Additional notes on John Nisa Knowles

 

In about 1879 one Patrick Bourke came aboard the brig Adolphe and, being in liquor, picked a quarrel with J. Wilson, who beat him to death with a belaying pin. The Adolphe1s master was murdered in similar circumstances by John Knowles, a half-caste Tongan trading on the coast of New Ireland, who had already disposed of a Portuguese trader as they returned in their boat from a convivial visit to a German barque in St George's Channel.

- W.P. Morell, Britain in the Pacific Islands (Oxford, 1960), 309.

The half-caste Tongan, John Knowles, was brought down from New Ireland in a warship and handed over to be dealt with by his own 19 sovereign. And for his part in the punitive raid at Blanche Bay in 1878, the Rev. George Brown would have suffered what Gorrie considered should be the consequences, had not Gordon intervened. But at this point the Chief Judicial Commissioner's joyous tracking down of offenders was interrupted by the results of his own duel with Commodore Wilson, and it was never taken up again with the same zest. Between 1880 and 1882 total disenchantment set in and inhibited forward action.

- George Tupou I to Gordon, 11 August 1880 - ibid., no. 121 of 1880.

I don't know if this is the same family, but, in the British Consular records for Tonga, in the list of applicants to be recognized as British Subjects 1880-1911, which I have just transcribed, there is John Knowles, on 4 nov 1911, the son of Nisa or Gisa Knowles- a half caste Tongan, and Anna- a Tongan woman, applying to be recognized. Father & mother both died in Fiji

Nisa Knowles was the son of an American living in Tonga who was now dead (1911) .................................. Why would a person who was 1/4 American, and the rest Tongan should be accepted as a British Subject? I don't know, unless he was born in Fiji, which he could have been. In 1874 Fiji became a British colony, and its people were British subjects.

Tongans however were not British subjects, they had their own king, and were Tongan subjects. The file does not state whether he was accepted.

Was there a legal reasoning for his petitioned? ................................... This list contains quite a few Tongans who were born in Fiji, specifically Lomaloma, who could be the descendants of the Wesleyan Tongan exiles who were banished to Fiji, but I'm not sure about this. Many Tongan family records are on Familysearch.org and there is a film of Wesleyan marriages from Tongatabu available through the Mormon Family History Centres. However it is very hard to read, and many of the people only use a Christian name, with no surname, particularly early on The only other accessible records for Tonga are the ones I am working on, The Tongan section of The Western Pacific Hgh Commission Archive. I am gradually going through it, transcribing anything of genealogical interest. So far these are the subjects that need to be researched: 1. Distressed British and American seamen 1880's - 1900 2. Other pacific island's laborer's in Tonga;1900's 3. British and American subjects in Tonga 1880 -1911; 4. Register of 1/2 castes 1908-1912 5. Petition for British Passports 1900 -1920

William Knowles (Chalres Knowles' brother) was in Vavau in 1915 and 1916, as a member of the Patriotic League of Britons Overseas

• Edited: 26 Aug 2011 6:43 PM

There was a JOSIAH KNOWLES, Captain of the clipper ship "Wild Wave" which was wrecked off Oeno (part of the Pitcairn Islands) on March 5th, 1858. Knowles and forty others were marooned on the island but managed to build themselves a small craft named the "John Adams". They sailed for Tahiti and came in contact with the "Vandalia" which set out to rescue the remaining sailors who remained behind on Oeno. They were then taken to FIJI. I am guessing JOSIAH KNOWLES could very well have been William Knowles father. There is also a JIM KNOWLES who served as Mate on board the "E. A. Wilson" around the 1870s in Mille, Mulgrave Island. JIM was referred to as a "Tongan Half-Caste". JIM KNOWLES timeline/presence is mentioned also in New Britain (Papua New Guinea) in 1878 as he joined the ranks of other foreign and white settlers and a group of Rev. Brown’s missionaries in their reprisal against warring NB natives responsible for killing other white settlers and missionaries. My great-grandfather, WILLIAM HICKS was also a part of this reprisal party. JIM KNOWLES was later hanged in Fiji for shooting Larsen, one of Messrs. Goddeffroy's Captains. Could Jim and William have been brothers? And sons of Josiah?.