James Lonsdale

45

JD Stubbs on 19th July 2025

James was born in 1816 in Lambeth, London, England, to Joseph Lonsdale and Sarah Cuxey. Working as a cheesemonger's boy in Surrey, England, 18-year-old James Lonsdale was convicted for pickpocketing in the Surrey Quarter Sessions on 21 July 1843 and sentenced to seven years transportation. He was one of 284 male convicts sent to New South Wales aboard the 535 ton Lady Nugent which departed Sheerness, Kent, on 3 December 1834 and arrived in Port Jackson on 9 April 1835. It was a of 126-day journey under the command of Master Joseph Henry Fawcett and Surgeon Oliver Sproule. Upon his arrival in New South Wales, James Lonsdale was assigned to Mr D. McLeod in Cabramatta, and later in Queanbeyan. He was described as single, a protestant and able to read and write. He was about 5ft 2 inch tall, with dark hair and eyes brown to hazel grey. He had a slight scar on the left side of his forehead, one on the middle finger of the right hand and another on the left hand; there was a mole on the back of the lower left arm. James obtained his ticket of leave on 9 January 1841 and ordered to remain in Queanbeyan until he gained his conditional pardon on 15 December 1841. He chose to move north to West Maitland to settle near his brother, and former convict, George Lonsdale. George was convicted of burglary/house robbing in the Middlesex Quarter Session on 17 February 1831. He received a life sentence and was transported aboard the Surrey on 15 July 1831 and arrived in New South Wales on 26 November 1831. James Lonsdale married Irish immigrant Elizabeth Paschell on 5 September 1853 in Maitland, New South Wales, with whom he had two children: Sarah Jane born on 19 May 1855 and died on 7 December 1856, and James John born on 29 May 1856. Wexford-born Eliza Lonsdale died on 5 June 1856 in West Maitland, after giving birth to their second child James John. Elizabeth Paschell was the half sister of Mary Harding, the wife of George Lonsdale (James’ brother). After Elizabeth’s death, James remarried to Catherine Johnson on 3 February 1859 in Morpeth. Catherine Johnson was born on 19 October 1836 in Narrowgut, Morpeth. James and Catherine Lonsdale had six children: William Henry born on 19 January 1860 in Maitland and died in 1933 in Goulburn, New South Wales; Mary Jane born on 4 June 1863 in Maitland and died on 26 February 1949 in Lidcombe, New South Wales; Alfred Ernest born in 1868 in Maitland and died in 1941 in Paddington, New South Wales; Bertha Alice born in 1869 in Maitland; George born in 1871 in Maitland and died on 25 August 1946 in Laidley, Queensland; and Percival (Percy) Charles born on 2 April 1874 in Maitland and died in 1966 in Wallsend, New South Wales. After his brother's death on 9 November 1863, James Lonsdale took over the licence of the Angel Inn in High Street. It was one of the oldest established hostelries in West Maitland, which George had operated since September 1855, as noted in the Empire on 6 September 1855. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser on 4 July 1863 noted his successful application for a bagatelle license at the Angel Inn. Hotels at this time could either install billiards or bagatelle. In 1869 James became the innkeeper of the Governor Gipps Hotel, on the corner of Abbott Street and Louth Park Road, West Maitland, as noted in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser on 3 July 1869. James Lonsdale died on 22 February 1874 in West Maitland, aged 53 years, from injuries sustained in an attempted suicide on 14 November 1873, as reported in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser on 15 November 1873: “DETERMINED ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE. Yesterday morning a most determined attempt to commit suicide, and which it is feared may terminate fatally, was made by a man named James Lonsdale, landlord of the Governor Gipps Hotel, Louth Park Road, West Maitland. For the last two years Lonsdale has been ailing, his complaint being an affection of the liver. Lately he has exhibited symptoms of melancholia, and has given way to despondency. His friends advised a change of air and scenery for a time, but their advice, although he appeared to have acknowledged the soundness of it, was not followed. Within the past week his health and spirits were noticed to have bean much worse, but the thought of his having any design upon his life was never for a moment entertained by his wife or family. Yesterday morning Mrs. Lonsdale rose about six o'clock, and, finding the bar had not been opened as usual, called and searched for her husband. On going into one of the parlours off the bar she found the unfortunate man sitting on a chair, with his throat cut, and a large quantity of blood on the floor. He had a razor in his hand, covered with blood, with which the rash deed appears to have been committed. Mrs. Lonsdale called to the servant for assistance, and made an effort to take the razor out of the unfortunate man's hand. In this she succeeded, though not without some difficulty, as be clung to it with what strength he had left. The handle of the razor was broken in the struggle, and Mrs. Lonsdale narrowly escaped a cut on the hand. Drs. Morson and Wright attended the sufferer, and found an ugly gash about three inches in length across the centre of the throat. The patient was very weak from loss of blood. The medical gentlemen dressed the wound, and did all that was necessary in the case, and there are hopes that he may yet recover, if well attended and kept quiet, though he lies in a precarious state.” James is buried with his brother, George at Maitland in the church of England Cemetery (Campbells Hill) Sect B3, plot 13-14. Part of Georges name is visible at the top of the headstone. Due to the closeness of George and James, it is suspected that James deliberately got caught committing his crime so that he’d be transported to Australia to reunite with his older brother. After James’ death Catherine Lonsdale continued to run the Governor Gipps Hotel; it was known popularly as Mrs. Lonsdales'. Two years later Catherine Lonsdale married Robert Strang on 20 May 1876 in Wallsend, New South Wales. Robert was born on 15 May 1847 to John and Janet Strang in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. Robert Strang took over as proprietor of the Governor Gipps Hotel, as reported in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser on 20 June 1876. Robert and Catherine Strang had one child, Jeannette Strang born on 23 August 1877. Catherine Strang died four months later on 13 December 1877 in West Maitland, aged 41 years, and was buried in Morpeth Cemetery. Her death was noted in the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser on 22 December 1877.

13

Amy on 19th November 2022

ToL granted in 1840, Conditional Pardon in 1841, after which he moved to Maitland to be close to his older brother George - also a convict and Publican. Married Eliza Paschell in 1853, she died days after birthing their second child in 1856. Married Catherine Johnson in 1859 and had another 6 children with her. Licensee of The Angel Inn through the 1860's, then the Governor Gipps Hotel until his death in 1874, when the license passed to his wife