The following history is provided by members of the Matheson family, and has apparently been confirmed by an article in the London Times:
690Carols, son of Pedro,
397 Emperor of Brazil and Duke of Braganza, was training with his brother in the Portuguese Navy, when his brother was sentenced to be rolled around the deck in a barrel lined with nails. Carlos rescued his brother by throwing the Captain overboard, where he drowned. At the ensuing Court Martial, Carlos was sentenced to death in 1859.
690At this time Pedho d’Alcantra (grandson of Pedro I) was King of Portugal. His mother, Maria de Gloria had married Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Kohany, a cousin of Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Ferdinand was acting Regent for Pedro. At Ferdinand’s request, Carlos Guimareas was sent to Freemantle on the convict ship “Palmerstone” 11 Feb 1861, as Charles Annois on a “ticket of leave”.
Charles Annois was well educated, a clever linguist, speaking seven different languages, and he wrote beautiful copperplate script. He worked in Freemantle in the following employment:
20 Aug 1864 General Store - R. Hillswell
7 Sep 1864 Seaman - J & W Bateman
31 Dec 1864 Harbour Master
1 Feb 1865 Self-employed in his own store
He was conditionally pardonned on 8 Nov 1871.
At one point Charles had a pearling lugger which was wrecked off the coast of Broome. He also spent some time in the Coolgardie and Murrin districts during the Goldrush period.
On 22 May 1867, Charles married Briget Meaney at the Congregational church.
They had a property “Richmond” in Freemantle, overlooking the sea which Charles loved. When the tramlines were laid in East St, part of the property was reclaimed by the Government. Briget unsuccessfully appealed to the High Court against this reclamation.
Briget was an accomplished horse woman as her family had stables in Ireland. She introduced into West Australia the first pair of Shetland ponies - Prancer and Dandy, which she bought at the Adelaide Show. She was a well known figure, driving her pony cart around Freemantle. Charles Annois died in the Freemantle Hospital on 5 Sep 1918 aged 82 years.