The Story of William Henry Browning

This is the story of my paternal Great Great Great Grandfather, William Henry Browning (1800 - 1867).

William was born in Launceston, Cornwall, England.  His father was John Browning and his mother was Elizabeth Jackett.

William was baptised at the Wesleyan St Mary Magdalene Church, in Launceston in September.

The baptism record does not indicate a date of birth, but I'm assuming William was born in that same year - 1800.



By the time William was born, his mother had given birth to four other children but sadly, two of them had already died.

Hannah had been born in 1792, but died in 1795.
John had come along in 1794.
The first son named William had been born in 1796.  He died a few months later.
Another girl was born in 1798 and she was also named Hannah.
After the birth of my 3x great grandfather, another daughter named Mary was born in 1803.

I have not been able to discover anything much about my 3x great grandfather William's childhood whilst growing up in Cornwall.  His hometown Launceston was a fairly busy little market town, apparently known for its wool industry and straw hats!  The population would have been around 1,500 whilst William was growing up.

William's father, John Browning, died in 1820 when William was 19 years old.  It does seem that the family had fallen on hard times by then, as the death record for William's father listed his residence at that time as the 'Poorhouse'.  I do wonder what William's life was like at that point.

When his father died, William's mother Elizabeth would have been aged 58.  William's brother John would have been 26, William's sister Hannah would have been 22, and sister Mary 17 years of age.  I wonder if they were all still living together, or perhaps some of William's siblings had already married and/or moved away looking for a way to make a living?

In July of 1822, at the age of 21, William got married at St. Sidwell Church in Exeter, Devon.

Exeter is about 42 miles to the east of Launceston, William's place of birth; so I've hypothesized that William, and perhaps other members of his family, had moved from Launceston in Cornwall to Exeter in Devon, perhaps in search of work.

William wed Nancy Littlejohns (although she had been baptised as Anne).


Nancy (Anne) was 20 years of age and had been born in Exeter, so the wedding appears to have taken place in her home town.






Over the following eighteen years, life appears to have become more and more difficult for William and his growing family.  The clues can be found in the places of birth and baptism of his first six children.

First-born, Susannah, was born in Exeter, Devon in 1823, when William was 23 years old.   (Susannah - Exeter)




By the time the second daughter Hannah was born, in 1825, it appears that William and his family had moved back to Launceston in Cornwall.  That is where Hannah was born and baptised.   (Hannah - Launceston)




It's likely William had moved back to Cornwall to be with his mother and extended family, perhaps because he had found it hard to support his wife Anne and his youngest child Susannah while living in Devon, or perhaps because his mother had fallen on hard times as well.

Sadly, William's mother passed away the following year, in 1826, and it appears that William once more left Cornwall.  When his son John Thomas came along in 1827, the family was back in Exeter, Devon.  (John Thomas - Exeter)


The family had again moved back to Launceston in Cornwall by 1830 however, and it appears they remained there for the following ten years.

Daughter Caroline Penelope (my great great grandmother) was born there in 1830.  Records of my 2x great grandmother's birth indicate that she had been born in the Poor House in Launceston, so it seems the family were destitute as this time and relying on parish funds.  My 3x great grandfather William was 29 years of age by then.

Son William Henry came along in 1832.
Daughter Dinah was born in 1835.
Daughter Mary Anne was born in 1837.
All of these children were born in Launceston.

(Caroline, William, Dinah and Mary Anne - Launceston)

Tragically, William and Nancy's daughter Dinah died in 1838, aged just 3.  William was now 38 years old.

Life was in general very, very difficult for William and his family during this time.  I know this because of information taken from an article published in the Northern Star on the 21st of July 2015 based on a book written by Esme Smith titled "The Browning story: tracings from the past".  

This book traces some of the history of William Browning and his wife Anne, and according to the author:

"Over the next few years the young couple found work difficult to find and on several occasions they had to resort to parish relief. By the end of the 1830s, and with six children, they apparently decided that they should look somewhere else for their future. They chose Australia."

William was no doubt feeling that the difficulties finding work and simply trying to exist and feed his family must have seemed insurmountable in his home country.  There had been lots of changes happening in the economy around that time. 

Launceston, Cornwall  circa 1830

Launceston was witness to a period of industrial decline in the early 1800s, with the closure of much of the wool industry in the area due to industrial revolution advances happening in the north of England.  The wool spinning factories closed down, along with the serge mill which ended over 200 years of serge production in the area.  Agriculture was also facing mounting difficulties during this period with the loss of most of their labourers due to low wages.

So it seems, like many others before and after him, William had started wondering about other options that might lead to a better life for himself and his family.  At the same time, the Bounty Scheme had come into existence in the Colonies and would have seemed quite enticing.

This scheme allowed settlers in the penal colony of New South Wales to recruit their own workers in the United Kingdom.  

Under the Bounty Scheme, settlers who needed workers paid the emigrants' passages.  They employed agents to recruit suitable workers in many of the embarkation ports of the U.K.  

Upon arrival in New South Wales, these workers were examined by a Board, and if the Board was satisfied with the condition of these workers, the settler would be issued with a certificate entitling him to claim back the bounty money he had paid from the Government.  



Very often it was the poor house / workhouse inmates who were encouraged by the parish to take up the opportunity of emigration, as the burden of providing for increasing numbers of people needing parish relief became overwhelming.  It's likely that William and his family, who were often in and out of the poor house, had taken heed of the advice of the parish and prepared for a new life elsewhere.

New South Wales, Australia 1828 - 1842: Bounty Immigrants List:  1840

William and his family boarded the ship 'Premier' at the port of Plymouth on April 2nd 1840.  

At the time William was 39 years of age.  His occupation was recorded as 'Gardener', which is an interesting turn of events.  I wonder if he did indeed have a job as a gardener at that time?  

It was noted on the Assisted Immigrants Passenger List that William was a Protestant and could both read and write.

William embarked on this journey with his wife Anne (it seems she no longer went by the name Nancy) aged 38, whose occupation was recorded as 'House Servant'; along with his children John aged 13, William aged 8, Caroline (my great great grandmother) aged 9, and Mary Anne aged 3.  

William's other two daughters were recorded on the passenger list separately under the single female section.  Susan's age was recorded as 16 (but my records show she was actually aged 18) and her occupation was listed as 'Childsmaid', whilst Hannah was aged 16 and her occupation was listed as 'Kitchen Maid'.

William and his family had been bought out by the Australian Agricultural Company, sponsored by a Mr. Capper who had paid an 18 pound bond for William and his wife, a 10 pound bond for the 13 year old John, the 8 year old William and the 9 year old Caroline; as well as a 18 pound bond for both the older girls, Susan and Hannah.

The journey from Plymouth to Port Jackson turned out to be quite a short journey for that time period - only 90 days!  The ship Premier left with a total of 159 immigrants and only four infants were lost during the voyage.  

It turned out to be a memorable trip for all on board, but for reasons other than the usual - which included being at the mercy of the weather (unrelenting heat when crossing the Equator), being stuck in the doldrums, existing for lengthy periods in stinking cramped unhygenic living conditions, poor food, the risk of being seasick or possibly suffering life-threatening illnesses; and of course the more interesting events such as the sighting of islands, sea creatures, phosphorus water, sharks, flying fish and magnificent sea birds. 

As if all that wasn't enough for William and his family, they were also involved in a mutiny!  The headlines of the day read:  Mutiny on Board the Emigrant Ship Premier.

The Sydney Herald, Friday 3rd Jul 1840, p.2

All of the newspaper articles written at the time explained the events in this way:

The ship's captain, Captain Were was on his first voyage to the colonies and his authority was tested when a few of the crew acted with insubordination and total disrespect. It appears that about a fortnight before the ship arrived in New South Wales, some of the seamen went on strike (which was a mutinous act back then), according to one newspaper article "owing to some discontentedness on their part", although the exact nature of this discontentedness is never really explained.  

The Captain then enlisted the aid of emigrants to work the vessel for one day.  Following this there appears to have been a confrontation between the seamen on strike and the Captain, one of them called the Captain "a liar, and struck him".  The Captain, with the assistance of the officers and some of the emigrants, rounded up the man who had hit Captain Were and the other three "ringleaders" and shackled them in irons for the remainder of the voyage.

The viewpoint of all the articles published at the time is definitely in favour of the Captain, with decidedly persuasive language used to talk about the crew and their actions.  Phrases such as "vile notions of the seamen", "extreme indolence", "crimp taught fellows", were obviously intended to skew the viewpoint of the readers against these lowly seamen.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Thursday 2nd July 1840, p. 2

Upon arrival, the four men were incarcerated in the Sydney Gaol and bought before the Court to answer the charges laid.

The Court case was reported in the newspapers of the day in great detail.  One of the reports of the incident on board, recorded by the Surgeon Superintendent Mr. John Turner, was presented at the trial and published in the newspapers.  In that report my 3x great grandfather was mentioned:

"Towards evening a report was circulated by an Immigrant. William Browning that " bloody work" would be the consequence if the Immigrants persisted in assisting the Captain. The man Browning himself acquainted me of this, wishing me to use my influence with the Captain to prevent his further notice of the mutinous transactions and pardon the offenders.   This I contemptuously refused to do, and having that most of our recruits had deserted from fear, and others wavering I again assembled them for the purpose of banishing their fears, in which I was successful, as also adding a few to their number."

So it seems that my 3x great grandfather, William Browning, actually stood up for the seamen and thought that the the assistance given to the Captain by the immigrants was "bloody work"!  He actually asked the the "offenders" be pardoned!  Obviously this was not a popular opinion and he was standing up to the beliefs of not only the Captain, but the officers and many of the immigrant passengers.  

I just love the fact that William was an advocate for these so-called mutineers!!  Why would he do that?  Well, if you looked closely at the emmigrant record for William, you would see that the occupation of his father was listed as: Sailor.  It seems that William had a very good idea of the working life and conditions of the seamen on board the ship, and was firmly placed in their corner!

I find another sentence in the report written by the Surgeon Superintendent very interesting indeed!  After the initial mention of my 3x great grandfather's involvement in the 'mutiny', Mr. John Turner goes on to say:

"The conduct of two of the immigrants William Browning and James Leek, during the progress of the mutiny, was most disgraceful - exciting their companions to add fuel to the already ignited flame; their expressions were also very disgusting. (Signed,) JOHN TURNER. M.R.C.S.L. Surgeon Superintendent."

I think the statement that William's (and James Leek's) "expressions were also very disgusting" is designed to paint my 3x great grandfather in a very bad light, but says more about the person of John Turner than William.  William is a bit of a legend to me!

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
Tue 18 Aug 1840 p 2

Interestingly, as a side note, the mutineers were "discharged on their own recognizances" once Captain Were had left port on his ship!


William Browning was to spend most of his life in Australia working as a shepherd.  

He initially worked for the Australian Agricultural Company at Carrington, Stroud and Goonoo Goonoo on the central coast of New South Wales.  These properties were mostly around 1000 square kilometres or more, which were massive at the time.

Information gleaned when researching the lives of shepherds during the 1840s to the 1850s, indicates that the life of a shepherd was tough, very tough indeed.

Their duties included looking after the flock during the day, and flock sizes were mostly quite huge in the days of colonial Australia - in the hundreds, sometimes thousands - so that would have been challenging.  

The stations were unfenced so there would have been frequent loss of livestock when sheep wandered off and became separated from the flock.  Other threats would have included attacks by dingoes and theft by the Aborigines living on the same land.

A shepherd would take the flock of sheep out to graze before the sun rose in the morning.  He would have carried his meagre ration of food with him and spent the long day keeping watch, trying to prevent sheep from becoming lost, injured, or becoming food for dingoes or the indigenous population.  

In the summertime, the shepherd would have to see that the flock had water in order to survive the heat of the day; and would likely have tried to herd sheep under the shade of trees when the heat became unbearable.

At night the shepherds would pen the flock in 'folds', which were basically enclosures made with 'hurdles'.  These were movable as the flock would be constantly on the move.

Shepherds generally lived in makeshift huts on the stations, in close proximity to the position of the flock, and living conditions would have been quite primitive.  

Their diet would have been poor and monotonous, and they would have been exposed to attacks from the indigenous population.

This was the everyday life of William, his wife Anne and his growing family.  No doubt Anne and the children would have helped out with looking after the sheep.  Having arrived in Australia with a family of six children, William and Anne went on to have another four children and they basically lived a tough life, working under very poor conditions. 

James Francis was born in August 1841, a year after the family had arrived in the colonies.  He was baptised in Port Stephens, central coastal New South Wales.

William's eldest daughter Susannah was married the following month, September 1841, at the age of 18.  Sadly, she passed away a mere two years later in 1843.

William's second eldest daughter Hannah married in December of 1841, not long after her eldest sister.  Hannah was aged 16 when she married a convict.  She was widowed just a year later.


My 3x great grandfather William and 3x great grandmother Anne had a son Joseph Edward born in 1845.  By this time William was 44 years old.  He had been employed by Ward Stephens and had worked on Runnymede Station.

William's and Anne's third eldest daughter, Caroline Penelope (my great great grandmother), was married in January of 1846 when she was aged only 15.

Another daughter, named Elizabeth, was born in 1846 in October, but sadly died the following month.

The last born child of William and Anne, a son named Matthew, was born in 1847.  By this time William was aged 46 and was working for Matthew Marsh at Maryland on the Darling Downs in Queensland.

I have very little information about William's life after this apart from the fact that he selected land at Rosehill, near Lismore in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, and lived out the rest of his life there.

William died in 1867 and was buried at Rosehill on the Richmond River, near Lismore.  It appears that William's son Joseph, who was completing the details of the death record, gave an incorrect age for his father.  Given that William's age was recorded on the immigrant passenger record for 1840 as 39 years of age, then I think William would have only been 66 years of age when he died.  That would also match with the baptism record showing William was baptised (and likely born) in 1800.