William Moore

105

Denis Pember on 1st March 2017

Sainty & Johnson; 1828 Census of New South Wales: Page 272….. [Ref M2830] Moore, William, 45, free by servitude, Royal Admiral, 1800, 7 years, Protestant, constable, district, Castle Hill. 50 acres, 40 cleared, 4 cultivated. [Ref M2831] Moore, Eleanor, 40, free by servitude, Minstrel, 1812, 7 years. [Ref M2832] Moore, William (Jun), 14, born in the colony. [Ref M2833] Moore, Samuel, 13, born in the colony. [Ref M2834] Moore, James, 10, born in the colony. [Ref M2835] Moore, Elizabeth, 7, born in the colony. [Ref M2836] Moore, Eleanor (Jun), 2, born in the colony. [Ref M2837] Moore, Mary, 2, born in the colony.

221

D Wong on 28th April 2014

From the research of Shirley Sanderson: WILLIAM was born on the 5th December in about 1783 in Leicestershire, England. At an early age - during his teens - he would have been amongst those who travelled to the London area to seek employment. At the time of his arrest he was working as a labourer in the Parish of Hampstead, Middlesex. He was arrested for ‘simple grand larceny’. Following is an entry in the Sessions Rolls in the Sessions of Delivery of the Gaol of Newgate in the County of Middlesex, which proceedings were held at the Old Bailey. William’s trial was held on April 18th 1798. ‘William Moore, late of the Parish of Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, labourer, on the eighteenth day of March in the thirty sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, King of Great Britain, with force and arms at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid, one linen shirt of the value of five shillings, and one pair of worsted stockings, value two shillings and sixpence, of the goods and chattels of George Davies, then and there being found, feloniously did steal, take and carry away against the peace of our Lord the King, his Crown and dignity’ He was a young lad of seventeen years. William must have been quite happy in his employment as he only applied for a Ticket of Leave five years after his sentence had expired. The entry in ‘The Book of Pardons’ reads: ‘William Moore, tried London, April 1798, 7 years, Royal Admiral, November 1800, time expired 1805. Certificate given 24.3.1810 (Renewed 15.9.1823 vide no. 226/109), that having been returned mutilated and torn up’. His description at that time was five feet two inches, sallow, hazel eyes, iron grey hair, from Leicestershire. He was still in his twenties. We can imagine that after a few more years and as a free settler William was sufficiently established to marry and start a family and on the 12th April 1813 William Moore married ELEANOR WISE and they had 6 children. William had applied for a land grant and in 1819 he took possession of fifty acres of land on the Old Northern Road, Castle Hill, which he named ‘The Center’. He built a home on this land and called it ‘Oakhill’. The property is now a prestigious property occupied by Oakhill Catholic College on Old Northern Road, Castle Hill. In 1825 William was appointed as a constable for the Districts of Pennant and Castle Hills by the command of His Excellency F. Goulburn, Colonial Secretary. There is record of a case in which Constable William Moore acted and gave evidence in Court. This was the Fuller murder case. ‘The Sydney Gazette’ reported that ‘Constable William Moore was a witness in the trial of James Kelly for the murder of Thomas Fuller’. ‘James Kelly was charged with Fuller’s murder in February 1829. Kelly had suffered the loss of some household items at his farm which was probably on the line of the modern Galston Road. Kelly went to Grady’s house and borrowed a gun. He tracked Fuller in the company of thirteen-years-old Joseph Handle who gave evidence at the trial: ‘I went with the prisoner (Kelly) eight miles around the rocks searching for bushrangers. At last we came to a rock where we saw a man coming out upon his hands and knees. He said: ‘For God’s sake don’t shoot me and I’ll give myself up’. Before the words were out of his mouth, the prisoner at the Bar shot him. The gun had been already loaded. Prisoner shot the man on one side and he fell down and I and the prisoner ran off to Thomas Best’s Farm. Under the same rock I saw a basin and a tin pot which the prisoner stated he had lost.’ Constable William Moore of Castle Hill also gave evidence: ‘The deceased was a prisoner at large. He had run away from an iron gang and I had endeavoured to apprehend him’. One of the witnesses for the defence Mr. Bryan McMahon stated: ‘I know that the deceased was a runaway from an iron gang and had committed frequent robberies which caused him to take to the bush. The name of the deceased was Thomas Fuller’. Kelly was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to seven years hard labour in chains at Moreton Bay.’ From: ‘Pioneers of Hornsby Shire’ by the Hornsby Historical Society. By 1831, now nearly fifty years of age, William retired as a constable and no doubt continued farming, cultivating his land and enjoying his family. William Moore senior died on Christmas Day 1842. In his will made on 25th April 1834, William left everything for Eleanor’s use and benefit - upon her death the property to go to his three sons as set out in his will. Eleanor Moore (nee Wise)outlived William by nearly twenty years. She died on the 30th June 1862 in her seventies.