William Skinn

46

Heather Stevens on 21st May 2020

Correction to the above: 'Pratt' should read "Platt".

46

Heather Stevens on 21st May 2020

Trial 10 Jan 1810 Middlesex (Old Bailey): Tried for house breaking with Joshua Brown who was acquitted. Skinn was sentenced to death, commuted to transportation for life. He was transferred from Newgate Prison to the Portland Hulk at Langston Harbour on 10 May 1810, then transferred to the ship Admiral Gambier, which left England on 12th May 1811 and arrived Sydney Sept 1811. He was assigned to Thomas Moore Esq in Liverpool. He was later referred to as "managing man for Sir Joshua John Moore for some years" [from daughter Mary Ellen's obituary 1908]. William, in a memorial to the Governor asking for a Conditional Pardon, mentions he was a servant to both Joshua John and Thomas Moore. Marriage 1: 4 Dec 1815 • St Johns, Parramatta, NSW, Australia: William Skinn (Prisoner, Gambier 2nd) age 34, and Jane 'Host' (Prisoner, Northampton) age 26, both of the parish, both signed, by banns by Samuel Marsden. Witnesses Henry Shannon, Eleanor Monroe marked the register with a cross. Jane and William had children: Rachel Skinn 1816–1902 Mary Ellen Skinn 1819–1918 Charles Skinn 1821–1822 On 31 January 1820 he received a Conditional Pardon. This record also has the information that he was from 'Boston, Lincoln', a labourer and his description: 5ft 7in, fair ruddy skin, dark brown hair, blue eyes. He asked for a land grant in another memorial to the Governor: that he has a Conditional Pardon, 'rents a small farm near Liverpool .. wife and two children' a land grant will enable him to increase stock. Notation on the memorial '60 acres'. In the Land and Stock Muster of 1922 he is listed with a 60 acre grant at Liverpool. On 22 March 1822 his wife Jane died suddenly. There was an inquest. Australian Royalty has details: https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I19400/Jane-E-Host  Marriage 2: (de facto) Sometime before 1824 Mary Pratt started living with the family. She had separated from her husband George Pratt who in the 1828 census was overseer at George's Hall, the 372 acre property of David Johnston on the George's River, in the parish to Bankstown, district of Liverpool. George Pratt, a soldier, had been transported as a convict on the Pitt (1891-1792). Mary had been transported for seven years in 1805 from the West Riding of Yorkshire for the theft of two skirts and a silk bonnet valued at 10d. She was 'Mary ux William Odon' in the convict indent for the William Pitt ,arrived in Sydney in April 1806. Mary was 'Mary Holden' when she married George Platt in 1811 at St Johns, Parramatta. Mary's maiden name was 'Woodcock' according to her death certificate, so it appears that she was originally Mary Woodcock, who married William Oden or Holden in England, then married George Pratt 1811 in Parramatta. George Pratt died 1830 and no marriage record to William Skinn has been found. 1828 census: Skin, William, 47, conditional pardon, Admiral Gambier, 1811, life, settler, Bankstown, lower Minto, 60 acres; with children Skin, Richard, 12, born in the colony; Skin, Mary Ellen, 10, born in the colony. Mary Ellen is also listed as a lodger with Ellen Cosbys[?] at Castlereagh Street, Sydney. Mary Platt is also with them at Bankstown: age 46 years, Religion: Protestant; Arrived per William Pitt 2nd; Current Status: Free by Servitude, Housekeeper, to Wm Skin, Householder: Bankstown William's de facto wife Mary died 20th January 1860, age 88 at 'Western Road' and was buried in the same grave as William at St Marys. Death 12 July 1862 • Emu Plains, NSW: Death notice in the The Sydney Morning Herald 22 July 1862 :DEATHS.. On the 12th instant, at the residence of his son-in-law, Emu Plains, Mr. William Skin, aged 80 years, leaving a large circle of relatives and friends. His end was peace. Burial: Saint Marys, Penrith City, New South Wales. Old Bailey trial: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18100110-52-defend468&div=t18100110-52#highlight Old Bailey