I am the grandson of Harry John Cant, who was born in Colchester in 1858 and was the second child of Benjamin Revett Cant, a mayor of Colchester and a well-known rose grower.

Harry migrated to Adelaide, in South Australia, in 1877 at the age of 19 and joined the Colonial Government Service, and was eventually appointed a land surveyor in 1883 and surveyed over wide areas of South Australia.

In 1892, he married Alice Grace Sims and they had a daughter and two sons. My father was the youngest, born in 1902.

In 1897, Harry Cant was registered as a surveyor in Western Australia and carried out surveys in the goldfields there.

It would seem that in 1903 he left permanently to work in Western Australia and he had no further contact with his children.

They were led to believe by their mother that he had died. In 1917, he contacted his eldest son, who had joined the army at 17 and was going to the Western Front.

He apparently asked him to look up the Colchester family if he got to England.

He was injured and when on sick leave spent some time with the family in Colchester.

My father also visited them in the Twenties when he was on leave from the navy. My brother and I also visited them in the Fifties and Sixties. Our cousins have visited them in the years since and I last saw Joan Cant in Colchester in 1985.

None of the English family ever talked about Harry Cant and, when asked, the next generation seemed to know nothing about him or why he moved to South Australia at such a young age.

My purpose in writing is to ask is there is any information from that time which could indicate why such a young son of a prominent citizen migrated to Australia and was apparently ignored from then on.

Was he in disgrace and is there a public reason?

My e-mail address is davidcant32@gmail.com

David Cant