RootsWeb is funded and supported by
Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community.
Learn more.
About Us | Contact Us | Copyright | Report Inappropriate Material
Corporate Information | Privacy | Terms and Conditions | CCPA Notice at Collection
Robert Campbell 1789-1851Scotland to Australia
The first member of this Campbell family of Scotland to
settle in Australia was Robert Campbell Senior (1769-1846)
who is usually found in records as "Campbell of the Wharf"
or "the elder". He visited Sydney in 1798 and in
1800 began a branch there of the mercantile partnership he had with
his India resident merchant brother John becoming the first and
for a few years the only merchant in the 1788 founded British colony
of New South Wales. He married in 1801 and had seven children. Ancestry In Scotland
this Campbell family descends from the Campbells of an estate named
Ashfield in the historic county of Argyall (today Argyall
and Bute) who were a cadet of the Campbells
of Duntroon Castle,
a small extant castle situated in Argyall and Bute in western
Scotland on the north side of Loch Crinan. It was built by Clan MacDougall
in the 13th century and after taken by Clan Campbell remained
in its occupancy until sold in 1792 to a Clan Malcolm descendant.
Duntroon, in Scottish Gaelic Dùn Treòin, is thought to be
the oldest continuously occupied castle on the mainland of Scotland.
It is said the Malcolms of Poltalloch who purchased the castle
from the Campbells were originally MacCalumms and Dugald
MacCallum of Poltalloch was apparently the first of that sept
to permanently adopt Malcolm as the family patronymic. At the time of
this compilation, with its name changed from Duntroon to Duntrune,
the castle was still in the ownership of a Malcolm descendant
who was advertising five cottages to rent presumably located
outside the castle in what was the once hamlet of Slochmhullein.
The 1882 published The Gazetteer of Scotland at page
150 described it as - "DUNTROON, modernised
strong ancient castellated mansion, 1½ mile north-west
of Port Crinan in Argyaleshire" and "DUNTRUNE as "an estate
in Dundee parish, Forershire". In the 19th century the ancient castle
was modernised to make it more suitable as a family residence,
but given the history associated with the Duntroom name and
the exitsance of a Scottish tune with the name "Duntroon Castle",
in the 20th century changing the historic name to that of a
once estate in Forershire, or if not to a phonetic rendition
of Duntroon, seems an odd thing to do. Maybe one day a history
conscious owner will revert the name back to Duntroon the name
by which it was known for centuries!
An in 2017
online A History of The MacConnochie Campbells in Argyll
Vol IV, part 1 had - in the second half of the 18th
century the old order in the Highlands changed in a way it had
not done before in historical memory, as a long term result
of the shift from a self-supporting barter economy to a monetary
style one, causing many older families in Argyll to sell up or
lose their lands in this period or earlier. In a list
of Campbell estates sold in that period was listed Ashfield
as on the market in 1773 and "Duntroon & Olig" as bankrupt
in 1785. After the death of John Campbell (1727-1797) the
9th and last Laird of Ashfield, equivalent in England to
a country squire, the 'Ashfield' estate in the parish of North
Knapdale was again for sale in 1799 for £4,608 sterling and
after some court disputation passed out of Campbell ownership.
In Australia
the name of the once family estate of 'Ashfield' in Argyaleshire
became the name of the Sydney inner west suburb of Ashfield
as a result of Robert's uncle bestowing 'Ashfield Park' on
an amalgamation of land grants upon which a subsequent owner of
the estate established the village of Ashfield in 1838. In
recognition of the Campbell naming origin the former Municipality
of Ashfield (after amalgamation with two other former councils
now the Inner West Council) in 1983 adopted as its coat of arms one
incorporating the Duntroon Campbells moto of agite pro viribus,
and the name of the family's hereditary Duntroon Castle was
perpetuated by his uncle bestowing it on a 5000 acre sheep station he
had that was resumed by the federal govenment in 1912 and became and
remains the site of the Australian army's
Duntroon Military College in the ACT.
Birth & Marriage
Robert Campbell
Junior (1789-1851) was born in Greenock in Co. Renfrewshire in
Scotland on 7 Feb 1789. His grandfather was John Campbell (1727-1797)
and his grandmother was Agnes Patterson. His father was their
eldest son William who when appointed the town clerk of Greenock in
1760 moved there from Paisley, and his
mother was Jean Morrison 5.
He began a relationship in 1810 with then almost sixteen
year-old Margaret Murrell (1794-1864)
and married her at St Johns at Parramatta on 12 July 1812
twelve months to the day after their first child named Robert
was born. In 1811 prior to the July 1812 marriage by means of a
Deed of Gift he gave her the land at No. 8 Bligh Street in
Sydney on which he was to build the below pictured, designed
by colonial architect Francis Greenaway, house, offices,
store and stables etc. in respect of which a letter written
by Robert Crawford, also Grennock born and the future husband
of his wife's half-sister Sarah Jones, stated Robert had
told him when completed it was expected to cost £5,000. Sarah Jones - Margaret Murrell's half-sister
Sarah Jones, Margaret
Murrell's half-sister from her mother Ann Carty's third relationship
with Thomas Jones, married Greenock in Scotland born
Robert Cawford
at St James Sydney on 16 June 1832 by Special Licence.
Crawford arrived in the colony of New South Wales
in 1821 on the Royal George with his patron Sir
Thomas Brisbane who had been appointed to succeed Major-General
Lachlan Macquarie as Governor of New South Wales. Robert & Margaret separation Margaret
Campbell née Murrell initially absented herself in
1831 from her husband Robert Campbell and Australia for
what at the time was said to be a "visit"
to England that became an absence just short of seven years.
With then almost 12 years of age daughter Margaret Jane she
left Sydney for London on 3 April 1831 with a prior to leaving
newspaper published stated intent of arranging for the daughter's
education in England and did not return to Sydney until 31 December
1837. She was in England in 1825 with her husband and one child,
where she engaged a governess to return with her to Sydney,
so was already familiar with London and some other parts of
England and had contacts there. Perhaps casting some light on the
seven year absence is a cryptic quote, in the cited below at #39
sources and footnote section Frank Broeze biography of her husband's
from 1829 London commission agent Robert Brooks, incorrectly
sourced in that biography and most likely from a letter to
Brooks from his 1831 appointed agent in Sydney Ranulph Dacre,
the quote being - Dacre also conferred with Robert
Campbell Jr. a man he - "esteemed in his counting house but no
further". Seemingly it implies that as a man of business
Dacre held him in the highest regard for honesty and ability
but not in respect of the conduct of his personal life. Seemingly
if all there was to the trip to England in 1831 was to arrange
for her surviving daughter's education after placing her in a
suitable establishment Margaret would have returned to Sydney
and her husband in 12 months or so instead of absenting herself
from him for seven years. According to Broeze Robert Brooks accepted
responsibility for supervising children of Australia friends
and acquaintances sent "home" to school or university so why
not Robert Campbell's children ? Death of Robert Campbell It
is indicated when Robert Campbell died at age 62 he and wife Margaret
Murrell had been seperated for twenty years or more from at
least 1831 when she left for England and absented herself from
Australia for just short of seven years. He died suddenly
about 10.30 am on Sunday 5 Oct 1851 at "Hopewell Cottage"
at Paddington in Sydney where he resided with his de facto
(today defined as a person living with another on a genuine domestic
basis regardless of whether either is legally married to someone
else) and their three children. He was recorded at the Hopewell estate
address at the March 1841 taken census and subsequently as its
occupant when he purchased the estate at auction on 5 Oct 1842
and in June 1845 when he gave evidence in the Bank of Australasia
Supreme Court case and in 1846 when a creditor of an estate, and
it was given as his address in his November 1846 made will and
after his death in the NSW Government Gazette
of 28 Oct 1851. In the newspaper probate application notices
it was given as - "Hopewell on the Old South Head Road near the
city of Sydney". Twelve years earlier when 1815 born son James Piper
died in June 1839 the newspaper notices had he died at his father's
residence in Pitt Street.
His
funeral cortege left for the 2.5 kilometer journey to Devonshire
Cemetery at 8 am on Thursday the 9th from his former above pictured
Bligh Street residence in the city where his wife resided after
she returned to Australia in Nov 1844 from an absence abroad after
having left in March 1840 and before then spending almost seven
years abroard from 1831 to the end 1837. Late the same day the Sydney
correspondent of the Maitland Mercury reported to the newspaper
on the internment quote - "The number of carriages and
followers far exceeded that which attended the funeral of the late Mr.
Samuel Lyons". For decades Lyons who died two months before
him was Sydney's leading auctioneer. Reporting on the Lyons
funeral cortege the Sydney Morning Herald stated it had
consisted of - "hearse, nine mourning coaches, sixty private and
hired carriages, and ten gigs altogether eighty vehicles".
Devonshire Street Cemetery where he was buried was closed in
1888 and resumed in 1900 for the site of the Sydney Central
Railway Station with the bodies exhumed and reburied in
a number of other cemeteries that in his case was Waverley
Cemetery that opened for burials in 1877 where his burial site
is said to be in block 3615-3618. Originally there would have
been a substantial stone memorial erected in Devonshire Street,
where three of his children were also buried from 1825 to 1839,
but whether after the reburials there is any memorial for him
or them in Waverley has not been discerned. From two known
relationships he had nine children and possiby one more from
another relationship and there were at least the forty-one
grandchildren who are listed below in the second generation
section. Some aspects of his business history After
Robert Campbell's arrival in Sydney in 1806 with his uncle he was
a clerk for five years in his uncle's firm of Campbell & Company
serving part of that time as his uncle's assistant in the naval
office. When his uncle's afairs were in decline he left in 1811 and
went into business on his own account. R. F. Holder in his 1970
published official history of the Bank of New South Wales
recounted that despite early success like many other merchants
Robert Campbell was in some difficulties in 1817 and he
took a salaried position with the colony's first bank
at its that year formation. After obtaining the Bank of NSW
position he advertised in the Sydney press on 15 Mar 1817 that
his business premises in Bligh Street were to let as follows -
"To let, and immediate possession given, the store and office
of Mr. Robert Campbell jun. No. 8 Bligh Street. All persons
indebted to Mr. Robert Campbell jun. are requested to settle
their respective accounts within ten days" 11. Hopewell Estate
For in excess of the
last decade of his life when in the colony Robert junior
resided in the house on the Hopewell Estate of which he was
recorded as its occupant at the 1841 census and the occupant
when it was auctioned on 5 Oct 1842 and purchased by him.
After the return to Australia in Dec 1837 of his legal wife
Margaret Murrell, the mother of the first six of his children,
there is no evidence he resided at the Bligh Street residence
and none that he and Margaret ever lived together after she
left for Europe in April 1831 in what was apparently an amicable
separation. In a Nov 1846 reported Supreme Court case when
a creditor of an estate his address was given as
"Hopewell, Old South Head Road" and his 1851 newspaper
will probate notice had him as of 'Hopewell'. Prior to
residing at 'Hopewell' his residence was in Pitt Street
according to the newspaper notice when son James Piper died
there in June 1839. His Will
Robert Campbell's
14 Nov 1846 made WILL,
in which he referred to himslf as the "Elder", was made seven
months after the death of his uncle Robert after which he
replaced Junior with Elder to continue disinquishing himself
from son Robert 'tertius' and his late uncle's son Robert (1804-1859).
His would surely have been the most copied will in the 19th
century in Australia as in 1852 each member of the NSW Legislative
Council then numbering 54 was given a copy at the time a bill
to alter it was introduced into the legislature where due to
influential disssent that some of the changes it sought to make
would create an undesirable precedent it was enacted only in
part in Dec 1852. When introduced into the legislature Robert was
said to have been "of Bligh-street in the City of Sydney and of
Hopewell near the said City". Robert owed some of the land
portions at Bridge and Bent Streets on which presumably his
office and former store were situated. Post the 1844 demise
of the firm Robert Campbell Junior & Co. who traded from
the office there, in 1851 advertisements advising a willingness
of his later formed entity Robert Campbell Elder and Company
to purchase gold gave the Bligh-street office as its business address.
In respect of the Hopewell Estate where he resided when he died pursuant
to his will when the last born of his and de facto Isabella
McDonald née Donnel's three children reached 21 years of
age it was to be sold with the proceeds going to the three in equal
shares. In 1864 it was subdivided into 58 blocks that all sold
at an auction held in November 1864 grossing £6083. As
his defacto Isabella died at "Hopewell Cottage",
named as such in advertisements when it went to auction on
9 Nov 1864, the house must have been purchased by the three
children as tenants in common or by one of them. Children of the Murrell MarriageOf the six Robert Campbell and Margaret Murrell children three pre-deceased their father - William Morrison (1813-1833), James Piper (1815-1839) and Agnes Sarah (1820-1825) leaving only Robert 'tertius' (1811-1887) and two others Thomas Winder (1818-1869) and Margaret Jane (1819-1890) alive when he died in October 1851 12. Of the three who pre-deceased their father, William by occupation a merchant died in 1833 at Calcutta in India with his body returned to Sydney and buried there in Jan 1835, James a pastoralist of 'Fairfield' near Gundaroo died in Sydney in 1839, and just after her 5th birthday Agnes died in Sydney in 1825. Robert Campbell "tertius"1. Robert Campbell "tertius", born 12 July 1811, Sydney, NSW, Australia, bapt. 11 Aug 1811 St Phillips Church, Sydney ; died 15 Oct 1887 1,, aged 76, Brighton, Sussex, England, buried Eaton Hastings Churchyard, Berkshire, England (located since 1974 in Oxfordshire 4km from Faringdon), son of Robert Campbell (1789-1851) and Margaret Murrell (1794-1864). He married 15 Jan 1835 2 at St. Johns, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, Ann Orr, born ca. 1817 Cork, Ireland 3 ; died 29 Apr 1886 aged 68 in Berkshire, England, eldest daughter of James Orr (1793-1835) and Sarah Spencer (ca.1799-1841) 4.
Children of Robert Campbell and Ann Orr were: 51 CHILDREN DETAILS Thomas Winder Campbell
The second eldest of
the three children of Robert Campbell and Margaret Murrell
alive when their father Robert died in 1851 was 3 Feb 1818
born Thomas Winder. On 23 Jan
1840 at St James Church in Sydney he married ca. 1821 County Cork,
Ireland born Maria Louisa Orr, who with
her only sister Ann who married his older brother Robert and
three other siblings arrived in the colony of New South Wales
with their parents on the Elizabeth on 29 May 1825. Thomas
died from drowing on 12 Feb 1869 near Coonabarabran in the central
west of NSW and wife Maria on 1 April 1903 at Brighton, Surrey,
England. Between 1840 and 1858 they had nine children. It is
understood by the time of this compilation the male line of
Thomas Winder had apparently died out. Children of Maria L Orr and Thomas W Campbell were: CHILDREN DETAILS
Likewise to brother Robert
Thomas would have attended school for several years in England.
A month before his twentieth birthday he arrived back in Sydney
from London on 31 Dec 1837 on the Albert with his mother
who had absented herself from her husband and the colony for
almost seven years. Benjamin Boyd Employment
About that time Thomas
found employment with the below mentioned Benjamin Boyd who was
an older brother of his sister Margaret's husband Curwen. Newspaper
reports of a 1847 NSW Supreme Court libel case brought by
Ben Boyd had that at the hearing it was stated after
Boyd established Boydtown at Twofold Bay near Eden
Thomas became a storekeeper for him there and by means of
political influence Boyd had him and another employee
appointed as Boyd Town magistrates. At the court hearing Thomas
gave evidence that in 1846 when the alleged libel occurred
he was Boyd's managing storekeeper there. Hawaiian Consul-General
That same year Ben Boyd
joined the bolters, sailing out of Sydney Harbour on 12 July
1849 in his yacht the Wanderer from where after short
stops at Auckland and Tahiti he next made landfall on 26 Feb 1850 at
the Hawaiian Islands then a Polynesian Kingdom where the
power was shared by the chiefs and a white executive and
an old friend Robert C. Wyllie, a merchant from Boyd's London
days who likewise came from the same south-west part of
Scotland, was the Minister of Foreign Relations and keen to
promote an Hawaiian expansion throughout the Pacific
and develop a close relationship with the Australian colonies.
For reason of his plans and ambitions to obtain legal title
for lands he might acquire in the Pacific Boyd suggested
the appointment of a Consul for the Australian colonies and
for that office nominated his former factotum Thomas. Wyllie
accepted the suggestion to appoint Thomas as such ment and
wrote to NSW Governor Charles Fitzroy on 11 April 1850 seeking
approval for the appointment of Thomas as the Hawaiian
Consul-General in Sydney. Subject to formal ratification
by the Queen a provisional appointment was forthcoming with
the Geelong Advertiser of 23 Dec 1850 advising -
'vice consuls for the Hawaiian Islands have been appointed
for South Australia and Van Diemen's Land with a
Consul-General (Mr Campbell) in Sydney having authority to
nominate a vice-consul (as one there should be) at Geelong or
Melbourne.' Move to England
Thomas and
Maria and their surviving children departed Sydney for
London on 10 Jan 1855 on the Vimeira. As by then
eight of their nine children had been born indicated is
three were deceased. A newspaper report said four
children accompanied them but there were either five or
1843 born son Thomas R. C. must have been already in England
attending a boarding school. In the five UK census'
entries from 1861 to 1901 Maria was listed with some of
her children. In the 7 April 1861 taken census her last born
child Reginald was listed aged 2 and born in England so born
there in 1858 (reg. Kingston Dec Qtr 1858). There were four others
listed with him in that census being Jessie 20, Maria Louisa 12,
Duncan 8 and Norman 6. Missing was Oct 1843 born Thomas Robert
Curwen then aged 17½ presumably away at school.
In the 1861 census husband Thomas Winder was not listed
in the household indicating he had returned to Australia
or for another reason was absent on the census taken night.
Whilst he was in England he wrote a letter (content
not ascertained) dated 13 Jan 1856 from St. Helen's Place
in London to James Milson Jr. in Australia apparently on
his brother's behalf re Bank of NSW shares to be purchased
for his brother to replace ones previously sold. In 1861
Maria's residence was at Kingston upon Thames where until
1859 her sister Ann had also lived and she was at the same
address in the 1871 and 1881 census. By the 1891 census it
was 16 Eaton Gardens in Hove located about three quarters
of a kilometer from where her brother James resided
at 42 St Aubyns street. Thomas & Maria DeathsThomas drowned on 12 Feb 1869 in a dam on 'Garrawilla' station near Coonabarabran in NSW operated by a partnership comprising his brother Robert and two brother-in-laws James and Ebenezer Orr. The coroners inquest held the following day on the property was conduced by brother-in-law Elenezer Orr's fellow Coonabaraban district magistrate F. W. Edwards J.P. It returned a finding of accidental death by drowning and it was subsequently disclosed in a newspaper report it occurred after dark and the dam water level was low because of the prevailing drought. Newspaper advertisments for the two-day Tambar Springs races to be held four weeks after his death had he was to be a Steward and Ebenezer Orr the Judge. Thomas had no will and the administration grant was to James Milson as attorney for his England resident wife Maria with a probate effects assessment of £1500. Wife Maria died on 1 April 1903 at Brighton, Surrey, England with an effects valuation of £1283. Margaret Jane Campbell
The other Robert Junior
and Margaret Murrell child alive in 1851 was 5 May 1819 born
Margaret Jane. In April 1831 at the age
of twelve she was taken to England to be educated and returned
to Sydney at age eighteen in Dec 1837. Eight months apart she
twice married John Christian Curwen Boyd.
Their first child was baptised in London in 1842, four in Sydney,
and two births in Belguim were notified in a Sydney newspaper. If
there were any others they have not been identified. Although
doubtful perhaps another was a John, a son of J Boyd of Paris,
who married married Jessie Osborne on 29 Apr 1873 at Lewisham
in England? Children of Margaret J Campbell and John C. C. Boyd were: CHILDREN DETAILS
As recorded in the parish
register Margaret Jane first married Curwen (as he was known)
Boyd in London on 28 Sep 1840 at St James Westminster after
what must have been a whirlwind romance as she only arrived there
from Sydney two months earlier on 21 July with her mother and brother
Robert and his wife and children. It is indicated by her brother
Robert having obtained through Robert Brooks the Campbell's agent
in London a letter of credit dated 26 October 1840, from the London
bank Sir Charles Price Bart, Marryat, Coleman & Price, for
£1000 exercisable at its correspondent banks in the major
European cities of Geneva, Paris, Florence, Milan, Venice, Brussels,
Frankfort and then another dated 21 May 1841 for the same amount
banks with banks in Genoa, Lyons and Trieste added, that about
October 1840 the Campbell's would have set out on what was known
as a Grand Tour encompassing several major Europe cites. Eight months after Margaret married Boyd in London they married again in Florence in Italy in the British Embassy there on 22 May 1841 at a ceremony presumably performed by a resident Church of England chaplain notice of which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald of 20 Sep 1841. If this was a novel, which it is not, it would be said Margaret sent a postcard to Curwen in London telling him they were booked into the Hotel Grand in Florence for a three week stay and begging him to come over and take a room there a day before they were due to arrive. Then in the dining room on the night of arrival it would have been be a case of surprise-surprise fancy meeting you here ...! A letter written by Robert Brooks three weeks after the second marriage, who was in a position to know as he was in contact with her brother Robert, had that she had married - 'at length ... very much to the annoyance of her mother and family'. It is thus clear the eight months earlier 28 Sep 1840 London church marriage was an elopement that was not then or subsequently disclosed to her mother and family with them having believed until presented with the second marriage as a fait accompli that the status of the two's association was no more than a romance and them opposed to any change in that status. As Margaret was twenty-two and the wives of Margaret's two brothers were respectively married when aged 17 and 18 and, her mother Margaret was 16 when her first child was born, it is not likely the family opposition was because she was too young so was based on other considerations. As she was not pregnant that could not have been a reason for the second ceremony in May 1841 with her familty opposed. Her first child Campbell was not born until 20 April 1842 so there had to be another reason for the second marriage ceremony 14. Whilst the Boyds' were an old Scottish family, giving Curwen Boyd in those days a social status in England above that of a colonial family, his father Edward who among various mercantile pursuits had been in insurance was bankrupted in 1826 with everything sold off including his furniture, plant and livestock, and even the estate shooting rights sold off etc. except for his entailed life only interest in the 'Merton Hall' residence and its lands situated near the town of Newton Stewart in Wigonshire in the south-west of Scotland whose tenant rents were sequestrated for the benefit of his creditors. In opposing a Curwen Boyd marriage Margaret's mother likely had in mind her only daughter marrying someone possessed of better financial credentials - Curwen Boyd being just an employee of his brother Benjamin's entities and with three older brothers and an 1826 bankrupted father unlikely to ever receive a significant inheritance or inherit the entailed 'Merton Hall'. It appears what may have happened was that shortly before or after they eloped in Sep 1840 in London, in the circumstances that Margaret was about leave London with her brother and mother to embark on a lengthy grand tour of Europe, with her mother and brother opposed to any Boyd marriage and her mother estranged from her father and he presumably unaware of Boyd's employee only status and that Boyd's father had been bankrupted etc., Margaret Jane must have written to her father seeking a marriage settlement should she proceed to marry Curwen Boyd and he, with most of his assets in property and his money lent out on interest to merchants and entities and in particular to his old firm of Robert Campbell Junior & Co in which he ceased to be a partner in 1838, had responded that in the event she was to marry Boyd he would make a £10,000 settlement from monies advanced by him to his old firm etc. when it was repaid - an amount later described in his 1846 made will as "a fortune". It is thus concluded the only reason for the second marriage ceremony, with Margaret's mother and brother opposed and her first marriage in London kept secret from them, was for Margaret Jane who was presenting as a person of unmarried status to be able to appear to qualify for the settlement agreed to by her father in contemplation of as proposed to him Boyd marriage. Given the short two months time factor from Margaret Jane's arrival in London, if as seemingly as the case of advice of her father's agreement to make the settlement was not received before they eloped it would not in law have constituted a binding ante nuptial contract. In law a binding ante-nuptial contact could only come into existance if the parties to the marriage had knowledge of it before the marriage was solemnised so solemnised on its basis. Also suggesting the purpose of the second ceremony in Italy was an attempt to put in place an apparently binding settlement contract, for which an essential condition was that the existence of the first church marriage always remain a secret, is that the referred to letter from the Campbell's agent Robert Brooks to his Sydney agent Ranulph Dacre was to inform him that Brooks had nominated him to be a trustee for the Margaret marriage settlement. A purported to be ante-nuptial settlement that was in fact not ante can be likened to a will made after death. Accordingly the only marriage with legal status and of genealogical significance was the first in London with the second in the British Embassy in Florence being no more than an attempt to cover up forever the London elopment. The only question thus being is who pressured who to elope? In that respect the compiler's money would be on Curwen as it was already arranged with his brother's he was to come to Sydney to initially set up a shipping business so a marriage to the daughter of a prominent merchant would have appeared to him to be highly desirable? An attempted fraud
Although apparently
trustees for the marriage settlement were nominated
there is no evidence a deed appointing them was ever executed.
Only part of the promised £10K marriage settlement
referred to in her father's 1846 will was paid and then
seemingly direct to her and not to any trustees. However
after she left Australia in 1853 according to another court
case trustees did exist in respect of property she owned
in Sydney as those trustees sold it on her behalf
taking instructions to sell from her agent. Arrival in Australia
It has been noted
said Curwen Boyd accompanied officers of his brother Benjamin's
1840 founded Royal Bank of Australia to Sydney with £1000
in specie and £10,500 in notes in the Ben Boyd owned
steamship Sea Horse that departed Gravesend on 2 Sept 1840
(25 days before Curwen's London elopement) and arrived at Sydney
on 1 June 1841 and that the instructions to the employees were
to assess the financial situation, establish a shipping service,
and open agencies in the various ports but not to begin any
banking operations until the chairman of the Bank Benjamin
Boyd arrived in New South Wales 13.
There must have been an intent noted in records for Curwen Boyd to
travel to Sydney on that vessel with the employees. However obviously
romance got in the way and the bank employees left without him.
If he had in fact left on it neither his first marriage in
London on 28 Sept 1840 four weeks after it left or second in Italy
eight months later on 22 May 1841 could have taken place! In contradiction
the same source also had that Curwen and his bride sailed for Sydney in
January 1842 on the also Boyd owned steamship Juno which
in respect of Margaret was not possible as she had a son Campbell
born in London three months later on 20 April 1842 who was baptised
at St Marylebone on 5 Nov that year. However the Juno
actually sailed from London on 19 Jun 1841 six months earlier
than claimed and after a series of disasters at sea losing rudders
etc. arrived at Sydney on 25 March 1842. Curwen was not listed
in the newspaper reports as arriving on it. That he came
on it seems most unlikely as if there was an average gestation
time of nine months his son Campbell born 20 April 1842 would
have been concieved 20 August 1841 being two months after it
left London. With their son having been baptised in London
in November '42 obviously Margaret could not have arrived back
in Australia earlier than 1843. Children from other relationships
Prima facie there was a Robert Junior child named Andrew Campbell,
born of an unknown mother at an unknown place on an unknown date,
who received a £500 bequest in his 14 Nov 1846 made will
that stated he had attended school in Van Dieman's Land
(Tasmania) and when the will was made in Nov 1846 was out of
the colony. Isabella McDonald née Donnel Children In addition
to the six Margaret Murrell children and a possible
child named Andrew, Robert Campbell and his de facto
Isabella McDonald née Donnel had three known children
born between March 1839 and March 1843 christened
Edward, Mary Ann, and Charles Campbell.
Given an average gestation period the first of Isabella's three
known Robert Campbell fathered children Edward would have
been conceived about July 1838 so her
relationship with Robert Junior dates from at least 13 years
before his death. As newspaper reports of the hearing and
judgement in an early 1852 case concerning the interpretation
of Robert Campbell's 1846 made will had her status as Mrs
by the time of the 10 Feb 1841 baptism of the first two
children she was either a widow or separated from her McDonald
husband or as the case may be de facto whose surname
she had adopted 17.
Her 1875 made will also had her status as widow. Based on her married
name of McDonald recorded in the baptism register entries
for all three children it would be expected same would have
been in Robert Campbell's 1846 made will but instead her
surname was given as her Donnel birth surname rendered
phonetically as Donel. All that can deduced is presumably
at some time between 1843 and 1846 Isabella reverted to her
birth surname because McDonald was considered no longer
applicable. Seemingly seven years would have passed
since her husband's death or perhaps disappearance so the name
reversion signalled the marriage was over (after a seven year
disappearance a person was legally free to marry again). Robert's
will bequeathed her and the three children the right to occupy
'Hopewell Cottage' on the Hopewell Estate until March 1864 when
the youngest child Charles reached 21 years of age. It also
made provision for payments to her for the maintenance of the
three children to the ages of 21. They were each bequeathed an equal
one third share in the Hopewell Estate and equal shares in
a one fourth share of the total residual estate respectively
payable to each at 21 years of age. The total value of the estate
was stated in the 1852 court case judgement as estimated to be
between £70K and £80K. Edward Campbell Edward
Campbell was born 26 Mar 1839 and died 29 May 1903 at Singleton in NSW.
He was baptised with sister Mary Ann on 10 Feb 1841 at Presbyterian St
Andrews Scots Church in Sydney by Rev. John McGarvie with his
father as Robert and mother's married surname of McDonald recorded
in the parish register. He was last listed residing in Sydney
in the Sands Directory for 1870. It appears he left Sydney
for county areas of the colony and was completely out of touch
with his family for many years. In that respect advertisements
in the Australian Town and Country Journal of 12 April
1884 and the Sydney Morning Herald of the 8 April read:- "CAMPBELL. Information required as to the present address of Mr. EDWARD CAMPBELL, son of the late ROBERT CAMPBELL, of Hopewell Estate, Paddington, brother of Mr. CHARLES CAMPBELL, of the same place, and of Mrs MARY ANN ROBINSON, of Hopewell-steet, Paddington. He was heard of eight years ago at Eenaweena Station Wellington district, and more recently as being in the employ of Messrs. Cobb and Co. on the line of coaches between Bathurst and Dubbo. A reward will be paid to any person forwarding reliable particulars to ARTHUR CUBITT, Missing Friends Office, The Arcade, King-street, Sydney. His death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of 3 June 1903 stated he died aged 64 at Singleton and was interred there and was the only brother of Chas Campbell J.P. of 54 Hopewell Street, Paddington. He should have received part of his inheritance under his father's will after turning twenty-one in 1860 and the balance of one third of the sale price of the Hopewell Estate after it was subdivided and sold for a gross of £6083 in 1864. No evidence was noted he ever married and no will probate or administration grant is indexed . Mary Ann Campbell Mary Anne Jane
Campbell was born 13 June 1840 and died in Sydney on 15 Nov 1885. She was baptised
with brother Edward on 10 Feb 1841 at the Presbyterian St Andrews Scots Church
in Sydney by Rev. John McGarvie with her mother's married surname recorded
in the parish register as McDonald. She married William Robinson in
1860 (#1860-1029) registered at Paddington in Sydney. Children of Mary A J Campbell and William Robinson were: CHILDREN DETAILS Charles Campbell Charles Campbell
was born 8 Mar 1843 and baptised at St Andrews Scots Church in Sydney by Rev.
McGarvie on 9 Oct 1843 with his mother's married surname of McDonald
recorded in the parish baptism register. He died in Sydney on 18 Nov 1915,
buried in the Presbyterian Section of Rookwood Cemetery (zone A, section 4, grave 165).
He married in 1867 (#1867-537) Betsy Higham, aka Elizabeth,
born ca. 1847 and died 21 June 1921 in her 75th year (age was given as 77
in death registration calculating to a ca. 1844 birth year with no parent
names given), buried in Presbyterian Section, Rookwood Cemetery.
Children of Charles Campbell and Betsy Higham were: CHILDREN DETAILSWhen son William John died accidently in 1903 the occupation of Charles was given in the newspaper reports as retired builder. His obituary stated he was first elected to the Paddington Council 39 years previously (thus in 1876) and was the Mayor on three occassions including during the 1888 centennial year of first settlement and during the 17 years (thus to 1893) of his connection with its municipal affairs he had taken an active part in the development of the distict. The periods he was Mayor were 12 Feb 1878 to 14 Feb 1879, 16 Feb 1884 to 14 Feb 1885 and 11 Feb 1887 to 17 Feb 1888. Stated was that he was survived by nine children, 32 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The names of 35 children born to his children are listed by name in the Second Generation section below. At the time of the marriage of Charles to Betsy Higham in 1867 she already had two children, a three year old daughter whose birth was registered in 1863 as Louisa D. C. Higham with no father's name recorded, and a 1865 born daughter Emily whose parent names were registered as Charles and Betsy. As Betsy's death registration had no parent names recorded they have not been discerned. Perhaps she was a daughter of the Joseph Higham (aged 57 so born 1817) of 14 Oxford Street, Sydney and formerly of Stockport, England, of the Post Office staff, who died 30 Sep 1874 and was buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Petersham. A John Higham of Little Clevland Street, Redfern died in March 1913 and was buried in Waverly Cemetery. He had a son Thomas John. A Robert William Higham of Redfern died in 1904 aged 56 so born ca. 1848. His parents names were registered as John and Ann. He may have been a brother of Betsy. His 7 Nov 1915 made will beqeathed his estate to his widow, nine surviving children, and a grandson William C. C. Tall, and the probate valuation was sworn at £16,306 with the Perpetual Trustee Company appointed as the Executor. Robert
Campbell "tertius"
|