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.

The Story of James Exton

This is the story of my paternal Great Great Great Grandfather James Exton (1816 to 1876).

Map showing Bourne, Lincolnshire

When James was born in October  of 1816 in Bourne, Lincolnshire, his father Edward Exton was 31 and his mother Ann Pearson was aged 36.


James was christened on October 10th at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Bourne.


It seems that there was already one sibling in the Exton family when James was born.  

The eldest boy Edward had been born in 1814.

William was born in 1819, when James was 3 years old.

Thomas came along in 1822, when James was 6.

There is a story circulating amongst other branches the Exton family tree that Edward Exton, James's father, was a bigamist and married again even though his first wife was still alive.  He supposedly married a lady named Catherine Beeson in 1831 and they had three sons.  Apparently the first was born before the marriage.  Robert was born in 1828.  Charles was born in 1834, and George came along in 1836.



If this was the case, then I do have to wonder where my 3x great grandfather was living throughout this period of time.  Was he still living with his mother, or had his father taken all the children with him when he moved in with his second wife?  I've yet to find evidence of all this, so it's all supposition at this point.

Skipping ahead a few years, my 3x great grandfather James married the year after his supposed step-brother Charles was born.



On the 29th of January 1835, aged just 18, James married Susannah Lancaster.  They were married at All Saints Church, in Fenton, Lincolnshire.

Susannah (my 3x great grandmother) was aged 19 when she married James, and already had a daughter named Harriett.  Harriett had been born back in 1833, but was known as James's daughter for the remainder of her lifetime.

My 3x great grandfather James and my 3x great grandmother Susannah, went on to have nine children over the course of the next 18 years.

Sarah Emily was born in 1835.
Eliza was born in 1837.  James was now aged 21.
Annie came along in 1840.



The census records for 1841 show James Exton, his wife Susannah, and his children Sarah, Eliza and Ann, all living in the village of Manthorpe, in the Parish of Grantham, Lincolnshire.

1841 England, Wales & Scotland Census

James was employed as a farm labourer and was aged 25.

There was also a Sarah Lancaster and a Harriett Lancaster living at the same address.  Sarah was James's sister-in-law, and sister to Susannah.  Harriett was Susannah's daughter, born out of wedlock. 

I'm uncertain whether or not James was Harriett's biological father.  Perhaps he was, and had to wait until the age of 18 to marry Harriett's mother Susannah.  That doesn't explain why though Harriett continued to have her hyphenated name 'Lancaster-Exton' until her wedding day.  It seems likely that she was not James's biological daughter at all, but when James married Susannah, Harriett was to all intents and purposes his daughter from then on.

Daughter Emma was born the year after this 1841 census, in 1842.

There must have been some discontent brewing about their life in England though, as not long after the birth of Emma, James and his wife Susannah decided to risk everything and set sail for the Colonies.

By this time an assisted immigration system had been established in Australia whereby wealthy individuals in the colonies sent agents to places in England to recruit labour.  Those chosen had their passage paid and were promised employment for a period of time upon arrival.  Of course, alongside this was the prospect of a brand new life, far more promising than the life led in their home country.

In March of 1844 James and his family boarded the ship Briton.  Records show it was a ship of 776 tons and it left the port of Liverpool on the 15th of March.  The voyage to Australia lasted for 162 days.

James was listed as being aged 27 and his occupation was 'farm labourer'.  He was travelling with his wife Susannah and five daughters aged from 2 to 12.

Other details from the assisted immigrant passenger list show that James was the son of Edward and Anne, and came from Manthorpe in Lincolnshire.  He could read, but not write and his religion was recorded as Episcopalian.  The amount paid for his fare is recorded at the bottom  £18.7.6.

He had been engaged by James Kenworthy of Richmond River in New South Wales, under the Assisted Immigrants system.




Upon arrival in Sydney on the 22nd of June 1844, the family along with all the other assisted immigrants had to stay on board the ship for about 19 days. This occurred so that the employer and the immigrants were able to meet and sign a memorandum of agreement.

This document shows that James Kenworthy and James Exton signed this agreement on July 17th of 1844.


The memorandum stated that James and his family were engaged to work at Brook Station for 12 months wages at £15 per annum and there would be a weekly ration that included 20 lbs of beef or mutton, 31 lbs of sugar, 20 lbs of flour, 6 ozs of tea and a quantity of milk.


You can see that James, my 3x great grandfather, was unable to write his name and made his mark with a cross instead.



The family joined other immigrants and sailed to the Richmond River on board the Resolution on the 22nd of July, ready to start work for their employer.

Unfortunately, in a cruel twist of fate, James's employer, the said James Kenworthy, died in September of 1844, not long after James and his family had arrived. The property of James Kenworthy was bought by a man named Yabsley and became part of his Coraki property.

My 3x great grandfather James was then left unemployed for a period of time.  Clues about what happened next for James can be found in a short text called "The Richmond River Experiences of Ann King" dictated by the lady herself in 1918.  Ann was the daughter of William King who was employed by a man named Ward Stephens in 1844.

Ann was the daughter of William King who was employed by a man named Ward Stephens to work on his sheep station.

The King family had settled into a hut beside Back Creek by the end of 1844 and after living there for a few months, another family arrived.

This was James Exton, his wife Susannah and his family.

According to this account, James and his family had been working on Tomki station, owned by Clark Irving and run by a Mr. Barnes. 


James had now moved his family and was working for Ward Stephens as well.  He was aged 28.





James and his family settled into life on Ward Stephen's sheep station, living in the old King's family hut for a while and labouring as shepherds, with the ever-present risk of harm by the native Aboriginals in the area.

In an extract taken from an old diary entry by a lady named Magdalen Yabsley, mention is made of James and family, but in particular his wife Susannah, my 3x great grandmother ...

"Later another family was living in the same hut, when the children saw bushes moving. The men were away, but the woman dressed herself in her husband's clothing and showed her gun in front of the hut which deterred the Blacks."  
(diary entries of Magdalen Yabsley recorded on an online website Magdalen by Dorothy Kinny).

James and Susannah went on to have another four children born in Australia.

William was born in 1845.
Thomas came along in 1847.
Elizabeth (known as Betsy) was born in 1849.
Then Lucy was born in 1851.  James was now 34 years of age.

By this time, it seems he was no longer working on a sheep station.  He was now a cedar cutter, working with his son-in-law John Jones.

Harriett, James's step-daughter, had married Jones in 1847 when she was only 14 years old.  This was not uncommon in colonial times, but still does seem rather shocking to me.
Daughter Eliza (my great great grandmother) married in 1852 at the age of 15.
Daughter Sarah was married in 1853, at the age of 18.
Daughter Annie married in 1854, aged 14.
Emma married in 1859 when she was 17.
Elizabeth married in 1866, aged 16.
Thomas married in 1867 when he was 20.
Lucy married in 1868.  She was aged 17.

So it was that all his children, apart from William, had married by the time James was 52 years of age.

As stated earlier, James ceased working as a shepherd / station hand around 1847.  He then worked as a cedar cutter for a little while, but by the early 1850s it appears he had moved on from that form of employment as well.

There is mention of James Exton working alongside the Joneses as a cooper in Louise Tiffany Daley's book 'Men And A River:  Richmond River District  1828-1895.'

The author recounts that these men worked at the stock boiling-down plant on the Richmond River, built at Woram in the early 1850s.  Cattle were slaughtered, then boiled down in massive boilers near the river bank.

"Coopers like James Exton and the Joneses had collected staves for the great casks which stood in rows waiting to hold the tallow when it was cool.  Schooners were moored in the river waiting to carry the casks to Sydney."  (page 57)

At this time, James would have been around 40 years of age.

James died in 1876.  The cause of death was listed as 'natural decay'.  He was survived by 2 sons, 7 daughters and at least 35 grandchildren.

The details of his age, given by his son Thomas, appear to be incorrect.  He was actually aged 59, and died just a couple of months shy of his 60th birthday.

The quote on his headstone reads:

"Whilst on earth I did remain
My latter days were grief and pain
But God whose mercy ever free
Has from my pains released me."

It does sound as if James suffered in the last year or so of his life.  Perhaps all those years of hard physical work caught up with him.

One death notice mentions that James had lived on the Richmond River for over 30 years.

Not many of my ancestors made it into the papers in their day.  Generally, those that did had tiny little items published about family events or things associated with their business.  James Exton and the Exton family however, were the subject of quite a lengthy piece in 1995.

An article titled "Starting Out In A New Land" details the life of James and his family, along with other pioneer immigrants who came out around the same time to the Richmond River area.

The Northern Star, Tues Aug 15, 1995, p13

One of the lines that particularly appealed to me was ...  "The Exton family's story reads like the script for a Wild West movie"!!!

NOTE:  Even though the photo in the Northern Star article is captioned "James Exton", it is in fact a photo of his son Thomas, and was used incorrectly for the article.

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 22 July 1925, page 7

Another little gem I've stumbled across during my research was this little item published in the Northern Star in 1925.  William Exton, James's son, was recounting his early life and explained how his father's nickname came about!


Special Note to any family members:  If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.

The Story of Henry Johnson Brown

This post tells the story of my paternal Great Great Grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown (1820 - 1868).

Photo from an article in the 'Northern Star' (Lismore), Wednesday 23 October 1929, page 16

When Henry was born in 1820 his father Henry Brown, a shoe maker, was aged 30 and his mother Eleanor Gowan was also 30 years of age.

My great great grandfather Henry was born in a town named Whitehaven situated on the west coast of Cumbria in the north-west of England.

England & Wales, Non-Conformist & Non-Parochial Registers 1567-1970  (1820)

The record shown above indicates that Henry was baptised on July 9th, 1820.  He had been born on the 6th of February that same year.   Henry was baptised according to the rites of the Wesleyan theology.  

Before the birth of Henry, there had been two other children born.

William had been born in 1814.
Alexander had been born in 1816.

When Henry was aged 2, a sibling named Sarah was born in 1822.
Ann was born in 1829, when Henry was 9 years old.

Sadly, when Henry was aged 18 in 1838, his mother Eleanor died.  

By this time Henry was working as a printer in Whitehaven, but it seems he thought his future looked rather bleak if he stayed in the town of his birth.  Indeed, Whitehaven's prosperity, which had been built on tobacco and coal in the 18th and early 19th centuries, was beginning to wane by the middle of the 19th century.

Just a year and a half after the death of their mother, Henry and his sister Sarah made the decision to leave home and head off to a new life in Australia.  What enticed this life-changing decision?  Why did only these two of the Brown children decide to emigrate?  Why did the other siblings decide to stay?  My curiousity knows no bounds!

New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists 1828-1896  (1840 Record)

Henry and Sarah boarded the ship Royal Consort under the assisted immigrant scheme (known as the Bounty scheme) in 1840.  The passenger list states that Henry was aged 20, a native of Whitehaven, the son of a shoemaker named Henry and his wife Eleanor.

Henry's occupation was listed as 'printer' and he was being bought out from England by a Mr. John Marshall for the bounty of £19.  His religion was listed as 'Protestant' and it was noted that Henry could both read and write.

Henry's sister Sarah was listed as a 'housemaid'.  She was also being bought out by Mr. John Marshall for the bounty of £19.  Her religion was listed as 'Protestant'.  Her native place was listed as 'Whitehaven', and it was noted that she could read.

The Royal Consort left Plymouth, England on July 15th 1840 with 245 emigrants aboard, arriving in Sydney on November 9th, 1840 - a trip of just less than four months.

I have managed to find references to the 1840 voyage of the Royal Consort in the newspapers of the time.  I just love finding out about the voyages of my immigrant ancestors if it's at all possible.  It adds another dimension to their story.

Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW),
Tuesday 10 November 1840, page 2

Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser (NSW),
Tuesday 10 November 1840, page 3

This particular article gives an interesting picture of the voyage.  It tell of the ships that the Royal Consort "spoke" to along the way.  I'm guessing that meant saw in passing and perhaps sent a signal to!

The crew and passengers saw the Ann Mary on the 29th of August; the Dutch ship Prince Hendrick on the 13th of September; the French ship Le Amelie on the 25th of October.


What is fascinating to me though is the reference to spotting the possible remains of an wrecked ship floating on the surface of the ocean.


Apparently, on October 24th, they passed a "ship's bowspirit ... which seemed to have belonged to some vessel of about 350 to 400 tonnes.  It was painted white with bowspirit shroud and dead eyes."  What a scary sight!


This particular article also makes mention of the immigrants on board.  "The immigrants ... appear to be a respectable and industrious set of people, and being mostly agriculturists, will be a valuable acquisition to the settlers, as the harvest and wool season are just setting in."

Given that my great great grandfather Henry was a printer and not an agriculturist, I wonder what he thought would be his fate when he arrived in the colonies.  It's doubtful that a man with a working background in printing would be considered valuable to the settlers looking for farm labourers.  How was he going to find employment?  This must have been weighing on his mind during the voyage.

Another short article mentions that the crew and passengers also saw quite a number of sperm whales, and two whaling boats attempting to make a catch.  That would have made the long arduous journey a little more enjoyable!

As mentioned, Henry and Sarah arrived in Sydney in November of 1840.  Henry found employment with Clark Irving on Ellengowan Station, in the Richmond River District, in 1841.  (I'm unsure of what happened to Sarah and have found it difficult to follow her story any further.)

By 1845, Henry had found employment as a cook on the station of Ward Stephen, known as Runnymede. I'm unsure about exactly when he had begun to work there.  He must have been an enterprising man to land a job as a cook, as I doubt he'd had much experience with that up until he arrived in Australia!

It was there, at Runnymede, that he would have met the Browning family, father William Browning, the mother Anne Littlejohn, sons John and William, and daughters Mary Anne and Caroline, who had been working as shepherds for Ward Stephens for around five years.

In 1846 Henry aged 25, married Caroline Penelope Browning who was aged 15. They married at what was known as 'The Settlement' on the Clarence River in New South Wales, and would have been married out in the open, as there would not have been a church or chapel built in the area at that time.  Henry and Caroline were married according to the rites of the Church of England.  

It's interesting to note that Caroline, Henry's new wife, could only make her mark on the marriage record.  She was not able to write her name.

In their life together, Henry and Caroline went on to have 12 children born over a period of 20 years.


I've been lucky enough to find out most of Henry's and Caroline's story from a couple of articles printed in newspapers many years later where some of their children recalled the details of their parents' lives.

This great article published in the Northern Star (Lismore) newspaper on Tuesday 10th of September 1929, re-tells the memories of a Mr. James Brown about the history of his father Henry Brown and his mother Caroline Browning.


It has provided a lot of valuable information about the early married life of Henry and Caroline, although some of the details are not entirely correct.  After loads of research, I can say that many of the dates are incorrect.  For example, James stated that his parents married in 1844, but that is clearly incorrect according to the record of their marriage.


I still consider the information shared by Henry and Caroline's son to be quite valuable though.
He recalls how they met at Runnymede Station where both were living and working.


He goes on to say that they both continued to work for Ward Stephens after their marriage.


James mentions the birth of his parent's first child, a boy named Henry.  Again, the date of Henry's birth was incorrect, as his record of birth shows he was born in March of 1847, not 1845.

Sadly, baby Henry did not survive, and passed away in 1848.

Just two years later, in early 1849 (not 1847 as told by James!) they decided to leave Runnymede Station, and the employ of Ward Stephens.  They had made the decision to apply for work with a William Wilson on Lismore Station, which was situated on the northern arm of the Richmond River.  At the time, Caroline was heavily pregnant with their second child.


The next part of the story is truly a tale of brave pioneering stock who faced challenges with determination and grit!


In order to get to Lismore Station, Henry and his new wife Caroline would have to get across the Richmond River.  There was no bridge across the Richmond at that time, so Henry swam across!!


He left pregnant Caroline on one side of the river, swam across to the other bank, walked onto Lismore Station, met with William Wilson ... and secured work!


Henry then walked back to the river and swam across to let Caroline know he had been successful in gaining employment.


In order to get Caroline across the river safely, Henry cut down / collected logs and tied them together with lawyer cane to assemble a makeshift raft.  Unfortunately the trip over the river was delayed slightly as Caroline gave birth to their second born son that night, beside the river.   (Alexander's birth date is recorded as March 1849 on his record of birth, so again James had the incorrect date).


Apparently, the very next day Henry, Caroline and newly born Alexander crossed the Richmond River on the raft and began their life on Lismore Station.  My great great grandfather Henry would have been 29 years of age.


Caroline and Henry remained working for Mr. Wilson for only a very brief time though, and it appears they made the decision to move on once more.  This is borne out by the details on the baptism record for Henry and Caroline's son Alexander.

This record shows that Alexander had been born on March the 9th in 1849, but Henry and Caroline didn't have him baptized until March of 1850.


Alexander was baptised in the Brisbane County of Stanley, which is those days would have been part of New South Wales.  Queensland didn't become a state of its own until much later, and that's when Brisbane became part of Queensland.

Between the end of 1849 and the end of 1850, Henry and Caroline moved to several different areas, including Stanthorpe (which was part of New South Wales then) where Henry worked on the Maryland Station as a watchman.


You can also see from his son's baptism record that Henry was working as a 'hawker' at this time as well.  It sounds like the family were travelling around, most likely in a horse- or bullock-drawn dray, like gypsies.  No doubt the family would have just set up camp beside the dray at night and then moved on in the morning from station to station and township to township, allowing Henry to find jobs on the various stations in the region and to sell whatever goods he had stashed on the dray.


Printer ... cook ... watchman ... hawker!  Henry appears to have been a very resourceful young man who could turn his hand to almost anything in order to make a living!


By the end of1850 however, Henry, now aged 30, had tired of travelling and hawking, and he began work as a cedar cutter at Bald Hill (later known as Bexhill).


At this time Bald Hill was a major cedar camp, and it would have been a hard life for Henry and Caroline and their baby.  Cedar cutters were not permitted to purchase land, so they lived in temporary makeshift tents or slab huts in cedar cutters' camps.


Henry's son John Thomas was born in late 1850, when Henry would have been aged 30. Sometime around the end of 1851 or the start of 1852, it seems that Henry lost interest in the life of a cedar cutter as well, and decided to begin another new job and life. He and his family moved to the small settlement which would later become known as Lismore.


Henry built a small cedar slab house, setting up a permanent home for his family to live in.  He also set up a saw pit on the river bank and began a business, milling and selling cedar.

Red cedar floated, so creeks near the cedar cutters' camps were used to float the timber down to the settlement that would later be known as Lismore. Logs would be stacked on the banks and marked with a branding iron to identify who they belonged to. When the rains came they would be pushed into the deep flowing water and carried downstream.  It was Henry Johnson Brown who sent to Sydney for a very large rope that was placed across the river at Lismore and caught all the logs coming downstream.

He would have sold locally but he also engaged sawyers to flitch the wood and then sent loads down the river to markets in Sydney.  Henry's business must have been successful almost immediately because he bought quite a large parcel of land not long after beginning this new life.

Register of Town and Land Purchases 1843-1854

Record of Returns of the Colony 1852

I have found a couple of records that show Henry bought a parcel of 50 acres of land in 1852.   It appears he then began to extend the family home into quite a much larger building, using slabs of cedar from his sawpit.


In 1853 it's likely that Henry, now aged 33, would have received news that his father Henry had died back in England.  His daughter Anne Caroline Penelope was also born that year.

Records from the year 1854 show that Henry applied for and was granted a Publican's License to operate a hotel (known as a public house in those days).


By this time, Henry had added on 36 rooms to the family home which had become Lismore's first hotel, known as the Cedar Squarers' Arms. 


In 1855 surveyor Frederick Peppercorne had been sent by the Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell to determine a suitable site for a township at the junction of the Wilson and Richmond Rivers. Peppercorne chose the site of Wilson’s homestead paddock and this was proclaimed the Town of Lismore in the Government Gazette on 1 May 1856.  According to Peppercorne's report, Henry Brown's public house, named Cedar Squarers' Arms, was already established and consisted of 36 rooms all made of cedar.

In 1855, another son was born to Henry and Caroline.  They named him Henry Johnson, the same name as their first-born who had tragically died as a baby.

Elias was born in 1856.

Henry went on to purchase several more blocks of land in the area surrounding the home and hotel.   

New South Wales, Australia, Land Records 1811-1870  (1857 Record)

The record above shows he purchased eight parcels of land in 1857.

Brown's Creek Bridge

He established a large garden near a creek that ran nearby (known as Brown's Creek for many, many years), most likely to provide food not only for the family but also for the customers who stayed at his hotel.  

Mention was made in the Northern Star newspaper, dated Wednesday 10 February 1954 p 12, of the school built by Henry.  This is an artist's impression from that article.

Henry also built Lismore's first school and arranged for the employment of the school's first teacher, Mr. Hayes, from Sydney.


More children were born to Henry and Caroline over the next ten years.


William Norman was born in 1858.  Sadly, Henry's son Elias died the same year, aged just 2.
James Irving Clarke was born in 1859.
Richard Joseph (my great grandfather) was born in 1861.
Eliza Duncan came along in 1863.
Francis Summers Hayes came along in 1865.
Robert Frederick Bayley was born in 1867.

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW), Saturday 23 March 1929, page 4

Another article that mentions Henry Brown established a small store during the early days of Lismore's history as well.


Unfortunately, by late 1866, Lady Luck was no longer smiling on Henry and things had begun to turn sour.

New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW ), Tuesday 12 March 1867 (No.44),
page 690

This notice had appeared in a Sydney newspaper in March of 1867.  It seems that Henry had been declared bankrupt by a sequestration order in December of 1866.  Family stories passed down indicate that Henry had taken on too many promissory notes from his debtors, believing that they would pay him back what they owed.  This proved to be untrue.

The notice provided two dates for meetings to discuss the debts that Henry had incurred.

Bankruptcy Notice 1867 -
Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser 12 March 1867 

This tiny little notice appeared in two newspapers in March of 1867 as well.  It seems that Henry's debts were enormous, although the value of his assets appear to have covered the amount of the liabilities at this stage.


Unfortunately things appear to have deteriorated even further when the following notice appeared in a Sydney paper in May of 1867.

New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW ), Friday 10 May 1867 (No.75), page 1180

This notice talks about arranging a third meeting to discuss whether or not Henry could keep "his household furniture, wearing apparel, beds, bedding and tools of trade"!  How degrading it must have been for him.  He must have been feeling quite desperate and depressed with the thought of losing everything and only being allowed to keep some furniture, his clothes, beds and bedding and some of his tools!


There is no mention at all in this article of being allowed to keep the family home!  What would that mean for the family?  I've been unable to find out so far exactly what happened after all this.  I assume that Henry lost just about everything.  I'm certain that most of his land acquisitions were sold off to pay his debtors, but I'm uncertain about the family home and hotel.

Henry sadly passed away the following year, in 1868, aged only 48.  His death certificate states that he had been suffering from something called 'erysipelas' for 10 weeks.

Further research led me to find out that 'erysipelas' is an acute bacterial infection that affects the upper dermis and the superficial lymphatics.  It was also known as "St. Anthony's Fire" because of the intense red rash associated with it.


It apparently predominantly affects the skin of the lower limbs which turn bright red, hard, swollen and sometimes blistered.  Having seen photos of it, I can say that it looks quite ugly and extremely painful!  Apparently onset is also accompanied by fevers, chills and shivering.


Given that Henry suffered with it for a period of ten weeks, I think I can safely say that the last few weeks of my great great grandfather's life would have been quite painful and extremely uncomfortable.  Today of course, an extended period of infection such as that experienced by Henry, would be treated with penicillin.  No such treatment would have been available for him back in 1868.


I can only imagine how scary it might have been for Henry's wife, my great great grandmother Caroline, and all his surviving children - Alexander aged 19, John 17, Anne 15, Henry 13, William 10, James 9, Richard 7 (my great grandfather), Eliza 5, Frances 3, and Robert aged just 1.

Sadly, my 2x great grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown, was buried in an unmarked grave at the North Lismore Cemetery (also known as the Pioneer Cemetery Memorial Park).


Extra note:
Interestingly, the name 'Henry Johnson' was passed down through many generations in the family.

It all began with Henry's father - Henry Johnson Snr, my 3x Great Grandfather, born in 1782.
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He named his third-born child Henry Johnson, my 2x Great Grandfather (the subject of this post), born 1820.  I'll call him Henry the 2nd.
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Henry Johnson named his first-born Henry Johnson, but sadly the infant died not long after in 1847.  He can be Henry 3rd, even though he lived such a short life.
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Henry Johnson then named his fifth-born child Henry Johnson, born in 1855.  I'll call him Henry the 4th.  Unfortunately this particular Henry Johnson never married.


That wasn't the end of the family name however.

Henry the 2nd, my Great Great Grandfather (the subject of this post) had a few grandsons also named Henry Johnson.

His second-born child Alexander, named his second born Henry Johnson.
His third-born child James, named his second born Henry Johnson.
His fourth-born child Anne Caroline, named her second born Henry Johnson.


It seems just a tad strange that all the grandchildren who were named Henry Johnson were second-born!!!   An odd detail ... these are things I love finding out though.

Special Note to any family members:  If you have information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.