The Family Colonization Loan Society was a charity established by Caroline Chisholm in 1849. The Society collected funds from families who wanted to migrate to Australia and the Society then lent the remainder.
Among those who benefitted from this scheme were John Howden and his wife Ruth (nee Richardson) along with their children William, Martha, Thomas, Eliza and Ellen, who travelled to Port Philllip Bay (Victoria) on board the barque Blundell in 1851. A son Richard was born at sea during the voyage.
John Howden was a blacksmith, who came from Breighton near Bubwith, in what is now the East Riding of Yorkshire. After only 3 years in Australia, John died of pulmonary consumption in Ballarat in 1854. His descendants spread from Victoria across Australia.
Some of the family also lived in a town called Howden, which is not far from Bubwith. I am interested in researching ancestors and descendants of this Howden family, especially in Yorkshire and Australia.