The Census of 1805

In 1805 The Government of Great Britain ordered Bentall to conduct a census of the island's population. The garrison or others in the employ of the crown were not included.
Where men and women co-habited Bentall generously indicated the woman as 'wife' although there were no formal marriage arrangements on the island.

Cocktown:

Cocktown Square.

The Long Houses:

1) Morgan Rees 43 b Breconshire

2) Jan Van Damme 42 b the Low Countries

3) Hennie Van Damme 20, b Wessels, 'wife' of Jan Van Damme

4) Dick Baker 47 b Portsmouth

5) Owen Conway 52 b N Wales

6) Davey about 40 yrs b Wessels

7) Jack about 40 b Wessels

8) Marina about 35 b Wessels

9) Young Jack, 11, b Tamba- Tamba

10) Peter , 9 b Tamba- Tamba

John Stock’s Cottage:

11) John Stock 46 b Liverpool (Stock was black)

12) Flora Stock about 24 b Wessels his ‘wife’

13) John Stock, 3, b Tamba- Tamba

The White House:

14) John John (widower) 44 b Portsmouth

15) John John , 26 b Tamba- Tamba

The Fine House:

16) Marcus Berry 49 b Kent, carpenter.

17) Lily Berry about 40 b Wessels his ‘wife’

18) Lucius Berry 20, carpenter

19) Harry Berry 18, carpenter

20) Mary Berry 18‘schoolmistress’

21) Luke Berry 16

22) Matthew Berry 13

23) Ellen Berry 7

24) Anne Berry 3

The Old Longhouse:

25) Roderick Rowley, 24 b Tamba- Tamba -Recorder

26) Mary Rowley (nee John) 24, b Tamba- Tamba

27) Robert Rowley 10 mths b Tamba- Tamba

28) Peter Rowley, 22 b Tamba- Tamba

29) Poppet Rowley nee Hooper, 26 b Tamba- Tamba

30) George Rowley, 19 b Tamba- Tamba

31) Mary Rowley (nee Greene), 15 b Tamba- Tamba

32) Rowley Rowley, 1, b Tamba- Tamba

Cock’s Plantation:

The Big House:

33) Liza Cock about 40, (widow of Thos. Cock), b Wessels

34) Renton Lazenby Cock, 25 b Tamba- Tamba - Chairman of Council.

35) Lucy Cock (nee Rowley), 19, b Tamba- Tamba

36) Liza Cock, 2 b Tamba- Tamba

37) Julius Lazenby Cock, 23 b Tamba- Tamba

38) Anna Cock, 19 b Tamba- Tamba

The Low House:

39) Mirabelle Greene (about 50) widow. b Wessels

40) Clarice Greene , 24 b Tamba- Tamba ‘schoolmistress’

41) Charles Greene , 20 b Tamba- Tamba

42) Nina Greene, 19, b Tamba- Tamba

The Boats:

43) Michael Howard, 27 b Tamba- Tamba

44) Eve Howard, 26 b Wessels

45) Rachel Howard, 4, b Tamba- Tamba

46) Sarah- Jane Howard, 2 b Tamba- Tamba

The Womens House:

47) Dervala, about 50, b Wessels

48) Grace, about 15 b Wessels

49) Louisa, about 20 b Wessels

50) Sally- Ann, about 20 b Wessels

51) Luarte, about 25 b Wessels

Captain’s House:

52) Paul Crowther Nixon, 31, b London

53) Tilly, about 20, b Wessels

54) Daisy, about 20, b Wessels

Hooper’s Point Settlement:

The Hooper House:

55) Samuel Hooper 60 b Lowestoft

56) Susan Hooper about 50 b Wessels his ‘wife’

57) Teanna Hooper about 30 b Wessels his ‘wife’

58) Trina Hooper, 18 b Tamba- Tamba

59) Suffolk Hooper, 16 b Tamba- Tamba

60) Marjorie Hooper, 10 b Tamba- Tamba

61) Miranda Hooper, 8 b Tamba- Tamba

62) David Hooper, 7 b Tamba- Tamba

63) Tom Cock Hooper, 4 b Tamba- Tamba

The Bothie:

64) Andrew Hooper 27

65) Daisy Hooper, about 20, b Wessels his ‘wife’

66) Samuel Hooper, 4, b Tamba- Tamba

67) Roger Hooper, 1, b Tamba- Tamba

Place of birth:

Britain- 8

Low Countries- 1

Wessels – 19

Tamba- Tamba – 39

Men- 24

Women- 24

Under 16- m- 10

f- 9

Records from the Colonial Office point to the garrison, the jetty and Bentall's family and staff numbering in total somewhere in the region of 75 people.

The 18 Citizens

The following is a list of the original 18 Citizens of Tamba- Tamba, based on the list as compiled by Rowley Rowley himself.
The original document is now kept in the Archives of The People at The People's Library of Palmerston.
I have included some additional notes by historian Thomas Jefferson Jackson, for example Rowley did not include the men's ranks. He noted only their names, ages, places of birth .
I am indebted to the Jackson family for the use of the following material.

Midshipman Thos. Lazenby Cock 19 aet, b Monmouthshire.

Coxswain Rowley Rowley 22 aet, b Bristol

Marcus Berry, 21 aet, b Rochester, ships carpenter

Ordinary Seaman Samuel Hooper, 32 aet b Lowestoft

Midshipman Andrew Sinclair ,20 aet, b Queensferry (Scotland)

Able Seaman Patrick Mehan, 55 aet b Cork (Ireland)

Ordinary Seaman John John, 16 aet b Portsmouth

Able Seaman Thos. Greene 38 aet b Dartmouth

Able Seaman Francis Greene 38 aet b Dartmouth

- these men were twin brothers.

Coxswain's Mate John Howard, 19 aet b Portsmouth

Ordinary Seaman John Stock, 18 aet b Liverpool

(this man was black)

Ordinary Seaman Owen Conway 24,aet b Anglesey (Wales)

(apparently Owen Conway was an alias of Thos Owen of Anglesey? tradition has it that on his deathbed he said that he had joined up under a false name as he was wanted in connection with the theft of some sheep).

Able Seaman Peter Renouf 23, aet b Jersey

Renouf was constantly in trouble aboard the Dreadfull; His disciplinary record in the service was very poor.

Ordinary Seaman Dick Baker 19,aet b Portsmouth

Donal Macintyre,aet 45, Strathclyde (Scotland)

The ship's cook. Tradition has it that Macintyre was responsible for producing alcohol from the local fruit, as well as learning traditional means of doing so from the Wessel's islanders.

Jan Van Damme cabin boy 14, aet b Ostende, The Low Countries.

Robert Mackay about 60 aet, place of birth not known.

Sailmaker's Mate. was thought by Capt Stokes to be suffering from insanity long before the mutiny.

Midshipman Morgan Rees 15 aet b Trecastle (Wales)

Capt Stokes wrote that Rees would have followed Cock to hell itself, so much was he in his thrall.

Thomas Cock placed a great deal of importance on literacy, and on the foundation of the Council he asked that Rowley Rowley should keep a journal of the important incidents in the life of the Island. This position, Recorder, was continued by their successors.
Of the 18 men Rowley noted that nine were 'literate', whilst the others had 'varied degrees of learning'.
Rowley's original document makes no reference to the Wessel's Islanders who accompanied the mutineers.

Analysis of ethnicity on Tamba- Tamba.

There are 3 main ethnic groups among the population of Tamba- Tamba. At a later date we will look statistically at the composition of the present population, which also includes a variety of 'overseas people'- the 2001 census records residents of the island who gave their nationality as British, Irish, U.S.A, Australian, Brazilian, Croatian and Maltese.

1. Tamba- Tamba men- the descendants of the first mutineer settlers and their Wessel's Island womenfolk. Nowadays islanders are proud to be able to claim this status . Bearers of traditional names that date from the time of the mutiny:
Cox (formerly Cock)
Rowley.
Hooper.
Berry.

2. Black Tambanese - the descendants of the 'blacks' who arrived with the mutineers, of Seaman John Stock and of other ethnic groups who went to Tamba- Tamba during the Imperial era. On the whole 'black' people on Tamba- Tamba have enjoyed equal rights . Since the end of the Imperial era there was no racial discrimination on the island.

3. English Tamba- Tamba men- includes not only the descendants of the English who settled on Tamba- Tamba during the Imperial era, but also those of mixed English and Tamba- Tamba stock.

4. Tamba- Tamba mulatto (defunct)- a rather pejorative designation that appeared during the Imperial era. Some pure Tamba- Tamba men found themselves relegated to mulatto status because of their (understandably) non- European looks.

H.M.S Dreadful- part the third.

Citizen Thomas Cock (left) and Citizen Rowley Rowley (centre).

The story of H.M.S Dreadful: A month after setting sail from Tamba- Tamba Jeffries and his men were intercepted by a French squadron. Dreadful was sunk by a broadside. Bould was the only survivor. He spent ten years as a prisoner in Guadeloupe. He escaped and made his way to the United States. He was granted a Royal Pardon in 1798 and returned to Portsmouth the following year. He lived to the age of 96 in quiet retirement in Bath Spa.

Cock and his followers set about creating their Utopia. Class distinctions were broken down. Cock dressed as a common sailor and everyone bore the title 'Citizen'. On September 1st 1777 the first Council was formed.
The derelict Tome- Tome village of the Portuguese was restored and named Cocktown. The population of the island at the foundation of the first council stood at 18 Citizens , 12 women, 4 'blacks' (sic)- (the language of the day was indelicate by modern standards-this is the first reference to these people, and historians assume that they came with the crew from some other part of the archipelago).
Private property was abolished and the society was based on the primitive communism that the men had observed on Wessel's Island.

Welcome

Tamba- Tamba ( The Peoples Republic of Tamba - Tamba) is an island in the Hargreaves Archipelago.
Long Tamba is 163.6 km², the smallest of the inhabited Hargreaves Islands. In 2010 the population stood at 4,888.