Mathew Hughes

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iain Frazier on 3rd December 2023

Family connections for Mathew (Hughes) are: HUGHES Mat/thew (Hughes) was born at Castlepollard town Westmeath co. Ireland about 1770 & became a soldier. He became a private then corporal with Westmeath militia, with whom he fought at Loughbrickland co.Down. He was tried for murder of civilians at Down Ireland, sentenced to Life & arrived in NSW as a convict on 27 5 1797 after a voyage of 5.5months on BRITANNIA; he was Methodist. He became a schoolteacher in his slab home at Kissing Point from 1799 to 1810. He was issued his Conditional Pardon in 1802. He was an emancipist when he married Mary (Small) on 17 8 1808 & again on 12 3 1810 at St Johns CofE Parramatta-possibly upon doubt of legality of first marriage. He moved to Charity School at Windsor; then to Richmond (close to St Anns Ryde) as master from 1813 to 1841. He was granted 65acres. He was a member of the Committee of Emancipated Colonists. He died on 25 12 1845 age75 at his Ricmond home & was buried at St Peters CofE Richmomd. Some details taken from this Website. Mary (Small) was born on 13 12 1791 & baptised on 26 12 1791 at St Phillips CofE Sydney. She died on 27 11 1879 age88. Details of Mary (Small)s family are given in entry for Mary (Loveridge ROYAL ADMIRAL 1792) on this Website. Mary (Small) & Mathew (Hughes) produced 14children: many girls 1.Susannah (Hughes) was born on 18 4 1809 & baptised on 31 5 1810 at St Johns CofE Parramatta. She died on 20 6 1907 age98. 2.Margaret (Hughes) was born on 27 3 1812 & was baptised on 3 7 1812 at St Matthews CofE Windsor. She died on 31 10 1862 age50. 3.Ann (Hughes) was born on 27 5 1814 & baptised on 5 10 1816 age2 at St Phillips CofE Sydney. She died on 15 11 1902 age88. 4.Robert (Hughes) was born on 6 7 1816. He died on 4 10 1818 age2. 5.Mary (Hughes) was born on 1 7 1818 & baptised on 6 10 1818 at St Peters CofE Richmond. She died on 23 4 1902 age83. 6.James (Hughes) was born on 13 6 1820 & baptised on 6 5 1821 at St Peters CofE Richmond. He died on 10 4 1886 age65. 7.Matthew Henry (Hughes) was born on 10 6 1822 & baptised on 22 12 1822 at St Peters CofE Richmond. He died on 17 12 1905 age83. 8.Thomas Hassall (Hughes) was born on 2 11 1824 & baptised on 18 12 1825 age13m at St Peters CofE Richmond. He died on 16 7 1908 age83. 9.Elizabeth Hancox (Hughes) was born on 16 12 1826 & baptised on 14 1 1827 at St Peters CofE Richmond. She died on 3 12 1855 age29-. 10.Eliza Rebecca (Hughes) was born on 1 11 1828 & baptised on 17 5 1829 at St Peters CofE Richmond. He died on 1 5 1921 age92. 11.Martha (Hughes) was born on 25 10 1820 & baptised on 5 12 1830 at St Peters CofE Richmond. 12.-14.??? (Hughes) REFERENCE Craig James Smee 'Births and Baptisms Marriages and Defacto Relationships Deaths and Burials New South Wales 1788-1830' ..a complete listing from church & other records in the early colony.

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Natalie Lonsdale on 28th January 2022

Matthew Hughes arrived in the colony as a convict aboard the convict transport Britannia in 1796. He was born in Ireland in c.1770. He was appointed as the first teacher at Kissing Point 1799-1810. From there he went to Windsor then to Richmond during the period 1813 until at least 1841. Hughes had been a corporal in the militia in Ireland, where he was involved in a fight with civilians after which he was convicted and transported in 1796. One source claims that Hughes “and his men were culpable for a man’s death in a skirmish”. He was convicted in County Down with a life sentence. He received a conditional pardon in 1802 and an absolute pardon in January 1818. In 1808 he married Mary Small (born 1791, daughter of John Small and Mary Parker, both First Fleet convicts) at Parramatta. McGuanne states that Matthew Hughes’ school was situated “close to where St. Ann’s Church now stands at Ryde”. McGuanne goes on: “Prior to 1810 when Hughes and his wife were on the Government Stores, parents paid fourpence per week for each child, and this in barter. A slab hut served as a school, with a stretch of canvas hung from the middle rafter to the floor, so as to separate the children of the employer from those of the employee.” In 1810 Hughes was appointed to Governor Macquarie’s new Charity School at Windsor where he taught until 1813 when he was transferred to Richmond school. At Windsor he was paid 60 pounds per annum. He was given a land grant of 65 acres. Hughes died in 1845 and is buried in St. Peter’s Richmond churchyard. He continued to teach at Richmond until at least 1841. During his time in the colony he was regarded by all as an excellent citizen, but a strict teacher. He was a staunch Methodist and was, in his later years a member of the Committee of the Emancipated Colonists. What level of education might Hughes have attained to have been approved as a teacher prior to his pardon in 1802? As a non-commissioned officer in the British army at the time of his conviction to transportation, it would have been usual for him to have achieved at least the equivalent of a successful completion of five or six years of elementary school, and perhaps, one of two years of secondary level education. However there does not appear to be any evidence of him having attended a grammar school. Burkhardt, G. 2015. Convict and emancipist teachers. Dictionary of Educational History in Australia and New Zealand (DEHANZ), 16 July. Available: http//dehanz.net.au

221

D Wong on 8th September 2019

Mathew Hughes was listed as 27 years old on arrival. Native Place: Castlepollard Town, Westmeath County. Matthew Hughes was a private in the Westmeath Militia, Ireland. He was in charge of a small unit of soldiers during a skirmish in the village of Loughbrickland in County Down. They fired upon some of the villagers, killing several. Hughes was tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to life transportation. 17/10/1808 and 12/3/1810: Married Mary Small at St Johns, Parramatta, (seems they had two marriages, as there were no ordained minister available, marriages, baptisms and burials were carried out by a public servant. Two years later Mary and Matthew married for a second time at the same church by the Rev. Fulton. They had 14 children. (Mary Small was the daughter of first fleet convicts John Small and Mary Parker). Mathew became a schoolteacher at Richmond. 31/12/1845 Sydney Morning Herald: At his late residence, Richmond, on Thursday, the 25th instant, Mr. Matthew Hughes, aged 75 years, after a short but severe illness of six days, borne with Christian fortitude. Mr. H. was one of the first appointed to train and educate the minds of the youth of this rising colony, and continued to perform the honourable and responsible duties of parochial schoolmaster for upwards of 45 years, with zeal, unwearied diligence, and ability, rarely to be met with. Mr. Hughes has left a large family, and an extensive circle of friends and neighbours to lament his death,—but with a well grounded hope that their temporal loss is his eternal gain.