Mountford Clarkson
Mountford was the fifth surviving child of Thomas
Clarkson and Catherine Rayson.(1) He was born on 15 March 1812 and was
the godchild of the Clarkson's close friends, Richard Harding and his
wife.(2)
When the Hardings left the colony, they gave
Mountford an allotment of land facing Elizabeth Street, adjoining the
rear of the Clarkson' s property, as a token of remembrance.(3)
In his youth, Mountford was apprenticed to Charles
Roberts, a cabinetmaker, of Castlereagh Street. In 1828, Charles
Roberts employed four young apprentices(4) and by 1839 he had upwards
of a dozen employees and was reputed to have the largest workshop in
Sydney.(5) Both Charles Roberts and his wife, Elizabeth, were born in
the colony.(6)
In 1832 Mountford was residing, with his mother, in
Hunter Street and was part of the disputes concerning the ownership of
the property belonging to him and his family.(7) Mountford was given
the spirit licence that year for the Public House, the "Woodman", run
by his mother, Catherine.(8)
On 21 October 1833, at St Phillips Church, Sydney,
he wed Jemima Fisher.(9) Jemima was born in the colony to John and
Jemima Fisher on 24 December 1811.(10)
Jemima was employed as a servant by William Roberts
at his "Royal Arms Inn" on the corner of Castlereagh and Hunter Street.
William and Ann Roberts were the witnesses at the wedding.(11)
Mountford was one of the new generation of "native
youth". These were the children born to the English exiles and
settlers, and these cornstalks, as they were known, were conscious of
their freedom, and their love of the outdoors encouraged the
development of sporting interests.
In 1839 Charles Roberts' cabinetmakers, challenged
any other team of cabinetmakers, who thought they could outrow their
boatcrew of five Australians plus a steersman, to a contest. A similar
challenge was mounted "to play the manly game of cricket".(12) The
outcome of both these events is unknown but indicates the beginnings of
patriotic pride, and competition.
On 1 February 1842, the following announcement
appeared in the Australian.(13)
CHALLENGE
The members of the Australian Cricket
Club beg leave to notify the lovers of the manly game of cricket, that
they are open to play ANY eleven in the colony of NSW, for the sum of
£25 a side. The match, if made, can be concluded instantly, on
application by any gentleman to Mr Rd. Driver, or Mr Mount ford
Clarkson, Elizabeth Street; such a match to come off on
Hyde Park Cricket Ground, Sydney,
within one month from this date. Sydney 3 January 1842. Image of this Challenge
A match was scheduled for 7 March 1842 in Hyde Park
against a Victorian Team. It was played with great enthusiasm and most
of the players disregarded the use of leg wickets, gloves and boots in
most cases. The game proved a dissapointment as the home team were well
and truely beaten.
Not to be discouraged, a rematch was arranged and,
with the added benefit of a little pre-match practice this time, the
tables were turned. Mountford Clarkson was to figure prominently in the
defeat….(14)
The bowling on this side (Australians) was principally by Rowley and R.
Still but in the second innings, Clarkson took the ball and succeeded
in flooring four successive wickets by his effective and insinuating
style of bowling.
It was during this match that round arm bowling was
used for the first time in competitive cricket and this, according to
sources consulted by us, was credited to Robert Still.(15) We wonder if
this was also the "effective and insinuating style of bowling" used by
Clarkson.
In 1840 the "Woodman" was sold and on 22 October,
when their first son, Mountford John was born, the Clarksons were
living in Castlereagh Street and Mountford was engaged in
cabinetmaking.(16)
The depression of the 1840's saw the demise of a
great number of early Sydney cabinetmakers. Mountford's move to the
business of Publican could have been as a result of this trend. On 9
December 1841 he took over the Publican's licence of the "Spread Eagle"
at the corner of Elizabeth and Park Streets, from its previous owner,
William Pullinger.(17) Image - Claim
for Land in Elizabeth
A second son, William Thomas was born to Mountford and Jemima here in
April 1842 (18) and in December of that year Mountford hosted a meeting
of cabinetmakers, called to discuss the downtrend in their trade.(19)
Three more children arrived; Henry in 1843, Sarah in 1845 and Thomas
Frederick in 1846. The birth of their only daughter, Sarah, was
announced in the Sydney Morning Herald.(20)
During the years 1844-45 they were
listed in Low's directory at the Elizabeth Street address.(21)
1842 saw Mountford's name appear in the Sydney
Morning Herald as a supporter of James Holt (the purchaser of the
"Woodman'') George Hill and Thomas Broughton, who had been nominated
for City Councillors for the ward of Macquarie.(22)
After the death of Jemima Clarkson's father, John
Fisher in 1841, Mountford, his wife Jemima, Mary Ann Holt and Sarah
Fisher and the devisees of John's Will, William Roberts and James
White, sold the 45 perches in Clarence Street, which had been the
Fisher family home. John Booth Jones purchased the property for
£1,420.(23)
On 3 February 1850, Jemima Clarkson died suddenly,
at her residence in Elizabeth Street.(24) A Coroner's inquest
attributed her death to apoplexy, apparently brought about by the
violent vomiting she had experienced after partaking "heartily of a
dish to which she was partial and which in her weakly state would be
likely to cause death".(25)
What a sensation this seemingly innocent death was
to cause amongst the inhabitants of Sydney Town!
Rumours began to circulate that perhaps Jemima's
death had been deliberately contrived. This was perhaps sparked by the
fact that just over a month later, Mountford Clarkson married again to
a close friend of the family, Mary Ann Smith.(26)
After Jemima's funeral, Sarah Fisher raised the
suspicion that her sister had been poisoned, and that had set the
wheels of justice into retracing the circumstances of the death. Five
days after the wedding, a warrant was issued for the exhumation of
Jemima's body. (No post mortem had been carried out on the body at the
time of death as it was not deemed necessary by the Coroner at the
time). A jury was impaneled and on the 30 March, both Mountford and
Mary Ann Clarkson were arrested as being accessories to the murder of
Jemima, along with a Mrs Pickering, who was charged likewise
Image of Press Notices
The Clarksons were both charged with wilful murder
and were remanded to the next sitting of the court. Both loudly
protested their innocence. Mrs Pickering, who had been bridesmaid at
their wedding, was arrested "in consequence of some fugitive words
which had escaped her" and which seemed to indicate that she knew more
than she was admitting about the case.(27)
"The case caused much excitement. The room in which
the court sat was crowded to excess and great numbers assembled in the
Street". Jeers were hurled at Mountford and Mary Ann as they were
escorted back to the gaol by carriage. The Coroner, as a result of all
this, cautioned the Jury against listening to any current reports of
the happenings and adjourned the case.(28)
Mary Ann Smith had been the housekeeper of Henry
Canny of Elizabeth Street for 17 years. She had borne him children, of
whom two were living. She and Jemima Clarkson were in the habit of
exchanging delicacies and were well known to one another. George
Bennett, a surgeon, described Jemima as a "gross feeder" and added that
she was "of plethoric habit".
Witnesses were to state that Jemima had dined on
roast pig and apple and peach pie that day, after which she had become
violently ill, vomiting several times, until at 8pm she collapsed and
died. Some were to say that Mountford too, had been ill, after that
same meal. Mr Holroyd, the Clarkson's medical attendant for 5 years,
declared she died from apoplexy and therefore did not order any post
mortem.(29)
John Walker, the Cook, stated Jemima had eaten half
a pound of beefsteaks at 11am and then at 1.30pm she dined on the pig
and pie. She became ill at 2pm and he thought she had taken a dose of
castor oil. He said he had run into Mary Ann Smith in the evening when
she remarked that she was thankful she had sent nothing to Jemima that
day or else she'd be under suspicion of sending "something wrong".
Walker had seen Mary Ann immediately after the wedding and she had said
to him "thank God I am Mrs Clarkson, at last --- this is what I have
been long Iookinq for --- I am mistress of this house". He stated that
Mary Ann and Catherine Pickering had quarrelled the next day and Mrs
Pickering was heard to say "you wretch, you know you told me you
poisoned the woman". Mary Ann then turned her out of the house. Walker
remarked that Catherine Pickering was not sober at the time.
Thomas Cousins, a servant of the Canny's, said Mrs
Canny (Mary Ann Smith) had sent him to the Clarkson's with a piece of
the apple pie that the family were having for dinner, on the very day
that Jemima died. This was doubted by Ann Stanton, who maintained she
never saw him arrive, although she was in the Clarkson's bar all day.
(30)
Catherine Pickering told the court she was a married
woman but lived alone in Dixon Street. She was acquainted with Mary Ann
and Mountford but did not know Jemima. She said Mary Ann had sent for
her on the Tuesday before the wedding. Mary Ann introduced Mountford to
her as "my seducer", and declared she had left Canny, never to return.
Canny had threatened to shoot her with a pistol loaded with buckshot
but Mountford had put the weapon in a bucket of water.(31)
The day after the wedding there was a dinner at
Clarkson's and Pickering had been involved in two rows over young Tom
Rowley. Clarkson evicted her because of it and Mary Ann had struck her
several times and blackened her eye, declaring "she was not
Pickering's wife but his -----; she said now She was Mrs Clarkson she
wanted no ----- in her house; I asked her did she know anything about
plum pudding and poison. She struck me in the eye".(32)
Catherine Pickering claimed that by that remark she
was alluding to hearsay from Mr Canny and not from personal
observations. Mary Ann had also confided in Mrs Pickering that she'd
had a premonition on the day that Jemima died that she would become Mrs
Clarkson before too long.
Mrs Pickering claimed Mary Ann had said that
Mountford would have been a richer man than he was if only Jemima had
not given away his money to her friends, and Mountford was said to have
asked Mary Ann if she would expect him to discard his stockings and
shoes and go out in the rain to clear the gutters.(33) From most
witnesses it was generally accepted that Jemima and Mountford Clarkson
had lived happily together with their family, and the only
dissatisfaction alluded to on Mountford's part was this comment.
What was well known was Catherine Pickering's
drinking habits. She was known to imbibe heavily and at the time of the
quarrel with the Clarksons she admitted she was "in no way drunk,
although not as sober as I an now. I saw a constable outside, who told
me that the best thing I could do would be to go home". She had had a
couple of drinks with Mr Canny, who told her of the "plus pudding and
poison".(34)
Canny on the other hand claimed to have been
constantly drunk since the wedding and remembered nothing of the poison
story and also knew nothing of the pie being sent to Jemima. He
admitted threatening to shoot Mary Ann after accusing her and Mountford
of "improper intercourse", Mountford had denied this was true and the
two men had words and it was then that he got the pistol out.(35)
The most distressing evidence pitted against Mary
Ann came from her own son, Henry Canny Jnr, aged between 13 and 14
years. He supported the fact that Old Tom had delivered a pie to Jemima
that day and he alleged that on another night his mother had served his
father ham, with something like flour on the edge of the plate", after
which his father was taken ill. At this point in the proceedings Mary
Ann exclaimed "My God, is my child going to hang me?" She then fainted,
Mr Norrie declared that sulphate of zinc was found
in the muscle tissue of Jemima's chest, but Arthur A'Beckett, a
surgeon, disagreed. The Coroner decided there was no case against
Clarkson and directed that Mountford be acquitted. Mary Ann, however,
was found guilty of wilful murder.(36)
On both days of the hearing, the court and the
police yard were excessively crowded. No order could be maintained and
several panes of glass were broken in the court house windows. Access
to and from the court was nigh impossible.
Such was the interest and excitement generated by
the public!
On 16 April Mary Ann applied for bail and was
granted it --- admitted with a sum of £200 payable by Mountford
and 3 sureties of £80 and 4 of £60.
Still the fact of the poisoning had not been
established and on 26 April Jemima's body was exhumed a second time and
exhaustive tests carried out in order to finally determine the guilt or
innocence of the female prisoner. The results---
After
the most attentive and careful research, we are convinced that not a
trace of arsenic, zinc, lead, or other metals, excepting iron, had been
in existence.
The Attorney-General announced he was unwilling to
proceed with the charges and Mary Ann was acquitted. (37)
At about this time, Jemima's brother and sister,
Thomas and Sarah Fisher, took charge of the Clarkson children and we
have established that they were to rear at least two of them, namely
Sarah and Thomas, the younger ones. Mountford Clarkson was still listed
as the proprietor of the "Spread Eagle" in 1851 but Mary Ann's fate
from here is unknown to us.(38)
In 1868, when the last of the Clarkson children
reached the age of twenty one, 800 acres of land at Jerikonora Creek
(near Goulburn) which was left in trust in 1846, by William Thompson to
the children, for the purpose of their maintenance and education, was
sold by the surviving benefactors to William Budd of Kiama for
£400. The trustees were Richard Driver, gentleman and Thomas
Fisher, bootmaker. Dated the 24 February it lists Mountford as being at
Lane Cove, but formerly of Sydney, licenced victualler.(39) His eldest
son, Mountford John (or John Mountford) was deceased. He had died in
1862 and had been a wheelwright residing in Palmer Street. (40)
On 15 July 1868, Thomas Frederick Clarkson (son of
Mountford) and bootmaker of Sydney,(41) bought a portion of land
adjoining the land of his Aunt, Sarah Cook, from the Widow of Thomas
Flood, the original grantee of the 24 acres and he leased the land to
his father Mountford, almost immediately.(42)
Family sources recall stories of Mountford walking
from Lane Cove to Sydney with fruit from his orchards to visit his
daughter Sarah Spratt in Buckingham Street, Redfern.
Mountford was to remain on this land until his death
in 1885. The only marriage mentioned on his death certificate was that
to Jemima Fisher.(43) Sarah Spratt was the informant.
Image - Mountford Clarkson
Pedigree Chart
Page last updated - 7
July 2006