1788 Acres – Devon, England

My late aunt Emily (Henderson) Harris and her six siblings were “First Fleeters”, descended from Thomas Acres, who arrived in the Port Jackson, after a short stop in Botany Bay,  on 26 January 1788 on the “CHARLOTTE” one of eleven ships, six convict transports, three supply ships and two Royal Navy escorts.  Consequently, Acres was in the harbour on the very day Governor Phillip raised the British flag.

 

Thomas Acres was born in Devon in 1758. There are references to his trade as a shoemaker, that he could read and write, and that he was Catholic.He was tried, along with John Smith, in Exeter, Devon on 14 March 1785 for

“feloniously assaulting John Squance in the King’s Highway and feloniously putting him in corporal fear and danger of his life in the said Highway and feloniously and violently taking from his person and against his will in the said Highway 10s. his monies.”         i.e. Highway robbery.

 

They were both convicted, and sentenced to be hanged.^[1].  Their sentence was commuted to 7 years and transportation.^[2] This was a regular occurrence at the time in all but the most serious cases. However it is worth remarking on the 7 year element. Most changes from the death penalty were to life. (For example George Marshall, on this website, was sentenced to be hanged for stealing cloth, and then reduced to Life, with transportation.) This suggests that the court did not see Acres as a serious offender and so was lenient in its process. (On the day, seven were convicted and sentenced to hang. All were commuted , one for life, the other six for 7 years.)

 

After almost two years held in Exeter and then in a prison hulk “DUNKIRK” in Plymouth, he transferred to the Charlotte, which left Plymouth Harbour with the Fleet on 13 May 1787.  The Charlotte, with a crew of 30, carried 88 male and 20 female convicts, and 32 Marines and family. Four convicts died on the voyage. A comprehensive and excellent account of the Fleet’s voyage has been written by Charles Bateson. ^[3]

 

It is not clear where or to whom, Acres was assigned, though I have seen one reference to working in the Governor’s garden, suggesting that he was trusted and had no further problem with the law. This is reinforced by his attaining freedom, right on time, seven years after his 1785 conviction, in 1792.

 

On the 3rd November 1794, Thomas was granted twenty acres of land at Mulgrave Place on the Hawkesbury River. In 1800, Acres, along with 14 other landholders, lodged a petition for fair prices for their produce and purchases with the Governor. By mid 1800 devastating floods had destroyed his property and he had to rent a property for his family.

 

In 1802 Thomas purchased twenty acres, had ten sown in wheat and six more in maize. He had two pigs and his family was self-supporting. In May 1805 he sold the land at Mulgrave Place for 180 pounds. In partnership with Thomas Phillips at (Cat Eye) Cattai, Acres had twenty two and a half acres. Fourteen acres of grain, one acre of orchard and garden, the rest of pasture and fallow. With 12 sows and four bushels of wheat in store, it was considered he was a success.

 

By 1814, Thomas was living in the Liverpool district, believed to be where the Crossroads and Hurlstone Agriculture College now is. The 1814 Muster states that Thomas Acres was free of servitude, a landholder of Liverpool, living with wife Ann and off Government stores. By the 8th October 1816, he owned a further 40 acres at Airds. The fact that the present day Thomas Acres Public School sits on what was his land suggests a reputation of some quality.

 

Thomas Acres died on the 4th January 1824 at Cowpastures, NSW. He is believed to be buried in the grounds of St Peter’s Church of England, Campbelltown. A plaque to his memory and that of Ann Guy – Acres was erected in the grounds of St. Peter’s by the Thomas Acres Society in 2008. The Sydney Mail, in 1883, stated that the first burial at St. Peter’s was that of Thomas Acres. ^[4]

 

Ann Guy, nee Hinchley arrived in the Colony three years later on the “MARY ANN” which carried 150 female convicts,  on 9 July 1791, having left England on February 16. At the time the journey was the fastest of the convict ships – 143 days – with only one stop for fresh provisions, at St Jago in the Cape Verde Islands.

 

Ann Hinchley had apparently married Alexander Guy in England, as her transportation records list her as Ann Guy. Since no marriage record can be found for Thomas Acres, it is logical to assume their long relationship, during which their children were born, was not legalised for that reason. Thomas and Ann clearly set their relationship very soon after the arrival of the Mary Ann, as their first child, Mary Ann (after the ship?!), was born on 25 May 1792.

 

Their five children:

Mary Ann was born on the 25th May 1792 at Sydney Cove. On 5 May 1806 she married Dudley Hartigan b. Tipperary 1775. Hartigan was deported to Australia with the Irish Rebels on the ‘MINERVA’  out of Cork, Ireland, arriving in NSW on 11 January 1800. Mary Ann died 4 June 1826 and was buried at Campbelltown. ^[5]

Sophia was born  at Mulgrave Place on the 15th May 1795. She married Jeremiah Smith who arrived on the “William Ann” in 1791.

Thomas was born in 1798 at Mulgrave Park. He married Lucia Day on 4 January 1819. He died on 22 August 1881.

Henry was born in 1799 at Parramatta..

Catherine was born in 1801 at Mulgrave Place, marrying John Pitt on 26 January 1818. She died on 16 February 1883.

A more comprehensive Outline Descendant Tree is here.