William Tanner

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Donna Steele on 13th June 2018

William's Convict Records: Police No: 551 Height: 5'41/4" Hair: Dark Brown Eyes: Hazel Age: 21 years (18 years) Occupation: Upholsterer Native Place: Birmingham, England Status: Single Remanus: No other offence Tried At: Warwick, England, 27 March, 1830 Offence: Housebreaking Sentence: Life Transported to Hobart, Tasmania on the convict ship "Clyde 1". The "Clyde 1" sailed from Portsmouth on the 30th August, 1830 and took 110 days. William was 19 years old. The Master was a Dan N. Munro and the Surgeon was a Morgan Price. The ship was 490 tons, it had 2 guns and was built at Greenock in 1819. It embarked with 216 male convicts and landed in Hobart with no deaths on the trip out. Ship's Character (William's): Very orderley. Arrived 7 November 1830, ex London. The book 'Convict Ships' says the arrival in Hobart of the "Clyde 1", was on the 18 December, 1830. See Book 'Convict Ships '1787-1868' by Charles Bateson, (Pages 360-361, 386-387). This could be because sometimes there was a Quarantine period of about a month, where the prisioners were not allowed into Hobart until they were given the all clear. They were kept on Hunter Island and then marched up Campbell Street to the Penitenary. Conditional Pardon No: 3623, 8 December 1841. William would have been seen as a Free Man as the only limitation on an ex-convict who was granted a Conditional Pardon, was that he or she would not be able to return to England. Appropriated to a Mr David Lord, from General Index Tasmanian Archives: (050 50/6 p178). David Lord an Agriculturist, was a free immigrant. David Lord purchased and was granted 600 acres at York Plains, Oatlands on 24 August 1831. David Lord married Alice Tasmania Meaburn at St Andrews Church, Evandale, Tasmania on 20 August 1873. An Approval of the Solemnization of Matrimony of William Tanner, an emancipist, residing in Campbell Town and Eliza Matenot per ship 'Woodbridge', in private service, residing in Launceston, was given on the 12 October 1846. Technically, an emancipist was an emancipated convict, that is, one who had been freed by pardon, either absolute pardon or conditional pardon. It was used loosely to refer to all ex-convicts and has continued to be used in this sense. They were married in St Luke's Church of England & Ireland, Campbell Town, Tasmania on the 3 November 1846. Williams known occupations were Upholsterer, Farmer, Overseer, Shepherd, and Butcher (when James Tanner was born) as per records in Births, Deaths and Marriages. He was an overseer at Quorn Hall (a property & homestead between Lake Leake & Campbell Town). He was an overseer at "The Bogs", Campbell Town c Jan 1868. He died at the Newtown Charitable Institution (for the destitute and invalids). He was previously of 'York Plains' and Melbourne newspapers were to copy his death notice in Mercury newspapers dated 29 January 1897. He was buried in the Hobart Cemetery at Cornelian Bay, Hobart, Church of England, Section U, Grave 51 on 23 Jan 1897. Public grave, no headstone. The Mercury, Friday 29 January 1897 Deaths TANNER.-On January 22, 1897, at New Town Charitable Institution, William Tanner, sen., of York Plains, aged 86years. Melbourne papers please copy. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/9390541?searchTerm=Tanner, William&searchLimits=l-advcategory=Family+Notices|||l-title=10|||l-advstate=Tasmania|||l-advstate=Victoria|||sortby=dateAsc The Mercury, Saturday 6 February 1897 Deaths TANNER.-On January 22, 1897, at New Town Charitable Institution, William Tanner, sen., of York Plains, aged 86 years. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/9391095?searchTerm=Tanner, William&searchLimits=l-advcategory=Family+Notices|||l-title=10|||l-advstate=Tasmania|||l-advstate=Victoria|||sortby=dateAsc Aged Care in Colonial Times It was often a government responsibility, as traditional sources such as family networks, churches and philanthropists were limited in a migrant society. Outdoor relief was available in the form of charitable rations and occasional clothing, and some chronically ill aged people were cared for in the Hobart and Launceston hospitals. The population trebled to over 45,000 during Lt-Governor Arthur's rule, including many dependent on charitable aid, emancipist invalids, pauper immigrants, and commuted pensioners (old soldiers who had exchanged pensions for land in the colony). In 1827 a hospital opened at New Norfolk for sick, invalid and mentally ill patients of both sexes. It was soon overcrowded, and in 1855 aged women were transferred to the Hobart Colonial Hospital and men to Impression Bay, leaving the insane at New Norfolk. In 1856, the newly independent colony had a proportionately large destitute population and run-down imperial services. Poverty, it was commonly held, resulted from character defects such as 'idleness, improvidence and intemperance', and aged-care provision discouraged self-reliance. Government relief for the aged was wholly indoor at the Impression Bay Imperial Depot and the hospitals in Hobart and Launceston. After the opening of Brickfields Invalid Depot in 1859 failed to meet the demand, the Launceston Invalid Depot for men was opened in 1868 and women were allocated to part of the gaol. Other institutions used to house the aged were the Cascades Invalid Depot (1869) and the New Town Charitable Institution (1874, later becoming St John's Park and in 1994, Rosary Gardens). Accommodation peaked in 1879 with 897 invalids throughout the colony, and pressure was continuous, forcing many to sleep on the floor. Daily routines and diet were monotonous, privacy was non-existent and married couples were separated. In 1879, small private almshouses opened in Launceston for aged poor from the 'higher classes'. Conditions for the aged improved from the 1880s, when outdoor relief became economically more efficient for government than institutionalisation, enabling many to remain in the community. Affecting all classes, the 1890s Depression shattered the illusion that social problems resulted from moral weakness and led to attitudinal changes regarding the poor. Independence and personal dignity ensued from the federal Old Age Pension in 1909 and the Invalid Pension in 1910. A second government home for aged invalids was opened in 1913, the Invalid Depot in Launceston. Friends of the Orphan School & St John's Park Precinct The Friends of the Orphan School and St. John's Park Precinct has been formed, under the umbrella of National Trust (Tasmania), to highlight the importance of this nationally significant heritage site. The group aims to: raise awareness of the historical importance of the precinct and the need for conservation conduct research into the history and heritage significance of the site encourage the development of a Conservation Management Plan work towards listing on the National Heritage Register. To support this project and receive information on progress throughout the year become a Member of the Friends of the Orphan School and St. John's Park Precinct ($10 a person per year). Contact details below. General: Friends of the Orphan School and St. John's Park Precinct PO Box 111 Moonah TAS 7009 Tel: (03) 6228 2152. email: Friends.OrphanSchool.StJohnsPark@gmail.com The Orphan School and St. John's Park Precinct is a heritage site of national significance. The land was originally granted to William Nicholls and purchased by Edward Foord Bromley, Naval Officer at Hobart Town in 1820. The Gatehouse, St John's Avenue In 1830 Lieutenant-Governor Arthur commissioned John Lee Archer, notable colonial architect, to design the Orphan School. Construction took place between 1831-1833. The free settler women of the Princess Royal were temporarily accommodated on the site when their ship was stranded in 1833. Between 1833-1879, the Orphan School housed destitute and orphaned children, including Aboriginal children and the children of convicts. St. John?s Church, also designed by John Lee Archer, was built in 1834 to serve the Orphan School and the parish of New Town. Unusual features including the Orphan Gallery, Convict Gallery, original 1828 tower clock, built in London, magnificent acoustics, 1896 William Hill organ - one of the finest organs in Tasmania. St John's Church Tower In the 1830s the Church of England Parsonage, again designed by John Lee Archer, and the Church Hall were constructed. For the next 180 years the site continued to grow: 1835 General Cemetery - the only remaining monument is to Matthew Forster, Chief Police Magistrate (d. 1846) 1840s Gatehouses in St John's Avenue designed by convict architect James Blackburn 1852 Roman Catholic Cemetery 1862 Infant Orphan School 1874 pauper women from Cascades Depot relocated to Infant Orphan School building 1879 Orphan Schools closed & building used for the Male Division of the New Town Charitable Institution (for the destitute and invalids) St John's Avenue, New Town, Tasmania 1896 Boys Training School opened Closed 1922 & building demolished 1960s 1897 Black oaks, Quercus sp., planted along St. John's Avenue 1936 name changed from 'New Town Rest Home' to 'St John's Park' 1939 Gellibrand House built for war veterans and Wingfield for children with infantile paralysis 1954 Woodhouse for the elderly with dementia 1961 Karingal 'Mental Defectives Block' and the Bruce Carruthers Wing built 1962 Relocation of headstones to Cornelian Bay Cemetery commenced 1968 Clive Hamilton School for 'geriatric nursing training' opened 1970s St John's Park Garden Wards built 1994 St John's Park closed and Southern Cross Care, Rosary Gardens aged care facility opened The Parsonage Since 1833, the site has been continually used for the care of people in need St John's Park St John's Park in the 1840s (W.L. Crowther Library, SLT) St John's Park is the name given to both a facility that until the mid-1990s cared for aged people, and the larger site containing a range of health and welfare services. The site was originally the location of the King's Orphan Schools, and includes St John's Anglican church. The former Orphan Schools became a facility for aged people in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It was at this juncture known as New Town Invalid Asylum. Women from the Cascade Depot were relocated to the site in 1874, men from Cascades in 1879 and finally the men from the Brickfield Depot in North Hobart in 1882. Many of the original residents were former convicts and were destitute. In the last decade of the nineteenth century there were upwards of 550 people resident, but the number dropped to less than 300 a decade later. The number of people accommodated rose marginally from this number and was still at over 400 when the state-run facility closed in the mid-1990s. Admission to the aged facility was pejoratively known as 'going behind the clock', a reference to the dominant clock tower on St John's church. The larger site has been used for a range of health and welfare services. In addition to the aged care service, it has also contained the public hospital women's division, a sanatorium for sufferers of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, a facility for the treatment of poliomyelitis, a drug and alcohol treatment centre and a childcare centre. Emigration - Irish Famine Village, Clare by Naoise Cleary Founder of Clare Heritage Centre http://www.clareroots.com/emigration.htm To all intents and purposes, emigration from Co. Clare began with the dreadful famine of 1822, which followed a disastrous harvest in 1821. To understand the background to this emigration, some statistics and changing circumstances should be noted. In 1821, the population of Co Clare was 208,089, having doubled during the previous twenty years. This explosion was a rural phenomenon, and continued until the mid-1840s. What sustained this dense rural population? Since 1792 vast tracts of mountain land were reclaimed. People felt that the potato on which they subsisted could never fail. A family of six persons could be maintained on less than one acre of ground. With the rising population tenants, invariably without the consent of their landlords, sublet and subdivided their farms into two or three acre holdings which provided sustenance for landless sons and neighbours. The Napoleonic wars also inflated agricultural prices, which were good for landlord and tenant and provided employment for subtenants, cottiers and labourers. People had no apprehension of poverty. Consequently early marriages took place and children were regarded as being of little or no burden. After the peace of 1815, rural Ireland underwent a transition period. The collapse of the war boom tumbled grain prices. Landlords were still demanding war rents after peace prices had returned. This led to conflict - tenants were unable to meet the demands being made on them. Many resident landlords were in dire economic straits. They sought a solution to their problems through consolidating the small farms into large tillage holdings or into pasture land for the grazing of cattle. This pushed thousands of families off the land, and demolished their habitations. The disastrous famine of 1822 was especially severe in Clare. Daniel O'Connell in a letter to his wife, dated 4th May 1822 states: 'All are actually starving in Co Clare and nearly so in Kerry. The distress is extreme and the want spreading'. Any emigration resulting from this famine generally ended up on Merseyside, with Irish labourers building docks, water ways, public buildings and factories in Lancashire and beyond. It was not long however until English economists proclaimed that the swarming of Irish pauper workers evicted from the land, into English factories at reduced wages, threatened the standard of living of British workers and so in time the English Government established a Poor law or 'workhouse' system for Ireland. After 1822 emigration to Australia was more attractive than to America due to the fact that it was mainly aid-provided. Convict transportation from the county pre-1822 was insignificant, amounting to only 82 people, 9 of whom were females. Between 1821 and 1840, however, 636 Clare people were transported to NSW, principally for petty crime - stealing bread, butter, clothing, killing sheep for meat, all done in the name of survival. More serious crimes, including the stealing of cattle, earned life sentences. These convicts sent home word about the superior kind of life available in the colonies, which set the pattern for subsequent emigration especially from Tipperary, Clare and South East Galway, evoking memories of Whiteboys, Terry Alts and Ribbonmen. In the 1820's quite a number of free settlers with capital entered Australia. They were mostly the sons of landlords, of merchant and professional classes. Some commissioned officers at British Army outposts such as India, sold their commissions and for the money purchased ranches in Australia. For £1,000 one could purchase more than 2,000 acres of good land. They needed shepherds, stockmen, ploughmen, artisans, miners, and they in turn came from amongst evicted tenants and others as 'indentured' labourers, whose passages were mostly paid for. 'Improving' landlords such as Col Wyndham, offered free passage to tenants and their families to emigrate to Canada or Australia. Many families availed of the offer; the only alternative was eviction. The poor law was enacted in 1838 and the county was divided into Poor Law Unions each administered by a Board of Guardians. Originally, there were only four unions in Clare - Ennis, Kilrush, Scariff and Ennistymon. Each had a workhouse which at Ennis and Kilrush could accommodate 800 inmates while Scariff and Ennistymon were expected to cater for 600. Between 1850 and 1852 other workhouses were provided at Corofin, Ballyvaughan, Kildysart and Tulla. Most of the inmates were evicted tenants and orphans, and others left destitute, by the Great Famine. The Boards of Guardians discovered that it was cheaper to pay the passage to Australia for an able-bodied inmate, than to maintain him in the workhouse, and very many of those in receipt of poor law aid availed of such offers. At that time also there was an imbalance in the colony between males and females, and the governors were clamouring for greater female immigration. The Boards of Guardians in the Poor Law Unions considered that they should lessen the burden on their finances, by offering free passage to Australia to orphan girl inmates between the ages 14 and 18 years. The workhouses during the period 1840 -1862, were homes for the most destitute children in Ireland. One boat the Thomas Arbuthnot arrived into Sydney on the 3rd February 1850 with a cargo of orphans, including eighty-two girls from Co Clare workhouses. A number of wealthy citizens in Australia to-day are direct descendants of those girls. The colonial bounty system, to aid would-be immigrants, came into being in 1837 but was revised in 1840. It granted pecuniary aid under certain conditions to persons bringing into NSW from the UK (including Ireland) agricultural labourers, shepherds, tradesmen, female domestics and farm servants. The sum of £38 would be paid as a bounty for any married man, of the above description, and his wife, neither of whose ages on embarkation to exceed 40 years; £5 for each child between 1 and 7 years; £10 for each child between 7 and 15 years and £15 for each above 15 years; £19 would be allowed for every unmarried female domestic or farm servant not below 15 nor above 30 years, coming out under the protection of a married couple as part of a family.