William Wellard (1779-1857) Convict

This blog was done as my final assignment of the 1st Convict Unit in the Diploma of Family History at the University of Tasmania.

Old style ship against modern Sydney skyline found on www.sydney.com

William Wellard was one of thousands who ended up in the English convict system.

Why did he steal a horse and cart? What was he doing in Surrey when these thefts occured? Why was he tried and convicted under the surname of PETERS?

We may never find the answers to these intriguing questions but, through the available records we have managed to discover who William was and what he did with his life after arriving in NSW in 1827.

William Wellard was born 1779 in Thanet, Kent, England.

He was educated, as his convict indent states he could read and write. He married Elizabeth Peters in Cheriton, Kent in 1804. They had 7 children, although the youngest died just after birth.

William's trade was given as Farmersman on his indent and his native place was given as Kent, so we can only speculate what he was doing in Surrey in September and October 1826 where according to his trial records, he stole a gelding and a cart respectively. 

It would be interesting to find out how he managed to contact his family back in Kent or if some of them were with him in Surrey. Unfortunately this is something we may never know as we do not have any private letters within the family and we haven't been able to find any Newspaper reports of his trial.

He was tried 18 December 1826 at the Surrey Winter Assizes where he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Commuted to transportation to NSW for Life.

It is not clear why William was tried and sentenced under the surname of PETERS although this was his wife's maiden name.

We can deduce, from the available records, that William only spent two months in the Surrey County Gaol after his conviction, before being sent to the prison hulk York anchored in Portsmouth. Here he stayed for another two months before being put aboard The Marquis of Hastings (2) in April 1827 for a fast three month trip to Sydney. 

The convict indent of William Peters on the Marquis of Hastings (2) was crucial in proving that this man was actually William Wellard.

Upon arrival in Sydney he was assigned to James Robertson of Baulkham Hills. James a jeweller and watchmaker by trade and a personal friend of Sir Thomas Brisbane, had been granted 500 acres of land at Seven Hills formerly owned by John and Elizabeth Macarthur.

As William and his wife Elizabeth could both read and write, they were very adept at using the Colonial system to their own advantage and we can see this by the number of letters and petitions they submitted in the Colonial Secretary's Correspondence.

William was 1 of 105 convicts to petition Governor Sir Ralph Darling in 1830 to allow their wives and families to join them at the government’s expense. According to the rules surrounding these types of requests, the convict had to have been of good behaviour from when they first arrived and be able to support their family. Due to William's hard work and the fact that he kept his nose clean, James Robertson wrote a personal reference supporting William’s petition for a Ticket of Leave.

After Elizabeth and his three youngest children, Stephen, William and Sarah joined him in Australia in 1832 per the Burrell, they were very quick to apply to have William assigned to Elizabeth as her convict labour. Their two eldest daughters had already married and remained in England. William's eldest son, Lewis, would follow his father two years later to Australia, as a convict.

William's Ticket of Leave was granted in 1836 for the District of Windsor dated September 1835. Written across the page is (1) altered to Maitland prior letter Wilson 25 July 1837. (2) Ticket of Leave torn up Peters having obtained a Conditional Pardon No: 47/756 Dated 30 July 1847.

So within a year of receiving his Ticket of Leave, William had been granted a change of area from Windsor to Maitland.

The 1841 Convict Census shows the family living in the District of Wollombi. There are 6 adult males, 3 adult females, 3 children and 1 baby all living in the same house, although it's possible that the single men and boys slept in the barn/outhouses.

William and his family had moved in the mid 1840's from Wollombi to Mulbring in the Hunter Valley where they were the principle tenants on 6,000 acres called Barraba and owned by George Palmer.

Barraba:This image was scanned from a film negative in the Athel D'Ombrain collection [Box Folder B10397] held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

   

Between 1830 and 1840 the Hunter Valley had a large influx of new settlers and wealthy investors. Land was still cheap and large tracts were available to purchase. Many like George Palmer purchased the land and then placed overseers on the property, to look after the day to day running, while they remained in comfort in their Sydney houses. With the Penal Colony being moved from Newcastle to Port Maquarie, the risk of escaping convicts and bushrangers had been reduced. Now the agricultural promise of the Hunter Valley came into its own. As well as grazing for animals, crops like wheat, tobacco and corn started appearing. Grapes were also grown but winemaking came later.

In 1847 William received his conditional pardon. 

It wasn’t an absolute pardon but as he had no intention of ever returning to England it wasn’t important. It gave him the freedom of the colony, with no more tickets of leave required to travel outside of the immediate area.

Life must have been pretty good for William and his family, in 1840 James Tutt and his wife Mary Anne (James was a nephew of Elizabeth Wellard) set off from England to join them as free settlers. Tragically James died just days before their arrival in Sydney, leaving a very pregnant Mary Anne to face the new country and possibly unknown relatives alone. Then in the late 1840's Thomas Lewis Gough, their grandson also joined them in Australia as a free settler. 

West Maitland and Hunter River circa 1853 F.C Terry sketch. NSW Illustrated published 1973 Lansdowne Press

William's family continued to prosper and there are now 100's of descendants, many still in the Mulbring/Sugarloaf area of the Hunter Valley and another large group in Walcha and Kempsey NSW.

William died 22 March 1857 and is buried in the Mt Vincent Cemetery.

©2001 Photo and Inscription courtesy of Lorraine Collier

Sacred to the memory of
William Wellard 
who departed this life ​
22 March 1857 
Aged 78 
When my Savour 
calls me home 
still this my cry 
Hinder me not welcome death 
I'll gladly go with thee

Page 2 - Transcription of Trial Records