The quest to untangle the Harts of the Illawarra has no resolution in this story. The initial aim was to find out if two men by the name of Hart, farming the same piece of land, were related in some way and why they were both in the Illawarra. This story is about Henry Hart and John Hart, and those connected to them in the 1820s to 1840s in the Fairy Meadow area. Central to the story is the land either promised to, or claimed by Harts.
The key characters are:
John Hart, married Mary Brooker in 1829 and died in the wreck of the Foxhound in 1829.
Mary Brooker, daughter of Jonathon Brooker and Mary Wade. Claimant of land. Mary Brooker was born on 28 November 1812 in the Hawkesbury area to Jonathon Brooker and Mary Wade. By the 1820s her family were living at Fairy Meadow on land granted to her father Jonathon Brooker. After John Hart’s death Mary was forced to return to her parent’s home. She married for the second time in 1833 to Christopher Ledwidge and for a third time in 1834 to Henry Angel.
Henry Hart, husband of Sarah Hart, a former soldier, recipient of a veterans’ grant at Bankstown, successful claimant of the Brophy grant at Fairy Meadow, witness to the marriage of John Hart and Mary Brooker.
Sarah Hart, wife of Henry Hart, a witness to the marriage of John Hart and Mary Brooker and claimant of land.
Thomas Tanner, convict from Oxfordshire, England per John 1827 with a life sentence. Assigned to Henry Hart in 1832. Married Sarah Hart 1841.
Timothy Brophy, the man who was promised the land that Mary Brooker (Hart/Ledwidge/Angel) and Henry and Sarah Hart tried to claim. Timothy Brophy was a distiller from Dublin City who had arrived in the colony in 1814 per Three Bees as a convict with a seven year sentence. After the expiry of his sentence Timothy was working as a constable at Liverpool and successfully applied to Governor Lachlan Macquarie for a grant of land with 30 acres promised. From 1821 he made at least three trips to Macquarie Island on whaling expeditions.[1] In the 1825 Muster he is listed as employed by Mr Raine in Sydney.[2] Also in 1825 Timothy Brophy was the keeper of the Sydney Tollgate when he was committed to the Quarter Session for a violent attack on settler James Portmouth of Mulgoa.[3] The last known reference to Timothy is the in the 1828 Census where he is listed as being employed by William Ikin at Liverpool as a brewer.[4] With no further references for him thus found he may have left the colony or died without a burial record.
Brophy grant at Fairy Meadow, Timothy Brophy was promised 30 acres of land in 1821. It is almost certain that Brophy did not live on or improve his grant at Fairy Meadow. In 1828 his land is under cultivation by John Hart and Brophy did not claim the title to his grant. The following map shows the location of Timothy Brophy’s 30 acres (in red) and the Brooker grant (in green).
Part of 1898 parish map, Parish of Woonona, County of Camden. Land Titles Office of NSW
John Hart c1797-1829 and Mary Brooker 1812-1890
Who was John Hart? To my knowledge at this point no-one has conclusively proven his identity. There were a number of convicts named John Hart but most have been discounted for various reasons.[5] Also there are no records indicating he had been a convict so he may well have arrived as a free man.
The first known record of John Hart in the Illawarra is in October 1826.[6] He was working as an overseer for James Stares Spearing when Thomas Austin, an assigned convict, took ill. Spearing was in Sydney so John Hart issued Austin a pass and cash to travel to Liverpool Hospital. He also sent a note to Spearing in Sydney to ask him to call at Liverpool on his way back to the Illawarra to check on Austin but he had never arrived at the hospital. It transpired that the convict Austin had been murdered by another of Spearing’s assigned men.[7]
After leaving Spearing’s employ John worked as a police constable for a short time in 1827 but was dismissed when he was charged with stealing women’s clothing. He was found not guilty but his constable position was lost.
“Classified Advertising” The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842) 5 October 1827. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2189099>.
“Classified Advertising” The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842) 10 December 1827. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2189548>.
John Hart left few clues in available records. For example he simply states ‘free’ in the 1828 Census and does not state how he is free (eg arrived free, free by servitude, pardon etc) and he does not name the boat he arrived in. In the census record he is described as 31 years old, a tenant of Illawarra and bracketed with 17 year old Mary Hart [Brooker].[8] Mary was only just turning 16 when the census was taken in November 1828. She is also listed with her father Jonathon Brooker and siblings in the same census.[9] John Hart and Mary Brooker did not marry until 13 February 1829.[10] The marriage was entered in the register of St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Sydney which does not mean that they were married at St Mary’s in Sydney, they could have been married by the visiting Roman Catholic priest. Neither party signed. The witnesses were Henry Hart and Sarah Hart.[11] This would suggest that Henry Hart was Roman Catholic as Mary was protestant.
By November 1828 John was a tenant farmer on 30 acres on land promised to Timothy Brophy. This was located north of Spearing’s Paulsgrove Estate and just south of Mary Brooker’s parent’s farm. Life was seemingly looking good for John and Mary with eleven acres cleared, nine acres under cultivation and a herd of 16 horned cattle.
In August 1829 John was a passenger on a trip to transport cedar and produce to Sydney. The voyage of the small 14 ton Foxhound ended when it was wrecked off the north Illawarra coast.[12] All on board were lost and Mary Hart was now a widow three months short of her 17th birthday.
In 1831 Mary Hart petitioned Governor Darling for a land grant denied to her late husband John Hart. She wrote:
To His Excellency Lieutenant General Darling Governor
The Humble petition of Mary Hart sheweth
That your petitioner is a native of the Colony twenty one years of age, is also the widow of one John Hart of Illawarra who with six others was wrecked in the Fox Hound in June 1829 by which occurrence your petitioner not only became disinherited but immediately driven to the roof of aged infirm and almost helpless parents for support.[13]
So how did Mary then only 19 years of age (not 21 as stated in the memorial) organise a petition to the governor? Her parents by her own admission were ‘aged, infirm and almost helpless’. This was probably an exaggeration but who else did Mary have? Besides her parents there was her brother James aged 17, and her half-brother Edward Harrigan aged 28. James Brooker was later to become very involved with the North Illawarra council but he was only 17 in 1831. Edward Harrigan could not read or write. Whilst her family may have prompted her to take action to claim the land the witnesses to her wedding, Henry and Sarah Hart may have had much more to do with her petition along with support from the Resident Magistrate Lieutenant George Sleeman of the 39th Regiment.
Mary Hart was unsuccessful in her attempt to claim the land in 1831. She again submitted a claim in 1833 as did Henry Hart with Hart being successful. Despite losing the claim Mary appears to have remained friends with Sarah Hart and was a witness to her marriage to Thomas Tanner in 1841.
Henry Hart c1777-1839
Henry Hart was born in Montrath, Queens, Ireland about 1777. He enlisted in the 74th regiment of Foot on 23 May 1809, serving with that unit until 24 December 1814 when it was disbanded. From 25 December 1814 Henry served in the 2nd Garrison Company reaching the rank of corporal. He was discharged on 9 September 1816 with an injury to his left wrist which did not render him unfit for further service. Henry’s discharge record from 1816 gives his description as about 30 years of age, five feet eight inches in height, brown hair, hazel eyes, a fresh complexion and by trade a labourer.[14] His age was probably closer to 40 years.
It is not currently known what Henry Hart did between his discharge in 1816 and the end of 1825. On 1 January 1826 Henry enlisted in the Royal Veterans Battalion as a private and just seven weeks later was on his way to Australia. [15] At 49 years of age he was very close to the cut off age of 50 years to enlist in the Royal Veterans. He arrived in July 1826 with 84 non-commissioned officers and privates along with their families which comprised 66 women and children.[16] One of the women was Sarah Hart, Henry’s wife.
.
In the monthly returns for the company Henry Hart is listed as in government employ in some but not all returns, and the location of his employment is not specified. Henry appears on the Royal Veterans pay list up until his discharge on 30 April 1831.
Whilst still in service with the Veterans Battalion Henry and his wife Sarah are witnesses to the marriage of John Hart and Mary Brooker in February 1829. In 1831 Henry Hart is named amongst the listed landholders and free inhabitants in the ‘Address to George Sleeman Esq.’.[17]
On 22 March 1830 Henry had been promised 100 acres of land by Governor Darling.[18] Despite having a grant of land at Bankstown Henry Hart appears to have been more connected to the Illawarra. He leased his grant at Bankstown on the Liverpool road for peppercorn rents. In a lease agreement for 40 acres of the granted land to Hugh Murray in 1832 Henry is described as ‘Henry Hart of Bankstown in the Colony of New South Wales, settler’.[19] Another lease for 10 acres of the Bankstown land was made on 29 November 1832 to James Henry, innkeeper of Sydney.[20] Henry was assigned two convicts at Bankstown in the first quarter of 1832 – James Goodman, a carter and soldier[21] and Jane Scully Martin, a dealer in clothes[22]. In 1833 he gifted 50 acres of the Bankstown land to William Hartley for his natural life and after his decease to Stewart Sutherland then aged about eight years.[23]
From 1832 Henry was also having convicts assigned to him in the Illawarra including Thomas Tanner, a shoemaker, assigned in the first quarter of 1832. [24] Returns of assigned convicts list a further six men assigned to Henry Hart in the Illawarra:
- 1832 – Hart, Henry, Illawarra, Hawkins, Charles, a porter and shoemaker[25]
- 1833 – Hart, Henry, Illawarra, a coachsmith[26]
- 1834 – Hart, Henry, Illawarra, a ploughman[27]
- 1834 – Hart, Henry, Illawarra, a cattle dealer[28]
- 1836 – Hart, Henry, Illawarra, 1 weaver and soldier[29]
- 1836 – Hart, Henry, Illawarra, 1 tailor[30]
What were all these assigned convicts doing? It seems likely that Henry Hart had occupied Brophy’s grant from the time of John Hart’s death in 1829 or probably earlier. But could a 30 acre grant support this workforce? Was Henry Hart using other land in the Illawarra?
Henry Hart and Mary Brooker (as Mary Ledwick (late Hart)), along with Christian Ledwick in right of John Hart, placed a claim for the grant of Timothy Brophy in 1833. [31]
This is an interesting claim naming Christian Ledwick (Christopher Ledwidge). Christopher Ledwidge was Mary’s second husband. Probably necessary when married women had no real claim to property. But Henry Hart won the claim and the title deed was issued to him but with the name recorded as Thomas Henry Hart. The Brophy grant was issued to Henry Hart but the name entered in the register of deeds was Thomas Henry Hart. Is this an error by a clerk who has confused Thomas Henry Hart of Pitt Street with Henry Hart?[38] Or was there another Thomas Henry Hart?[39]
Like many land owners Henry used his property asset to raise cash, mortgaging his 30 acres twice, firstly to Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur[32] and then to William Edward Rogers[33] before he (and his wife Sarah) sold it to William Wilson on 12/13 July 1837 for £60.[34]
It all came to an end for Henry Hart on 10 February 1839 when he died. He was buried in the Roman Catholic Burial Ground on 16 February 1839. The coroner’s report stated that he died an accidental death and was a farmer of Fairy Meadow. A newspaper notice (with the wrong date of death) gives more detail:[35]
However it does not confirm where he died or how the accident occurred. Had Henry Hart continued on as a tenant after he sold to William Wilson in 1837, or was he renting elsewhere at Fairy Meadow? In April 1840, over a year after Henry Hart’s death an advertisement for the sale of land adjacent to Brophy’s grant describes it is ‘bounded on the east by land, now or lately occupied by Henry Hart’.[36]
Sarah Hart and Thomas Tanner
Newly widowed Sarah Hart did not waste time after Henry Hart’s death to make an unsuccessful claim on his Bankstown grant:[37]
Keeping Sarah company after Henry Hart’s death was his assigned convict Thomas Tanner. In January 1841, less than two years after Henry’s death, Thomas and Sarah applied to marry (Thomas not yet being free). The first application was refused as Sarah had not stated her ship of arrival or status. A second application with the required information was approved on 15 March 1841 and they married on 27 May 1841 with Mary Angel (formerly Hart, nee Brooker) as the sole witness (the other witness Edward Gregory was a clerk).
At the time of their marriage Thomas and Sarah Tanner were living on the property of Edward Harrigan, half-brother of Mary Angel. Mary was living not far to the east on the land owned by her husband Henry Angel.
By 1842 Thomas and Sarah Tanner had moved to the Shoalhaven. Not one to let an opportunity pass by Sarah saw the insolvency of William Wilson as a new chance to make a claim on the 30 acres of land that she and her former husband Henry Hart had sold to William Wilson, placing the following advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 December 1842.[40]
The claim was unsuccessful. Sarah was telling a bit of lie regarding the sale to William Wilson, there was no mention of a bond for life in favour of Sarah Hart in the transaction document.[41]
In 1848 the Tanners once again make a claim for Henry Hart’s Bankstown land, this time in the name of Thomas Tanner.[42]
This claim was advertised multiple times between February and May 1848 but appears not to have been resolved. In August 1849 Sarah Tanner was in Sydney, apparently alone, on business when she became ill and died. An inquest was held in Sydney on 3 September 1849 with the coroner returning a verdict of death by a visitation of God. The circumstances of her death were reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.[43]
Thomas Tanner was eventually successful in his claim (case number 1273) for 51 acres of the grant originally promised to his late wife Sarah’s former husband Henry Hart. The land, named Bushy Park, was granted to Thomas Tanner of Worrigee, Shoalhaven on 19 February 1851. The document which describes this transaction confirms that it was part of 100 acres promised to Henry Hart as a veteran’s grant.[44]
Conclusion – Hart relationships – more questions
Was there a stronger connection between Henry Hart of the Veterans Company and John Hart than just the same surname? No evidence of how John Hart arrived in Australia has been found. His 1828 census record simply states that he was free. Henry Hart and his wife Sarah were witnesses to John Hart’s marriage to Mary Brooker in February 1829 when Henry was still in service the NSW Veterans. When John Hart died in the wreck of the Foxhound in 1829 Mary was left a widow and attempted to claim the land at Fairy Meadow that she believed that her late husband John had purchased. However, there is no record that John Hart purchased any land. He was listed in the 1828 Census as a tenant at Illawarra with Mary his wife on 30 acres which was well under development. So why did Henry Hart also put in a claim for the same land? Why was Henry Hart in the Illawarra when he had a grant of 100 acres at Bankstown?
Was John Hart related to Henry Hart in some way? John Hart is around 31 years of age in 1828 according to his census entry. Henry Hart was 55 years old when he was discharged from the New South Wales Royal Veterans on 30 April 1831. Henry Hart could have been John’s brother or even his son. The opportunity to enlist in the Veteran Company could have been an opportunity for Henry to join his relative John Hart in New South Wales. It is all still a mystery.
[1] 1821 pre Midas, 1823 per Elizabeth & Mary, 1824 per Caroline. Ship Musters Sydney Departures 1816-1825. Compiled by Norma Tuck.
[2] A General Muster List of all the inhabitants (with the exception of the Military) of the Colony of NSW for the years 1823, 1824, 1825; TNA ref: Reel PRO 66 Vol. 10/19 & 10/20, published in “General Muster List of New South Wales 1823/1824/1825”, edited by Carol J. Baxter, published by ABGR, Sydney, 1999.; ; Book entry number: 13127.
[3] “POLICE REPORT.” The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842) 12 May 1825 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2184019>.
[4] Census of NSW November 1828, published in “1828 Census of New South Wales”, edited by Malcolm Sainty & Keith Johnson, revised edition published by Library of Australian History, Sydney, 2008 (CD-ROM).; ; Book entry number: B2418
[5] Convicts named John Hart arriving per Adam Gambier, Asia, Atlas, Castle Forbes, Earl St Vincent and Isabella were either too early, died after 1829 or are confirmed to be in other locations when John Hart was in the Illawarra. The only possible convict contenders were the John Harts arriving per Dorothy or Guildford.
[6] McDonald, W. G., (1966), Murder at the Hell Hole 1826, Illawarra Historical Society, Wollongong, 14p. https://ro.uow.edu.au/ihspubs/9
[7] State Records New South Wales. Criminal Court Records index 1788-1833, Appendix D: Prisoners tried before the Supreme Court, 1827, https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ebnd1l/INDEX94530; “Supreme Criminal Court.” The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842) 20 August 1827: 2. Web. 24 Mar 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2188796>. ; McDonald, W. G., (1966), Murder at the Hell Hole 1826, Illawarra Historical Society, Wollongong, 14p.https://ro.uow.edu.au/ihspubs/9
[8] State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia; 1828 Census: Alphabetical Return; Series Number: NRS 1272; Reel: 2554
[9] Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO10, Pieces 21-28); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.
[10] St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Sydney NSW: Church Register – Marriages; ML ref: Reel SAG 7.; .
[11] John Hart, [NSW AUS]; signed: [not signed]; Mary Broker, [NSW AUS]; [not signed]; Married: 13 Feb 1829 [NSW AUS]; Registered at St Marys Roman Catholic, Sydney [NSW AUS]; Witness: Henry Hart, Witness: Sarah Hart, Original Remarks: Witness: Mary Broker [Biog Item No. 320230296]
[12] “POLICE INCIDENTS.” The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 – 1848) 12 August 1829 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36865204>.
[13] State Records of New South Wales. Colonial Secretary’s Letters relating to Land 1826-56
Item No: 2/7875 | Reel No: 1137 | Start Date: 1831. Cited in Neate, Lorraine, Scandal, Slander and Interfering with our Neighbours, Illawarra Historical Society, 2016.
[14] WO 97 Royal Hospital Chelsea: Soldiers Service Documents. Record for Henry Hart WO 97/1204/29
[15] TNA, New South Wales Royal Veterans, File 11230. AJCP Reel No: 3917, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-728697665
[16] “SHIP News.” Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser (Hobart, Tas. : 1825 – 1827) 4 August 1826: 2. Web. 4 Apr 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2448203>.
[17] “ADDRESS” The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842) 1 February 1831. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2198807>. Henry Hart is listed amongst Fairy Meadow men who lived in the immediate surrounds of the 30 acre Brophy grant.
[18] State Records New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Archive Reel: 2561; Series: 1217; Description: Index to Copies of Deeds to Land Grants 1826-1856
[19] Lease between Henry Hart and Laurence Fulham of Sydney. State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Archive Reel: 1574; Series: 12992; Description: Registers of Memorials for Land. 1825-1842
[20] Ten acres for 999 years. State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Archive Reel: 1574; Series: 12992; Description: Registers of Memorials for Land. 1825-1842
[21] Return of all convicts assigned between the 1st day of January and the 31st day of March, 1832 – 438. Goodman James, York, carter and soldier, to Henry Hart, Liverpool Road. “NEW SOUTH WALES.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 20 June 1832.<http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230388597>.
[22] “NEW SOUTH WALES.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 4 July 1832. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230388706>.
[23] NSW Land Records Book E No. 780.
[24] “NEW SOUTH WALES.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 4 July 1832. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230388706>.
[25] “NEW SOUTH WALES.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 12 December 1832. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230389461>.
[26] “RETURN OF ASSIGNMENTS OF MALE CONVICTS MADE IN THE MONTH OF APRIL, 1833.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 3 July 1833. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230390425>.
[27] “Government Gazette Notices” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 23 April 1834. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230686582>.
[28] “LIST OF TRANSFERS OF MALE CONVICTS, MADE BETWEEN OCTOBER 1ST, & DECEMBER 31ST, 1834.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 3 June 1835. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230655578>.
[29] “Government Gazette Notices” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 30 November 1836. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230673625>..
[30] “Government Gazette Notices” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 25 January 1837. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230669273>.
[31] “Government Gazette Notices” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 24 December 1833. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230391262>.
[32] NSW Lands no. 151 Book F Memorial.
[33] State Records New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Archive Reel: 1583; Series: 12992; Description: Registers of Memorials for Land 1825-1842
[34] NSW Lands No. 562 Book L. This conveyance clearly states the names of the parties selling are Thomas Henry Hart and Sarah his wife and that there are no additional considerations.
[35] “Family Notices” The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser (NSW : 1838 – 1841) 25 February 1839: 5 (MORNING). <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32162973>.
[36] “Advertising” The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser (NSW : 1838 – 1841) 15 April 1840: 4 (MORNING). <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32167907>.
[37] “Classified Advertising” The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842) 19 March 1839. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2537810>.
[38] Thomas Henry Hart convict per Ocean 1816 from Dublin, Ireland, became a merchant and landowner. Married convict Frances Shannon in Sydney 1817. There is no known connection with either Henry or John Hart of this story.
[39] A Court of Claims case notice published in The Sydney Gazette on 19 May 1839 names Sarah Hart, widow, of Illawarra, Thomas Henry Hart of Illawarra and Henry Hart now deceased. Case No. 365. “Classified Advertising” The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842) 19 March 1839. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2537810>.
[40] “Advertising” The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954) 23 December 1842. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12416389>.
[41] NSW Lands No. 562 Book L
[42] “COURT OF CLAIMS.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 15 February 1848. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230129570>.
[43] “Advertising” The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954) 5 September 1849. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12912306>.
[44] State Records Authority of New South Wales; Registers of Land Grants and Leases; Series: NRS 13836; Item: 7/451; Reel: 2846
enneiviv59448040.wordpress.com 