This is the full story of Lewis Tarrant. I have put the text up here, but I have a PDF with some bonus illustrations available for anybody who would like it. Please just leave a comment if you would like a copy.
Acknowledgements
In writing
this short story, I must acknowledge the assistance I have received from
generous family history researchers.
Lorna, from
a Facebook group set up to share the family history of some of Lewis'
descendants. Lorna has been so generous sharing with me research she has done,
and copies of marriage and death certificates which form important parts of
Lewis' story.
Mike, whose
email address I lifted from Viv's email (see below). Mike is a descendant of
Lewis' brother Thomas. He has given me a wealth of information, particularly in
relation to the Tarrants location in Wiltshire, their history of run-ins with
the law, and he also gave me the details of research into the Tarrants which
has recently been published.
Viv, whose
email address I found on an Ancestry discussion board. Viv has so generously
spent her time reading my essay, providing background and even shared
photographs from her personal trip to Wiltshire where she visited the Tarrants
home.
I am also
indebted to Professor Eric L Jones, who is a friend of Mike and has not only
done extensive research into the crimes of the Tarrants, he has also recently
published a book which situates them and their crime against the backdrop of
the game laws and the friction between English people and the landed gentry.
Thank you so much for doing this research and sharing it with Mike, and in your
book. The University of Tasmania purchased the book, and eBook, at my request.
Finally, I
would like to thank my patient family members who have been bored half to death
by my story telling, including my sister who did a spot of proof reading.
Background
In early
2017, I researched my partner's family history.
As part of
that process, I quickly realised that not only did he have Aboriginal heritage,
which was something we knew, but he was also descended from a First Fleet
convict, Matthew Everingham. With that, I was infected with the
family history bug. I spent hours gathering facts and 'facts' from Ancestry,
Find My Past, Trove and various other online resources.
In August
2017, I commenced a course of online study through the University of Tasmania,
a Diploma of Family History. This was a pretty big step for me,
as I don't have the best track record as a tertiary student, but I was
sufficiently interested to not only enrol, but even complete assessments for my
first unit in the course.
The most
recent unit of study I undertook in the diploma was titled Convict Ancestors. As a first generation Australian
on one side of my family tree, and descended from very respectable graziers and
Quakers on the other, I don't have a single convict ancestor to my name.
However, my
frenzied 'fact' gathering last year had revealed not just a First Fleet convict
in my partner's family tree, but a whole host of other convicts. Assessment for
the unit includes writing a 1,000 word non-fiction case study of a convict.
Matthew Everingham wasn't a suitable option, as so much has been written about
his life before now. I looked through the list of likely suspects, and decided
to write about an Irish 4th great grandfather, Patrick Whelan.
The only
problem was that the harder I looked, the less evidence I could find that
Patrick Whelan was, in fact, a convict. I shelled out for his death
certificate, and it made everything even muddier. Eventually, through a process
of checking the dates associated with every Patrick Whelan, Whalan, Wheelahan,
so on and so forth, I deduced that my partner's 4th great grandfather was not a
convict after all. He was a free settler who travelled to Australia from Cork
on the convict ship Roslin Castle in
1832.
Back to
square one, I went through the family tree again looking for somebody to write
about. I contemplated the Daniel Jackson listed as a 6th grandfather,
or Daniel Packer, a 5th great grandfather. I then spotted Lewis Tarrant in the
tree. He shared a Christian name with one of my ancestors (Lewis Tuckett) and was born in Wiltshire, home of Stonehenge
and featured in some books I had read recently.
Pleased
with my choice, I now had to commence the process of researching Lewis
Tarrant's experience as a convict. It was a most rewarding process of research,
in which I learned a lot about convicts, ships, early colonial New South Wales
and the relationship between Governor Macquarie and the British parliament.
Although I
was only required to submit a 1,000 word assignment, I was so engaged by Lewis'
story that I decided to write a broader biography, and give a little more
colour to his experiences. I hope that I have been able to transfer some of the
keen interest I felt into this story of Lewis Tarrant's life.
Early
Life
Wiltshire is a land locked county in the south
west of England. It is perhaps best known for its ancient landmarks. There are
the neolithic stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury, ancient white horses
carved into the landscape's chalk hills, and in the south of the county is the
cathedral city of Salisbury.
In the north east of the county, bordering with
Berkshire, is the small village of Froxfield. When Lewis Tarrant was born there
in around 1792, the population of the parish was approximately five hundred. It
was a very ordinary village on the ancient road between London to Bath, its
inhabitants concerned mainly with agriculture.
Lewis was born to John Tarrant and Elizabeth Goodall, who had married in
1782 in Froxfield. They had a large family of at least seven sons and three
daughters.
Noted carefully after the record of Lewis'
baptism at the All Saints Church in Froxfield on 22 April 1792 is the word
"Pauper". The vicar of the tiny twelfth century church, whose name
was Lewis Evans, was obliged to make this annotation if he had exempted the
family from paying 3 pence in stamp duty for the ceremony.
Growing
up as a Tarrant
Little is
known of the specifics of Lewis' early years. A search of the county archives
revealed no records of schools that were open in the area until the mid
nineteenth century. It is unlikely Lewis received any formal education. He may
have been able to read a little, but his records later in life show that as an
adult he signed various documents with a mark.
We can
surmise, however, from various criminal registers, that his father and elder
brothers regularly spent time in gaol. Perhaps during that time his mother
relied on the charity of the alms house in Froxfield.
In April
1809 a John and William Tarrant were sentenced to seven years transportation
for the crime of stealing poultry, and sent to the prison hulk Captivity at Gosport, Portsmouth
Harbour. There were other Tarrants in the area, and without doing more
significant research I can't be sure if this was them, although their form for
theft of birds seems strong.
Records
from both Wiltshire and Berkshire show an increasing number of infractions against
game laws - for poaching birds and fish, mostly, from the lands held around
them at Oakhill and the River Kennet.
A
British tar
Lewis himself does not appear in formal records
between his baptism in 1792 and 1812, when he enlists in the navy. Perhaps
Lewis caught a glimpse of their brother or father on 15 August 1812 when he
boarded the HMS Narcissus at
Portsmouth. No detailed record remains of his service, other than a bland entry
in a ledger indicating that Lewis and his younger brother John, ex Hungerford,
sons of Elizabeth, were allotted on 15 August 1812 and 11 May 1816. No reason
is given for their allotment ceasing on that date; other sailors listed on the
page are recorded variously as 'prisoner', 'invalid' and even 'drowned', but
the column for the Tarrants is blank.
HMS Narcissus was a fifth rate frigate, equipped with guns
and somewhat adept at capturing enemy ships. Between 1812 and 1816, while
aboard HMS Narcissus, Lewis sailed
across the northern Atlantic, visiting ports such as Halifax in Nova Scotia,
Canada, Point Patience in Chesapeake Bay and then down into the Caribbean -
Kingston, Barbados and Bermuda. A very long way indeed from the quiet English
village of his birth.
During the War of 1812, a conflict
between the United States and the United Kingdom which stretched from June 1812
through to the end of 1814, HMS Narcissus was involved in several captures of
ships belonging to the United States.
One of those captures has been beautifully
recreated in an oil painting by a modern American painter Patrick O'Brien. In
1813, a party from the HMS Narcissus
rowed over to the USS Surveyor, a
cutter. She was captured by the Narcissus.
Letters
back to England spoke of their captures. As one of maybe 250 to 300 sailors on HMS Narcissus, we don't know whether
Lewis was involved in some of these exciting fights or captures. However, being
on a fifth rate frigate was considered a lucky post. Fifth rate frigates were fast
ships or cruisers, often assigned to interrupt enemy ships. Sailors on these
ships even had the prospect of having prize money distributed to them, as a
reward for capturing all those enemy ships.
No sign of
any profits from prize money endures, though. It seems that within a couple of
years of returning from his adventures with the Royal Navy, Lewis was living
back with his family in rural Wiltshire, where his father, brothers and other
relatives had continued to get in trouble with the law.
The
crime
What prompted Lewis, four of his brothers and
his cousin to venture over to Ashbury and steal 12 fowl from a farmer? We can
never know for certain.
However, we
do know that it wasn't uncommon for young men to seek out transportation,
hoping to get to Australia and build a better life. Hansard for the House of
Commons in February 1819 records that "... nine hundred and forty persons
were transported thither, which materially altered the features of the case,
with reference to 1812 and the present time. But it was said, that those
persons were volunteers, that they preferred going out of the country. Could
any case more strong be laid before parliament to induce them to inquire into
the subject, than that such a body of persons preferred that punishment which
was classed next to death, to what was supposed to be the milder infliction,
imprisonment on board the hulks?"
Lewis had been in trouble with the law just
before the crime for which he was transported. On 20 October 1818, he had an assault
charge discharged against him for an incident that had taken place back in
August.
A few days
later, on Thursday 29 October 1818, the day of the Faringdon fair, witnesses
reported seeing a group of young men singing and drinking in the kitchen of the
Cross Keys at Ashbury. They had left by 10pm. At around 5am the next morning,
seven men were seen coming across Idstone Field, away from the farmer William
Arkell's barn. The group of men were ambushed by the gamekeeper and a couple of
men he employed. They threw away 24 freshly killed fowl, including a hen
pheasant with a wire still attached. They managed to run away, but were
followed back to Froxfield.
Later,
witnesses were able to confirm that the strangers drinking and singing at the
pub in Ashbury had included George, William, Lewis and Thomas Tarrant (but not
Decimus), Thomas Pithouse and another man named Benjamin Gough.
Trial at
Reading
The Windsor and Eton Express newspaper
reports that in January 1819, George, Thomas, Decimus, William and Lewis
Tarrant, with their cousin Thomas Pithouse, all labourers, were tried and
convicted at the Epiphany quarter sessions of stealing a quantity of fowl from
a farmer, William Arkell at Ashbury. Lewis, his brothers and cousin were each
sentenced to seven years transportation.
During the process of conviction and
sentence, George, Thomas and Decimus acknowledged that they had been in gaol
three or four times before, and that their father and sister were recently
liberated from a neighbouring gaol. It isn't clear that Decimus was even
involved in the original theft of the fowl, but he was tried and convicted with
his brothers.
Twelve days elapsed between Lewis' conviction
at Reading and his reception on the prison hulk Leviathan at Portsmouth. It is likely that Lewis and his brothers spent
some time at Reading gaol - not the one immortalised by Oscar Wilde, as that
was not built until 1844. Then one morning at 2am, they were handcuffed and
chained together, and marched the 75
kilometres from Reading to Portsmouth. Prisoners weren't commonly transported
in covered wagons until the 1830s.
The prison hulk Leviathan
On the 12th of January 1819, Lewis, his brothers and cousin were taken
onto the prison hulk Leviathan. Once
a 74 gun warship who had been involved in the Battle of Trafalgar, she had been
moored at Portsmouth since 1816 "floating with two broken masts and a
large wooden shed built onto the top" housing between 500 to 600 convicts
as a prison hulk.
Portsmouth
has been a significant naval port for centuries. When Lewis finally arrived,
perhaps he felt some excitement at being on the first stage of a new adventure
to Australia. Did he harbour concerns about his experience of transportation
ending in the prison hulk, as happened to many others?
The hulks were
widely reported as being floating palaces of disease and despair, and they
can't have been too pleasant. In December 1817, not quite a year before Lewis boarded
the Leviathan, Henry Bennet inspected
the Leviathan and York at Portsmouth. He describes the
inspection in some detail as part of his report for the Secretary of State for
the Home Department.
On arrival,
prisoners are double ironed as a matter of course - Bennet could find no good reason
for the double ironing, and noted that young and old, felon, poacher and
bigamist, no distinction was made, all were treated the same way. Bennet
observes that the regime of forced public labour by these convicts caused great
detriment to the character of the convicts. Most convicts were sent ashore each
day to perform hard physical labour, even those who were not usually accustomed
to such work. Bennet notes that there was much to praise in the management of
the hulk; that there was an air of mildness in the exercise of authority and
that flogging was by and large not used. However, he notes that after several
months on a hulk, a convict would take on a hardened, fierce demeanor, a
furious expression and a barely suppressed rage.
Thankfully
Lewis, his brothers and cousin were only imprisoned on the Leviathan for a few months. Perhaps they escaped some of that
inevitable hardening of attitude and behaviour described by Bennet. On 20 April
1819, they were taken aboard the John
Barry, a ship with a cargo of convicts, bound for Port Jackson in New South
Wales. Having spent 98 days on the prison hulk Leviathan, they were now one step closer to a new life on the other
side of the world.
Boarding
the John Barry
The John
Barry was a merchant ship, built at Whitby harbour in Yorkshire, the port
where Captain James Cook first became a naval apprentice. It is only
coincidental that John Barry shared a
name with the Irishman who is widely considered the father of the United States
Navy. She was actually named for her owner and builder, John Barry. His father
Robert Barry had started a shipyard at Whitby, and John built the three masted
eponymous ship in 1814.
Her voyage
to Australia in 1819 would be the first of five voyages to Port Jackson and
Hobart carrying convicts. She was also used as an immigrant ship to Quebec, and
brought a company of soldiers to Australia on another voyage. On the 8 April
1819, she left port at Deptford, Kent, arriving at Spithead, Portsmouth 8 days
later.
On the 20
April 1819, Lewis and 79 other convicts boarded the John Barry from Leviathan.
60 convicts boarded from the Laurel,
the other prison hulk moored at Portsmouth. The convicts would sleep four in
each berth for more than five months during the voyage. There is a mention in
the journal of the ship's surgeon, James Bowman, that the group of six convicts
would mess together, and it is possible that the group of five Tarrant brothers
and their cousin were at least able to eat a meal together onboard.
The day
after boarding, the convicts were brought onto the deck, mustered, and assigned
to various duties. There is no record of the specific duties assigned to Lewis,
however, the various duties included cook, deck swabbers, barbers and
boatswain's mates. Maybe Lewis' previous experience in the navy influenced his
assignment? Unfortunately no specific records were easily accessed online. The
men were allocated clothes, beds and blankets for the voyage, and on the second
day after boarding their beds were brought on deck and the lower decks were
fumigated.
Three days
after Lewis came on board, two more convicts were brought onto the John Barry from the Leviathan, bringing the total complement of convicts to 142. The
next day, fresh beef and vegetables were received. Additional provisions came
from the victualling office at Portsmouth on 28 April. On 29 April, a bag
containing letters, and despatches for Governor Macquarie was brought on board.
They received orders to proceed to New South Wales.
Voyage to
New South Wales
On 30 April, after 10 days preparing for the voyage, John Barry finally sailed at noon,
through the West Solent, around the north west coast of Isle of Wight, past the
Needles and out to the open sea.
Many of the
convicts suffered with sea sickness at the start of the voyage. There was a
fresh breeze which grew into a hard wind from the west during their first few days
at sea. Perhaps Lewis was similarly afflicted, or perhaps his previous
experience as a sailor stood him in good stead.
By the time
they had been at sea a week, sea sickness seems to have abated. On 7 May, all
were mustered on deck, and each was served with a pint of wine. A month later,
the Ship's Surgeon James Bowman observed that the supply of water was running
low. They evidently began the voyage with 202 casks of water, and by 8 June
1819 only 126 casks remained. He advised the captain they would need to stop on
the way to produce supplies of fresh meat, vegetables, fruit and water. It was
the practice of many convict ships to sail direct from England to Australia
without stopping. A newspaper report after John
Barry arrived in New South Wales mentions that they passed the port of
Madeira, but didn't anchor there.
On 27 June
1819, James Bowman records that the coast of Brazil could be seen at daylight.
That same day, a Mrs McIntosh, wife of one of the guards, gave birth to a
daughter. By the 30 June they were in sight of Rio de Janeiro. On 2 July, they
received a supply of fresh beef, vegetables and fruit for the convicts, and a
few casks of water. More fresh supplies were brought on board over the next
couple of days. On the 6th of July, they were still moored at Rio, but the
convicts were confined below decks due to "bad conduct". However,
after that they were allowed back on deck as usual. The 16 July entry shows
that they were still at Rio, but making preparations for sea. At daylight on 17
July, they sailed out of the harbour at Rio for sea.
Their
voyage south west, across the southern Atlantic ocean, past the Cape of Good
Hope and into the Indian Ocean must have been efficient, taking them from the
temperate weather of Rio into the much cooler climes, as by 23 July 140 pairs
of duck trousers were issued to the convicts on account of the cold. Then on 4
August the stove was lit, to be maintained by the prisoners during the cold and
wet weather.
The voyage
continued uneventfully, until on 6 September 1819, when the ship narrowly
escaped being burned by a smoking candle. A wooden ship in the middle of the
ocean would be so vulnerable to fire, and it is surprising there is not more
mention of efforts to contain fires and hazards in an era where the only light
came from sources with open flames.
The next
event of note in the Surgeon's journal is on 16 September 1819, when he notes
that at daylight they saw Van Diemen's Land. Based on the coordinates he
recorded, they were at the very south of modern Tasmania, before rounding it to
go north towards New South Wales. And there the sea voyage came to an end. From
what we can find of Lewis in future records, this was the last time he would be
at sea. On 26 September 1819, Bowman records that at day light they saw the
entrance to Port Jackson, and by 10 o'clock they were anchored in Sydney Cove,
under a salute of 13 guns.
Travelling
with the commissioner
By a stroke of good luck for future amateur
historians, there was a very important person on board the John Barry with the
Tarrants.
John Thomas
Bigge had been appointed by the Secretary of the State for the colonies, Lord
Henry Bathurst, with a royal commission into all the laws regulations and
usages of the settlements', notably those affecting civil administration,
management of convicts, development of the courts, the Church, trade, revenue
and natural resources of New South Wales. This included an investigation into
why the punishment of transportation was not as great a deterrent as the
British parliament might like it to be.
During the five and half month long
voyage from Portsmouth to Sydney, Bigge and his secretary spent some time with
the convicts, recording their answers as to why they opted for transportation
instead of a sentence on the prison hulks. Decimus Tarrant is noted as having
said that he had 'heard a good account' of New South Wales. It is quite
possible his brother Lewis had heard the same, maybe during his time in the
navy.
Arrival in New South Wales
On arriving in Sydney under that 13 gun salute, it is very likely that
the civilian passengers disembarked the ship quite soon after that. However,
the convicts remained on board John Barry
as she was anchored in Sydney cove. They received fresh beef and vegetables to
feed the guards and convicts, and continued their daily routine of stowing
beds, cleaning and spending time on deck until 1 October 1819, when the
"Colonial Secretary Campbell came on board, mustered the whole of the
convicts and expressed his approbation of their appearance."
It seems the
daily routine then continued until 7 October, when all the convicts disembarked
and were inspected by His Excellency Governor Macquarie. At some point prior,
they had already been allocated to their various duties, so we can perhaps
assume that once the inspection by the Governor was complete, they would have
commenced their journeys to the location of those duties.
A
contemporary account of Lewis' process of disembarkation is recorded in the Report
of the Commissioner of the Inquiry on the State of the Colony of New South
Wales. The Sydney Gazette and New South
Wales Advertiser also described the events as thus:
"On Thursday morning His
EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR returned to Town, having completed the General Muster
for Hawkesbury and all its Districts; and the same day the prisoners arrived
per the John Barry were landed, and inspected by His EXCELLENCY, who was
accompanied by JOHN THOMAS BIGGE, Esq. Commissioner, and attended by the
Officers of his EXCELLENCY'S Staff.- His EXCELLENCY expressed much satisfaction
at the clean and healthy appearance of the men, whom he questioned relative to
their treatment on the passage, and required that if they had any cause of complaint
they would make it known to him; and we are happy to say that the reply made by
the men unanimously, was highly satisfactory. His EXCELLENCY afterwards
addressed them in terms of admonition, hoping that by an amended course of life
they would feel its present advantages, and be encouraged to look forward to
that clemency which none but the deserving could hope to participate in. The
people were afterwards distributed, and sent to their various places of
employment in the usual way."
After these
events, Governor Macquarie laid a foundation stone of what was to become St
James Church in King Street Sydney, designed by Francis Greenway. Meanwhile
Lewis Tarrant was taking his first steps in Australia towards his place of
employment. Unfortunately, there are no records available online with
information about where Lewis was first assigned on his arrival at Sydney Cove.
Assignment
as a convict
Lewis' next
appearance in the records is at the general muster in 1822. In August 1822, the
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales
Advertiser published the Colonial Secretary's orders for the general
muster. The muster records that Lewis was a convict, employed by Cummins on a
road party at Liverpool. He is recorded as Lewis Farrant, along with his
brother William - his brothers are not easily found in this muster, just as
Lewis is not found in any other muster online.
For this muster, he was required
to attend the courthouse at Liverpool on 2 September 1822. If Lewis had been
assigned to Liverpool from his first arrival, he would have been marched from
Sydney Cove along the 24 kilometres of the Liverpool Road that was opened by
Governor Macquarie in 1814. From the 1820s, it was common for convicts to be
assigned to government work of constructing roads and buildings, but they were
also assigned to settlers as servants and labourers.
Cummins as
an employer is difficult to trace. There are some records of a John Cummins who
had contracts to build roads, but no documents linking Lewis Tarrant to that
John Cummins. Three years after arriving in the colony, Lewis hadn't earned a
ticket of leave and was still assigned to hard physical labour, working on a
road building gang.
Overseer
Less than a
month later, Lewis had an improvement in his circumstances. On 8 October 1822,
Frederick Goulburn, Colonial Secretary, wrote to George Hall at Windsor,
advising him that he was assigning 22 convicts from the Sydney Convict Barracks
to assist in clearing 100 acres of land. Lewis Tarrant was appointed as the
overseer of that group of convicts.
George Hall
was a free settler who arrived in the colony from Scotland in 1802. By 1821, he
had 1500 acres of land around the Hawkesbury region, on both sides of the
river. Without more extensive research, including access to documents held in
New South Wales based libraries, it is hard to know which 100 acres Lewis and
the other convicts were appointed to clear, although the letter specifies the
land is on Mr Hall's estate at Windsor. They would draw their rations from
Windsor, and the letter includes information about what rations and pay should
be provided.
Lewis'
reward as overseer of this party was based on each acre cleared. He would earn
three shillings and sixpence, as well as a share of what was provided to the
party as a whole. The reward for the clearing party was either five shillings
and fourpence, or an allocation of lager, tea, bread and tobacco. The work was
continuing in April 1823, as there is a record where Lewis has sent another
convict in his place to pick up rations.
Ticket
of Leave
However, by December 1823, the work has
finished, as at that time Lewis is awarded a Ticket of Leave at Parramatta. In
the same week, his brother Decimus also received a Ticket of Leave, at Minto.
They had been in the colony for just over four years. With these tickets, the
brothers were free to find their own work, albeit under certain restrictions
relating to where they lived and reported. In May of 1824, Lewis was living
with Richard Hyde, and apparently his ticket of leave was carried away by other
convicts.
In September he attended a Justice of the Peace and signed an
affidavit that he had lost his ticket of leave. A replacement was issued two
weeks later on 16 September 1824.
Fresh
Ticket of Leave in hand, Lewis is again absent from easily accessed formal
records until 12 January 1826. It is possible that he remained in the
Parramatta area, or perhaps he ventured back towards Windsor. With incomplete
records, it is possible his ticket was transferred to another region without
record.
Certificate
of Freedom
From 12
January 1826, it is no longer relevant, as on that day along with his brothers Decimus,
William and Thomas, and his cousin Thomas Pithouse, Lewis was granted a
Certificate of Freedom. This meant he was no longer restricted in where he
could live or work. His brother George is the only one of the original party
not to receive a Certificate of Freedom on that day. However, George eventually
received as pardon, as we know he made it back to England, only to be
transported again on the Emma Eugenia
in 1837.
Aged
33, 5'8 1/2 inches tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a sallow complexion,
Lewis Tarrant, a native of Wiltshire was now free to work and live where he
chose in the colony of New South Wales. Unlike his original indent which
records him as a sailor and labourer, the certificate indicates his only
calling is labourer. This may be an indication that Lewis intends to remain in
New South Wales.
Marriage and children
By 1838, Lewis was in
the Hawkesbury region. Aged 46, he had already lived most of his life when he
married Jane Jackson, aged 29, at Richmond. They were married on 5 November
1838, and both are listed as residents of Kurrajong. Jane Jackson, a Scottish
woman born in Edinburgh, had arrived free on the female emigrant ship Canton in 1835.
Baptisms
for their children are also recorded in those registers - Lewis, in 1839,
Thomas in 1841, Esther and Mary in 1844 (Esther died as an infant), Elizabeth
in 1847 and Decimus in 1849. As the church was consecrated in 1841, it is
likely that most of those baptisms took place in the modest church, which is
designed to be similar to an English parish church.
Life in Kurrajong
A series of newspaper
reports about life in the Kurrajong district which were published in the early
part of the 20th century mention that Lewis and his brother Thomas were living
on land owned by Mr William Lawson at Kurrajong. The brothers both grew fruit
and vegetables, including watermelons, and sold that fruit in Richmond and
Windsor. The Kurrajong district was well known for orchards and produce. It is
in a temperate rainforest, up in the hills above the Hawkesbury river. Perhaps
the greenery reminded the Tarrants of their far away birthplace in Wiltshire.
1841 Census of New South Wales
The 1841 census reveals some intriguing
information about Lewis and his family life. According to church records, at
that time he and Jane had two sons. However, rather than a family of four, the
census reveals that Lewis had a household of nine.
There were two males under two, one aged between two and
seven, and a male aged between 21 and 45 (perhaps one of his brothers?), a male
between 45 and 60, most likely Lewis himself, and a male over 60. As well as
these five males, there were two females aged between 21 and 45, and one aged
between two and seven.
The record shows two of the males and two of the females
were married, perhaps indicating that the household consists of Lewis and his
family, another nuclear family and an older man. Three of the males were born
in the colony, most like the youngest, leaving all three older ones as 'Other
Free Persons' - perhaps former convicts.
Finally, it indicates that three of the
people in the household are employed in agricultural pursuits. This correlates
with the newspaper reminiscences of Lewis growing fruits and vegetables on land
rented from William Lawson. They were all living there in a finished wooden
house.
Lewis' neighbour on the census is his brother Thomas
Tarrant, also living in a finished wooden house. In Thomas' household are seven
people, two males between 21 and 45, a female between 21 and 45, two boys and
two girls. Perhaps there is another Tarrant brother living in the household.
Unfortunately, the census only records the name of the head of each household
so there is no way to be certain. Thomas Tarrant was operating a licensed
premises at the time, and this is shown on the census. There are no other
Tarrant's shown as heads of household. We know at that time, George Tarrant was
again a convict, and their cousin Thomas Pithouse was also living in the region
with his wife and four children, in a wooden finished house and working in agriculture.
Decimus Tarrant and his wife Martha Mann were living in
Kurrajong at one point, so perhaps they were a couple in one of the households.
The end
After the 1841 census, Lewis again disappears from formal
records until his death in 1857. His death is recorded at Windsor as pauper Louis
Tarrant on 23 July 1857. He was buried the next day in an unmarked grave at the
St Matthews Anglican church cemetery. His death certificate indicates that he
was 70, but if we refer back to his baptism and convict records, he was
actually only 65, but perhaps the years wore hard on Lewis.
At the time of his death, Lewis was alone. He died at the
Windsor Benevolent Asylum, and details of his wife and children are not listed
on the death certificate. His death was reported by Mr Timothy Paul, the
superintendent of the asylum. Further corroboration that he was alone is that
his youngest son Decimus had drowned at the age of eight a couple of months
earlier near Wollombi, around 150 kilometres north west of Windsor. His wife
Jane was still living in that area with her daughter Elizabeth when she died
eight years later.
It seems rather sad that Lewis was recorded as a pauper at
both his baptism and death.
At the time of his death his estranged wife Jane, was aged
48, his son Lewis was 18, Thomas was 16 and his daughters Mary, 13 and
Elizabeth, 10. His daughter Esther had died just after birth, and his son
Decimus had died earlier that year.
Lewis Tarrant's
daughter Mary went on to become the partner and wife of Sydney Packer, a son of
convicts who was born at Freeman's Reach on the Hawkesbury, and went on to farm
at the Bullridge in Kurrajong. Mary and Daniel's son, Daniel Sydney Packer,
married Alvina Everingham, an Aboriginal woman who was also descended from a
First Fleet convict Matthew Everingham. Their eldest daughter Ruby is the great
great grandmother of my partner.
Whether or not Lewis, a sailor and labourer from Wiltshire,
decided with his brothers and cousin to steal some chickens in order to be
transported to Australia and make a life we can never be sure. However, his
conviction, and transportation, and sufferings as a convict have resulted in an
extensive family spread throughout Australia, and to other parts of the world.
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