Christopher Tatham Elmslie’s Letters, 1881-1906
Explanatory Notes
Christopher Tatham Elmslie, the eldest son of James Aberdour Elmslie, commenced his apprenticeship at sea in the Sobraon in 1876. He transferred into steamships in which, after completing his apprenticeship, he made three voyages with P&O before retiring from the sea in 1883 to pursue a life in commerce in Queensland.
In 1887 he moved his trading business base from Townsville to Croydon where he played an important role in the development of goldmining in northern Queensland. Subsequently he was joined by his younger brothers, Archibald Gordon Elmslie and Alexander Bisset Elmslie promoting and managing his gold interests. Chris and his brothers moved between living in Queensland and England as their business flourished. Ultimately, as the gold reserves ran out Chris and Archie settled in Australia with their families.
Following his retirement from the sea in 1891, James Aberdour Elmslie wrote letters to his son Chris offering him advice and generally assisting to progress Chris’ business interests in Queensland. Other members of the Elmslie family also wrote to Chris, including his step-mother Cecilia and his siblings. Chris kept the letters he received and more than 200 have been preserved by his descendants. The preserved handwritten letters are a rich source of information, not only about the lives of the writers and the Elmslie family in general, but also about the social norms of the time and the rapidly-changing technological developments that would revolutionise world shipping.
The original handwritten letters have been scanned and are reproduced on the accompanying disc. The letters have also been transcribed, largely by Elmslie family members. However it has not been possible to complete the transcription entirely due to the difficulty of interpreting passages of handwriting. Nevertheless, despite some gaps, the content of all letters is quite clear. The transcribed letters have been edited to record them in a uniform format and to introduce paragraphs to assist readability.