John Chapman Morris

341

Maureen Withey on 14th November 2021

HAWKESBURY, April 4. Accounts were received on Thursday of the death of John Chapman Morris and William Green, the former a settler and the latter a carpenter; who were drowned owing to a small boat upsetting in which they were rowing about the River in hopes of discerning some of their own and their neighbours lost property that might have sunk.—Several persons who were spectators of their toil anxiously enquired if they could swim, as no confidence could be placed in their wretched vehicle;—to which, in the event they owed their untimely dissolution. Sydney Gazette, 6 April 1806. -------------------------------------------------- N O T I C E. ALL Persons having any Claims on the Estate and Effects of the late John Chapman Morris, deceased, are requested to present the same to James Squires at Kissing Point, within 7 days from the present date; and all such as fail herein will not be attended to. Sydney Gazette, 11 May 1806. -------------------------------------------------- On Wednesday morning, between the hours of 10 and 11, Elizabeth Ford, formerly resident with John Chapman Morris, who was drowned in the River Hawkesbury, died suddenly in the house of Jean Wild, in Back Row East. The same afternoon a Coroner's Inquest assembled; by the evidence given before whom it appeared that the deceased had for some time past laboured under a depression of spirits, by which her health as well as her mental faculties were much impaired.— On the morning of her death she appeared in tolerable spirits and conversed with Mrs. Wild and other persons immediately prior to her dissolution, with unusual levity; when falling backwards in her chair, she expired without a struggle. — Verdict — Death by the Visitation of God. The deceased was in her 32d year, and had been 18 years in the Colony. Sydney Gazette, 30 Oct 1808.

341

Maureen Withey on 14th November 2021

The Guardian transport was to sail this morning from Portsmouth on her voyage to Port-Jackson; she has 25 convicts on board, mostly carpenters and blacksmiths, and a lading of beds, clothing, and other articles, of which Commodore Phillips had not a sufficient supply, Eight superintendants of convicts embarked with them; and a skilful botanist, provided provided with glass frames, and every thing necessary for the preservation of rare plants, for the royal garden at Kew, also takes his passage on board this ship. Derby Mercury, 10 Sept 1789. Riou departed on the final leg of the Guardian’s journey to Sydney on 12 December 1789. About ten days later, the ship ‘fell in with several Islands of Ice, floating in the Ocean 400 leagues from land’. According to Riou’s account of what followed, he judged conditions safe enough to sail closer to the icebergs, so as to collect floating slabs of ice with which to supplement the ship’s supply of fresh water. But then the weather deteriorated and on the evening of 24 December the ship struck what Riou recalled as ‘a body of Ice full twice as high as the Masthead’. The collision opened a huge gash in the Guardian’s hull and tore off its rudder and part of the keel. The next morning, the crew attempted to remedy the damage: strapping a sail along the hull, pumping out water and jettisoning heavy objects such as guns, anchors and livestock. The following day, acknowledging that ‘little chance was left of safety’, Riou agreed to demands from roughly half of the ship’s company to escape in the longboats. All but fifteen of those who abandoned ship perished. Riou remained on board with 60 others, including 21 convicts, who managed to keep the stricken vessel afloat for nine weeks until it drifted within sight of the Cape and was rescued. The surviving convicts and salvaged cargo eventually arrived in New South Wales in June 1790, having been distributed among the ships making up the infamous Second Fleet when they called at Cape Town. Fourteen of the convicts were immediately pardoned due to Riou’s report of their ‘admirable and wonderful’ conduct in assisting to save the Guardian. https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/2011.65/part-of-the-crew-of-his-majestys-ship-guardian-endeavouring-to-escape-in-the-boats A lot of information about the voyage of the Guardian, and its collision with ice, twelve days after leaving the Cape, having taken on more supplies there. https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com/convict_ship_guardian_1790.htm John Chapman Morris was one of the 14 convicts who received a pardon.

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Maureen Withey on 13th November 2021

On Monday last … at Reading, Mr. Justice Heath and Mr. Justice Wilson, for holding the General Gaol Delivery for county of Berks, when John Chapman Morris, alias Stevens, for horse stealing; Hereford Journal, 13 Mar 1788. At Berkshire the following prisoners received sentence of death :—Solomon Arlett, Richard Shrimpton, John Chapman Morris, Richard Holloway, and John Golden, for horse-stealing; Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 10 Mar 1788. … his Lordship sent back Reprieve for John Chapman Morris, alias Stevens. Oxford Journal, 8 March 1788. Sunday last, pardons arrived at our gaol, for the convicts who received sentence of death at the last assizes, at our gaol, on the following conditions: That John Chapman Morris, otherwise John Stevens, and Richard Shrimpton, be transported to Botany-Bay, for their natural lives; … Reading Mercury, 26 May 1788.

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Penny-Lyn Beale on 3rd November 2021

Australia and New Zealand, Find a Grave Index Name: John Chapman Morris Death Date: 12 Jul 1806 Cemetery: Green Hills Burial Ground Burial: Windsor, Hawkesbury City, New South Wales, Australia Last Sunday night the remains of the late unfortunate William Green and John Chapman Morris were interred at the Green Hills. The body of the latter was found the preceding evening near the spot he went down at, clinging to the branch that had occasioned the disaster which had terminated in his death : — the body of Green was on Sunday morning found by his brother near the same spot, whither he was led by a strong supposition that they might not have been separated to any very considerable distance. The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842) Sun 13 Apr 1806 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/201210374/john-chapman-morris