Thomas Clarkson - RURAL INTERESTS
From 1 April 1812, Thomas was looking towards the
farming areas of the
colony. There was money to be made in letting small farms and with the
purchase of 30 acres at Mulgrave Place Thomas became a rural landlord.
This farm cost him £100 and was part of a 70 acre property
originally granted to Henry Lamb by Governor King and was known as
"Lamb's Farm".(1) Link
for image of Transfer
The remaining 40 acres of Lamb's Farm had been
conveyed to one John
Jones sometime previous to this. The very next day Thomas acquired,
from Jones, these same 40 acres. The total outlay here was
£200/10/-, quite a substantial sum of money.(2)
In December 1817, Thomas gave James Fitzpatrick,
formally, the lease of
the 40 acre portion of Lamb's Farm which he was already occupying at
that time. This was for a term of 7 years and since the date of
commencing the term was left blank, we wonder if perhaps James had been
tending the land there for some time previous to the contract being
drawn up. This time Hugh Crabtree was the witness.(3)
Despite the problems suffered by the Hawkesbury
during times of flood,
it was by far the best wheat producing area in Sydney at that time.
On 31 August 1813 Hugh Crabtree of that district,
mortgaged his crops
of wheat and maize growing on a farm which he rented from Ann Whalen,
together with his horse, cart and harness to Thomas Clarkson for the
sum of £200. He had until 1 January 1814 to settle the debt or
the goods would go to auction. He rented back his horse, cart and
harness for 10/- sterling per week for five months. The mortgage
included 12 acres of wheat and 8 acres of maize.(4)
A memorandum of agreement dated 3 September 1813
shows the intention of
Hugh Kelly of Sydney to supply and deliver to Thomas Clarkson's house
in Sydney, 80 bushells of wheat for the sum of 20/- per bushell, "for
the true performance of which each finds himself to the other in the
sum of £10/-/-".(5) The price Thomas paid for the wheat indicates
a fairly true assignment and not just a cheap purchase, as wheat, as of
October 1813, was 20/10d per bushell. Other goods ere selling at the
following prices;(6)
Maize
13/- per bushell
Potatoes 19/6 per
cwt
Fowls
7/- a pair
Eggs
2/6 per dozen
Thomas's bakery would have need of wheat supplies
and this assignment
indicates he had facilities to store at least 80 bushells at one given
time.
Thomas acquired half a farm situate in the district
of Wilberforce
which had been originally granted to Charles Watson by Governor Hunter.
It was known as Watson's Farm and on 21 January 1814 Thomas transferred
these thirty seven and a half acres to George Hall of Pitt Town. This
deal was witnessed by George Jubb and Henry Fleming.(7)
Two years earlier the same Mr Fleming had had an
unfortunate experience
while travelling at night along Parramatta Road. He'd had "stolen from
his person" a silver watch and a glazed waterproof hat and was relieved
of a chest of green tea recently purchased in Sydney. The incident was
reported in the Sydney Gazette of 17 October 1812 along with an offer
of £10, put up by Thomas Clarkson of Hunter Street and Mr George
Hall settler of the Hawkesbury, for information leading to the arrest
of the guilty party.(8) It appears that Mr Hall and Mr Fleming were old
friends of Mr Clarkson.
Owen Tierney of Richmond Hill sold divers allotments
of land and
amounts of crops to Thomas Clarkson for £625 sterling on 17
February 1814.(9) Only the previous day he had leased a farm of 26
acres and an allotment of land in the town of Richmond, to Thomas, for
5/- sterling, for Thomas's tenure for one year.(10) As the records
available for this transaction are very brief, it is hard to know
whether Thomas was intending to buy him out or if Tierney owed him
money and Thomas was assuming possession as a result of this.
An indent dated 8 July 1814 between Thomas and Hugh
Crabtree is not so
hard to understand. For £75, Crabtree sold his right and title to
30 acres of land called "Wheeler's Farm" situate at Catye Creek, (sic)
Pitt Town, on the Hawkesbury to Clarkson.(11) It would seem that
Crabtree remained on the farm, perhaps in the role of tenant.
This note inserted in the Sydney Gazette 1 April
1815,(12) serves to
illustrate the popularity of the promissory method of payment in the
colony at the time.
Lost
at Wheeler's Farm near Catye Creek, Pitt Town, a seal skin pouch
containing a note of hand drawn by Thomas Clarkson, to bearer, on
demand for £25 currency; an order payable to Sam. Meredin, on
demand, drawn by Thomas Clarkson, dated 25 September 1814 for
£4/7/3.
Another note was dated 25 December for £4/1/10
1/2 and another
dated 12 February 1815 for £2, together with other notes drawn by
Wm. Beans, G. Blaxell and G. Crossley. Anyone who could return these
notes to the owner Sam. Meredin was offered a reward of £10. The
notes were stopped with the drawers and would be of no use to anyone
else.
A muster of the inhabitants of the colony was tabled
in 1814 and the
Clarkson family was logged as follows:(13)
Thomas
Clarkson Alexander 2, free, publican off stores.
Catherine . Alexander 2, free, 5
children, off stores, wife of Thomas
Clarkson.
Richard, Alexander 2, T of L Tinman.
The only other Clarkson listed was;
James, Admiral Gambier, Ticket of
Leave, Baker.
James Clarkson, was convicted in London in 1807 and
in 1828 was free
and was working for G. Saunters as a baker in Argyle Street.
James was living with Ann Eaton who arrived on the
"Canada", A marriage
was impossible as James had a wife and family back home in England.(14)
On 20 March 1815, at Sydney, a baby girl was born to
Thomas and
Catherine. They named her Ann, and a year later she was baptised at St
Phillips Church, Sydney. (15)
A week and a half later on 1 April, Thomas' licence
for the keeping of
a public house and selling of spirits, wines or beer was renewed. The
list published in the Sydney Gazette contained the licencees for the
current year and Thomas' name was among them. The names of some of his
associates were also included, all involved in a common trade ----
William Roberts, Andrew Frazer, John Lawrie, Jane Muckle, Thomas
Boulton, Charles Pickering, and at Windsor: Charles Beasley. They were
all made aware of the conditions of their licences by the following:(16)
Publicans
are reminded of the penalties attached to the keeping of
irregular or disorderly houses and that no House of entertainment is to
be kept open after the hour of 9 at night, nor is anyone to be suffered
to remain in them, drinking after that hour, otherwise Publicans will
be considered as keeping irregular and disorderly houses and Will not
only be deprived of their licences but dealt with in other respects
according to the law.
By Command of His Excellency
The Governor.
On 22 August 1815 Thomas Clarkson brought suit
against Richard Barnes,
a settler at Windsor, to recover a debt of £46/10/- sterling
owing to him. Judgement was handed down in favour of Thomas and under a
writ of Fiere Facias the sheriff was ordered to put Barnes' possessions
up for auction. This was carried out on 7 October 1815 at Thompson's
Square, Windsor.(17)
Barnes was in possession of a farm consisting of 15
acres, situate in
the district of Wilberforce. It was described as "half a moiety" of a
farm and was being rented by Barnes (in right of his wife Mary Barnes)
for 7 years at £25 per year for the term of his wife's life. The
farm was known as Whitton's Farm.(18)
William Gore, the Provost Marshall, offered the
property up for bid and
from among several participants, the successful bidder was Thomas
Clarkson who purchased the farm for £42 sterling. The farm
carried a proviso that the assignment of tenure was only good, for and
during, the natural life of Mary Barnes, a proviso pertinent to Barnes
also, while the farm had been in his hands. The very next day Thomas
installed George Louther of Wilberforce as tenant on Whitton's Farm
"yielding and paying the yearly rent a £25" for seven years
"provided the life of the said Mary Barnes continued". Executed in the
presence of William Fleming and Thos. Prosser.(19)
In 1821 this life interest in Whitton's Farm was
still in Thomas
Clarkson's possession.
On 1 April 1815 the news reached the colony of the
death of Vice
Admiral ARTHUR PHILLIP who had died at Bath, Eng, 31 August 1814, he
was aged 77 years. To quote the Sydney Gazette that carried the
announcement that day in April:(20)
To
this gentleman, the colony of NSW owes its original establishment in
1788: and in taking a retrospect of the arduous duties of such an
undertaking, the many difficulties he had to struggle with, and the
perils to which he was exposed, it will only be rendering a just
tribute to his memory to remark that Governor Phillip manifested during
the period of his administration much fortitude, zeal and integrity;
and that to the wisdom of his early regulations and indefatigable
exertions, the flourishing state of the settlement bears most honorable
and able testimony
Thus did the colony of NSW, now in its 27th year pay tribute to its
founder on his passing.
Page last updated - 7 July
2006