William (Soren) Scott (Thygesen)
| First name | William (Soren) |
|---|---|
| Last name | Scott (Thygesen) |
| Country of Origin | Norway |
| Date of Birth | 6th September 1841 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1874 |
| Submitted by | Lillian Dillon |
Story
William Scott was born 6th September 1841 as Soren Thygesen in Skien, Norway. He was the 3rd child of Head Clerk Soren Thygesen & his wife Idunna Urania Bottger. The Thygesen family & related branches can be traced back to 1730 around the town of Skien.
Soren ran away to sea when he was about 15 as his family wanted him to go into the ministry. He first served on Norwegian ships as a Boy from 1857, then Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman trading to foreign ports & as a Midshipman – he & a couple of others were lucky not to contract scurvy when hundreds died. He stayed away many years & from 1868-1870 served as Mate on English barques. On 24th December 1870 under the name of William Scott , an anglicized version of his uncle’s name Schjott, he qualified for his Masters Certificate at Belfast Navigational School. He captained 4 masted schooners including the Golconda in which he arrived in Australia on 31 October 1871 from Bordeau in France & the Nardoo, arriving in 1874. He does not appear in any subsequent volume of the Captains Register, from which we assume he remained in Australia after the Golconda 1874 voyage.
On 22nd Feb 1877 at the Holy Trinity Church in Sandridge (Pt. Melb) when he was 32 he married 16 yr old Annie Lowrie, the eldest daughter of Scottish parents Ellen Smith & John Lowrie, who came separately to Melbourne from Scotland. Annie Lowrie was born 5 Jan 1861 “On the South Bank of the River Yarra” Emerald Hill , now Sth. Melbourne. They had 7 children between 1878 & 1886.
After leaving the sea William was a hotelier in Pt. Melbourne at the Brunswick Pier Hotel Dow Street in 1876 & Scott’s Hotel 40 Bay Street, Pt.Melbourne between Graham & Rouse Sts in 1877. As William spoke 7 languages including Chinese, he became a Court interpreter & later in 1899 a Ships’ Chandler.
William’s family in Norway heard very little of him as he rarely wrote a letter home. They knew he had taken another name, but like his family here, never knew why. They were aware he kept a hotel in Melbourne & a sailor who came home to Rennesso brought best wishes from him to his mother Idunna & brother Anton. When his mother died in 1885 in Norway the family wrote to him at the last address they knew but neither then nor after did they hear anything of him until his daughter Idunna took up tracing the family tree in 1934 after finding out about the Norwegian side of her family Eventually a family tree was sent to her by her cousin also named Iduna Thygesen – she told how the Norwegians had to get permission to call their children after the Gods & she had names of 2 goddesses .
William Scott was 69 years old at the time of his death at the home of his daughter Annette, 414 Coventry St. Sth. Melbourne. After lifting a heavy cupboard onto a cart he came in, sat down, heaved a huge sigh & passed away. His funeral notice named him as “William Scott, Master Mariner, native of Skien, Norway …. brother of the late Pastor Scott of Skien, also Captain J.Scott of Swansea, England”. It can only be surmised from this that his real name of Thygesen was not then known & only came to light through his daughter’s research some years later.
Their large family remained mostly in Victoria but can now been found in many States of Australia. For full family history see http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/10421