Individual Details

Birth

Anglo German Church Records in London.
Date calculated back from age cited in birth certificate of his son,
John.
However another record has him born 7 May 1771 although this doesn't
tie up with other records.

Occupation

Baker Office Keeper Commissariat (from soldiers records, and from
birth registration of son in Antwerp.)

He worked in the Commissariat of the British army as a storeman/baker.
The Commissariat was not part of the army but under the control of the
Treasury. Their job was to supply the army with what it needed. They
were appointed to work with army units but were not subject to
military discipline.
Many Germans were enlisted into the British army, or worked for the
British Commissariat. The British monarch was Hanovarian and the two
countries had close ties. In the Napoleonic wars 24,000 Germans
enlisted into the British army. The British had first recruited
soldiers from German kingdoms for the 1776 American War of
Independence. There they were highly valued because, not being
British, they could be relied on not to sympathise with the colonists.
Now in 1810, the British had been at war with Napoleon for seven years
and George's unit was temporarily stationed on Jersey.
In 1815, when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, Belgium (18 June
1815) George was stationed in Belgium and he was still with the army.
Treasury travel expense accounts show Geotge OTTO, Storekeeper, was
paid an allowance of 5 pounds, five shillings, due for the period 25
May 1816 to 7 June 1816, and travel expenses from France to London of
3 pounds, six shillings. Both were paid on 20 June 1816. This is,
presumably, about the time George left the Commissariat.

In Sydney, Australia, he was employed as office-keeper with
Commissariat Stores. It is understood that he also worked his passage
to Australia as a ship's supply officer on the "Bussorals Merchant".

Marriage

The names of their children, that we know, come from the Otto family
bible.

Occupation

This occupation wasn't a pleasant one, being only slightly higher up
the social scale from a sugar refiner, and paid a little better.

Religion

George, having been born in Germany, was presumably Lutheran, and he
later had links with St Paul's German Reformed Church in Hopper
Square, Whitechapel, where two of his children were buried.
However, until 1826 the law required all births to be registered at
the nearest Parish Church, ie Church of England, the state religion.

Residence

Zirk Street is still standing, but numbers 14 to 20 are now a
children's playground and park, although many other houses from the
period survive.

Residence

The East End of London is the area described so depressingly by
Charles Dickens in his novels, the first written in the mid 1830's.
When the Ottos arrived in England the country was in the grip of an
ecconomic recession as industry collapsed following the rapid, but
unsustainable, expansion during the war. There were few prospects for
an immigrant family.
However by the 1820's Stepney was recovering quite well, relatively
speaking. Sugar refining and rope making had rejuvenated the area. The
railway had not yet arrived so that the wealthier classes still lived
close to their factories. Long lines of horse-drawn carriages waited
outside St George's in the East Church each Sunday. However, in the
main, it was mostly the lower working class with a majority of
immigrants, mainly German. Wage rates were extremely low and the
quality of housing and sanitation was not good. The nearby docks
attracted the vice and crime that you would expect (particularly on
the notorious Tatcliffe Highway on the south side of St George's
Church).
The family lived in this area for 17 years of what must have been a
hard life.

Honours Conferr

The certificate enabled him to receive prize money due for the
Peninsular Services.

Occupation

This occupation is recorded on the birth record of George (3) OTTO.
Refiners were almost exclusively German immigrants working in very hot
and unpleasant factories. It was about the worst job going short of
being unemployed.

Emigration

Family tradition says that the Otto's decision to leave England was
motivated by the tragic deaths of the children, George and Elizabeth
Otto in 1826. Regardless, emigration was the hot topic at the time. It
was enthusiasticly promoted by christian charities as a way to improve
the quality of life of the poor. Many, many schemes assisted destitute
families to start over in North America, South Africa, Australia, and
New Zealand.
The Otto's chance may have come when they may have seen a notice
inviting applications from young women wanting to start new lives in
the colony of New South Wales....Notices like this, were prominently
displayed in post offices and shops and through advertisements in the
newspapers,
After reading that notice the famil;y could have quite easily gone to
see the "Bussorah Merchant" for themselves, lying at anchor in the
London Docks not five minutes from their home.
This particular scheme was run by the London Emigration Committee, an
off-shoot of the London charity, Refuge for the Destitute, as agents
for the New South Wales government.
Australia started as a convict prison and emigration was actively
discouraged. However, by the 1830's it had been running for forty
years and most ex-convicts had not returned home but had settled where
they were. It was recognised that to make a proper colony they needed
more women and more labour. In 1828, for example, New South Wales had
27,600 men and 9,000 women, a ratio of 3.07 men to every one woman. By
1833 it was 43,435 men and 16,065 women, a ratio of 2.7:1. In rural
areas the ratio could be as high as 20:1. In Britain the plight of the
unemployed had become a national disgrace. Both problems solved - ship
Britain and Ireland's "redundant" women off to the colonies as much
needed domestic and agricultural labour.
In 1831 in Australia, free land grants had been stopped so that the
sale of Crown land could be used to finance this emigration. As a
trial, five Emigration Commissioners were appointed and in 1832 they
organised two female emigration ships, the "Princess Royal" from
England to Hobart, and the "Red Rover" from Ireland to Sydney. Deemed
a success, the commission was disbanded and the government advertised
for interest parties to assist in the administration of future
schemes. The Refuge for the Destitute was the first to respond.
Between 1833 and 1836 they, through their sub group, the London
Emigration Committee, sent fourteen ships with 2,700 female passengers
to Sydney, Hobart, and Launceston. The "Bussorah Merchant" was the
first of these ships.
The London Emigration Committee's ambition was to target the
parish-assisted "respectable poor", but as it happened less than a
quarter could be described as "paupers". Many more came from the
emerging middle classes, educated young women who saw their chance to
join friends or family already in the colonies.
Another large group were like the Ottos - families for whom emigration
was now possible because their eligible daughters travelled relatively
cheaply. Only one of the four Otto girls was over 18 years but the
minimum age was reduce to 15 years before the "Bussorah Merchant"
sailed and implementation was not so strict so that all four Otto
girls were accepted - Susanna 19, Mary Ann, 15, Eliza 13, Emma 11.
But first, of course, they had to be accepted by the Committee which
had exacting standards.
".....In selecting young unmarried women, too much care and vigilance
can not be exercised to see that they are of viturous character. This
class of emigrants is by far the most important to the Colony in a
moral point of view. The great object of importing young women is not
merely to supply the demand for servants - it is to restore the
equilibrium of the sexes; to raise the value of female character; and
to provide virtuous homes for the labouring classes of the
community..."
Each application had to be accompanied by two testimonials signed by
respectable householders known to the applicant, and to be endorsed by
the applicant's parish priest, confirming the applicant's "good moral
character and industrious habits." The Committee, wary of
"impositions", made enquiries about the referees and investigated the
backgrounds, employment history and motivations of each candidate.
Most of the applicants were interviewed in person. The records of
those interviews are in the Minute Books of the Refuge for the
Destitute held at the Hackney Archives, London.
George Otto would have had to contribute 6 pounds for each daughter.
But for himself, his wife, and Philip the fare was 16 pounds each,
meaning George had to find, all up, the enormous sum of 66 pounds.
Family tradition says that George paid for their passage by working as
the ship's supply officer, although this has not been confirmed. Other
options available to the Ottos (and to all the applicants) were
patronage from a private source or from their own church parish (most
common), from a charitable institution or workhouse, from family or
friends, or they signed a promissory note to repay the money in
Australia. Of the 217 eligible on the "Bussorah Merchant", 30 took out
notes payable to an unidentified member of the Committee.

Burial

Buried at Scots Burial Ground, Scots Presbyterian Church, Parramatta,
Sydney, County of
Cumberland, N.S.W., Australia.

Alt name

As listed in the LDS Family Search records

Residence

As a soldier, and as a result of the war in Europe, he lived in many
places. Between 1810 and 1815, judging from the birth places of his
children, he lived at various times in Jersey, Channel Islands; Verre,
Spain; Antwerp, Belgium; London, England; and Sydney, Australia.
The war ended on 18 June 1815 at Waterloo, Belgium.