Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

put him aboard a Royal Navy ship, and in 1812, he was placed aboard the Roebuck, then to other ships.
After his service to the Royal Navy, which led him to Valparaiso, he appears to have embarked on a career as a soldier of fortune,
serving in both the Argentinian and Chilean navies. In 1822, he was serving on a Neapolitan vessel, and the next year found him in
Sierra Leone, where he was commanding a ship named the Gambia. By 1826, he was in Calcutta. His adventures were harrowing,
according to his own narrative, and he apparently survived shipwreck, capture by the enemy, and the deaths of many of his
shipmates. He described his early life as 'filled with enough incidents to enliven three Hentys and four Rider Haggards' (adventure
writers of his day).
On 5 Nov 1828, Nobbs arrived on Pitcairn, at age 28, accompanied by a mysterious American shipmate, 'Captain' Noah Bunker.
They came from Calloa in an 18 ton cutter after a six-week voyage. Nobbs was never very explicit about the circumstances, but it
appears that Nobbs entered into an agreement with Bunker wherein Nobbs would supply the money with which to outfit Bunker's
boat, and they agreed to make the 3500 mile trip to Pitcairn together. Later investigation seems to indicate that the title to the cutter
was more than a little in question!
Although not popular with the islanders immediately after his arrival, he seems to have impressed them with an advanced level of
devoutness. His religiosity, according to his critics, seems to have had little precedent in his life before his arrival! Further, his
increasing religious leadership was undermining the power of Buffett, the schoolteacher. When, upon Adams death in 1829, Nobbs
established a separate school, Buffett quit teaching in disgust.
The period from 1829-1832 seems to have witnessed a growing division between followers of the impudent and increasingly devout
Nobbs and the practical, strongwilled Buffett. The arrival of Joshua Hill in 1832 marked the beginning of a very trying period in the
lives of Nobbs, Buffett, and Evans. Realizing that these three would be the most threatening to his plans and beliefs, Hill singled
them out for special humiliation and punishment. The 'quiet,devout' Pastor Nobbs was not considered by the bombastic preacher,
Hill, to be a serious challenge, and he soon replaced him as Pastor.
The ill-treatment that the three endured reached a climax when they were forced to leave the island in March of 1834, on board the
Tuscan. They were carried to Tahiti, where Nobbs appears to have travelled on to Mangareva to serve there as a missionary. He
was later reunited with his family, and they later ended up in the Gambier Islands with Evans and his family. They were not able to
return to Pitcairn until after Hill's forced departure in 1837.
Ironically, it was pressure by his 'quiet, devout' rival that forced the English government to remove Hill. Nobbs returned as Pastor,
fully consolidating his position vis-a-vis Buffett, who concentrated on his teaching and woodworking until his later call to religious
leadership on Norfolk.
He was the first islander to be formally trained in the ministry. He sailed to England with Moresby in 1852, to attend seminary. Within
two months, he had qualified for ordination as deacon and priest, and was commissioned by the Bishop of London as 'Chaplain of
Pitcairn Island'.
After being entertained my many notables, he was received by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Loaded down with portraits of the
Royal Family and a per annum of 50 pounds from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, he returned to Pitcairn in triumph in
1853.
See also: http://www.mundus.ac.uk/cats/4/1301.htm and http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020253b.htm
48. Acting, The Hon. William Ramsay Maule of Panmure, late; 1st Lord Panmure 1808-10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Maule%2C_1st_Baron_Panmure
William Ramsay, 1st Baron Panmure (27 October 1771–4 June 1852) was the son of George Ramsay, 8th Earl of Dalhousie.[26th
GM Scotland; see above]
On 1 December 1794, he married Patricia Heron Gordon and they had one child:
• Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie (1801–1874)
Patricia died in 1821 and on 4 June 1822, William married Elizabeth Barton. In 1831 he was created Baron Panmure.
See also http://www.thepeerage.com/p2921.htm
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/townfirst4214.html
Tarfside, Angus
A hamlet in Glen Esk, Angus, Tarfside lies on the Water of Tarf near its junction with the River North Esk, 9 miles (14 km) north west
of Edzell. Tarfside is the principal village in the remote parish of Lochlee.
Tarfside has close associations with the Earls of Dalhousie, who are the principal local landowners. The 1st Lord Panmure built a
Masonic Hall here in 1821. The Maule Memorial Church was built following the Disruption in the Church of Scotland (1843). While
the 1st Lord Panmure was not sympathetic to the Free Church, Fox Maule Ramsay, the 2nd Lord Panmure and 11th Earl of
Dalhousie (1801-74) gave the necessary land to his friend and leader of the Free Church Dr. Thomas Guthrie (1803-73). Both men
are commemorated in the fine stained glass in the church. On the Hill of Migvie to the west is a cairn, known as the Rowan Tower,
which was erected in 1866 by the 11th Earl of Dalhousie as a family memorial.
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