAD

It is not often that one sees more than 30 covers addressed to the same person over a period of 50 years from 1850 to 1900, particularly from 10 different countries including: Ascension Island, Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain (addressed to 6 different addresses) and Lagos, as well as to several ships in the Royal Navy, including the H.M.S. Alecto.. Two covers from Melbourne which are addressed to T.M. Kelsall, and relate to his elder son Conrad Moultrie Kelsall, are featured in this paper.

The first cover is addressed to Capt. T.M. Kelsall R.N., Youngaton , Westward Ho’, Devon, England and the two stamps are both Victorian ‘Stamp Duty’, a green Half Penny and a pale mauve Two Pence, both cancelled with MELBOURNE/ 12 P/ OC 31/ 99, and the reverse was postmarked with a Bideford receiver (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Click to Enlarge

There were 2 letters from Maleson, England & Stewart, Solicitors at 46 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria dated 31 Oct 1899 addressed to Captn T. Moultrie Kelsall R.N., at the address on the cover, which read: “Dear Sir, We received a letter from your son Mr Conrad M. Kelsall on the 2nd Instant stating that he had decided to invest in some land near Cairns [Queensland] and requesting to forward him the £500 which you instructed us in your letter of Decr last to hold in case it should be required of him. We therefore forwarded him a draft for that amount and herewith we beg to enclose his receipt. Yours faithfully, Malleson England & Stewart” (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Click to Enlarge

The enclosed receipt read: “Received from Captain T.M. Kelsall R.N. per Malleson England & Stewart the sum of Five hundred pounds being the amount authorised to be paid to me as per my father’s letter to them dated the 28th December 1898. 20th October 1899 Conrad M. Kelsall”, and there was a ‘Four Corners’ orange One Penny Queensland stamp affixed with a manuscript 20/10/99, with a faint pencilled “Please affix Queensland Stamp Duty” placed below (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Click to Enlarge

The second cover was addressed to Capt. T. Moultrie Kelsall R.N., Westward Ho’, N. Devon, England in a similar hand of the first cover, and the Victorian blue 2½d Stamp Duty was cancelled MELBOURNE/ P.M./ 19.8.00/ 3 (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Click to Enlarge

The enclosed letter was written in a similar hand as the first from the same firm of Melbourne solicitors, and it reads: “Dear Sir, We beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 16th Ultimo and we have as requested therein forwarded to your son Mr. Conrad M. Kelsall to the address given in Bank Draft for £50 and debited your account herewith. We ever Dear Sir, Yours faithfully Matheson England & Stewart” (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Click to Enlarge

The Kelsall name is said to derive from the village of the same name in Cheshire, England and the name means “Kell’s nook or recess”. The village is mentioned in the ‘Domesday Book’ (1086) and the name Adam de Kellsall appears as early as 1277. William Kelsall was Sheriff of Chester in 1335 and Stephen de Kelsall was Mayor of Chester in 1350. In 2007 there were 3200 Kelsalls in the U.K. (the majority, 83%, in Lancashire, Staffordshire and Cheshire), 600 in the US, 600 in Australia and lesser numbers in Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.

The information on Theophilus Moultrie Kelsall is fragmentary, contradictive and confusing for he was born in Fareham, Hants, England on 22 June 1831 (as on gravestone) but also given elsewhere as 1832, the son of John Theophilus Kelsall and Elizabeth Anne Stephens. He had 6 siblings, of whom Ellen Hume Kelsall (married name Fowke) his oldest sister was a frequent correspondent. He was buried in Northam, Devon where his death is inscribed as being 8 May 1910 at Youngaton, Westward Ho! where his wife Marie (Maria) Anna Kelsall (daughter of Professor H.W. Brutger, also spelt Brutzer) is interred. As well, his elder son Conrad Moultrie Kelsall is buried there, with his wife, Piera Migliorini Kelsall.

Theophilus entered the Royal Navy ca. 1851, rose to the rank of Captain and commander of several Royal Navy ships, and he retired in 1870 to the coast guard at Ramsgate. A picture of the young Theophilus in uniform is seen in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Click to Enlarge

Theophilus married Maria Anna about 1845 and they had 9 children, 7 daughters an 2 sons, of which the elder Conrad Moultrie was third in line, followed by his brother Alfred H. Kelsall. Three of his daughters were born in France. The entire family is seen in a later photograph, where Conrad has not yet been distinguished from his younger brother (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Click to Enlarge

This association of the father and son with Australia as described in the two letters is not mentioned elsewhere at the many websites I have researched the family. Why Theophilus had money in the hands of the Melbourne firm of solicitors was not mentioned, and how Conrad decided to buy land at Cairns, in coastal north Queensland was totally obscure. The initial sum of £500 that he received from his father would have afforded him to purchase a large property. It was possible that he was living in Australia in the late 1890s and early 1900s, but this was probably only temporary, for there was evidence that he was buried in Devon, England.

Months after finding the two Melbourne covers, two Queensland covers appeared at auction, addressed to Captain Kelsall R.N., Youngaton, Westward Ho!, North Devon, England. The first had a copy of the rose ‘Four Corners’ 2½d was clearly cancelled with the first Cairns barred numeral ‘227' as well as the unframed CAIRNS/ B/ MY 11/ 99/ QUEENSLAND with 3 dots each side (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Click to Enlarge

The reverse had a transit cancel of BRISBANE/ MY 18/ 8 45AM/ 99/ Q.L., and a reception postmark of BIDEFORD/ 4.30 PM/ JU 26/ 99 (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Click to Enlarge

The next cover had a pair of the brown-purple on blue paper ‘Four Corners’ 2½d stamp with an illegible barred numeral ‘263' of Nelson and an unframed NELSON/ NO 29/ ( )/ QUEENSLAND postmark (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Click to Enlarge

The reverse had an unframed transit CAIRNS/ ( )/ 1901/ QUEENSLAND with fleuron on each side, a transit BRISBANE/ DE 5/ (1901) duplex and a reception postmark of Bideford, England (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Click to Enlarge

These two covers were addressed by the same individual who almost certainly was Conrad Moultrie Kelsall who was living near Cairns at Nelson Queensland at the turn of the century. Absolute proof of Conrad’s stay in Queensland came several months later, when Stephanie Ryan of the State Library of Queensland responded to my email, as follows with my additions in square brackets:

“I have searched our biographical files but have not found anything on Conrad Kelsall, however he is on the Queensland Electoral rolls 1903-1919. Before that the roles were done by the State only. In !903, 1905, 1913 and 1919 is at little Mulgrave, sub district of Nelson and his occupation is described as a farmer. In 1913 and 1919 Piera Kensall [his wife] is listed at Deeral, Nelson. Her occupation was home duties.”

“I have searched a number of historical sources on Cairns without success. I cannot find him listed in the Queensland Post Offices Directories 1900-1913 in the alphabetic section for Queensland, under Nelson or Cairns, in the country section.”

There can be no doubt that Conrad Moultrie Kelsall bought property around Cairns Queensland between 1899 and 1903 which he farmed; Conrad and his wife, Piera lived until at least 1919 south of Cairns at Nelson (re-named Gordonvale in 1915 situated 19k south of Cairns) and/or Deeral which is situated 37k SSW of Cairns.

Theophilus Moultrie Kelsall died in 1910 at Bideford, England at the age of 78. Conrad died at the age of 63 in 1936 at Basingstoke, England, and both he and his wife, Piera were buried in the Kelsall family site at Youngaton, Devon.

I am indebted to Stephanie Ryan, State Library of Queensland who provided the key information on Conrad’s stay in the Cairns region; to Angela Cleife, Librarian at the Fareham Library, England for additional information on Theophilus Moultrie Kelsall; to Colin Harding who sold the vast majority of the Theophilus Moultrie Kelsall covers and letters, and provided his photo as well as that of his immediate family.

Addendum: I have now absolute proof that Condrad Moultrie Kelsall had bought land around Cairns, and this was provided by Louise Howard, Reference Archivist, Queensland State Archives. The lot was known as Selection 475 and it consisted of a lease of 110 acres purchased in 1900 for £350 (of his father’s £500). The land was transferred to Conrad Kelsall as an Unconditional Selection and was forfeited by him in 1905. The correspondence regarding his inability to pay the rent refers to the failure of crops in 1902 and the failure of crops in 1903 due to floods. It was reselected by him in 1905 as an Agricultural Farm and Agricultural Homestead and the land was now classified as Selection 707 in the Cairns Land Agents District. No name for the property and homestead was found during the research.