Silvester Lush

75

iain Frazier on 22nd December 2024

Family connections for Sylvester (Lush) are: LUSH Si/ylvester (Lush) was born about 1772 at Gillingham Dorsetshire & baptised on 20 3 1772. He married a person who remained in UK after his sentence. He was a labourer at Cuckleton near Wincanto Somersetshire when tried w/1other for stealing sheep of Edwin (Hawkins) of Gilingham at Dorchester Dorset Spring Assizes, sentenced to death reprieved to Life, held in the county gaol with employment in making hats until displaying disorderly behaviour & transferred to hulk CAPTIVITY at Portsmouth & arrived at Port Phillip (now Victoria) as a convict on 4 10 1803 after a voyage of 7+months on HMS CALCUTTA (an expedition that settled in Tasmania)-; he would have camped at what is now Sorrento/Sullivans Bay; he was 5'7" fair complexion brown hair hazel eyes prominent bruise under jaw near left ear literate. This expedition rejected Port Phillip for a settlement at this time & he was probably moved to Risdon Derwent Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) on 27 1 1804 (arriving on 15 2 1804) on OCEAN or HMS LADY NELSON or leaving on 24 3 1804 (arriving on 25 6 1804) on OCEAN. On 4 12 1806 he was charged with stealing sheep of John (Downes of New Town & was placed on ESTRAMINA bound for Sydney (for trial) from where he is known to have absconded & perhaps escaped punishment. He was an emancipist when he married secondly Ann (Burrows age12) on 8/28 12 1812 at St Davids CofE Hobart. He was recorded as off stores at Hobart Town on 2 10 1818. He was Free by Servitude by 1812, was issued his Conditional Pardon in January 1814 & acquired 30acres at Black Snake Glenorchy. He also subscribed to the Auxiliary Bible Society; he attempted to educate his children. A Silvester (Lush convicted Hereford 1802) is recorded on stores on 2 10 1818 at Hobart Town. In February 1822 he was charged with assaulting & beating his wife & bound to keep the peace; he took legal action against John (Vale) for harbouring his wife; he transferred his farm to her. In June 1824 he was found guilty at Supreme Court of Criminal Jurisdiction Hobart of receiving 36ewes of William (Walkingshaw) & sentenced to 14years at Macquarie Harbour; as a result of petitioning by his wife he was returned & assigned to her in 1829. He received his Ticket of Leave in 1832 & Absolute Pardon sometime later. He died on 15 7 1839 age67/74 father of 5known children & was buried at St Davids CofE Hobart. [Some details taken from this Website] Ann (Cole/Burrows) was born on 8 5 1800 on Norfolk Island & baptised on 10 4 1803 age2 w/Richard & John & hsi.Maria (Tucker) on Norfolk Island. She was recorded as off stores in February 1805. She went to Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) with her parents on 3 9 1808 as part of the first evacuation on CITY OF EDINBURGH, arriving on 3 10 1808; to 40acres at New Town/Glenorchy. She was recorded as off stores with 2children at Hobart Town on 2 10 1818. She received mistreatment from her husband, as a result of which she received the family farm from him-which was later confiscated to pay mortgage debts & perhaps sold to John (Veale).>>> Details of Ann (Burrows)s family are given in entry for Richard Cornelius (Burrows NEPTUNE? 1790) on this Website. Silvester (Lush) & Ann (Burrows) produced perhaps 5children: 1.William (Lush) was born in 1813. He was recorded as off stores with his mother at Hobart Town on 2 10 1818. He died in 1838 age about35. 2.Sarah (Lush) was born on 31 7 1814 & baptised on 27 8 1814 at St Davids CofE Hobart. She received education, perhaps in Hobart. She was recorded as off stores with her mother at Hobart Town on 2 10 1818. She was taken by her mother to her relationship with John (Veale) in 1822. She married John/James (Fisk his second marriage) on 14 10 1834 at Hobart & produced 6children. The family moved to Flemington then Yea Victoria. She died on 14 2 1878 age63 at Yea Victoria. ..James/John (Fisk) son of John (Fisk) & Elizabeth (Barrett) was born on 10 3 1794 at Norwich Norfolkshire & became a blacksmith. He became a soldier & served at Waterloo about 1815. He married & produced 1child, both apparantly remaining in Norwich when he left. He was tried w/3others for housebreaking & stealing articles, on 19 11 1821, of John (Allured) of Pulham at Norfolk Assizes in March 1822, sentenced to 14years & arrived in Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) as a convict on 6 11 1822 after a voyage of 4months on ARAB; he was 5'9" dark complexion brown hair hazel eyes scar on left wrist. He was issued his Ticket of Leave in 1832. He died on 27 11 1877 age83 & was buried at Yea cemetery Victoria. .. 3.Amy (Lush) did not receive education as too distant from the school. 4.??? (Lush) died young. 5.??? (Lush) was born in 1830 or 1832. She died in 1830 or 1833. She was later described as 'convicts child from Female Factory' raising possibilities of being admitted, or retrieval of Amy or adoption. References: 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. Irene Schaffer & Thelma McKay 'Exiled Three Times Over! Profiles of Norfolk Islanders Exiled in Van Diemens Land 1807-1813' James Hugh Donohoe 'Norfolk Island 1788-1813-The People and Their Families' Reg Wright 'Forgotten Generation of Norfolk Island & Van Diemens Land'

20

Rachel Loosemore on 4th November 2013

Silvester was born in Gillingham, Dorset in 1772 and baptised there on 20 March 1772 (he was from Cuckleton, near Wincanton, Somerset at the time of his crime). Silvester left England on the "Calcutta" on 26 April 1803. Silvester arrived at Port Phillip in Victoria, on 9 October 1803. The "Calcutta" then sailed to Hobart in Van Diemen's Land, and arrived May 1804, founding the first settlement in Tasmania. From "Convicts Unbound" by Marjorie Tipping, Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 1988: (pages 291-292) "LUSH, Sylvester [c.1774 - 1839] Labourer, aged 28, of Cuckleton, near Wincanton, Somerset, married, 5'7", brown hair, fair complexion, hazel eyes, lusty, old bruise on the left side under the jaw near ear. Literate. Tried at Dorset Spring Assizes (Dorchester G.D.) 18 March 1802 for stealing sheep, together with James Ware, from Edward Hawkins of Gillingham, yeoman. Sentenced to death by Justice Sir Simon Le Blanc. Reprieved and sentenced to transportation for life. Gaoled at county gaol, Dorchester and employed at hat-making. Behaviour there somewhat disorderly. Transferred to the Captivity hulk at Portsmouth. His wife did not accompany him. Lush attended the Hobart musters in 1811, 1819, 1823, a Macquarie Harbour convict muster in 1825 and Hobart convict muster in 1833. He had received a conditional pardon in January 1814 and absolute pardon soon afterwards, but was in further trouble in 1824. He received a 30-acre land grant from Gov. Macquarie at Glenorchy adjoining the farms of Austin (qv) and Earle (qv) and was growing varied crops in 1819. He had acquired four mares, 50 ewes and employed a government servant. He supplied wheat to the Commissariat and subscribed to the Bible Society. Early in his career in Hobart he had appeared before the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction in Sydney on a charge of stealing one wether sheep from John Downes at New Town on 4 December 1806. He was sent in the Estramina but absconded and there appears to be no record of any punishment. On his return to Hobart he kept out of trouble for many years. On 8 December 1812, in Hobart, he married Ann Burrows, a 12 year old daughter of Elizabeth Cole (and Richard Burrows) from Norfolk Is. They had at least four daughters, two of whom might have died before 1824 when they indicated a wish to educate two younger ones who both know their letters. In February 1822 Lush was charged with assaulting and beating up his wife. He was bound to keep the peace on bonds of 50 pounds and two of 25 pounds. He transferred the farm to her name and she left him later in the year to live with John Vale [Veil], an assigned servant. In June 1824 he was charged with having received 36 ewes (value 36 pounds) knowing them to have been stolen from William Walkingshaw and received a sentence of fourteen years at Macquare Harbour. A repentant Ann Lush petitioned for his return which was effected in 1829 when a report on his good conduct allowed him to return to Hobart assigned to his wife. In the meantime the property had been sold by the Sheriff Beaumont under an execution for private debt. He received a ticket of leave in 1832. Buried 17 July 1839, St David's, Hobart, a free settler, aged 74 [?]." (pages 164-165) "One 'Calcutta' man who had to spend some time at Macquarie Harbour was Sylvester Lush who seems to have escaped punishment when sent to Sydney many years before for sheep stealing. After his marriage all appeared to go well for him. He had received a conditional pardon in 1814 and acquired a thirty-acre land grant at Glenorchy. He was able to provide the Commissariat with wheat and also grazed sheep. With his neighbours, Austin & Earle, he had to caution trespassers against grazing sheep and cattle on their farms. He had two daughters and in 1820 was prepared to pay 20 pounds towards education expenses for the older one [ie. Sarah] but thought the school too far away to send the younger one [ie. Ann]. He regularly subscribed to the Auxilliary Bible Society. As a good and lawful man he gave evidence at the inquests on Hugh Gourlay in 1822 and on John Street in 1824. However, in February 1822 Lush was charged with assault and beating up his wife. He was ordered to keep the peace with bonds amounting to 100 pounds. Later in the year he took action before Humphrey when the hapless Ann Lush 'absconded without provocation' taking with her their six-year-old daughter [ie. Sarah], to live with John Vale, an assigned servant to George Evans, deputy surveyor. Vale 'hath harboured, succoured and maintained his wife and child contrary to his wishes, to his affections and to his great injury and loss in his domestic concerns and family treatment...'. It was therefore no surprise to learn that Lush went to pieces and returned to crime. This time he received thirty-six ewes valued at 36 pounds knowing them to have been stolen from William Walkingshaw. In June 1824 the Supreme Court of Criminal Jurisdiction found him guilty in one of its earliest trials in Hobart. He received a sentence of transportation for fourteen years at Macquarie Harbour. A penitent Ann Lush petitioned the Governor for release of the property from mortgage: 'words cannot utter, tongue cannot express a wife without a husband, children without a protector exposed to the utmost calamity...'. She claimed that the government had seized farms at the Black Snake and sold them for less than they were worth - 155 pounds 5 shillings for the property and produce. The Crown insisted that the amount paid was to cover the mortgage and that Mrs Lush was aware of all the circumstances. The new owner agreed she could have the property on payment of the mortgage, but by 1832 she was still petitioning Governor Arthur who noted that 'the property of her husband was not seized by the Crown but sold by the Sheriff under an execution at suit of an individual named Vale - Government cannot interfere.' Lush arrived at Macquarie Harbour soon after the escape from there of the notorious bushrangers led by Matthew Brady. He would have borne terrible tidings to those who were to become his fellow prisoners. While Lush was awaiting his own sentence Alexander Pearce, the cannibal escapee from Macquarie Harbour, was executed in Hobart. The prospect of entering the remote gaol in the western wilderness must have filled Lush, a literate person who had almost reformed, with horror. Lush served at Macquarie Harbour for five years during which he was 'very well conducted', twice seeking indulgence for restoration of his ticket-of-leave. He was eventually assigned to his wife and it was granted in 1832. Soon afterwards he received a full pardon, although a newly born daughter who died the following year, was described as 'a convict's child - from the factory'. Another daughter, Sarah, gave birth to an illegitimate son [ie. John Fisk] at New Norfolk also in the same year. Lush himself died at Hobart in 1839. He was buried at St David's on 17 July, aged 74, and died a free man, described as a settler." * * * From the Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser, Saturday, 14 September 1822:- "At a full Bench of Magistrates, held on Saturday last, the Deputy Judge Advocate presiding... Sylvester Lush was ordered to find security to keep the peace, and be of good behaviour; himself in £50, and two sureties in £25 each, being charged with assaulting & beating Ann Lush, his wife." * * * Other sources: (1) General Musters of New South Wales, Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land - 1811 (2) Archives Office of NSW. Colonial Secretary: Register of Conditional Pardons, 1791-1825 (3) The Tasmanian and Mainland Australian Descendants of John Blacklow 1st, 1782-1812" by Barry Blacklow (4) 1803 Settlement of Port Phillip, Launceston Advertiser, August 1829 [http://www.genseek.net/1803.htm] (5) "Decisions of the Nineteenth Century Tasmanian Superior Courts" [http://www.law.mq.edu.au/sctas/html/r_v_butler_and_evans__1824.htm] (6) Tasmanian BDM Index & Convict Records (microfilm) (7) Parish of Gillingham, Baptisms 1750-1774 [http://www.dorset-opc.com/GillinghamBaps5.htm] (8) Tasmania's Heritage - Index to Convicts [http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?search=11] (9) Tasmanian marriage record (original) - marriage to Ann Burrows, 28 December 1812 [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-35347-1016-10?cc=2125029&wc=M93C-9CN:538932062] (10) UK, Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849 (11) Dorset, England, Dorchester Prison Admission and Discharge Registers, 1782-1901 (Ancestry.com.au) (12) Australian Convict Index (Ancestry.com.au) (13) The Pioneers of Hobart Town - The Mercury newspaper, Monday 9 August 2004 [http://www.mercurynie.com.au/resources/tasmania 200/august.htm] (14) Index to Convict Pardons - NSW State Records [http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/searchhits.aspx?table=Index to Convict Pardons&id=21&frm=1&query=Surname:Lush]