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FOUNDER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
Sir James Stirling's Family History.
By Sir John Kirwan.
WHILE in London in 1929 articles of
mine in the Press on the West Aus-
tralian centenary brought me a number
of letters and amongst them was one
from Mr. Francis P. Leyburn-Yarker, of
Cambridge, a relative of Lady Stirling's
family. He expressed appreciation of my
references to Sir James Stirling, said
that as a boy he had often talked with
people who had remembered him and
they had spoken of him in terms of ad-
miration, some of them in terms of affec-
tion. A correspondence arose between
us. At my request he supplied me with
particulars regarding the founder of
Western Australia, including a hand
written pedigree of the Stirling family.
This pedigree cannot be found in Burke.
Debrett or other genealogical reference
works.
He also forwarded me extracts from
the family bible of Lady Stirling's family,
Captain Stirling, ` when jirst Governor of Western Australia. Help
Captain Stirling, when first
Governor of Western Australia.
the Mangles of Woodbridge, near Guild-
ford, Surrey, England. One of these ex-
tracts is as follows:
1828, September 3. Ellen (my fourth daugh-
ter) was married (on her birthday) at Stoke
Church to Capt. James Stirling, of the Royal
Navy. The Rev. Arthur Onslow performed the
ceremony.
About three years after his marriage
Captain Stirling was appointed to the
Success and sent to form a settlement in
Raffles Bay, Torres Strait. It was then
that he got into touch with the Govern-
ment of New South Wales, was commis-
sioned to explore the Swan River, was
favourably impressed with the country,
and once his interest was aroused in the
question of settlement on the western
shores of Australia, he was energetic in
furtherance of the project Fortunately,
a personal friend of Captain Stirling, Mr.
Horace Twiss, became Under Secretary
of State for the Colonies. Eventually the
Captain was officially authorised to pro-
ceed with a scheme of settlement for the
Swan River. This work he undertook
and all was made ready by him for the
embarkation of settlers and their require-
ments. Following is another extract from
the bible of Captain Stirling's father-in
law:
On February 5, 1829, my daughter, Ellen,
sailed from Portsmouth with her husband, Cap-
tain James Stirling, and her son, Andrew, in
the ship Parmelia, Captain Luscome, for Swan
River, and from Plymouth the 8th February,
1829.
Those who know the history of West-
ern Australia will remember that the
first few years after the foundation of
the Swan River settlement were marked
by great privations and hardships endured
by the settlers. Captain Stirling acceded
to their request to go to England and put
their plight before the Imperial authori-
ties. His mission was attended with some
success and he received a knighthood. He
and his wife and children stayed at
Woodbridge with the Mangles. The family
bible at Woodbridge records:
In 1833 my daughter, with her son, Henry,
and her daughter, Mary, accompanied by her
husband, Sir James Stirling, left us to join the
ship James Patterson for Portsmouth, from
whence they sailed for the new settlement at
Swan River on Sunday, the 9th Februray, 1834.
After his marriage Sir James Stirling,
whilst in England, spent most of his
time in the home of his wife's family,
Woodbridge. He and Lady Stirling were
fond of Woodbridge, remembered it with
feelings of affection, and named one
of their Swan River residences after it.
Captain Irwin, writing in 1835, thus
describes the West Australian Wood-
bridge:-
The Helena River, flowing from the east, joins
the Swan at Guildford. It takes its rise in an
elevated plain, within the Darling Range, and
pursues a course of from fifty to sixty miles
through a valley which is in many parts rocky
and singularly beautiful and romantic. As this
river approaches the Swan, its banks present
some of the richest alluvial soil hitherto found
in the country. Here Sir James Stirling has
a farm, extending across from one river to the
other, and which has been highly improved.
Woodbridge, his country residence, is a cottage
ornee, beautifully placed on a high bank, which
overhangs the Swan, and commanding a view of
two fine reaches of the river.
Lady Stirling's father, James Mangles,
was a country gentleman of consequence
in his county. He was a member of
the House of Commons for Guildford
from 1831 to 1837, also he was High
Sheriff in 1808, a Justice of the Peace
and a director of the East India Com-
pany.
The Rev. Arthur Onslow, who is men-
tioned in the bible extract as the offici-
ating clergyman at the marriage of Cap-
tain Stirling, was the bride's brother-in
law. He had been married in 1815 to
Caroline, her eldest sister.
Lady Stirling's eldest brother, Ross
Donnelly Mangles, who was born in
1801, held a high post in the Bengal
Civil Service Revenue and Judicial De-
partment. He was member of par-
liament for Guildford from 1841 to 1856,
director and for a time chairman of
the East India Company, and a member
of the Council for India. He was offered
but refused to accept a peerage. His
eldest son, Ross Louis Mangles, was also
in the Indian Civil Service. He was a
judge and was one of the three first
civilians to receive the V.C. in 1857. He
died in 1905, aged 71. "I have." writes
Mr. Leyburn-Yarker, "delightful mem-
ories of him and his wife."
A first cousin of Lady Stirling's, Cap-
tain James Mangles, R.N., who Mr. Ley-
burn-Yarker points out, visited the Stir-
lings in Western Australia, was a noted
traveller. At the close of the Napol-
eonic wars when he was 30 years
of age he retired from the navy and
with an old shipmate, Captain the Hon.
Leonard Irby, he travelled extensively
through little known parts of Egypt and
Asia Minor. They were the first Eng-
glishmen to cross the Syrian Desert.
Their descriptive letters were published
at first privately and later in Murray's
Home and Colonial Library. He was a
fellow of the Royal Society, also one of
the first Fellows and a member of the
Council of the Royal Geographical So-
ciety.
My correspondent goes on to say:
"This Captain James Mangles had an
elder brother, Robert of Whitemore
Lodge, Sunninghill. He was also a Fel-
low of the Royal Geographical Society.
The brothers wore keen horticulturists,
particluarly Robert Stirling used to
send them botanical specimens from the
Swan River. One of them was named
"Manglesia." There is a rhododendron
called after Robert, who has been styled
'The father of the Aucklardi cult. "
George Fletcher Moore in his diary
makes several references to the visit of
Captain Mangles to the Swan River
settlement. In May, 1831, he writes of
"the pleasure of meeting" Mangles and
mentions:-"On Sunday Captain Irwin
read the morning service of the church
in the hospital and in the evening I went
to the Rev. Mr. Wittenoom's church and
afterwards had the honour of dining with
His Excellency the Governor, Mrs. Stir-
ling, Captain Mangles and some others."
Moore describes Mangles as "a most
agreeable party" and as having published
an account of his travels in Egypt. Moore
then pens the following .quaint reflec
tions.-"Any man of sense who has tra-
velled far and observed much, is invalu-
able as a companion or as an author,
particularly if he don't let the latter
character absorb the agreeable qualities
of the former. The author is often too
retentive of materials which he is col-
lecting for his work, to communicate
them freely, whilst the companion as
such overflows with interesting and use-
ful information."
After leaving the Swan Settlement.
Captain Mangles did not forget those
who were engaged in the hard work of
pioneering a new colony. In November,
1835, he sent Moore two cases contain-
ing rare and useful plants such as tea,
pomegranate, cork, etc., and asked that
the cases be returned filled with plants
from the colony. Moore says he secured
he aid of the botanist of the settlements
Mr. Drummond, and sent Captain
Mangles a collection of plants. Captain
Mangles also sent Moore a number of
books as a present and asked him in
return to let him have some live cocka-
toos.
Mr. Leyburn-Yarker in a letter to me
concludes his references to Captain
Mangles thus:-"He died near Exeter in
1867 at the age of 81, leaving his house,
furniture and objets d'art with £30,000
to his housekeeper!"
The Mangles family were wealthy.
They were largely interested in India,
and Mr. Leyburn-Yarker writes:-"I
think it is probable they helped to finance
the settlement of the Swan River." Cap-
tain Irwin states that Messrs. F. and C.
E. Mangles, East India Agents, Austin
Friars, London, on hearing of the "Swan
River Mission" Society which had just
been formed, liberally offered them a
free passage for a missionary.
In 1833 the Mangles interests at Cal-
cutta were mainly responsible for the
formation of a company there for the
purpose of trading with and promoting
settlement in Western Australia. The
barque Mercury was secured but on her
first voyage between India and the Swan
Settlements she was lost. The supposi-
tion was that she foundered at sea.
Nearly 100 persons were drowned. Ten
overseers with five mechanics attached
to each overseer, to erect buildings for
settlers from India, were said to be on
board. The idea was to establish in West-
ern Australia retired officers in the East
India Company's service who, with their
families, were desirous of settling in a
country with a good climate and under
the British flag. Constant communica-
tion was to be kept up by a regular ship-
ping service with India. The tragic be-
ginning of operations by the loss of the
Mercury with several of the principals
of the company on board seems to have
brought to an untimely end the Mangles
project for colonisation of Western Aus-
tralia from India. There is no lack of
evidence that members of the family did
what they could in reason to assist Sir
James Stirling in furtherance of settle-
ment on the Swan River. Personally
Sir James Stirling was a very remarkable
man. A picture of him in uniform in his
young days shows him singularly hand-
some both in figure and face; his mouth
firm and his general appearance indica-
tive of strength of character and physi-
cal and mental alertness. Another pic-
ture of him is late in life. He is old
but still very handsome, with snow-white
hair, bright-eyed, clever and kindly.
Of the Stirling family the details sup-
plied to me were very full as to names,
dates, births, marriages, deaths and
achievements of individual members. The
Stirlings are a well-known old Scottish
family with several branches, a family
that produced many men of distinction.
One of them, John Stirling, was Lord
Provost of Glasgow, and he in 1668
married a lady whose father, Charles
Campbell, was killed while in command
of a troop of horse at the battle of
Worcester when the Scottish army, that
came to England to reinstate Charles II
on the throne, was defeated by Crom-
well. Two descendants of theirs married
and they became the parents of Western
Australia's first Governor. They were
Andrew Stirling of Drumpellier, Lanark-
shire factor, and his wife Anne who was
Sir James Stirling in later life. Help
Sir James Stirling in later life.
his first cousin. She was the daughter
of a famous naval officer, Admiral Sir
Walter Stirling of Faskine. This Sir
Walter commanded the Essex in the ex-
pedition to Cherbourg in 1758; it was
under his guidance that Prince Edward,
afterwards Duke of York, entered and
served his early years in the navy; in a
sloop of war that he commanded he par-
ticipated on the attack upon Goree.
Afterwards he served with Lord Rodney
in the West Indies and on bringing home
the welcome dispatches announcing the
capture of Saint Eustacia from the Dutch
in 1781 he was knighted. He was subse-
quently appointed Commodore and Com-
mander in Chief at The Nore. On George
the Third reviewing the ships under his
command, he was offered a baronetcy but
declined it. The baronetcy was after-
wards conferred upon his eldest son.
Large families were common towards
the close of the eighteenth century. And-
rew Stirling and his wife Anne were no
exception to the general rule. They had
12 children (eight sons and four daugh-
ters). The fifth son was James Stirling
to whom Western Australia owes so
much. He was born in January, 1791,
and in view of the family traditions, it
was natural that he should join one of
the fighting services. He followed in the
footsteps of his illustrious grandfather
and when little more than 12 years old
entered the navy. As the extract from
the Mangles family bible shows, he was
married at the age of 32 during the
piping times of peace. It was a couple
of years after Napoleon had died at St.
Helena and there was not the speck of
a war cloud on the horizon.
The Stirlings were connected by mar-
riage with the Barrett-Lennards, a name
prominent amongst Western Australia's
pioneers. A daughter of Sir Walter
Stirling, Bart., in 1814 married the second
son of Sir T. B. Barrett-Lennard, Bart.
Amongst the batch of justices of the
peace appointed at the first meeting of
the Executive Council of Western Aus-
tralia held in Perth on February 6, 1832,
was the name of Edward Barrett-Len-
nard. Today in this State the Barrett-
Lennards form a numerous clan.
Sir James Stirling and his wife, like
their parents, had the average family of
those days. They had eleven children
(five sons and six daughters). Mr. Ley-
burn-Yarker writes: "The Stirling des-
cendants are numerous and all very in-
fluential and rich." He supplies particu-
lars as to what happened to Sir James
and Lady Stirling's eleven children. The
eldest son. Andrew, was born in 1824.
The Mangles family bible mentions that
he was brought with his parents to the
Swan River in 1829. He never married
and died in 1874.
Frederick Henry Stirling, the second
son, who was born in 1829, entered the
navy and rose to be vice-admiral. He
was naval A.D.C. to Queen Victoria and
for a time commodore on the Australian
station. He married a daughter of Sir
Edward Deas Thompson. They had a
daughter born in 1878 who in 1912 mar-
ried a Norwegian, an official of the
Foreign Office of Norway. The third son,
William Stirling, died young. Charles
Edward Stirling, the fourth son, was born
in 1834. He joined the army, became
Colonel in the Royal Artillery and died
unmarried. Walter Stirling, the youngest
son, was killed in 1857 at Cawnpore dur-
ing the Indian Mutiny. Of the six
daughters two of them, Agnes and Doro-
thea, were not married. The other
four married men of position and wealth.
It would be tedious to give in detail all
their descendants. They include many
prominent men and women. Sir James
Stirling's youngest daughter, Georgina,
married twice and each husband was a
soldier of considerable distinction. The
first husband was Major General Sir
Henry Tombs, V.C. and one of their
granddaughters is the beautiful Duchess
of Sutherland. He died in 1874 and Lady
Tombs afterwards married Sir Herbert
Stewart who died of wounds received at
the battle against the Mahdi's forces at
Abu Klea.
Lady Rennell, wife of Lord Rennell
(better known as Sir Rennell Rodd), is
a granddaughter of Sir James Stirling.
Another of the descendants of the Stir-
lings is Mrs. Stuart-Worthley, wife of
the Hon. E. Stuart-Worthley of High-
cliffe Castle, Hants.
All the male descendants of military
age appear to have taken part in the
Great War, several of them were killed,
so the old fighting spirit of the Stirling
family was active amongst them.
Mr. Leyburn-Yarker in one of his
letters to me writes:-"I often heard a
great aunt of mine speak of Sir James
Stirling. He was very kind to his young
relatives who called him 'Uncle James'
and they loved him."
As the years pass and Western Aus-
tralia grows in importance, so in public
imagination Sir James Stirling is certain
to loom larger and larger and more and
more interest will be aroused in him and
his achievements. He has had the most
picturesque career of any of the State's
public men. As a boy of 14 he smelt
powder when his ship, the Glory, was
hotly engaged in the naval action off
Finisterre: later he fought in naval
battles not only against the French but
also against the Americans, and we hear
of him sailing the seas of the West
Indies. Rio de la Plata, Gulf of Mexico,
off the mouths of the Mississippi and
Hudson's Bay. As an Australian explorer
he was the first to cross the Monara
Plains in New South Wales. After an
examination of the Swan River and its
vicinity he reported in no uncertain lan-
guage. He described the country as "the
land, out of all that I have seen in vari
ous quarters of the world, that possesses
the greatest natural attractions."
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