395395
- TitleSeries 04: Elizabeth Bass - papers
- Call numberMLMSS 6544/4 (Safe 1/187)
- Level of descriptionseries
- Date
1801-1803 - Type of material
- Reference code395395
- Issue CopyDigitised
- Physical DescriptionTextual material - manuscript
- ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Elizabeth Bass (1768-1824) was the eldest daughter of William and Susanna Waterhouse. She married George Bass at St James Church, London on 8 October 1800. They lived together for only a few months before George Bass sailed for Port Jackson in January 1801. Elizabeth wrote 29 letters to George Bass. - Scope and Content1801-1803; Correspondence with her husband George Bass.
21 letters and one draft; 14 autograph letters signed by George Bass addressed to 'Betsy', 'Bess', from Venus, off the coast of Brazil, Cape of Good Hope, Port Jackson (5), Matavai Bay, Otaheite [Tahiti], off Morokoi, Sandwich Islands [Molokai, Hawaiian Islands], Sydney Cove; 7 autograph letters signed by Elizabeth Bass, from London and Margate; one autograph letter signed by William Waterhouse to Elizabeth Bass, 14 Dec 1803, on a sheet of George Bass' letter to Elizabeth dated 21 Dec 1802.
All of the letters express their love for each other and their distress at being separated. George Bass writes about the contract which he and Charles Bishop secured from Governor Philip Gidley King to procure salt pork from the Pacific islands (20 Oct 1801, 15 Nov 1802, 21 Dec 1802), John Macarthur's arrest after a duel with William Paterson (20 Oct 1801), Governor King's health (12 Nov 1801), Bass' observations on the Tahitians (30 Jan 1802), his meeting with Nicolas Baudin (15 Nov 1802), his farewells to William and Eliza Kent and Mrs Mary Moore before leaving Port Jackson on his last voyage (undated [Jan? 1803]). The letter from George to Elizabeth dated 21 Dec 1802 was forwarded to Elizabeth by her father William Waterhouse and includes, on the same sheet, a letter to her from Waterhouse dated 14 Dec 1803.
Elizabeth Bass writes about her family, and about Bass' naval and business associates including many 'Port Jackson People'. These include Major George Johnston (9 Nov 1801, 5 Feb 1802), Governor King (9 Nov 1801, 5 Feb 1802), former Governor Arthur Phillip (25 April 1801, 9 Nov 1801, 5 Feb 1802), Lieutenant William Kent (9 Nov 1801, 5 Feb 1802), James Williamson (9 Nov 1801, 5 Feb 1802), Thomas and John Jamison (Aug 1801, 9 Nov 1801, 5 Feb 1802, 19 Oct 1803), Captain Anthony Fenn Kemp (5 Feb 1802), James Sykes (15 Dec 1801, 19 Oct 1803), James Innes and family (28 Jan 1801, 9 Nov 1801). Elizabeth also mentions the marriage of Matthew and Ann Flinders and Flinders' visit to her (25 April 1801), the writings of satirist John Wolcot who wrote under the name Peter Pindar, and her meeting with him (25 April 1801, 5 Feb 1802), Doctor Gilbert Blane's good opinion of Bass (5 Feb 1802, 19 Oct 1803), and Elizabeth's efforts to forward to Bass a panel of charts from Alexander Dalrymple (28 Jan 1801, 25 April 1801, Aug 1801, 9 Nov 1801).
1803; Letter received from Anna Josepha King. Autograph letter signed by Anna Josepha King, New South Wales, 16 May 1803, informing Elizabeth that George Bass left Port Jackson in Feb 1803 'in perfect good health and spirits' and that he wished that Elizabeth had come to New South Wales with him. - General note
CY 3970, frames 358-472 (MLMSS 6544/4, filed at Safe 1/187) - Creator/Author/Artist
- NameBaudin, Nicolas, 1754-1803
Bishop, Charles, 1765?-1810
Blane, Gilbert, Sir, 1749-1834
Dalrymple, Alexander, 1737-1808
Flinders, Ann, 1772-1852
Innes, James
Jamison, John, Sir, 1776-1844
Jamison, Thomas, 1745-1811
Johnston, George, 1764-1823
Kemp, Anthony Fenn, 1773-1868
Kent, Eliza, d. 1810
Kent, William, 1751-1812
King, Philip Gidley, 1758-1808
Macarthur, John, 1767-1834
Moore, Mary
Paterson, William, 1755-1810
Phillip, Arthur, 1738-1814
Pindar, Peter, 1738-1819
Sykes, James
Williamson, James, 1758-1826 - Subject
- Place
- Open Rosetta viewer
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