back to The Hall Family 

“My beloved brother will be gone, gone,gone!"

Awaiting Charles arrival in Jersey for the last time before his departure for Australia, Ellen became very emotional.

  Ellen’s Diary, Saturday 29^th December, 1839

  “…I tried to think that it was all ordered for the best that he should not come at all_but all would not do and the more I thought the more bitterly I cried_When I came down stairs I sat and read Wilberforce and tried to calm myself…but all would not do, and I found myself thinking about my beloved brother.”

“My very dear brother came in about an hour…I kissed him who a few hours before I though I had bid adieu to for good.  Oh! My heart I trust did indeed live in thankfulness to the giver of all good.”

When the time finally came for Charles’ to depart, the sentiments expressed in both the diaries are remarkable similar – even though the land to which Charles was travelling was strange and distant, both would rather travel to such a place than be left behind by any other members of their family.

Ellen’s Diary, January 1 1839

  “…my beloved brother will be gone_gone_gone!  Lord of all mercy light his path…Perhaps in Australia I may enjoy some happiness, but Oh! How alone without our hands to cheers and comfort in sorrow_could it be that all my three brothers were out in that land far, far away, and the other of my family settled…oh! I shudder at the thought of it…”

  Emily’s Diary, Thursday 3^rd January 1839 (p64)

“Oh!  I do and will hope that should my two dearest brothers follow Charles’s example and leave England, we shall also depart from out fatherland and join them in this strange land_to me the choicest comforts of England are unacceptable when not shared by those I love, and I should share with pleasure any and every privation there – so that I could enjoy the delights of their united society society.”

back to top

back to Charles