Described on marriage certificate as of Mountpoltinger, Belfast.

Sailed from London 18 Aug 1885 and arrived in Brisbane on 18 Oct 1885. Some say the family’s migration was encouraged by Thomas Allen, whose wife was probably John James’s cousin, or perhaps even his brother—or half-brother—if the two George McCorkells in the previous generation are the same person. [JC 12/2004] As Thomas Allen did not arrive in Australia until 1886, this seems unlikely.

McCorkell oral history says that John was a gambler who drank to excess and served some jail time. He had a grocery shop in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley and was insolvent at one time.