FRIENDS OF NELSON

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 November 1934, Page 12

FRIENDS OF NELSON

EARLY AUSSIE IMMIGRANTS. Mrs Mary Pitt (maiden name Matcham) left without resources at the death of her husband,. Robert Pitt, a relative of Sir Morton Pitt, a Dorsetshire baronet, saw very little prospect ahead for the seven children growing up about her, and after much anxiety of mind, resolved to consult her distinguished cousin, George Matcham, of Ashford Lodge, Kent, as to the best means of providing for them (writes “Tirranna” in the “Sydney Morning Herald”). There were four girls and three boys, who in a few years would become of age, and at her death would be left to look after themselves. It would have been a difficult nut to crack for any poor widow at the best of times, but just then they were terribly bad all over the country. . , George Matcham had retired some years before from the Civil Service of the East Indian Company, and finally settled in England In 178.6, having gained great distinction as a traveller in the East. He acquired still further distinction socially by his marriage with Catherine, daughter of the Rev. Edmund Nelson, and sister of the great Admiral. His love of travel and exploration having led him to take some interest in the published acccunis of New South Wales, he had a leady answer for his cousin Mary, when she sought his advice. He recc-niniended her, as he surest and easiest means of solving the problem that had puzzled her so long, to go out with the children to “Botany Bay” exp’uiuing the advantages its offered to free settlers in the shape of free grants of land, free labour, and free rations —concessions which could be obtained then without such difficulty, especially with the aid of a little political influence. The Nelson influence being very strong, there was little to fear of her being disappointed on her arrival. The expense of emigration, moreover, could be reduced to a trifle, because free passages could be obtained by the same means in one of the transports bound to Port Jackson. It required some nerve on her part, brought up as she had been among the conventions of society, to face, not only the perils and discomforts of a long voyage, but the extreme unpleasantness of life in a convict settlement “without a decent soul to speak to,” but, as it would have been still harder to face the horrors of dependence in England,» without any prospect of advancement for her children, the brave woman at last made up her mind to go. Matcham undertook to make the necessary arrangements for her, and a letter dated May 5, 1801, written a month or so before she sailed, shows us that he did: — Dear Mrs Pitt.—The Rev. Mr Nelson has written a letter to Governor King on your behalf. I now enclose it with another of my own. Mr Nelson’s letter will be of great consequence to you. Pray put a handsome wafer on it when you have read it. Write me how you and all the rest are.' Have as much patience as possible till the voyage is over, and then your comforts will crowd upon you. — Your sincere friend, George Matcham.

PASSAGES TAKEN. The Canada, a ship of 400 tons commanded by Captain Wilkinson, was getting ready for sea, with two others of the ,same class, the Minorca and the Nile, and passages were taken in her. While she was lying at Gosport, Mrs Pitt received an unexpected visit from Lieutenant Braithwaite, who had just returned from Botany Bay in H.M.S. Buffalo. As he said in a letter to Matcham. written on May 29. he had “heard by accident she was going to New South Wales, and called on her at the request of a person to whom she was known.” He did not say anything about the description he had given her of the country and the settlers, but it appears from a letter written to Matcham on the 31st by the old lady—or rather, by her son, from her dictation—that she had been terribly upset by it. The thought of her children being amongst such people was too much for her.

31st. May, 1801. Good Sir.—We came on board yesterday. My situation here is very bad, and the shocking account of the wicked country I dread. I have brought my children up with fear and care. God knows my heart; I would rather fall into the hands of a merciful Creator, or to suffer any poverty by His grace to restrain me from falling into the hands of wicked people. A gentleman, who came from there, informs me the whole land is corrupted, wicked people, and, if please God, my children should live, I hope thej r will find a friend in the Governor according to your good intentions. I cannot expect to live long; I am in a little hole among all sorts of people; I can scarce see to write. God Almighty be my guide, and send me. a place of rest, and His blessing attend you and yours for ever, is the earnest wish of your obliged humble servant, Mary Pitt. The ship could not sail for some weeks after they had taken their berths, and in the meanwhile Mrs Pitt had recovered from the shock she had received. Matcham’s reply, to her note had restored her confidence in his judgment, and her fears of “the wicked country” having ceased to haunt her, she dictated another letter to him, evidently in a much better frame of mind: — June 11th., 1801.

Good Sir, —I received your kind letters, likewise two letters enclosed, which I humbly thank you for, sir, and Mr Nelson in condescending for our future interest with the Governor. We are all well, and I believe the ship will sail soon. We have on board a hundred and six convicts, soldiers and nearly forty passengers are here, and expected, so that we have just room to creep out of our little nests. The captain told me he had parted with his cabin. His lady is with him, and intends going the voyage. At first the ship’s crew were continually passing by to the stores and the surgeon’s room close by us, which I complained to the captain as being very unfit place for women. Since, there are some alterations.

ARRIVAL IN AUSTRALIA. The ships reached Sydney Cove on December 15, after a passage of six months. Their arrival was reported by Governor King to the Home Office in a letter dated February 2, 1802, in which he stated that “the passengers were all in good health, and the convicts the healthiest and best conditioned that ever arrived there.” Mrs Pitt and her children, we may well believe, received every attention from the Governor, and Mrs King that they could show her, for no name was likely to carry more weight with the bluff old sailor than that of Nelson—the great popular hero of the

day. King was in London in 1798, and no doubt took part in the national day rejoicings over the battle of the Nile. But when they came to business an unforseen difficulty presented itself. The letters of recommendation handed in by the lady did not bear any official signature, and grants of land were not readily issued, it seems, until the official charm was brought to bear. Lord Nelson was at Copenhagen early in 1801, and did not return to England until after the Canada had sailed, so there had not been any opportunity of securing his powerful aid directly. There was nothing for it but to write home to Matcham, explain the obstacle in her path, and wait until his friendly intervention had removed it. The desired assistance came in due time, and, on receiving a letter from the authorities at Home, the Governor signed grants of land at Hawkesbury to each of the young ladies, Esther, Jemima, Susanna, and Lucy, and also to their brother, Thomas Matcham Pitt.

Thus they all settled at Mulgrave Place, on the Hawkesbury, the most flourishing of all the little farming settlements about Sydney, where they cultivated their land, ground {heir corn in little hand mills, learned to make dampers, and generally led the country life they had been used to in Dorsetshire. Rut the old lady did not find comforts crowding upon her as soon as she got ashore. She had to wait for them, as others had, and it was not until she saw her daughters married and her son an independent farmer that she saw. the reward of all her anxiety and privations. She lived to the good old age of 72, dying in 1815 at the house of her son-in-law, James Wilshire, who had married Esther in 1805. He came out in 1792 in the ship Royal Admiral, with an appointment in the Commissariat Department, which he resigned in 1812. His descendants have long been widely known in Sydney. Sussanah married William Faith-

full, who had come out with the New South Wales Corps, and had given up soldiering in order to settle on a grant of land in Canterbury. He had two sons and one daughter. One son, George, settled in the Ovens district, and died in 1855, and Wijliam Pitt Faithfull, who became a well-known and successful squatter in the southern districts, was one of the earliest overlanders when Port Phillip was opened for settlement. He died in April, 1896, at Springfield, near Goulburn, in the 90th year of his age. The daughter married Dr. Gibson, of the Royal Corps of Veterans, who came out to the colony in 1826, and eventually settled in the Goulburn district at Tirranna. Lucy married Wood, an officer of the ship. Jemima was twice married, first to Captain Austin Forrest, of the East India Company’s service, killed by a fall from his horse, while riding near Windsor on Christmas Eve, 1810; and secondly to Robert Jenkins, a Sydney merchant, who met his death in the same way. Their brother, Tom, continued to live at the Hawkesbury until his death in 1821; at the age of 39, his wife dying in the same year at the same age. One of their sons, George Matcham Pitt, died at Holbrook, on the North Shore, aged 82 —described in the newspapers of the time as “one of the most widely-known and highlyrespected residents of Sydney.” In his lusty manhood he was one of the squatting explorers of the Gwydir districts.