Thomas Forsaith - Early Life

Early Life

Forsaith was born in London, Middlesex on 18 July 1814 to Samuel Forsaith (1776–1832) and Elizabeth Forsaith née Emberson (1782–1844). His father was a linen draper and haberdasher. His parents belonged to the Congregational church.

His father's first marriage was to Elizabeth Smyth (1771 – 23 September 1809). They had five children:

• Sarah Smyth Forsaith (4 August 1801 – 26 April 1854)
• Samuel Smyth Forsaith (21 January 1803 – 1 April 1894)
• John Smyth Forsaith (8 October 1804 – 31 July 1883)
• Elizabeth Smyth Forsaith (21 May 1806 – 12 August 1809)
• Mary Smyth Forsaith (19 February 1808 – 3 June 1845)

Of those, Samuel emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland prior to May 1851. He died in Thames in 1894.

After his first wife's death in September 1809, Samuel Forsaith married Elizabeth née Emberson on 4 October 1810. They had nine children:

• Elizabeth Forsaith (10 July 1811 – 2 July 1841)
• Thomas Forsaith (7 December 1812 – 16 February 1813)
• Thomas Spencer Forsaith (18 July 1814 – 29 November 1898)
• Hannah Forsaith (1 March 1816 – 2 May 1819)
• Phebe Forsaith (6 July 1817 – 6 February 1819)
• David Forsaith (21 June 1819 – 5 September 1819)
• Robert Forsaith (11 July 1820 – 23 May 1883)
• Josiah Forsaith (29 April 1822 – 8 May 1883)
• Hephzibah Forsaith (24 July 1824 – 21 December 1897)

Apart from Thomas Spencer Forsaith, his sister Hephzibah also emigrated to New Zealand; in 1847 on theElora. All other siblings and his parents remained in England.

Thomas Forsaith became an apprentice as a silk merchant in Croydon, but he rather wanted to go to sea. As a cabin boy, he travelled on a collier to the River Tyne. He then made three journeys to the West Indies as a cadet officer for Charles Horsfall and Co. on the Huddersfield (named after Horsfall's birthplace). He returned home with a good reference, but found that his father had died in the meantime. As a fourth officer, he sailed on the convict ship Hoogley to Botany Bay in 1834. Two years later, he again sailed to Australia, this time on the Lord Goderich. He first came to New Zealand on the return journey, when Kauri spars were loaded in Hokianga.

Forsaith was married on 17 May 1838 at the Congregational Church in Old Broad Street, London to Elizabeth Mary, a daughter of Robert Clements of Hoxton. Their wedding was one of the first in a dissenting church that was legalised. They decided to emigrate to New Zealand and Forsaith took woodworking machinery and trading goods with them on the Coromandel later in 1838.