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Samuel Marsden was an English-born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, was assistant chaplain and afterwards senior chaplain to New South Wales and introduced Christianity to New Zealand. He was a prominent figure in early New South Wales history in Australia, not only for his ecclesiastical offices, but also as a pioneer of the wool trade and his role as a magistrate, both of which have attracted contemporary criticism. Indeed, he was better known as the 'flogging parson', due to his severity as a magistrate.
Reverend Samuel Marsden |
Samuel Marsden was born on 25th June 1765 in Farsley, near Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. He was the son of Thomas Marsden and Bathsheba Brown. An 1858 biography of Marsden (Marsden, J B. [no relation], Memoirs of the Life and Labours of the Rev Samuel Marsden) gave a date of birth of 28th July 1764; a date followed by most subsequent biographers and memorialists. In his biography, Samuel Marsden, the Great Survivor, Yarwood refers to Elder, The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, citing a quote by Marsden himself, as well as attempting to reconcile church records, supporting a birthdate of 25th June 1765. [1] Either way, Samuel was christened at Calverley, near Leeds, on 21st July 1765.
He was educated at Hull Grammar School, in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, and Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Aged in his late twenties, Samuel married Elizabeth Fristan on 21st April 1793 in the Holy Trinity Church of England, Hull. [2]
The following month he was ordained a priest by William Buller, the Bishop of Exeter.
Later that year, the young couple embarked aboard the convict ship, William, bound for a new life on the other side of the world in the Colony New South Wales (Australia). Samuel had been appointed the second military chaplain of the young and distant penal colony. They arrived in Sydney Cove on 10th March 1794, with their week-old daughter, Anne; born during a storm at sea. The colony was then being governed by the New South Wales Corps, Governor Arthur Phillip having returned to Britain in 1792. The new governor, Captain John Hunter RN, would not arrive until 1795. The Marsden's didn't think much of the six year-old Sydney Town with its 'untidy semicircle of brick and stone storehouses, official dwellings, huts and hovels, with the wattle and daub church on the eastern side one of the few buildings they might identify'. [3] In July he took up residence at the rural settlement of Parramatta, upriver from Sydney, with its' formally laid-out George Street leading from a wharf to Government House', [3] and immediately concerned himself with the welfare of orphan children and female convicts.
Hunter would be succeeded as governor by Captain Philip King RN in 1800 and by Captain William Bligh RN in 1806.
Samuel and Elizabeth's first two sons, Charles (1798-1801) and John (1801-03), according to Iain Murray in his Australian Christian Life from 1788, repectively died when jerked from his mother's arms whilst travelling in the gig and, left in the care of a servant, fell into a pot of boiling water. [3]
Initially using two huts as his church building at Parramatta, Samuel began work on the construction of the impressive St John's Church of England (now known as an Anglican Cathedral). In 1800, Marsden was called on to act as sole chaplain for New South Wales upon the departure of Reverend Richard Johnson, his colleague who had arrived on the First Fleet. Although the sole chaplain, he was appointed senior chaplain in 1802. It was not until the early 1800s that Samuel felt a 'Christian influence' was beginning to make way in the colony. This state had come about in a large way as a result of the arrival and involvement of folk such as Commissary John Palmer, Surgeon Thomas Arndell, businessman Robert Campbell, and the Tahiti missionaries, Rowland Hassall, Francis Oakes and James Main. [3]
He was instrumental in the founding of the colonial branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society (now simply The Bible Society) in 1817. [3]
In October 1794 Samuel took up a 100-acre grant of land, on which he quickly put to good use the gardening and farming implements he had brought with him. Initially farming as a means of providing food for his family, he was soon competing with the military officers for size. In 1802, he held 201 acres in grants, and had purchased a further 239 acres from other settlers; he had 200 acres cleared and grazed 480 sheep. Three years later he had over 1,000 sheep, 44 cattle and 100 pigs on his farm, which by then had increased to 1,730 acres. By 1827, his holdings totalled 3,631 acres by grant and 1,600 by purchase. Whether moral or not for a Christian preacher to engage in agriculture to the extent Samuel did, it was an era when it was paramount for thos capable to develop agriculture so as to feed the burgeoning penal colony. Samuel Marsden stands on a par to his neighbour and antoganist, John Macarthur as the first to see the value of wool to take the colony beyond a simple penal settlement.
As a clergyman, Samuel was accepted in the upper societal eschelons which led as early as 1795 to his being appointed to serve as a magistrate and as superintendent of government affairs. He would gain a reputation for severity as the 'flogging parson'.
In 1807, the Marsdens made a return journey to England, for rest, to seek further Christian workers for New South Wales and to plead his case to the Church Missionary Society for evangelising New Zealand. Marsden was instrumental in recruiting the third chaplain to New South Wales, Reverend William Cowper. Whilst he was in England, the New South Wales Corps made their treasonous coup in Sydney, arresting the lawful governor and establishing their own government. It has been stated that, had Marsden been in the colony at that time, the coup would not have taken place. Samuel and Elizabeth returned to New South Wales in 1809 aboard the Ann.
Samuel soon turned his attention to New Zealand, both for trade and for mission and, finding he could not persuade the Church Missionary Society to do much, he at last, in 1814, at his own financial risk, purchased the brig Active, in which he sent two missionaries to those islands. On 19th November 1814, accompanied by six New Zealand Maori chiefs who had been staying with him at Parramatta, Samuel made his first voyage to New Zealand. He was received with cordiality by the natives, and found no difficulty in procuring land for a mission-station. This was the first of seven voyages he would make to New Zealand between 1814 and 1837. No one ever exerted more influence over the native chiefs than himself, and he must be regarded as one of the most important of the European pioneers of the Land of the Long White Cloud. [4]
Elizabeth, who had been disabled since 1811, passed away in 1835. Following 44 years serving in this new land, Samuel too passed away, aged 73 years, on 12th May 1838 at Windsor, New South Wales. He was visiting the Reverend Henry Stiles at St Matthew's Church at Windsor when he succumbed to an incipient chill at the rectory. He is buried in St John's Church Cemetery in Parramatta. [5][6] He was survived by one son, Charles, and five daughters.
A white marble tablet was erected in 1938 by the citizens of St Marys at Mamre (once Samuel's country estate) to commemorate his services to the wool industry. [7] There is also a memorial to him in his hometown of Farsley.
The suburb of Marsden Park, New South Wales, is named in Samuel Marsden's memory and honour. [8]
See also:
Thank you to Veronica Williams for creating this profile on 10th June 2014.
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Samuel is 12 degrees from Herbert Adair, 18 degrees from Richard Adams, 22 degrees from Mel Blanc, 23 degrees from Dick Bruna, 24 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 27 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 26 degrees from Sam Edwards, 24 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 25 degrees from Marty Krofft, 20 degrees from Junius Matthews, 20 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 23 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Categories: Australia, Project Managed Profiles | Australia, Notables in Religion | Australia, Colonial Notables | New Zealand, Notables | Church of England in Australia Priests | Migrants from Yorkshire to New South Wales | Colonial Military Chaplains, Australia | Missionaries in New Zealand | Church Missionary Society | Farsley, Yorkshire | Hull Grammar School, Yorkshire | Magdalene College, Cambridge | Parramatta, New South Wales | St Marys, New South Wales | Windsor, New South Wales | St John's Anglican Cathedral, Parramatta, New South Wales | St John's Anglican Cemetery, Parramatta, New South Wales | William, Arrived 10 Mar 1794 | Active 1814 | Notables
CHAPLAIN SAMUEL MARSDEN AND HIS FIVE FAMOUS DAUGHTERS
BY GEO. G. REEVE
Again referring to S.M.'s birth date and wife's name, the following book from the University of Cambridge (Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol.2, Part 4, Pg.326) states his age at admission; the date of his admission; and his birth date which supports 28 Jul 1764. Also, interestingly it states his wife's name as "Ellen Tristram" although I have seen several references to her as "Elizabeth".
My research shows that S.M. married "Miss Ellen Tristan" not Elizabeth Fristan. My source is the Dictionary of National Biography Vol.36 pg.206. This book also supports his birth date of 28/7/1764.