This is an account of the life of John Shepherdson and his family who came from Yorkshire, England in 1837 to South Australia. John Banks Shepherdson (1809-1897), schoolmaster and magistrate, was born on 22 May 1809 at East Heslerton, Yorkshire, England, the son of George Shepherdson (1774-1838), a devout Wesleyan Methodist. He was educated by Rev. Thomas Farrow, of West Heslerton, and his uncle, Rev. Jabez Banks, vicar of Bempton. Although his parents wanted him to study for the church, he went to sea in 1824 and spent about three months in Jamaica. On returning to England he did some teaching, and in 1827 he married Marianne Craike, of Hovingham. In 1836 the South Australian School Society was founded in London and Shepherdson was chosen as its colonial director. He was sent by George Fife Angas first to the training school of the British and Foreign School Society and then to further study in a school at Lindfield in Sussex where boys were taught farming, gardening, tailoring, shoemaking, etc. in addition to ordinary subjects. With free passages for himself, his wife, daughter and three sons, Shepherdson sailed in the 'Hartley', arriving at Adelaide on 25 October 1837.
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