Thomas Woodhouse joined Adventure for Cook’s Second Voyage on 1 December, 1771, at Deptford, as a Midshipman. He became an able bodied seaman (AB) from 1 January, 1773. According to the musters he was born in Deptford in 1753.
Woodhouse was one of the party of Adventure’s men killed at Wharehunga Bay (Grass Cove) in Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, on 17 December 1773. He left a will written on 31 March, 1772, that was proven on 29 July, 1774.1 George Fawler, a navy carpenter from Deptford, was named beneficiary and executor.
Woodhouse was baptised at Rochester on 13 May, 1753, the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Woodhouse. Daniel was a gunner in the Royal Navy who served in HMS Raven, Vengeance and Boulogne. Daniel was buried at St. Paul’s, Deptford, in February 1777.
Elizabeth Woodhouse died at Deptford in 1793. In her will,2 she mentioned George Fawler as having lived as a lodger in her house for many years. He is presumably the same man who was executor for Thomas Woodhouse.
John Robson
References
- PROB 11/1000. Held at the National Archives (TNA), Kew.
- PROB 11/1236. TNA.
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 46, volume 47, number 2 (2024).