Thomas FROUDE and Isabella GIBSON

Thomas FROUDE was born on the 21^st March 1796 at Dartmouth, Devon, England and christened 10th April 1796 at Dartmouth.

Dartmouth had long been valued for its deep water harbour. There's evidence of trading with Europe in Neolithic times and a settlement on the banks of the Dart even earlier. The harbour was well known in Europe. So when an invasion force of 13,000 English, Scots, Norman, German, Flemish and Frisian crusaders gathered for the Second Crusade in 1147, 164 ships assembled in Dartmouth. Later in that century, in 1190, 37 ships left Dartmouth to join Richard I, The Lionheart, on the Third Crusade.  Dartmouth Castle is shown below.

It was a home of the English navy since the reign of Edward III and was twice surprised and sacked during the Hundred Years' War, after which the mouth of the estuary was closed every night with a great chain. The narrow mouth of the Dart is protected by two fortified castles, Dartmouth Castle and Kingswear Castle.  Kingswear Castle is in the foreground below with Dartmouth Castle across the other side of the Dartmouth Harbour entrance.

Ever since, Dartmouth has been a major naval port, so it is hardly surprising that Thomas FROUDE became a Master Mariner. It is hard to understand why anyone would leave such an idyllic town, but for Thomas the reason was Isabella GIBSON whom he met in Belfast, Antrim, Ireland. The two were married in Belfast about 1825.

Seven children are known for this family.

1. John FROUDE born about 1826 in Belfast, who married Jane Berry MILLER in about 1856 in Belfast, and then came to New Zealand. See here.
2. Thomas FROUDE born July 1827 in Belfast and christened 25 July 1827. Thomas married Sarah McCAULEY in Belfast on the 18^th February 1851. They moved to Salford, Lancashire, England in 1871. Their oldest son Robert moved to New Zealand. See here.
3. David FROUDE born February 1830 in Belfast and christened at St Anne’s Parish Church, Belfast on the 17^th February 1830. He married Margaret Jane AGNEW on the 3 November 1856 in Belfast. The family came to New Zealand. See here.
4. Sarah FROUDE was born on the 23^rd August 1832 in Belfast and christened 24^th August 1832 at St Anne’s Parish Church. She married James MONTGOMERY in Belfast but the date is unknown.
5. Jane FROUDE was born about 1836 in Belfast and married John NEILL in Belfast on the 14^th May 1856.
6. Robert FROUDE was born about 1837 in Belfast and moved to New Zealand where he married Priscilla WHITE in Auckland on the 15^th October 1862. See here.
7. Mary Ann Gibson FROUDE was born in Belfast about 1841 and married Samuel JORDAN in Belfast on the 23^rd July 1862. See here.

A modern view of Belfast Harbour.