George Faulkner and Jane Williams, Sutton Forest, 1835

In August 1835 George Faulkner and Jane Williams's names appear in the NSW Register of Convicts' Applications to Marry.

It is the right George Faulkner - transported on the Eliza (2), sentenced to life, and 32 years old. He would turn 33 the following November.

Jane Williams was 22 and free. She had been transported on the Louisa which landed in Sydney on 2 December 1827. A needlewoman, born in London and convicted in Kent, she had been sentenced to seven years. On 3 October 1834 she received her Certificate of Freedom.

The Register of Convict Applications to Marry gives the clergyman's name - which is difficult to make out - but the place is Sutton Forest in the Southern Highlands of NSW. George Faulkner stated that he was single. Jane Williams, however, said that she was married and had one child. Like other applications where one or both parties were already married, the application was not granted.

I wonder if George Faulkner and Jane Williams let the absence of a marriage certificate get in the way.

Marks of punishment on his back

One thing I hadn't looked at was George Faulkner's gaol admission record from when he was arrested in 1872 and imprisoned in Goulburn Gaol. But someone else did, and they put in on ancestry.com.

In the Remarks column there's a description of his distinguishing features:

"Right lower eyelid of ----- nose. Short scar over right eye and scar under right eye. Marks of punishment on his back. Back much curved. Scar on left wrist."

The marks of punishment were presumably from when he was flogged in Newcastle almost 50 years before, for stealing coal from the mines. Twenty-five lashes.

He was 70 when he was admitted to Goulburn Gaol and had shrunk from his original five feet, three and a half inches to just five feet. His complexion was still "Fresh".

The Education column records that he could read and write.

Death of George Faulkner (son)

On 9 December 1912 George Faulkner, 66, dropped dead in a paddock at "Victoria Park", Mount Russell near Inverell. 

It was harvest time, and according to a grand-daughter, George Faulkner was in the habit of eating separately to his workers. No-one was present when he died.

News of his death was reported in half a dozen country newspapers with several noting that an inquiry would be held. If an inquiry was held, it wasn't reported. Probate was granted in March 1913.

A family historian writes that: "In due course, 'Victoria Park' (1200 acres) was sold to the Government for Soldier Settler Blocks". The returned soldier who won the homestead block (300 acres) in a ballot had rented 150 acres of farm land at 'Victoria Park' for around 12 months prior to the sub-division. He married one of the Faulkner daughters, Leila, on 25 February 1922, the year he took over the farm.

The same family historian adds that Mary Ann Faulkner (nee Selmes) moved to Sydney and bought a house at West Ryde where she lived until her death in 1937. Before leaving Mount Russell, she was presented with a silver dish with this inscription: 5/12/1921 To Mrs M. A. Faulkner and family. A token of esteem from Residents of Mt Russell and District. 

"Victoria Park" remained in the family until 1965. The homestead was demolished in 1979. There is a small brick house on the block, which is now 60 acres.

Gladesville Hospital for the Insane

On 14 June 1873, only a few months after his release from Parramatta Asylum, George Faulkner was convicted before James Styles, JP, for using obscene language in Cork Street, Gundaroo, "towards William Affleck of Gundaroo, to wit You bloody Scotch bugger, I'll break your bloody door and smash your bloody machinery".

Sentenced to three months in Queanbeyan Gaol, he was again separately examined by two doctors as required before he could be committed to an asylum.

Andrew Morton, surgeon, wrote that he had observed "his violent conduct in the gaol... - his obscene language - & at one time praying, quoting scripture & immediately afterwards blaspheming - cursing, swearing and altogether behaving as a Maniac with homicidal tendencies - his constant headaches & vertigo with confusion of thought & the wildness of his manner & eyes".

The jailer and warder told Morton that their prisoner "is increasingly so violent - threatening them & his fellow prisoners - that he had to be put under restraint - & that his habits were very filthy - & his insomnia".

John Newton MD noted similar observations - "his violent language, his obscenity, his threats to commit murder if called nicknames, his headaches and vertigo and the wildness of his appearance and manner".

On 24 June 1873 Morton and Newton signed a medical certificate certifying George Faulkner "to be of unsound mind, and a proper object for reception into a Lunatic Asylum". He was transferred to Goulburn Gaol on 28 June and from there to Gladesville Hospital for the Insane.

George Faulkner died of pneumonia in Gladeville Hospital on Oct 14th 1875. The death certificate gave his age as 75 and stated that he was married and had two children, "further particulars unknown". He was buried in the hospital cemetery.

Selmes family from Brede, Sussex in NSW

There are still Selmes in Wheo, New South Wales, where Eliza Jane (aka Mary Ann) Selmes was born in 1860.

Wheo or Wheeo is a locality rather than a village, about 23 km west of Crookwell, off the Crookwell-Boorowa Road, in the Southern Highlands of NSW. It is high undulating country with snow in winter, old bluestone buildings and gravel roads lined with poplars. Pines form windbreaks across the hilltops.

Mary Ann's father's parents, James Selmes and Maria Cook, had arrived in NSW as assisted immigrants on the Lady Nugent in 1838. James Selmes was a farm labourer, aged 26, Maria was 24, and they had three young children - Alfred, James and Harriet. They were Protestants, from Brede, Sussex. According to the Frater family website, they settled at "Springfield", now a heritage-listed farm estate, near Goulburn. At some stage they settled on what was presumably their own farm, in Wheo.

On 27 July 1854, the Sydney Morning Herald reported a court case in which a man named Arthur White was "charged with stealing two horses, the property of James Selmes, a carrier, residing in Goulburn". It is not clear if this is James Selmes snr, or his son James who would have been 19. The item continues: "It appeared that the horses were stolen, on the night of 11th July, out of a paddock belonging to H. G. Marsh, at whose inn, on the Sydney road, Selmes put up on the night in question" (p. 2).

Mary Ann's parents, James Selmes jnr and Amelia Howarth married in Tumut in 1857. They seem to have lived with his parents in Wheo for a few years. Their first child, Henry George, was born in Gundagai, but Mary Ann was born in Wheo in 1860 and five of the next six children were born there as well. The last four (Elizabeth aka Lila, Edward, William Albert and Edith Phoebe) were born in Wallacetown (near Junee), Wagga Wagga, Junee and Wagga Wagga respectively.

On 23 January 1892 the Town and Country Journal reported the death of James Selmes snr.: "News is just to hand of the death of Mr. James Selmes, of Wheeo, who met with an accident on Saturday last through falling off a load of wheat. The deceased, who is 80 years of age, and who has resided here for 35 years, was much respected by all classes, and his death has caused general regret".  
 

Red Lion Inn in Brede, Sussex

The Red Lion is a fairly unprepossessing roadside country pub from the outside, but step through the door and you'll find huge oak beams, an open hearth, and cosy nooks. Dating back to the fifteenth century, the pub now boasts a restaurant with imaginative contemporary food.

While we were at the bar the chef wandered past, wondering if we were staying for dinner. The fish was fresh from Hastings that morning. We had bream with a sort of deconstructed paella - although not described in quite those terms - and another fish dish with potatoes dauphinoise and fresh peas in a veloute sauce.

There is a point to this. Instead of local councils having stupid sister city relationships with arbitrary places in China, Japan and elsewhere, whose only purpose seems to be to facilitate junkets for local councillors, why not have sister pub relationships for the people. We could start with Grazing Restaurant at the Royal Hotel in Gundaroo and the Red Lion Inn in Brede. The respective local councils could re-allocate their sister city budgets to fund it.

James Daniel Selmes from Brede, Sussex

Driving from Rye to Hastings a few weeks ago, I noticed a turn-off to Brede, the village in Sussex where Mary Ann (Eliza Jane) Faulkner's father, James Daniel Selmes, was born in 1835 or thereabouts. (All I know is that he was 22 when he married Amelia Howarth in Tumut on 23 June 1857, his father was a farmer and his mother's name was Maria Cook.)

Most of the old gravestones in Brede's Church of England graveyard (pictured) are illegible, but one can be made out. It is the grave of a Mary Ann Selmes, wife of another James Selmes, who died on 12 February 1875.

Although most of the Selmes in the world can apparently be traced back to Sussex, no-one in the Red Lion Inn knew anyone by that name.

George Faulkner in Manchester

A couple of months ago I asked a researcher in Lancashire to see if she could find out anything about George Faulkner's family in Manchester. She started by finding this entry for George Faulkner in the Lancaster Prison Records:

George Faulkner says he was born in Manchester, 18 years of age, 5’3” high, (?) complexion, gray eyes, short dark brown hair, two scars in his lip & chin, a large scar of his left wrist, 3rd finger right (?), Assizes 23rd March 1822. Death reprieved, transported for Life 11th May 1822 & put on board (?) at Chatham.

She also searched the Calendar of Crown Prisoners Ref. QJC/1, and in the Salford Hundred of Saturday 23rd March 1822, found this entry:

Event of Trial: Death
No.: 15
Name: George Faulkner
Age: 18
Committed by: Rev’d C.W. Ethelston, 22nd December 1821, charged with having assaulted Thomas Halliday on the highway at Salford and with having stolen from him, sixty pence, sixty halfpence and one knife, his property.

So George Faulkner was definitely born in Manchester, rather than just brought to trial there. But if he was 18 in March 1822, he would have been born in 1803 or 1804 rather than 1802, the year that appears on his convict records. Did he put his age back when he was arrested?

A search of the Manchester Parish Register at the Lancaster Records Office found no baptismal entry for a George Faulkner born 1801-1805. The entries may not be complete though, and some of the entries are indecipherable.

On familysearch.org, there's a George Faulkner who was christened at Manchester Cathedral on 7 November 1802. His parents were George and Ann. These may be the George Faulkner and Ann Winterbottom who married on 31 December 1792 at Manchester Cathedral.

The next step is a search of the original Parish Registers at Manchester Central Library.

Lancaster Prison Records Ref. QGL/2 MF1/36
Calendar of Crown Prisoners (Ref. QJC/1, Salford Hundred of Saturday 23rd March 1822

"Victoria Park" in 1907-08

In 1907, George Faulkner, George and Maria's son, who was by then in his early sixties, entered the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Mail farm competition in the Northern Tablelands division.

The prizes were attractive: first, £50; second, £10; third, £5. The judge, Mr H. Dawson, could award up to 100 points under each of eight headings: "general management; fencing and gates; water supply, and provision for same; dwelling and steading, including garden, orchard, and stockyards; live stock breeds, and suitability to district; cultivation - crops, provisions for storing, supplying fodder; plant, including all implements, machines, and means for carrying produce to market; situation, and general plan of improvements".

Twenty competitors entered, from Inverell to Armidale, Tamworth, Quirindi and Glen Innes. Among them, by chance, was Henry Voss whose family would mesh with George Faulkner's forty years on.

On Thursday 9 January, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the winners of the second and third prizes, including this sketch of "Victoria Park":

"Mr. George Faulkner, of Victoria Park Inverell, has 1140 acres. He is an older resident than either Mr. Harding or Mr. Cosh [second and third prize-winners]. Mr. Dawson says his place looks remarkably well; he has a nice orchard, the fruit in which is looking in remarkably good trim. The sheep are of the Riverina merino strain. There are 100 acres under lucerne, other areas are devoted to other crops, and there is a herd of 30 cows, milk from which is sold at the local factory."

The judge had this to say of Henry Voss's much smaller farm, near Glen Innes:

"Mr. Voss has introduced the L.K.G. milking machine on his farm. It is driven by a four horse-power engine, and by its means eight cows are milked at a time. The engine power is utilised for separating the cream as well as for other work. Two little boys milk between 70 and 80 cows, so to speak, in no time. As far as Mr. Voss is concerned, the milking machines appeared to be an unqualified success. The crops were rather backward, except the wheat and oats. But as a man who makes the best of his opportunities Mr. Voss is one whom it would be hard to beat anywhere."

Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 1907, p.9 and 9 January 1908, p.5

George Faulkner arrives in Sydney

George Faulkner's occupation, when he arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney) on 22 November 1822, was listed as coachsmith. He was 19 years old, five feet three and a half inches tall with black hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

On 18 July 1823 he was assigned as a blacksmith to an Alexander McLeod, of Burwood, who commenced payments to the government for him the same day. A week later, he went to Newcastle on the Fame with McLeod. For some reason - the assignment register is hard to decipher - he was returned to Government service, the barracks in Newcastle, on 4 October 1823.

From where I am in Sydney's west, Burwood is only four stops along the suburban train line.

Convict indents, State Records NSW, (Reel 395)
Convict assignment registers, State Records NSW, Location 4/4520 Page No. 67 Entry 723 (Reel 586)

Mary Ann Smith alias Mary Steward

Mary Ann Smith was transported to Australia on the Henry Wellesley, arriving in Port Jackson (Sydney) on 22 December 1837.

On 14 July that year she had been sentenced at Lancaster to 14 years transportation for stealing a cloak. The convict indent describes her as 40 years of age, a widow with four sons and one daughter. She was an American, born in Philadelphia. Unlike most of the women on her ship, she had previous offences, two of them, for which she had been sentenced to seven years and for three weeks.

Mary Ann Smith was a milliner and dress-maker. She was five feet, one and a half inches tall. She had a sallow complexion, brown hair mixed with grey and grey eyes. Her distinguishing marks were a missing top front tooth and a small mark on her cheek.

Glancing at the descriptions of her fellow passengers, it is striking how many of the women on the Henry Wellesley had tattoos. One had a blue mark beneath the eye, some had initials on their upper arms, and several had the same tattoo - five dots and a cross tattooed on the back of their hand.

By 1846 Mary Ann Smith would have been in her late forties - too old, I think, to be the Maria Steward who married George Faulkner and had two children.

Was Maria Steward her real name...

There is a Maria Steward listed on the Ireland-Australia transportation database. It is the alias of a Maria Kane. But there are no details of her age, trial place, trial date, crime or sentence. There is a document reference that could be followed up.

And a Mary Ann Smith who was transported in 1837 used the alias Mary Steward.

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/search/index.php?category=18

Frederick Faulkner and Mary McCarthy

Frederick Faulkner (George and Maria's son) married Mary Elizabeth McCarthy in a Church of England ceremony at Christ Church Cootamundra in 1882. He would have been about 34. She was a widow, from Temora. Her age isn't stated.

Although Frederick gave his occupation as storekeeper, like his brother George he could not write. When it came to signing the certificate he made his mark, a cross, above which are the initials S.B.H. (signed by him?). Mary signed her name.

Both witnesses were from the McCarthy side of the family - Charles Brisbane McCarthy and Ruth Neal McCarthy. Like Mary, they signed their names.

The marriage certificate has a lot of blanks - Frederick and Mary's places of birth, their fathers' names, mothers' names and maiden surnames and fathers' occupations.

Parramatta lunatic asylum

George Faulkner's admission records:

"Nov 11th, 1872:
This man is a native of England, a Protestant: 70 years of age and by trade a Blacksmith. Admitted by Warrant from Goulburn Gaol Oct 28th. Is serving a sentence of three months for "indecently exposing his person", which sentence expires Nov 2nd 1872.

"On admission he looked ill - fatigued, badly clothed, and ill-nourished. At once desired to write letters to his wife and family, as he had property at stake of great value. These are false delusions as he is said in the "Medical Certificate" to be "homeless and destitute". Eats well, sleeps well, is cleanly in person and habits. Suffers from Senile Dementia, aggravated by long periods of intemperance. Is in fair bodily health.

"Dec 1st, 1872: Continues in good bodily health and is somewhat mentally improved.

"Jan 2nd, 1873: Is in good health, and mentally improved. I think if it could be ascertained that this man has relations willing to receive him he might be discharged to their care.

"Jan 30th, 1873: A letter received from his son expressing his willingness to receive his father when fit to be discharged.

"Feb 3rd, 1873: Continues in good health: and much improved mentally.

"Feb 20th, 1873: Should be brought before the Board. No answer has been received from his son who was informed that his father could be given up to him after the Board Meeting in February.

Less than three months after his admission, George Faulkner "being of perfectly sane mind" was "discharged cured" from Parramatta Asylum on February 24th 1873.

"Indecently exposing his person"

On 3 August 1872, a few months before he turned seventy, George Faulkner was committed to Queanbeyan Gaol for three months after pleading guilty, under the Vagrant Act, before Joseph Styles and Arthur Affleck, JPs, of “indecently exposing his person” in a public street, namely Cork Street, Gundaroo on 2 August.

The Yass Courier reported the story, omitting details of the offence: “On Saturday last George Falconer [sic], better known as Old Blocker, was brought before Messrs. Styles and Affleck under the Vagrant Act. The unfortunate was in the horrors of drink, and as this was his second offence, he was sent to prison at Queanbeyan for three months.”

On 16 September, he was transferred to Goulburn Gaol where he was examined separately by two doctors, William Hayley and Selby Norton.

George Faulkner, Hayley found, was "restless", "talked a great deal of nonsense" and "labors under hallucinations and illusions". Selby added that "he is constantly asking for a warrant for persons who have wronged him". Both noted that their patient believed he had a hole in his chin which "he had stopped up with bread". His gaoler reported that he was "disgustingly filthy in his habits", a reference, perhaps, to masturbation.

Hayley wrote that his patient "believes that he has a house, wife and family and is the possessor of property, whereas he is homeless and destitute".

Certified insane by the two doctors, "George Faulkner, blacksmith, late of Gundaroo" was transferred from Goulburn Gaol to the lunatic asylum at Parramatta on 14 October.

Colonial-Secretary's Correspondence (72/7893)
Yass Courier, 9 August 1872

Mary Faulkner, died Glebe 1852

Wondering if the Mary Faulkner who died in 1852 might possibly be Maria Faulkner, I ordered her death certificate from Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales.

The information on her death certificate is scant. She had lived in Glebe, in Sydney. She was fifty. And her burial on 21 August 1852 was in Sydney South Circuit, County of Cumberland - possibly the old Devonshire Street cemetery. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. B. Chapman, a Wesleyan minister. Her "quality or profession" is not stated, nor is the cause of death.

Going by her age and religion, she may have been the Mary Faulkner from Sussex who arrived on the Roxburgh Castle in 1839, aged 37.

Her exit from this world did not warrant a death or funeral notice in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Convicts named Steward arriving in Australia

Twenty-five men and three women with the surname Steward appear on the British convict transportation registers. Seven were named William Steward, five Thomas, four John, three Robert, three Charles, two George and one Henry. All the women were Elizabeths. In 1814 a Sarah Steward, the wife of a convict, arrived with her two daughters, Jane and Mary.

Other convicts named Steward arrived under different names. The Colonial-Secretary's Index has an Ann Jemima Steward who arrived on the Morley in 1820, her name recorded as Seward. The 1828 Census records a John Steward who supposedly arrived on the Somersetshire in 1814, but whose name doesn't appear on the British convict transportation registers. At the time of the census he was an overseer assigned to a Mr Barber "at Yass, on the Goulburn Plains".

Others were transported from Ireland. Bridget Steward arrived from Cork on the Almorah in 1824, her name recorded as Stewart. An entry on the Colonial-Secretary's Index noted she was "not be assigned from the Female Factory, Parramatta until the Almorah left Port Jackson". The Samuel Steward who has five entries under his name in the index to the Colonial-Secretary's records may have arrived from Ireland.

At least three convicts named Steward were employed in the Gundaroo area before 1846.

William Steward who arrived on the Countess of Harcourt in 1828 was living in Bathurst when he received a ticket of leave in 1834 and his freedom in 1835. A black Jamaican, he had been tried at Lancaster Quarter Sessions.

Another William Steward who arrived on the Asia in 1833 was in Yass when he received his ticket of leave in 1837.

Thomas Steward arrived in 1836 on the Strathfieldsay and was in Yass when he received a ticket of leave in 1840.

Maria Steward's name doesn't appear in the British convict transportation registers, on lists of convict women or on the Colonial-Secretary's Index.

British convict transportation registers 1787-1867, One Search database (http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au), State Library of Queensland
NSW State Records, Index to the Colonial-Secretary's Correspondence
NSW Convict Women on Ships arriving from England and Ireland 1788-1828, http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/confem66.html

To Newcastle as an assigned servant...

The Index to the Colonial-Secretary's Papers, 1788-1825, includes an entry for a John Faulkner, who also supposedly arrived on the Eliza (2) in 1822. On 25 July 1823 this John Faulkner was permitted to travel to Newcastle on the Fame as the assigned servant of A. McLeod.

Since the convicts on the Eliza (2) did not include a John Faulkner, the "John" seems to be an incorrect transcription of George.

Alexander McLeod had a large property called Luskintyre, near Wallis Plains (Maitland). Chas. McLeod, the defaulter in payment for George Faulkner almost a year later, was presumably a member of the same family.

NSW State Records, Index Colonial-Secretary's Correspondence, Reel 6010; 4/3508, p.712)

Maria Steward

All that is known of Maria Steward comes from three official documents: her marriage certificate, the baptism certificate of her first child, and a death certificate that may or may not be hers.

Maria Steward married George Faulkner in Gundaroo on 26 January 1846. The minister was Church of England, E. Smith, the witnesses F. Timmins and M. Timmins of Gundaroo. Maria was seven and a half months pregnant. Six weeks later, on 6 March, she gave birth to their first child, George. Frederick was born in 1848, but his birth was not registered.

Maria and George gave consent to the marriage themselves. Maria was not so young she needed the consent of her parents to marry, and nor did she need the consent of the government. She wasn't a convict or a ticket-of-leave holder.

There is a death certificate for a Maria Falkner, without the "u". She died a pauper in Hyde Park Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women (now Hyde Park museum) in 1883. Her death, on 16 February, is recorded as caused by "senile debility". She was 63. She was buried in Church of England section of Rookwood Necropolis. The death certificate leaves blank her place of marriage, age at marriage, and children. Her place of birth is listed as Gibraltar.

Faulkners arriving from Northampton in 1844

A Faulkner family arrived as bounty immigrants on the Dale Park in Port Philip, Victoria on 21 July 1844.

Abraham, an agricultural labourer, and Anne Faulkner were both 32. Their four children were George 10, William 8, Hanna 6 and Jane 3. Their native place was Northampton, their religion Protestant.

Abraham and Anne could read, but not write.

Along with other "Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Philip", a microfilm copy of the Dale Park's passenger list has been digitised. It can be viewed here:

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/nrs-lists/nrs-5316