A Cameo of Captain Thomas Rowley 2 INTRODUCTION 0.01 The recent gift to my wife of a cameo brooch, said to have been a present from Captain Thomas Rowley to his bride, led to my making enquiries about my wife's great great great grandfather. Many of the stories which accompanied the gift were subsequently found to have little foundation but my enquiries produced much information which may prove of sufficient interest to others to justify my writing this tale of a man who played no small part in the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales. 0.02 In consequence, this Cameo of CAPTAIN THOMAS ROWLEY ( ? - 1806) is dedicated to the memory of his son THOMAS ROWLEY (1794 - 1862) his grandson HORATIO NELSON ROWLEY (1831 – 1887) his great grand-daughter ELIZA SMITH (nee ROWLEY) (1868 - 1921) his great great grandson LESLIE JOHN SMITH (1891 - 1944) and is written for the information of his great great great grand-daughter, my wife NANCY RAMAGE (nee SMITH) his great great great great grandchildren, our children RAYMOND JOHN ALASTAIR RAMAGE JUDITH ANNE RAMAGE DAVID ANDREW RAMAGE and his great great great great great grand-daughters, our grand-daughters ALICIA JANE RAMAGE LAUREN ELIZABETH RAMAGE 0.03 Preface to Second Edition: I have taken advantage of a request for reprinting to correct one or two errors of fact to which my attention has been drawn by some of the many interested descendants who have contacted me following the issue of the first edition. For ease of reference, I have retained the paragraph numbering used previously. Where a paragraph has been substantially changed or supplemented, I have added an asterisk. For example, the error in para 9.06 in attributing a land grant to Thomas Rowley II when he would have been nine yearn of age, instead of to Captain Rowley, has been corrected in paragraph 9.06*. Where new material has been inserted, as this preface, and the numbering sequence has allowed, a new number has been allocated. Paragraphs 16.29-42 are examples. Where a new paragraph has been inserted between continuing text, e.g. between 16.12 and 16.13, it has been numbered 16.125. A Cameo of Captain Thomas Rowley 3 I particularly record my appreciation of correspondence with two Rowley descendants, Mr John Gray and the Reverend Ross Mackay. 0.04 Following the production of a "Second Edition", a change of jobs prevented me from continuing my study of Thomas Rowley - and I never returned to the serious study I had intended. From time to time however, as fresh information came to hand, I included this in the manuscript in bold type. A Cameo of Captain Thomas Rowley 4 INDEX 1. THOMAS ROWLEY ................................................................................................................................. 5 2. N. S. W. CORPS ........................................................................................................................................ 8 3. THE PITT................................................................................................................................................. 10 4. ELIZABETH SELWYN .......................................................................................................................... 12 5. THE HONOUR OF THE REGIMENT.................................................................................................... 17 6. A RUM CORPS ....................................................................................................................................... 19 7. KINGSTON FARM ................................................................................................................................. 23 8. BURWOOD FARM ................................................................................................................................. 28 9. BANKS TOWN ....................................................................................................................................... 33 10. A FARMER AND GRAZIER................................................................................................................ 35 11. NORFOLK ISLAND.............................................................................................................................. 41 12. CITIZEN ROWLEY .............................................................................................................................. 48 13. THE LOYAL ASSOCIATION .............................................................................................................. 49 14 THE TRADERS ...................................................................................................................................... 54 15. LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT......................................................................................................... 61 16. HIS FAMILY ......................................................................................................................................... 68 Isabella Ellison ......................................................................................................................................... 68 Thomas Rowley II .................................................................................................................................... 68 John Rowley............................................................................................................................................. 69 Mary Lucas............................................................................................................................................... 71 Eliza Briggs .............................................................................................................................................. 73 Jane Mickle............................................................................................................................................... 74 17. THE KINGSTON ESTATE ................................................................................................................... 78 18. BURWOOD VILLA .............................................................................................................................. 82 19. ROWLEY STREET ............................................................................................................................... 86 20. LETTERS TO CAPTAIN WATERHOUSE .......................................................................................... 87 21. FINALLY............................................................................................................................................... 90 22. BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 91 23. APPENDIX - MAPS AND DIAGRAMS .............................................................................................. 93 Kingston Farm.......................................................................................................................................... 93 Burwood Farm.......................................................................................................................................... 94 The Grave of Thomas Rowley.................................................................................................................. 95 The Grave of Thomas Rowley II.............................................................................................................. 96 Burwood House........................................................................................................................................ 97 Municipality of Burwood ......................................................................................................................... 98 Illustration by courtesy of Burwood Municipal Council .......................................................................... 98 List of Grants............................................................................................................................................ 99 Golden Wedding..................................................................................................................................... 101 A Cameo of Captain Thomas Rowley 5 1. THOMAS ROWLEY 1.01 Little is known of Rowley prior to his joining the New South Wales Corps. He was described in the London Gazette in the announcement of the appointment of officers of the Corps as a "gentleman”. As to whether this was a generic term for those who did not already hold a commission, or a true description, H. W. H. Huntington, in an unpublished manuscript, written in 1918, includes the comments:- “there are records of those who were intimate with him that his deportment, conversation, opinions, and habits, proved he was trained by his parents to simple and truest wisdom which good mothers can best teach. In all his transactions in New South Wales, he despised all danger in the path of duty and his actions were consistent, open and direct for he was not of that school of time-serving military officers with whom policy is more worth than sincerity and truth.” (1) (1) Huntington p 5 1.02 What a pity the records of his intimates have not, it would seem, been preserved for many of the statements of the flattering biographer seem at conflict with other comments. 1.03 Whereas Brian Fletcher in his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography gives Rowley's birth-date as “1748?” - John Ritchie in the index to The Evidence to the Bigge Reports repeats