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Dadswell Family

Dadswell and Piggott Families – and a Photo Mystery

Robert and Mary (Dadswell) Piggott

Three members of the Sussex family of William and Barbara (Colbran) Dadswell migrated to Australia in 1839 and their story has been been outlined in "The Short Colonial Lives of Barbara, Anne & Edward Dadswell" (there is a link to that story in the Further Information section below).

William and Barbara had nine children. The youngest was Thomas Dadswell, born on 25 November 1818. Unlike his three migrating siblings, he remained in England and as a young man was apprenticed to a miller. Later in life he farmed at Stone Farm at Buxted, and at East Grinstead, and later still he operated Kent Water Mill at Cowden, Kent, where he died in 1895.

Thomas was one of several Dadswells who married into the Bassett family - in April 1843 at Edenbridge, Kent, he married Harriet Bassett, daughter of John and Mary Bassett. Thomas and Harriet had seven children.

The second of these was Mary Dadswell, born on 15 November 1846, and she was married on 24 December 1870 to Robert Piggott (they are shown in the top picture).

In the 1891 census, Robert was described as a cab driver and groom living with Mary and four of their children at Durweston Mews, London.

Ten years later, in 1901, the census documents describe Robert as a cab proprietor and he and Mary were still at the same address.

Of the five children of Robert and Mary (Dadswell) Piggott, the 4th-born - Walter Piggott - made his way to Australia and in Sydney on 22 January 1927 he married Jeannette Emily Edwards, who had also migrated from England.
Walter and Jeanette (Edwards) Piggott
Walter was a butcher in Sydney with shops at Lakemba and Asquith and although aged 53 he enlisted in the Australian Army in 1942 and served until 1947 (Walter and Jeannette are pictured at right).

He and Jeannette had two children - their son John Robert Piggott (born 28 September 1928 at Lakemba) left home in his early teens to also join the Army but left this to live in Perth using the name of Bill Piggott. Later still he moved to Hobart where in 1955 he married Patricia Jarvis. They had a family of eight children.

Walter and Jeannette's younger son, Gordon Arthur Piggott (born about 1931) moved to Boonah, south west of Brisbane, and was a linesman. At the age of 58, he died at nearby Ipswich on 31 May 1989 and was buried in Boonah Lawn Cemetery.

The story of Mary (Dadswell) Piggott and her husband and descendants has been recorded in these photos, found among a collection of pictures in England. But the man in one of the photographs, who could be a Dadswell, has not been identified. The pictures include:
Possibly Thomas Dadswell
1. The picture at top shows Robert and Mary (Dadswell) Piggott.

2. The centre photograph shows Australian family members, Walter and Jeannette (Edwards) Piggott.

3. The man in the bottom photograph has not been identified but the picture came from the same collection of photographs. A grandson of Robert and Mary thought the man may well be from the Dadswell side of the family, possibly Thomas Dadswell, the father of Mary (Dadswell) Piggott.

The photo was taken by William E Parker, photographer of 7 Carlton Terrace, Westbourne Park, London and from the print it could well be mid-Victorian vintage.

If you think you can identify the man in this picture, please email .

Further information

Family tree - Dadswell ancestors of Mary (Dadswell) Piggott
Family tree - siblings of Mary Dadswell
The Short Colonial Lives of Barbara, Anne & Edward Dadswell

- Information compiled April 2009

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