M is for Misdeeds

Did Joshua Moxon come to the colonies in 1867 because he had been working on a statue of Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria and accidentally chiselled his nose off, tried to cover up his mistake by glueing it back on?  

Who knows? A number of his great-grandchildren had heard the story and that it was the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, London. However, this memorial was cast in bronze and the design was not yet finalised prior to Joshua and Louisa embarking for Queensland.

In 2014, John and I visited the vibrant city of Manchester to meet up with Chris Moxon, the Moxon Society's membership secretary and his partner Philip who worked in theatre in the city.

Joshua had been found working there as a young man in 1861.  We were amazed that Manchester also had an Albert Memorial which was completed in 1865.  We realised that this could be the memorial that Joshua was working on.  It's very possible - the timeframe fits.  Again we looked at contemporary newspapers but found nothing.  The story could well be true but we would need to delve into the Lancashire Archives to check.  Sadly, it's a job for next time.......

I won't even pretend that Joshua's imprisonment for three months in 1883 was a misdeed.  This was a case of violence towards a child - his six-year-old son William.  If he'd badly beaten William, it is highly likely that he disciplined his older children and even his wife in a similar way.  Certainly, none of his children was fond of him.  It was at that time that John's grandfather Henry Percy ran away from home and from his apprenticeship.

Henry Percy Moxon later became the Mayor of a copper mining town of 3000 people called Wrightsville, six miles out of Cobar in far northwestern New South Wales.  Nothing survives of the town now.

It was during the great war when Henry (Harry Moxon) probably wished he'd kept his mouth shut.  He had reason to visit the town's community hall and came across the matrons of Wrightville knitting socks and scarves for the troops in Europe.

He made the remark that since the British King and the German Kaiser were cousins, they should have just fought their differences out between them, instead of using the youth of  Wrightville and elsewhere as cannon fodder.  

The ladies were highly insulted and complained bitterly to the Council about Harry's lack of patriotism and sought an apology from the Mayor.  Harry stubbornly refused to do so but in the end, all the Councillors turned against him and he was forced to apologise.  The local papers had a field day.