Gordon and Gotch is cockney rhyming slang for Watch
Gordon & Gotch were expediters of books, magazines and newspapers with a warehouse in Plaistow, East London. The company was established in Australia in 1853 and still exists today.
Credit: Jon Szwer.
Here is a brief history of Gordon and Gotch from their web site:
John Speechly Gotch was a dentist who was swept up with the inertia of the colonizing age and in September 1849, he left Liverpool, England for Philadelphia, USA. After six months in Philadelphia he transferred to New York to learn about manufacturing artificial teeth.
Here, Gotch learned of the gold in Victoria and in 1853, joined the rush, taking passage on the Baltimore clipper Peytona. The Peytona was shipwrecked off Mauritius and Gotch came safely ashore, penniless and with only his nightshirt on his back.
Gotch set up in Mauritius temporarily as a dentist and established a practice. After eleven weeks, he had saved £35 to complete his passage to Melbourne in the Emma Colvin.
Arriving in Victoria, Gotch made for Fryer Creek, near Castlemaine, where the latest strike had been reported. He found only one small nugget, of thumbnail size, and worth about £3 at the time. He soon ran out of money and provisions and in a final stroke of unluckiness, injured his foot with a pick. He returned to Melbourne penniless in the back of a friendly teamster’s wagon.
Submitted by Danny.
First submitted on February 6, 2013.