John Wilberforce "Jack" Buckland (1864–1897), also known as "Tin Jack", was a trader who lived in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. He travelled with

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

and his stories of life as an island trader became the inspiration for the character of Tommy Hadden in '' The Wrecker'' (1892).Hadden is described as being based upon Jack Buckland ("Tin Jack") a well-known remittance man and copra trader in Sydney. ''Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson'', ed. by Ernest Mehew (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2001) p. 418, n. 3.''Robert Louis Stevenson: A Critical Biography, 2 vols.'' John A. Steuart, (1924). Boston: Little, Brown & Co.''Treasured Islands: Cruising the South Seas With Robert Louis Stevenson.''
Lowell D. Holmes, (2001). Sheridan House. James Cowan (1937)
R. L. S. and his Friends Some Stevenson Memories
''New Zealand Railways Magazine'', 12(2):59-61.

Early life

Jack Buckland was born in 1864 in Sydney, the eldest child of William Wilberforce Buckland and Harriet Emmeline Hopkins. His mother was born in Sydney in 1842, the daughter of John Hopkins, a ship chandler who died when she was young. Her father's business partner, John Carr, and his wife Eliza later adopted Harriet in addition to the ship chandler business. Buckland's father was from

Wraysbury Wraysbury is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in England. It is under the western approach path of London Heathrow airport. It is located on the east bank of the River Thames, roughly midway between Winds ...

in England, the son of an

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exi ...

, William Thomas Buckland. Buckland's father worked as a merchant and shipbroker in Australia and in 1863 married the 21-year-old Harriet Hopkins in Sydney. Buckland was their first child, born in 1864. When he was 9, Buckland's family returned to England, leaving him with the now elderly John and Eliza Carr who adopted him as their son. John Carr was therefore Buckland's stepfather as well as step-grandfather. The Carr family lived in a house called "Neepsend" in Lavender Bay, North Sydney. Part of this property was later sold and it was from this sale that John Carr made sufficient money to provide Jack with his allowance. John Carr died in 1881 and the money from the property sale was left in a trust from which Jack received an annual allowance. In 1883, now living on his own, Jack visited his parents and siblings living near London in England. Later he returned to Sydney and subsequently worked for Henderson and Macfarlane of Auckland, as a copra trader.''The Circular Saw Shipping Line''
, Anthony G. Flude. 1993. (Chapter 7)

Life of an island trader

From the mid-1880s to about 1891, Buckland was a trader at

Nonouti Nonouti is an atoll and district of Kiribati. The atoll is located in the Southern Gilbert Islands, 38 km north of Tabiteuea, and 250 km south of Tarawa. The atoll is the third largest in the Gilbert Islands and is the island where ...

atoll, in

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

(at the time known as the Gilbert Islands) and during the 1890s he traded at

Niutao Niutao is a reef island in the northern part of Tuvalu. It is one of the nine districts (islands) of Tuvalu. It is also one of the three districts that consist of only one island - not counting the three islets inside the closed lagoon. Niutao has ...

and

Nanumea Nanumea is the northwesternmost atoll in the Polynesian nation of Tuvalu, a group of nine coral atolls and islands spread over about of the Pacific Ocean just south of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Nanumea is with a pop ...

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...

(at the time known as the Ellice Islands). The resident trader who succeeded him on Niutao was Fred Whibley. Buckland's primary income was £700 a year, paid to him by the trustee of the trust fund established by John Carr. That amount was sufficient to allowed him to live comfortably for part of the year in Sydney. To supplement this income, Buckland worked as a trader in the central Pacific. This was an isolated existence where he was likely to be the only European on a Pacific atoll. As a trader working for a trading company, he bought

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...

(dried coconut flesh), and sharks fin and sea cucumbers, for sale into Asia, as well as selling islanders tobacco and other European goods. As a trader, Buckland chose an isolated life on a Pacific atoll rather that being a castaway or beachcomber. Howe (1984) estimated that in 1850 there were over 2,000 beachcombers throughout

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

and

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

. It was not only shipwrecked sailors forced, by circumstances, into a life of beachcombing, with many choosing to escape from a life of respectability in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

Cruise of the ''Janet Nicoll''

As a respite from the isolated life on a Pacific atoll Jack Buckland would spend time enjoying the high life of Sydney where, in few months, he would dissipate his income. Furnas (1951) describes Jack Buckland as spending "a short period each year in Sydney playing spendthrift on the accumulations of a small funded income and the rest of the year vegetating penniless as a petty trader out in the islands." In April 1890 he was a passenger on the trading steamer the "Janet Nicoll", which left Sydney for a trading cruise around the central Pacific.

, his wife Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson, and her son Lloyd Osbourne were also passengers on that voyage. The journal of Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson was published under the title ''The Cruise of the Janet Nichol''. Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson explained the origin of the name ‘Tin Jack’ as being the island equivalent of ‘Mr Jack’. Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson recounts how Jack Buckland, inadvertently caused a fire on the ''Janet Nicoll''. In

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand, Jack Buckland purchased ten pound of ‘calcium fire’ (fireworks); cartridges, grease paint, and false nose and a wig for the entertainment of the islanders at Jack's trading station on

atoll. However, on leaving harbour the ‘calcium fire’, which was promised by the chemist to be "safe as a packet of sugar", spontaneously caught alight causing the fireworks to explode in technicolour flashes endangering the ship – until the crew put out the fire.

Tin Jack and the character of Tom Hadden

Jack Buckland is acknowledged by

, as the inspiration for the character of Tom Hadden in '' The Wrecker'' (1892), for which Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne shared the writing.Hadden is described as being based upon Jack Buckland (‘Tin Jack’) a well-known remittance man and copra trader in Sydney. ''Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson'', ed. by Ernest Mehew (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2001) p. 418, n. 3 Jack Buckland also receives a dedication in

Island Nights' Entertainments ''Island Nights' Entertainments'' (also known as ''South Sea Tales'') is a collection of short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1893. It would prove to contain some of his final completed work before his death in 1894. It c ...

(also known as South Sea Tales) a collection of short stories by

, first published in 1893. This collection is dedicated to Jack Buckland, Ben Hird, (

supercargo A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchand ...

or manager of the cargo owner's trade) and Harry Henderson partner in the firm Henderson and Macfarlane that owned the ''Janet Nicoll.'' A character referred to as ‘young Buncombe’ and inspired by Jack Buckland makes a brief appearance in chapter 2 of

The Beach of Falesá "The Beach of Falesá" is a novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in the ''Illustrated London News'' in 1892, and later published in book form in the short-story collection '' Island Nights' Entertainments'' (189 ...

.''The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. Volume Seven, September 1890 – December 1892'', Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew (Editors). Yale University Press. Jack Buckland stayed at Vailima with Robert and Fanny Stevenson in 1894. In later correspondence to Lieutenant Eeles, an officer on '' H.M.S. Curacao'', Stevenson expresses his pleasure that his correspondent had met Jack Buckland:

"But the cream of the fun was your meeting with Burn. We not only know him, but (as the French say) we don't know anybody else; he is our intimate and adored original; and – prepare your mind – he was, is, and ever will be, TOMMY HADDON! As I don't believe you to be inspired, I suspect you to have suspected this. At least it was a mighty happy suspicion. You are quite right: Tommy is really 'a good chap,' though about as comic as they make them."

While '' The Wrecker'' was not a commercial or critical success, in adopting Jack Buckland as a character, Stevenson describes a specific era of European engagement with the Pacific. Watson (2007) describes Stevenson's ''The Wrecker'' as "a prophetically postmodern vision of a depthless world of travel, exile, novelty and rootlessness, of 'discarded sons' whose corruption, in a world they neither understand nor fully belong to, is curiously innocent." Sixty-five years after the publication of ''The Wrecker'', a television series episode of ''

Maverick Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Burea ...

'' (1957) starring

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy ...

and Jack Kelly was produced, featuring

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

lookalike A look-alike, double, or doppelgänger is a person who bears a strong physical resemblance to another person, excluding cases like twins and other instances of family resemblance. Some look-alikes have been notable individuals in their own right, ...

Patric Knowles Reginald Lawrence Knowles (11 November 1911 – 23 December 1995), better known as Patric Knowles, was an English film actor. Born in Horsforth, West Riding of Yorkshire, he made his film debut in 1932, and played either first or second fi ...

as the character based upon Buckland.

Tin Jack and Vailima, Samoa

The letters of Robert Louis Stevenson of January 1894 also record that Jack Buckland, and his "avaga" ('married one' in the Niutaoan language) Meri Matavaka of the Luaseuta family of

, visited

Vailima, Samoa Vailima is the name of a village about four miles south of Apia, the capital of Samoa. The population is 769. Vailima is part of the electoral political district Tuamasaga. Origins The name Vailima means "water in the hand", according to an old ...

for three weeks. Jack Buckland was still at Vailima on 6 February 1894. During his time at Vailima Jack Buckland is mentioned as flirting with Addie (Adelaide), the daughter of Henry Ide, American Chief Justice in Samoa. Jack Buckland then became the island trader on

in about 1895. Meri Matavaka refused to move to Nanumea, the oral history of the Luaseuta family is that Jack Buckland abandoned Meri Matavaka in Sydney, Australia; her father travelled from

to bring Meri back to

. Meri Matavaka became the "avaga" ('married one') of Fred Whibley.

Death of Tin Jack

Robert Louis Stevenson draws directly from the life of Jack Buckland in describing Tom Hadden in '' The Wrecker'' as being "''heir to a considerable property, which a prophetic father had placed in the hands of rigorous trustees''." (p. 296). Tin Jack's dissolute life came to an end in 1897. A sanitised version of the death of Jack Buckland published by Simpson (1913) describes him as being blown to pieces by an explosion on

Suwarrow 200px, Map of Cook Islands with Suwarrow near the middle Suwarrow (also called Suvorov, Suvarou, or Suvarov) is an island in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. It is about south of the equator and north-northwe ...

Island. Fanny Stevenson in her journal of the voyage of the "Janet Nicoll" published in 1914 described the trustee that provided Jack with the majority of his income as defrauding the trust of all the funds:

"Some years ago when Jack was at his station he received word that his trustee, who was in charge of his property, had levanted it all. Whereupon poor Jack put a pistol to his head and blew out what brains he possessed. He was a beautiful creature, terribly annoying at times, but with something childlike and appealing--I think he was close to what the Scotch call a natural--that made one forgive pranks in him that which would be unforgivable in others. He was very proud of being the original ‘Tommy Hadden’ in . L. Stevenson's book‘The Wrecker,’ and carried the book wherever he went."

References

External links

Works
Works by Robert Louis Stevenson
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

(scanned books original editions) * (plain text and HTML)
Works by Robert Louis Stevenson
at the

Online Books Page The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 2 million books and has several fea ...

(plain text and HTML) About *There are ove
200 published biographies of RLS
*
Robert Louis Stevenson: a record, an estimate, and a memorial
', by Alexander H. Japp *
Robert Louis Stevenson
', a biography by Sir

Walter Alexander Raleigh Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh (; 5 September 1861 – 13 May 1922) was an English scholar, poet, and author. Raleigh was also a Cambridge Apostle. Biography Walter Alexander Raleigh was born in London, the fifth child and only son of a loca ...

Robert Louis Stevenson: a memoir
(1895), by

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...

who knew Stevenson personally.
The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson
(1913) by Graham Balfour, Stevenson's cousin. * Robert Louis Stevenson: biography (1911), by

, from the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the '' Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. S ...

''
Robert Louis Stevenson
biography from the ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', 1987. Websites
The Robert Louis Stevenson Website
at

Edinburgh Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

''Journal of Stevenson Studies''Silverado Museum, California
devoted to Robert Louis Stevenson * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckland, Jack 1864 births 1897 deaths Victorian era People of the Victorian era History of Tuvalu History of Kiribati History of the Cook Islands Remittance men