Quintus Servinton A Tale founded upon Incidents of Real Occurence Savery, Henry (1791-1842) A digital text sponsored by Australian Literature Electronic Gateway University of Sydney Library Sydney 2000 http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit © University of Sydney Library. The texts and Images are not to be used for commercial purposes without permission Source Text: Prepared from the print edition published by The Jacaranda Press Brisbane and Melbourne 1962 All quotation marks are retained as data. First Published: 1830 Languages: Australian Etexts 1810-1839 novels prose fiction Quintus Servinton A Tale founded upon Incidents of Real Occurence Brisbane and Melbourne The Jacaranda Press 1962 Dedicated to DR E. MORRIS MILLER with grateful acknowledgments Preface The original edition of Quintus Servinton is extremely rare, only three copies being listed in Ferguson's Bibliography. These are held by Dr. W. Crowther, the Mitchell Library, and the Public Library of Tasmania. This reprint follows the text of the original in all its vagaries of style, spelling, and punctuation. The only modifications made are corrections of a few obvious misprints; ot, for instance, has been silently changed to to. Students and others interested in our literature now have ready access to the text of the first Australian novel as printed just over a hundred and thirty years ago. Any student who works in the field of early Tasmanian printing, especially where Henry Savery is concerned, is essentially dependent on the pioneer work of Dr. E. Morris Miller. My own debt to him, as writer and man, is very considerable, and I most gratefully acknowledge it. This reprint is by his permission dedicated to him. Other Tasmanians to whom my warm thanks are due are Dr. W. Crowther, Dr. C. Craig, Mr. E. R. Pretyman, and the officers of the State Library of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Archives — Messrs. B. W. Wray, P. Eldershaw, G. Stilwell, and Miss M. Milne. The officers of the Mitchell Library have most willingly given that help to which students have been so long accustomed; the Trustees of the State Library of Victoria have granted permission to make use of four Savery letters in the Calder Papers; the National Library at Canberra has provided on inter-library loan its microfilms of early issues of The Times (London); the officers of the University of Queensland Library — and here I must especially thank Mr. Spencer Routh — have helped me in various ways with cheerful readiness. Dr. Russel Ward of Armidale has generously drawn on his unrivalled stores to answer certain queries; Sir J. A. Ferguson graciously allowed me access to a rare edition of The Newgate Calendar in his possession; and I am grateful to Professor A. C. Cawley for a patient reading of the biographical introduction. Overseas help has come from Mr. W. S. Haugh, City Librarian of Bristol, whose unworried competence and long patience have saved me weeks of work. To Mr. F. L. Hill of Paignton, Devon, a special debt is due for his kindness in providing a transcript of certain parts of Mary Wise Savery Hawkins's copy of the John Savery genealogical manuscript. The editors of the Western Morning News (Plymouth) and the Western Times and Gazette (Exeter) were kind enough to publish in their columns letters requesting information. Both editor and publisher are grateful to the Mitchell Library for permission to use a microfilm of its copy for the preparation of this reprint. I have, finally, to thank the Senate of the University of Queensland for granting me research funds for work on this project. —C.H. Bibliography An early work on the colonial printers is James Bonwick: Early Struggles of the Australian Press (London, 1890). The standard work is E. Morris Miller: Pressmen and Governors (Sydney, 1952). With it should be mentioned Miller's pamphlet, which deals with both Savery and Mary Grimstone: Australia's First Two Novels (Hobart, 1958). Other books of more general interest that deal incidentally with Savery are the Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science (Hobart, 1842); J. West: History of Tasmania (2v., Launceston, 1852); The Australian Encyclopedia (10v., Sydney, 1958); Charles Bateson: The Convict Ships (Glasgow, 1959). The great authoritative bibliography is J. A. Ferguson: Bibliography of Australia (4v. to date, Sydney, 1941—55). Contemporary sources are the English newspapers: The Times (London), the Bristol Gazette and Public Advertiser; and the Tasmanian newspapers and periodicals: the Hobart Town Gazette, the Colonial Times, the Tasmanian, the Hobart Town Courier, the Van Diemen's Land Almanack, the Colonist, the Tasmanian and Austral-Asiatic Review. Some correspondence concerning Savery is reprinted in the Historical Records of Australia (series iii, vols. v and vi). The relevant historical documents of the period come from the normal sources: The Tasmanian Papers (and The Arthur Papers) held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney; Great Britain and Ireland (Home Office, Colonial Office, Navy); some Savery letters (Dr. C. Craig, Launceston; Dr. W. Crowther, Hobart; the Calder papers, State Library of Victoria). The State Library of Tasmania has a card index of the Savery references that are held in its Archives. Mr. F. L. Hill of Paignton. Devon, holds the John Savery manuscript transmitted to Mary Wise Savery Hawkins. Biographical Introduction In August 1934 there died in a mental hospital, at an advanced age, Mary Wise Savery Hawkins, penniless and without ascertainable relatives. She had spent, so it was reported, many years of her life and all her resources in trying to prove descent from Sir John Hawkins of Plymouth, the Elizabethan sea-dog. Among her papers was a document, dated July 24th, 1809, by one John Savery, from whom Mary Hawkins was apparently descended. This manuscript, running to some 180 pages, is John Savery's history of his family from 1501 to 1809. Among the early pages occurs the following passage: Stephen Savery, eldest Son, and Heir apparent, of the last named Christopher, in the year 1563, married Johanna de Servington; Daughter, and Coheiress of John de Servington, Esquire, of Tavistock, in the County of Devon. The Family of Servington was of considerable Antiquity, and Consequence, for John de Servington's Ancestor, William de Servington, I find did Twice serve the Office of Sheriff for the County of Devon, in the time of Edward the third to wit in the year 1366 and 1367; being the 40th and 41st of his Reign. He bore Arms — Erming — a Chevron Azure — charged with three Buck's Heads Cabossd Or — Crest Service Tree, growing out of a Tun. Note — These Arms have, ever since, been us'd with my Family Arms And also the Crest generally, See Antiquities of Exeter, by Isaac, Printed in 1724. There was another Branch of the Family of De Servington or Servington, settled at Mageston, in the County of Dorset, and, by an Inquisition, taken the 14th of Henry the Eighth it was found that William Servington died seized of the Manor of Whatley, near Froom in the County of Somerset; which he held of the Abbot of Glastonbury and that Nicholas Servington was his Son; and then Nine years of Age. In the South Aile in Whatley Church, on a rais'd Tomb; lies the Effigy of a Knight in Armour; Cross Legg'd, and Spurr'd — His Hands are in a suppliant posture; close to his Breast. — On the Arm is a Shield whereon is a Chevron, charged with three Bucks Heads caboss'd. — This Effigy was one of the Family of Servington. — I have been thus particular as my Family are descended from this Family; and have continued the Name as a Christian name prefixt to that of Savery; in every Generation to this time. It is to this connection with the Servingtons that the title of this novel by Henry Savery is due — Quintus Servinton. More important is the fact that John Savery gives the dates of birth of his numerous offspring, among them Henry Savery. The date of his birth formerly accepted was 1794. The evidence for this was probably a Register of Burials conducted by the Wesleyan Church, Port Arthur, which has an entry (February 8, 1842) for Henry Savery: “aged 48 years.” Different evidence appears in contemporary newspaper accounts of his trial (April 1825), which give thirty-three as his age at that time. This would make his year of birth 1792. His official description in the Tasmanian convict records also gives thirty-three. Such an official description derives from the English prison record, which normally preceded any prisoner transferred from prison to the hulks in the Thames, and which then accompanied him on the voyage out to Tasmania or New South Wales. By the 1820's this procedure, formerly theoretical but often not actual, had become the practice. This means that in April 1825 Henry Savery was thirty-three years old. But the month remains significant; for if he was born in a later month then he would turn thirty-four in 1825, and this would indicate 1791 as his year of birth. This is in fact the year given by John Savery in his list of children. Henry Savery is there stated to have been born August 4, 1791. There remains, however, a point to be checked. Is this John Savery the father of Henry Savery the novelist, or of some other Henry? John Savery in his manuscript history states that he himself was the eldest son of John Savery and Sarah Prideaux, and was born April 21, 1747. Now it is well established that the father of Henry Savery the novelist was a noted Bristol banker of the firm of Savery, Towgood, Yerbury, and Towgood, Wine Street.