Mary (Hitchen) Buckley (1786 - 1855)

Born 15 Jan 1786 in Halifax, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Wife of James Buckley — married 5 Aug 1805 in St John's Church, Halifax, Yorkshire, England

Descendants

Died 12 Sep 1855 at age 69 in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Beverley Melchior [send private message], Lloyd Eastgate [send private message], Jeff Meurer [send private message], and Scott Shaw [send private message]

Biography

Mary Hitchen (Hitchin) was born on 15 January 1786 to David and Mary Hitchen at Warley near Halifax in Yorkshire and was baptised on 26 February 1786 at the Warley Congregational Church. Warley is about 20 miles from Shaw & Crompton , near Manchester and they were all villages with mills for woollen & worsted textile production.

James Buckley was a weaver at Crompton and Mary may have been working there too, because in 1803, at 17, she delivered her first child, Abraham Buckley there.

By order of the Overseers of the Poor on 14 June 1805 she was removed from Crompton, on the grounds that she was a single woman, being now pregnant of a child or children which is or are likely to be born a Bastard or Bastards and was returned to her home town of Warley.

Probably to avoid any repetition of this, two months later on 5 August 1805, James and Mary were married in St John’s Church, Halifax. Both made their mark, indicating they were illiterate.

Hannah Buckley, daughter of James & Mary Buckley, was buried on 5 Feb 1808 at Royton, Lancashire (less than 2 miles from Shaw, on the opposite side from Crompton) and was probably the child Mary was carrying in June 1805.

Their next child George Buckley was born in 1809 in Crompton and all their English children were born in Shaw and Crompton. In between children, Mary too may have worked as a cotton weaver.

A general economic depression set in immediately after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, with the cotton industry in particular facing many problems plus a glut of labour worsened by returning soldiers. Wages halved and thousands of workers became unemployed and the antiquated and inadequate system of poor relief was overwhelmed. James and Mary would have been in reduced circumstances and must have reached the point of desperation.

James was indicted on 10 December 1816 together with James Bardsley, for stealing calico and cloth to the value of 4d. He was convicted of larceny at Lancaster Quarter Sessions on 22 January 1817 and sentenced to transportation for seven years.

Mary was no less desperate to feed her family after James had been taken into custody and may have been the Mary Buckley sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for larceny at the January 1817 Liverpool Sessions. She was certainly the Mary Buckley convicted of larceny at the Lancaster Quarter Sessions at Halifax on 21st October 1817, and, like James, she was sentenced to transportation for 7 years. At the time she had five children aged from one to twelve.

She was sentenced 9 months after her husband but arrived in the Colony two months before him. She boarded the ship Maria on 17 March 1818 with her four youngest children; Abraham remained with his grandparents to complete his education.

Many events before and during the voyage out are described in detail in Surgeon-Superintendent Thomas Prosser's diary. The women prisoners and their children were conveyed to the ship in carts or coaches, and many "through exposure to cold by travelling, became affected with rheumatisms, coughs, colds,etc."

The Naval Agent, Captain Young R.N., came on board on 30 March and desired that the women be allowed on deck, which indulgence was allowed to continue throughout the entire voyage weather permitting. Surgeon-Superintendant Prosser established a routine - at 9am he attended to the sick list; and set times were kept for meals - 8am breakfast; 12 o'clock dinner; 4 o'clock supper. Elizabeth Fry visited the ship many times while it lay moored at Deptford and arranged for wholesale cloth remnants to be delivered to the ship so the women could use their time on the voyage in sewing articles for sale once they arrived in NSW. She also organised tuition for the children during the voyage.

The Maria finally sailed with 126 female convicts from Deal on 15 May 1818. The prison was kept clean and fumigated and sprinkled with vinegar throughout the voyage; the windsails were kept going constantly in the warm weather. The women were given an allowance of wine and lime juice throughout the voyage. Mention is made in the Surgeon-Superintendent's diary of Mary and her children: Elizabeth Buckley aged 20 mths vaccinated - Mary Buckley's child with diarrhoea - Elizabeth Buckley child with small red pimples resembling the first appearance of small pox - Mary Buckley's child with a scalded foot.

The women were constantly in the habit of stealing from each other the whole of the passage, although the only mode of punishment that was employed was to separate the women from each other.

The ship arrived at Sydney on 17 Sep 1818 with 124 female convicts, only two having died on the direct voyage of 125 days, a fast and relatively healthy passage.

Sixty women were transshipped by the Elizabeth Henrietta to Hobart and Port Dalrymple late in September.

Orders were issued on 28 September 1818 regarding twenty six women disembarked from the Maria to remain in New South Wales: 8 were privately assigned and 18 sent to the Female Factory at Parramatta. Mary (with her four children) was among those forwarded to The Factory.

This was a brand new building designed by Frances Greenway and built that year, with Francis Oakes as Superintendent. It was set up for dressing raw materials like flax and wool, spinning and weaving cloth and manufacturing clothing. About 200 female convicts were employed during the day but it could only accommodate about 60 overnight, so the others were, therefore, in common with the male convicts, obliged to find lodgings for themselves; but in order the better to enable them to do so, they are allowed half of the day to work for themselves.

Elizabeth Fry biography: To her sorrow, Mrs. Fry found from the most reliable testimony, that once the poor lost wretches were landed in the colony, they were placed in circumstances that absolutely nullified all the benevolent work which had gone before and were literally driven by force of circumstances to their destruction. The female convicts from the time of their landing were without shelter without resources and without protection. Rations or a small amount of provision sufficient to maintain life, they had allotted to them daily; but a place to sleep in or money to obtain shelter or clothing they were absolutely without.

As an assigned servant or labourer with Superintendent Rouse at Parramatta, James Buckley would also have had to find his own accommodation and obviously managed to make arrangements that allowed him to live with Mary and the children together as a family. They had five more children born at Parramatta between 1819 and 1826.

In 1823 he was granted a block of land: number 6 on the north side of Argyle Street, Parramatta. It measured 1 chain 18 links by 1 chain 25 links, with block number 8 on the east and O’Connell St to the west – the railway line now runs along that north side of Argyle Street over his land.

James and Mary both received their Certificate of Freedom on the same day, 16 March 1826. She was described as 40, a servant and cotton weaver, 5 ft 2 ¼ in tall, ruddy complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes.

In the 1828 Census they were a Protestant family living at Parramatta with 7 children from George 20 to William 20 months, but Mary 14 and Elizabeth 12 are not listed – they were probably already working somewhere as servant girls? They had 1 horse & 3 cows. They later moved to the Windsor area, where James was a Nailor (a nail maker or, more likely, a person who maintained the teeth [nails] on carding machines for fleeces prior to weaving).

In 1829, Mary attended the Parramatta races with her ten year old daughter Ann and another girl the same age. The girls were enticed away into the bushes by Thomas Ashton, who indecently assaulted Ann and raped the other girl.

James died at the age of 50, on 22 Aug 1836 in the Windsor area and was buried in St John’s Church yard, Parramatta.

Eldest son Abraham came to Australia in 1840 as a “bounty” assisted passage immigrant, an Engineer/Blacksmith brought out by AB Smith & Co. He was 36 by that time and brought with him his wife Frances and 4 children from William 15 to Elizabeth 2.

In the 1841 Census, Mary Buckley is listed as the head of the household, a female aged over 60, occupying a wooden house at Parramatta, and living with a male married ex-convict who was aged between 20 and 44 (probably a lodger).

Given the age discrepancy (she would have been 55 and not over 60) and that none of her children (including James 16 or William 14) are there, this may be a different Mary Buckley.

This Mary Buckley died on 12 Sep 1855 at Parramatta and was buried at St John’s, but not with James.

It is also possible that Mary, aged 67, accompanied her family to the Ovens goldfields in 1853 and is the old Mrs Buckley who is reported to have died there.

James and Mary had 11 (or 12) children:

1. Abraham Buckley born 30 Jun 1803 Crompton, Lancashire (some trees cite 15 Aug 1804) – married Frances Greenwood 1825 Oldham – died 5 Jan 1865 Parramatta NSW
2. Hannah Buckley born 1805 – buried 5 Feb 1808 Royton, Lancashire
3. George Buckley born 5 Feb 1809 Crompton – married Sophia Gower 1835 Parramatta – died 28 May 1867 Maitland
4. Sarah Ann Buckley born 1810 Crompton – married ex-convict Theodore Pike 1834 Parramatta – died 22 Sep 1851 Bankstown
5. Mary Buckley born 1814 Shaw – married James Duffy 1834 Parramatta –died 3 Jun 1853 at Ovens River (now Beechworth) Vic
6. Elizabeth Buckley born Oct 1816 Shaw – married ex-convict William Wall 1833 Liverpool – died14 Feb 1901 Bendigo Vic
7. Anne Buckley born 27 Aug 1819 Parramatta NSW – married ex-convict James Kershaw 1836 Sydney – died 8 Nov 1905 Tumut
8. Jane Buckley born 7 Aug 1821 Parramatta – married three times: George Hallwell 1837 Parramatta, William Robinson 1852 Castlemaine Vic, John Cox 1879 Castlemaine – died 26 Jul 1902 Echuca Vic
9. Martha Buckley born 2 Jun 1823 Parramatta – had 3 children to unknown father before marrying John Kennedy 1852 Wagga Wagga – died June 1853 (some trees cite 1 May but more likely to be same month as her sister Mary) at Ovens River (now Beechworth) Vic
10. James Buckley born 7 May 1825 (some trees cite 15 Jul 1825) Parramatta – married Ellen Reynolds 1852 Yass – died1 Jan 1875 Parkes
11. William Buckley born 6 Dec 1826 (some trees cite 18 Mar 1826) Parramatta – married Sophia Atkinson 1850 Windsor – died 21 Oct 1907 Lacmalac NSW

Sally Buckley was also born in 1812 at Crompton (and died 1817?) but unsure if this is their child

Three of the girls married men who would be overcome by gold fever and take their families to the Ovens River goldfields (later Beechworth) in 1853 – Mary & Martha would both die there, while Elizabeth & her family went there after returning from the California gold rush. Son William Buckley was also there, and was the informant on his sister Mary’s death certificate.

Note

Jeff Meurer 2012: Many family historians have repeated what I think is an error in her birthdate and place, and thus have listed incorrect parents. I found that Mary was removed by the Overseers of the Poor on 14 June 1805 from Crompton in Lancashire and returned to her home town of Warley near Halifax in Yorkshire (while heavily pregnant). It is most likely, then, that Mary Hitchen is the one in the IGI who was born in Warley, not Halifax (she was actually born on 15 Jan 1786 and baptised 26 February 1786 in the Congregational or Independent Church of Warley). Her father is therefore most likely to be David Hitchen and her mother either Mary or Betty (more work needed here). Her parents are NOT Joseph Hitchen and Susan Sagar. I am hoping to start a discussion with the aim of working out Mary's true parentage, and to find out more about her direct family.

Michael Lee 2014: My research agrees with Jeff's findings and I have posted those details in the Biography above. I too believe her mother was Mary, who married David Hitchen 1780 (Betty was his first wife in 1774) - the (probably incorrect) details on other trees, including the "Lee Cavanagh Family Tree" & "Monaro Pioneers" websites are that she was the Mary Hitchen baptised on 27 February 1786 22 at Halifax, Yorkshire, daughter of Joseph and Susan Hitchen (nee Sagar)

Sources

Mary Hitchen birth

NSW 1828 Census – 1828 Census: Householders’ returns [Population and Statistics, Musters and Census Records, Census, Colonial Secretary] . Series 1273, Reels 2551-2552, 2506-2507.

NSW Convict indent of the Maria (1) – Series Number: NRS 12188; Collection Title: Bound manuscript indents, 1788-1842; Item: [4/4006]; Microfiche: 639

Marriage

Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Mary Buckley arrival

NSW Convict indent of the Maria (1) – Series Number: NRS 12188; Collection Title: Bound manuscript indents, 1788-1842; Item: [4/4006]; Microfiche: 639

NSW Convict muster of the Maria (1) Musters and other papers relating to convict ships. Series CGS 1155, Reels 2417-2428

NSW 1820 Female Muster – Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO10, Pieces 1-4, 6-18, 28-30);

NSW 1828 Census – 1828 Census: Householders’ returns [Population and Statistics, Musters and Census Records, Census, Colonial Secretary] . Series 1273, Reels 2551-2552, 2506-2507.

Details for the convict Mary Buckley (1818) from the Claim a Convict database at: http://www.hawkesbury.net.au/claimaconvict/convictDetails.php?convictId=1825

Mary Buckley, one of 126 convicts transported on the Maria, 15 May 1818 from the Convict Records database at: https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/buckley/mary/63911

Mary Hitchen 1787-1853 from the Australian Royalty website at: https://australianroyalty.net.au/individual.php?pid=I60389&ged=purnellmccord.ged

Mary Buckley freedom

NSW Certificate of Freedom (16 Mar 1826) CF 063 / 5035 – Registers of Certificates of Freedom, 1825-1833

Mary Buckley death

NSW BDM 1335 / 1855 (V18551335 143)

Family trees

http://www.gremda.com/genealogy/individual.php?pid=I292&ged=Lee%20and%20Cavanagh%20Family%20Tree

http://www.monaropioneers.com/TNG/getperson.php?personID=I118030&tree=MP

http://www.craig-fullerton.com/22779.html