Received from Greg McGrath, descendent of William Welch – 15th Sep 2014
WILLIAM RICHARD WELCH 1797 - 1876 and ELIZABETH HAZELTON 1803 - 1868
EARLY HISTORY
The Elsenham Gang, lead by Joseph Clarke operated around the area of Elsenham UK. The gang
was aided and abetted by Clarke's wife Elizabeth. One of their last escapades was an attempted
robbery and murder at “Tye House” on 30 September 1816, owned and occupied by James Dennis
and his family. Those who participated in the affair were William Clarke (Snr), his sons Henry,
Joshua and William as well as Aaron Miller, Thomas Monck and a person known as Welsh. All
except Monck and Welsh were charged and convicted on charges relating to the offence at the
Chelmsford Lent Assizes of 1817. William Clarke was found guilty of firing at James Dennis with
intent to kill, and was hanged. The rest were transported to “The Colonies”. Henry Clarke, was
sentenced to 14 years and was killed in Launceston, Tasmania in December 1832; Joshua Clarke,
14 years, died in Colao, Victoria in November 1875; William Clarke, life, died at Kelso NSW in
February 1851; William Giffin, life, died Sydney July 1852 and Aaron Miller, life, died Sydney May
1846. Those who received life sentences were reprieved by the judge who originally sentenced
them to death.
All are transported on the “Larkins” on 3 July 1817 and arrive Sydney on 22 November 1817.
The circumstances surrounding the crime and Welch's involvement were published in the Essex
Chronicle of 14 March 1817 which reports;
“William Clark, Henry Clarke, Aaron Miller and William Giffin were indicted for a burglary in the
dwelling-house of Mr James Dennis of Elsenham and firing a pistol through the window with intent
to kill him.
The particulars of this case were nearly all detailed in the paper alluded to of the 7th February; we
shall not therefore enter so minutely into that transaction, excepting as to the evidence of Monk, the
accomplice, which fully removed the veil, and exposed the history of this most nefarious hoard of
thieves.
Mr & Mrs Dennis and the servant maid, Hannah Perry, related the circumstances; the firing of the
pistol through the window, the throwing of stones, and the burglary, which was committed by
breaking a pane of glass out of the parlour window and putting in the hand to remove the bolt of the
shutter, which they proved, to have fastened over night.
John Pearce, gamekeeper, lives near Mr Dennis's; he was out the night in question, looking after
poachers, having heard the report of a pistol he went towards Mr Dennis's house, and when within
six or seven rods, he heard some person throwing stones which fell upon the tiles. Three or four
men passed the witness just after, and two or three stood at a distance. Witness asked them what
they were doing there; it was then between eleven and twelve o'clock - he heard one man tell
another to load the double-barrelled gun; but the persons told witness, if he would go about his
business they would not hurt him. They had bludgeons - witness pointed his gun, but did not fire.
The men appeared to have caps or hats without rims; smock-frocks; or dark coloured coats.
Witness could not swear to the persons but believes that the prisoners at the bar are the same men;
William and Henry Clark in particular as he had known their persons for three or four years; but had
no knowledge of the others.
Thomas Monck, the accomplice, made the following disclosure; on the 30th of September he was
going to Henham, to look for a job of reaping; about l0 o'clock that day he met William Clark and
Henry Clark. [being asked if he knew the prisoners at the bar, he said, that is Will with the smock].
These two Clarkes asked witness where he was going; he told them, to Henham. Henry said, so am
I; they then proceeded to the Star at Henham, where they had some mutton-chops; they left the
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Star about two o'clock, when William Clark and witness returned towards home. Henry left them.
William and the witness called at the Wood Farm, and asked for a job; Mrs Scot gave them a little
beer. When about half a mile on the road, and about a mile from Mr Dennis's, William Clark asked
witness to go home with him to Elsenham, where they arrived about seven o'clock. They found
Elizabeth Clark the mother, and Henry Clarke there; they all drank some beer. Some time after, a
person rapped at the window, and William Clark tuned out; he quickly came in again with three
others, viz. Aaron Miller, William Giffin, and a person of the name of Welsh, William Clark told
witness that these persons came from Stortford. Witness had seen them before, and knew all their
persons except Welsh, who was a stranger. Welsh pulled out a bunch of keys - there were three
sorts; all examined the keys, and said they thought they would do very well. They all drank beer as
well as gin, and gin and water. Eliz Clarke the mother, brought a warming pan, into which she swept
some soot from the chimney; Henry Clark mixed up with water; and then Henry and William blacked
the faces of the party. Nothing was said to witness when his face was blacked, except, "I must
lather you too." They all then put on black coats, which were found in the house, and cropped hats
(without rims); four had these sort of hats, and witness had such a hat, but the other had the lining
of a hat only. Witness did not know what was going forward, nor did he ask what they were going to
do. Two sticks were taken from the house, and one of the party had a pistol, but he did not know
which. The party left off Clark's house about eleven o'clock; they went to Gadds End; one of them
picked up a coulter there and afterwards they proceeded to Tye Green. They all then went to James
Dennis's house, and then halted. Nobody had then joined them.
CRIME AND CONVICTION
The Essex Chronicle article makes it clear that Welsh is not known to the Clarkes. His purpose for
being there, other than for this robbery, or perhaps to join the gang, is therefore unknown. During
the Chelmsford Lent Assizes of 1817 Gang members were imprisoned at Moulsham Gaol from
where the odd prisoner escaped. Wether Welsh was there and perhaps escaped with two of the
Clarkes and others we do not know. He was eventually caught and brought to trial at the next
Assizes. The Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, Fir 8 Aug 1817, reports that;
William Welch, one of the desperate Elsenham gang (several of whom were convicted at the last
assizes), was indicted for maliciously shooting at James Dennis, at Elsenham, on the 30th of
September last. The prosecutor, Mr Dennis, a farmer, resident of Elsenham, stated t That on the
night of the 30th of September last, about 12 o'clock, after his family had retired to bed, he was
alarmed at a noise as if forcing one of his lower windows, upon which he got up and saw several
men in the yard. He bellowed out, “Who is there?” Upon which one of them exclaimed, “D...n you,
you old buffer, we will let you know.” He said, “I will fire at you,” and called up his maid. Soon after
his maid bought a light, and he went down below, when a gun or pistol was fired at the window
shutter, and two shots came through the crevice of the shutter, and struck him under the eye and
near the nose: he could not identify any of the parties, but he saw that there were several men. The
two witnesses who detailed the whole transaction were, Elizabeth Clark and Thomas Mert: the
former of whom was the mother of one of the men who was hanged after the last assizes. They
stated that, on the night of September 30th last, persons of the name of Miller, Gifan, William Clarke
and James Clarke, together with the witness Mert, met at old Clarke's house, on the night of
September 30th, and having there blacked their faces, they went out to commit depredations, and in
pursuance of that plan they went to the prosecutor's. There one of them attempted to force open a
parlour window with a plough-hare, which disturbed the family. Mert then corroborated the
statement of the prosecutor that he appeared at the window, when Welsh snapped the pistol, which
misfired twice, but on the third attempt went off. Upon the firing of the pistol a man of the name of
James Pearce came up, who questioned them, but they told him to hold his tongue or he should
fare worse, but if he went away quietly they would not hurt him. Pearce corroborated this part of the
statement, and he thought it prudent to retire. When they returned to Clarke's house, Mrs. Clarke
advised them to bury the pistol and dark lantern, which they laid in an adjoining orchard; they did so,
and the constable proved that he found the pistol buried in the place that Mrs. Clarke had described.
These facts being proven, which was the same evidence given against others of the gang last
assizes, the Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
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This William Welch is the man who brought our 'Welch' name to Australia. Tried at Chelmsford,
Essex, on the 28 of July 1817. Records state that he was sentenced to Transportation for Life. At
the time he was aged 25 and his native place was Hertfordshire. He was a Gardener by trade and is
described in the transportation registers as being, 5ft 8¾ins tall, of dark ruddy complexion with black
hair and dark eyes. William was convicted for breaking into the house and James Dennis and while
armed shooting at the owner. He also appeared on the High Road in Elsenham with his face
blackened and armed. For these crimes he was condemned to be hanged. The sentence was
commuted to life by the judge and then to 14 years penal servitude in 1818 on arrival by the
Governor of New South Wales. William was born a Protestant in 1797.
TRANSPORTATION
Whilst awaiting transportation William was imprisoned on the hulk 'Retribution'. He was eventually
transported in a group of 200 convicts on the ship Tottenham of 557 tons which had left Spithead on
27 March 1818. It had originally set sail on the 8 June 1817 but due to several misadventures did
not finally depart on its voyage until 17 April 1818.The ship had decks 102 ft 6 inches long with a
beam of 31 feet under the command of Capt Dugald McDougall assisted by Robert Armsbury as
ships surgeon. The voyage was very eventful compared with many. The upper pintle of the rudder
was broken soon after Sailing. The ship called into Plymouth for repairs. Scurvy was rife with 36
cases causing 10 deaths among the convicts. Mutiny was reported among the convicts on 1 June
and on several occasions after calling at Rio de Janeiro on 24 June. There was a report of an
attempt to gain control of the ship on 16 July and on 26 July a sentry fired his gun after giving
repeated warnings which two musket balls lodging in a stanchion. No one was injured. The events
of the trip suggest harsh treatment of the convicts by the ship's crew. On 14 October 1818 some
190 convicts were landed in Sydney.
It is unlikely that too many ships, having set sail for NSW, would have had as many problems as on
this voyage. One of the ship's crew, W.B. Cramp, wrote in an account of this voyage;
" At length I was engaged by Messrs Robinson to join his Majesty's Ship Tottenham, bound to New
South Wales with 200 convicts. On June the 8th 1817 I joined her. After receiving all the ship's and
government stores on board, we proceeded to Woolwich, and received on board 50 of our number,
and in the afternoon of the same day we made sail, and on a sudden struck on a reef at low water;
we were lying high and dry; every means was used to get her off, but without success, till we sent
our convicts up to the hulks, and discharged our stores into the different crafts sent for that purpose,
and by that means lightened her so, that at the flood she drifted ; she was so materially damaged, it
was deemed necessary she should return back to Deptford to Dock."
From Charles Bateson's Convict Ships - "The Tottenham was built at Stockholm in 1802 by Thomas
Haw for the London shipowner, Robert Wigram. Exclusive of her equipment, she cost fourteen
pounds per ton, her builder receiving a payment of £7,238. She measured 102ft 6ins on the keel
and 31ft in breadth. Her tonnage when built was 517 tons, but when she arrived at Port Jackson in
1818 she was officially recorded as being of 557 tons, and paid harbour due on this tonnage. She
was then a three-decker of the second class, and ship-rigged."
According to Joseph Godber's letter to his wife Rebecca, the Tottenham sailed from Sheerness on
Sunday 11 January 1818 and went as far as Deal before returning to Sheerness on 24 January in
consequence of a misfortune befalling the ship. Eventually the Tottenham departed Spithead on 27
March 1818, however three days later it was found that the upper pintle of her rudder was broken
off and she put into Plymouth for repairs. She sailed from there for New South Wales on 17 April
1818. By June scurvy had broken out and on the 18th June 1818 surgeon Armstrong wrote: "In
consequence of scurvy having appeared to an undesirable extent amongst the prisoners and
calculating upon the length of the voyage and the probability of the disease gaining ground stated to
the Master the necessity of touching at Rio de Janeiro or some other port for the purpose of
obtaining a supply of fresh provisions for the prisoners and Guard."
By the time she put into Rio on 24 June there had been 36 cases of scurvy, of which 16 were still
under treatment. The Tottenham remained at Rio until July 16, but when she arrived at Sydney on
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14 October 1818, of the two hundred prisoners who had embarked a total of ten men had lost their
lives. This was Robert Armstrong's first voyage as Surgeon Superintendent and he proved to be a
humane and level-headed man. He was later employed as surgeon on the convict ships Dick in
1821 and the Countess of Harcourt in 1822. He handled the difficult conditions on the long voyage
in a common-sense and capable way. There were rumours of mutiny which Armstrong recorded in
his journal but they came to nothing and there was no corporal punishment meted out. The only
serious event occurred on July 26 when a sentry fired a shot into one of the stanchions after
prisoners attempted to put out his light. No shots were aimed at the convicts and later, Governor
Macquarie, after an investigation and perusal of the Medical Journal, gave his full approval of the
conduct of Robert Armstrong
Some of the Pentrich Rioters were transported on the Tottenham. They had been sent to the hulk
Retribution moored at Woolwich on 30th November 1817 from Derby where they had been tried and
convicted of High Treason on 25 September 1817. One of them, Joseph Manchester Turner, wrote
a letter to folks at home from the hulk dated 6 December 1817.
"I promised to inform you of some particulars respecting out situation.
We arrived here on Sunday, and are confined in the same cell as the prisoners from the Isle of Ely
were confined in (a privilege other prisoners were not allowed): we are ironed and go out to work;
we were told our sentence on Tuesday night by the chaplain of our ship.
We have barley and oatmeal night and morning, and beef for dinner, four days in the week, and the
other days bread and cheese. There is a school and chapel in the hulk, which is regularly attended,
and it is far from being a reprobate place, as we were led to believe at Derby; for if a person is
inclined, every encouragement is allowed him to improve his morals. By our good behaviour we
hope to gain a mitigation of our sentence, and enjoy our liberty once more. A ship is expected here
to proceed to Botany Bay in fifteen days, and having made no provision for our journey, you will be
so kind to tell the other prisoners to bring shoes, stockings, knives, razors, needles, and sewing
cotton, looking glasses and combs, which are very expensive here".
Besides the Convicts, guards and ship's crew a cargo of Brazil tobacco also arrived on the
Tottenham on 14 October 1818, to the great relief of users as the shortage in the colony had
caused the price to rise considerably. William Welch disembarked from the Tottenham on 20th
October 1818 and was forwarded to Liverpool for general distribution.
COLONIAL LIFE
The first travellers along the road to Georges River, to the area now known as Wiley Park, were
surrounded by open forest, in which red and white mahogany trees, red forest gum, and grey box
trees predominated. Beside the creek, now flowing through Parry Park, was a "tea tree brush"
chiefly narrow-leaved paperbarks (Melaleuca) with some river oaks (Casuarina), and the open
waters of Salt Pan were terminated by a large mangrove swamp. The road line was marked by a
row of red mahogany trees.
Land there was granted to ex convicts for farming over a number of years but none seem to have
survived long. The last group of farms granted were those in the rectangle bounded by Hillcrest
Street, King Georges Road, Payten Avenue, Bonds Road and Warren Parade. The western farms
went to the Howell brothers, William and Henry, who died young; the eastern properties were
promised to William Bruce and James Greenslade, who promptly sold out to William Richard Welch,
a "nurseryman, seedsman and gardener", whose leased property at present-day Redfern and
Chippendale was too small to allow him to expand his "choice and rare collection". Welch
established a nursery in Pitt Street, Sydney originally with a "choice and rare collection" soon after
his arrival in the colony in 1817, and proved his ability as a "nurseryman, seedsman and gardener",
moving first to rented premises on the Botany Road and later to his own Forest Grove farm. By
1838-9, Welch had established his family on three of the farms in this block, those promised to
William Bruce, James Greenslade and William Howell. The consolidated property was named
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"Forest Grove", and for the next 35 years, the Welch family was to occupy the homestead (opposite
the end of present-day Tucker Street) and cultivated the land as a large market garden and orchard.
The dams which supplied the farm with fresh water were between present-day Beauchamp Street
and Rawson Street.In 1853, his property was "in a high state of cultivation, a large garden with fruit
trees, and a neat cottage". George Alfred Tucker bought the land in 1874.
Prepared by Canterbury City Library. Research by Lesley Muir and Brian Madden.
In 1824 on 8 May, at St Philip's Church Sydney, William married Elizabeth Hazelton by Bans with
the Governor's permission. John Williams and Hannah Ash were the witnesses. Elizabeth born
about 1803 in Stenbug, England came free in 1809 on the ship "Indispensable" with a convict cargo
of 62 women one of whom died on the voyage. It arrived after 169 days at sea on 18 August 1809.
There does not seem to be a record of her parents. Indications are that she was not the daughter of
a convict but may have come with an aunt. Could they have been related to a member of the ship's
crew or to a member of the military guard on board? By 1822 she was employed as a housekeeper
in Sydney by a Mrs Waples whose husband worked at the Sydney gaol.
In the 1828 census William, a government servant, is recorded as being a Gardener in Pitt St Street
Sydney age 31 years. By 1841 he held two grants of land 60 acres each at Forest Grove, St George
for which he paid 10 shillings each per year. Here William carried on business as a nurseryman
gardener. These were grants of land from Governor Gibbs. Eventually something went wrong with
part of the business and on Saturday 19 July 1844 the following Notice appeared in the Sydney
Morning Herald;
"By order of the Mortgagee, and with the consent of the Trustee.
IN THE INSOLVENT ESTATE OF W. R. WELCH.
MR. STUBBS is instructed to sell by public auction, at the Mart, King street,
On MONDAY NEXT, the 22.nd JULY,
At Twelve o'clock precisely, viz. :
All that piece or parcel of LAND, containing by admeasurement sixty acres, be the same more or
less, situated in the county of Cumberland, parish of Saint George, and colony of New South Wales,
commencing at the west corner of Henry Howell's grant of sixty acres, and bounded on the southcast by part of the north-west boundary of that land, being a line bearing east thirty-five degrees
north twenty-six chains; on the north-east by William Bruce's sixty acres ; on the north-west by part
of Terence O'Brien's south-east boundary, and by Brian Nowland's south-east boundary to the
south corner of Brian Nowland's land, and on the south-west by a line bearing louth thirty-five
degrees east twenty-four chains from the said south corner of Brian Nowland's land to the west
corner of Henry Howell's sixty acres as aforesaid; being the land granted by the Crown to William
Richard Welch, by deed, poll, or grant, bearing date the 20th day of May, A.D. 1840. And also all
that other piece or parcel of land or ground, containing forty acres, more or less, situated in the
County of Cumberland, parish of Saint George, and colony aforesaid; bounded on the south by a
line west thirty-five degrees south twenty two chains fifty links, commencing at Muss's north-east
corner ; on the west by a line north thirty-five degrees west twenty chains ; on the north by a line
east thirty five degrees north twenty-two chains fifty links; and on the east by a line south thirty-five
degrees east twenty chains; being the land and hereditaments conveyed by indenture of lease mid
release, bearing date the 2nd and 3rd days of November, A.D. 1838, to the said William Richard
Welch ; the release being made between James Greenslade therein described, and Esther, his
wife, of the one part; and the said William Richard Welch, of the other part. And all rights, andc."
William had been forced to sell one of the 60 acre grants.
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FAMILY
William and Elizabeth had 11 children over the 20 year period between 1826 and 1846;
Harriet C born in 1825, William R 1827, Elizabeth 1828, Sarah 1830 , John Daniel (from whom we
are descended) 1834, George 1835, Susan 1836, Mary Jane 1939, Joseph 1842, Susan A 1844
and Phoebe 1846.
On 10 March 1876, at his sons residence, "Eveline Cottage" in Burwood, William died. The death
notice states that he was in his 84th year.
Elizabeth died at Balmain in 1868.
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Index of Names
HAZLETON
Elizabeth . . . 1
WELCH
William . . . 1
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