Rinder, Samuel I Render, 22 Rockingham St., Leeds; Rinder I, 1825?–1907, business. man and public official of Victoria, Australia. Born near Leeds; son of Methodist preacher. Attended school at Garforth, Yorks. Early had love of the sea and of adventure. Shipped as cabin boy on sailing vessel plying between Liverpool and New York. In early 1840s, as apprentice on the Hope of Plymouth, made voyage to Melbourne; stayed some years in Tasmania, where his uncle was Wesleyan minister. On news of California gold discovery, determined to go to California; found no vessel bound for California; shipped, instead, on vessel bound for Callao, Peru. From Callao, shipped on the Abbots Reading bound for Liverpool. After about three years in England, again made voyage to Melbourne; lived in Victoria remainder of his life. Started butcher's business in Melbourne suburb; worked for two years carting goods between Melbourne and the Castlemaine diggings; operated general merchandise stores; became one of leading businessmen, graziers, and farmers of Korong district. For forty years, secretary and treasurer of Korongshire; also justice of the peace, coroner. Was able speaker and writer; contributed to Victoria newspapers. Mentioned in obit., Wedderburn Express, Dec. 13, 1907, as writer of a H.W. article.
The biographical data in the Wedderburn Express obituary were obtained from "relatives and friends"; certain dates there given of events in Rinder's early life seem to be incorrect. The obituary gives Rinder's dale of birth as Nov. 12, 1823; the Crew List of the Abbots Reading, Public Record Office, London, gives his age as twenty-four at the time of his joining the vessel in Callao, Dec. 7, 1849. The obituary states that Rinder made the voyage from Liverpool to New York at age twelve, i.e. (according to the birth date given), in 1835; in "Sailors' Homes Afloat" [VI, 529–33. Feb. 19, 1853] Rinder mentions the voyage as made in 1837. The obituary states that on his second voyage to Australia, Rinder arrived in Melbourne in 1852; as "Four-Legged Australians" [VII, 208–214. April 30, 1853] makes clear, Rinder was still living in Leeds at the time of writing that article, i.e., during the early months of 1853). (The Rockingham St. address given for Rinder in the Office Book was the address of Benjamin Rinder, butcher [Slade and Roebuck's Leeds directory, 1851] – obviously a relative.) The only article that Rinder wrote for H.W. while living in Australia was "Australian Carriers" [XI, 420–27. June 2, 1855].
Rinder's two lead articles are sharp criticisms of regulations concerning British merchant seamen and of conditions under which seamen live and work on shipboard. Morley's "The Life of Poor Jack," written as the supposed contribution of a retired seaman, strongly endorsed the criticisms made in "We Mariners of England" – "the remarks made by a tar in your honoured journal" – and cited instances from various sources to substantiate the criticism. A letter from "a master mariner at the Antipodes" (in "Voices from the Deep") confirmed the criticisms made in Rinder's "Sailors' Homes Afloat".
Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971
