200 Years of Hereditary Haemochromatosis

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS of SEPARATION

The HFE gene mutations are a cause of haemochromatosis (iron overload) in people of European Ancestry but are not a problem if people are aware of this risk factor; the treatment to control iron accumulation is simple, blood donation. It is a win win situation; good for people who need blood, and good for the people who need to reduce iron to maintain good health. If the Lucas Clan of Australia can locate their British cousins, separated by two hundred and twenty years, some interesting medical research might emerge that could be of benefit to health promotion in both countries and other aspects of medicine.  

Nathaniel Lucas, 1762 -1818 joiner, carpenter and builder, was living in a Public House in Red Lion St, Holborn, London, when he was indicted for stealing some items of clothing the property of Mary Davis, who lived next door to the Public House. Convicted July 7 1784, Nathaniel was to spend 10 months in Newgate prison before being sent to the hulks, and from there to Portsmouth to board the Scarborough in February 1787 for the voyage of the First Fleet to Australia.

On January 26 1788 the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove.  Nathaniel was one of fifteen convicts selected for their character and vocation to accompany Lt Gov, Phillip Gidley King and eight marines to form the sub- colony of Norfolk Island arriving on the Island March 6 1788. Olivia Gascoigne was one of six female convicts in the party; she married Nathaniel Lucas and the union produced thirteen children between 1789 and 1807. Twin daughters were born in 1790 and at age two years were killed by the fall of a pine tree which grew near their house. Eleven children grew to adulthood and married, ten producing one hundred and twenty grandchildren for Nathaniel and Olivia. The number of documented descendants recorded is 54,000 in the book ‘A Nation within A Nation ---- The Lucas Clan in Australia’ second edition; by Peter Mc Kay published in 2004.

The Lucas history is well researched and documented in Australia with many people having input over the years. It also covers every aspect of immigration to Australia including indigenous people who married into the clan. It has covered all levels of Australian society over the two hundred and twenty years of our history. One aspect that has been missing up until recently is links with our British / Celtic genes and their origins; it was known that Nathaniel’s roots were most likely to be from the English county of Surrey. In 1796 he wrote a letter to his father addressed to a Mr John Lucas, Thames Ditton, near Kingston Surrey. The letter was given to Phillip Gidley King to deliver when he returned to England for a visit but it was returned to King because the Lucas family had left Thames Ditton, for Southwark, and later the letter ended up in the Mitchell Library in Sydney in King’s papers. The parish records of Thames Ditton have gaps in regard to baptism records so Nathaniel’s birth date remains unknown.

In 1996 one of the Lucas descendants found a will which was definitely a link to Nathaniel’s origins but did not give us relationships to the testator of the will and there was no mention of Nathaniel in the will. In 2005 the papers of administration that went with the will were located. The will was in the Chancery Court from 1803 to around 1811. The reason for this was because of the South Sea shares involved; among the challengers was the Gov of the Bank of England and the South Sea Company, and Sir Vicary Gibbs, his Majesty’s Attorney General. It turned out that John Lucas testator of the will, was the first cousin to Nathaniel’s father John Lucas and his sister Fanny. Nathaniel had an older brother James A Cooper and a brother John A Wheelwright there were three sisters Mary, Ann, and Sarah a spinster, and a younger brother William A Sawyer. William and his six children were the main beneficiaries of the will along with John Lucas, Nathaniel’s father.

In 2007 the parish records of Thames Ditton were re- visited and this turned up the first positive link with Nathaniel’s and his family. It appears that Nathaniel was at least two years older than previously estimated. The parish records start again in January 1763 after a big gap. There is no record of Nathaniel’s birth but the record of his Brother William’s birth is there for 1765. It is most likely that Nathaniel was born in1761; this is relevant because there is a marriage for Nathaniel in 1782 to a Margaret Mitchell. Nathaniel signed the register but Margaret was illiterate they also had no family members as witnesses.

The family of John Lucas A Sawyer is the only Lucas family in the Thames Ditton records for that period of time. John’s sister fanny was married in 1766 and John is a witness to the wedding. The wedding of Mary Lucas to John Ford is recorded in 1778 and both parties signed the register. There is a Mrs Lucas recorded as being (poor) buried in March 1784 only a few months before Nathaniel’s conviction in London. I believe this was Nathaniel’s wife Margaret Mitchell, and that after her death Nathaniel went to London because his brothers, James and John, were living in the parish of St Sepulchre Holborn which is in the area that Nathaniel was living when he was convicted.

 John Lucas was living with his youngest son William in the parish of St Sepulchre Holborn when he died in 1808. It appears from circumstantial evidence that James Lucas, Nathaniel’s older brother who it is thought to have married Mary Delight, and baptized a son James Delight Lucas, in 1770 in St Sepulcher is the great grandfather of the Lucas Brothers, Builders.

Charles Thomas Lucas 1820 -1896 and Thomas Lucas 1822-1902 sons of James Lucas 1792 -1865 built Railways, Docks, hotels, in Victorian England including Blackfriars Bridge; their most famous building contract was the Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden Opera House. Thomas Lucas was knighted in 1887 and both brothers became very wealthy. I have made contact with a descendant of Sir Thomas Lucas, in England and together we have researched and found James Lucas 1792 -1865 was the son of James Delight Lucas who was a Victualer. James Delight Lucas was 33 years old, when he died. His wife, Elizabeth, died only six months after her husband in 1803 leaving a young family.

The Lucas brothers applied for a Coat of Arms in 1860. The Coat of Arms granted has a bar which indicates that the genealogical link is broken. James Lucas, older brother of Nathaniel, born 1747/8 was A Cooper according to the Lucas will. Mary Delight was most likely the sister of Ezekiel Delight who was in the Vintner’s company- they all lived in Southwark at some time. James Delight Lucas married Elizabeth Hughes in 1790 in Southwark. I also know that James Lucas, brother of Nathaniel, died around 1797/8. This may be the reason why the Lucas brothers were not able to find or prove their Lucas origins in London. I understand they wanted to connect to the famous Sir Charles Lucas family and the bar is for the broken link to them.

One thing the Lucas brothers’ builders have in common with Nathaniel Lucas’s family, in a number of generations, is that in both pedigrees there are twins born under the Lucas name. John Lucas, father of Nathaniel, was born in Leatherhead, Surrey in 1724. We can now trace the start of the family through parish records back to 1630. In 1698 twins were born in Leatherhead in one branch of the family. In 1718 twin siblings were born in the family of the testator who was a first cousin to Nathaniel’s father. Nathaniel Lucas was the father of twin daughters, two of his sons were also fathers of twins. There are twins born to a John Lucas in St Sepulchre’s parish Holborn in 1778- this could be Nathaniel‘s brother the Wheelwright. While there are also many twins born in the female lines as well, I have been most interested in twins born under the Lucas name. It is believed that monozygotic twins (identical) are not hereditary. Dizygotic twins are considered hereditary but are meant to come from the female line rather than the male. Although fathers may pass on the disposition toward double ovulation to their daughters, it is not the father that produces twins. It does seem too much of a coincidence that all these Lucas men married women with this genetic factor.

The other genetic factor in the Australian Lucas family is the HFE gene mutations for haemochromatosis (iron overload). This has been well researched in the Lucas / Gascoigne family tree, every branch has people with the HFE mutations and a number with haemochromatosis. This is over represented for Australian statistics and has been the subject of a PhD study. Iron is the most abundant metal in the human body and is fundamental to life itself. However, if iron is in excess in the body it can cause many serious health problems and even death. It is a major contributor to chronic ill health in the aging person because iron accumulates as one ages and promotes free radical damage; it also contributes to the incident of arthritis, diabetes, dementia, heart disease. Studies have shown associations between haemochromatosis HFE gene mutation, carrier status, and the risk of colon cancer, breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. It has also been found that some people with haemochromatosis even have low hemoglobin and have been treated for anemia with serious consequences when they are, in fact, iron overloaded.

A number of Lucas descendants are traveling to Norfolk Island in March, to celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet party on the Island and the meeting of Nathaniel and Olivia in 1788. An Australian documentary film is to be made about the Lucas clan and the HFE gene mutations in family members. 

By Elizabeth Larking