Dadswell Family History

Generation 7
Nicholas Henry, Elizabeth and Hannah Dadswell

On this page:
Ancestors of Nicholas Henry, Elizabeth and Hannah Dadswell
The family's story
Key family dates
Further information

Ancestors of Nicholas Henry, Elizabeth and Hannah Dadswell

Robert Doudeswell 1560 > Robert Doudeswell 1606 > Edward Dodswell 1659 > Nicholas Dodswell 1684 > Nicholas Dadswell 1735 > Edward Dadswell 1777 > Nicholas Henry 1813, Elizabeth 1818 and Hannah Dadswell 1821

The family's story

Nicholas Henry, Elizabeth and Hannah Dadswell were the first three children of Edward and Jane (Ashdowne?) Dadswell. They were born at Buxted, Sussex - Nicholas Henry Dadswell on 21 April 1813, Elizabeth on 22 March 1818 and Hannah on 17 February 1821. As young adults, all three migrated to Adelaide, South Australia.

Nicholas Henry Dadswell, aged 24, and his sister Hannah, 18, sailed from England aboard the sailing ship Prince Regent in 1839, arriving at Holdfast Bay, South Australia on 25 September 1839.

Their sister Elizabeth initially remained in England, married Arthur Douglas at South Bersted, Sussex on 22 June 1862, and subsequently also emigrated to South Australia.

Hannah Dadswell, originally a nursery maid and later possibly a housekeeper, had been in the Colony of South Australia for less than four months when she died, possibly from typhoid. She was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery on 30 January 1840, aged 18.

Elizabeth (Dadswell) Douglas died on 20 November 1887, aged 69. Her gravestone at Mitcham Cemetery makes mention of her brother but not of her husband Arthur.

Nicholas Dadswell was a bootmaker by trade and worked until ill health in his later years. He died on 10 March 1892 aged 77. His obituary in the Adelaide Observer recorded:

"Of a retiring disposition, the deceased was a well-read man and possessed a thorough knowledge of colonial history. Mr Dadswell, who was a bootmaker by trade, had been for the last few years an invalid, and at the time of his death was about seventy-seven years of age.

"The Bentham-Street Chapel, under the late Pastor Playford, reckoned the deceased amongst its members. He leaves no relatives in this colony."

He was buried at Mitcham Cemetery. His will, dated 19 December 1887, named another shoemaker, John Brown, as one of his executors. He left a sum of fifty pounds to Harriet Brown (wife of John Brown), and the balance of his estate to his brother, James Edward Dadswell of Uckfield, Sussex.

The family name for this part of the Dadswell family died out with the death of Nicholas.

This 7-generation Family Chart shows the development of this Dadswell family (PDF file).

Picture: Broken headstone marking the grave of Nicholas Henry Dadswell, Mitcham Cemetery, South Australia. Picture from City of Mitcham Community Historian.

Key family dates

Further information

Information on Edward and Jane Dadswell (generation 6, parents of Nicholas, Elizabeth and Hannah Dadswell)