Joseph Rennard Orton (1795 - 1842)

Born 1 Oct 1795 in Beverley, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Jane (Bragg) Orton — married 19 Nov 1815 in St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, London

Descendants

Died 30 Apr 1842 at age 46 in At sea, near Cape Horne

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alistair Orton [send private message]

Biography

Joseph grew up in a city whose earlier son William Wilberforce was now a prominent figure in the antislavery movement. Joseph's parents had been married in the church that looked across the road to the school attended by Wilberforce, and his father worked in the customs house which now stood in Wilberforce street. Maybe there is little wonder that Joseph Orton's later introduction to the Wesleyan movement also saw him leaning towards a concern for enslaved people . He felt that God was calling him to be a missionary in Jamaica..

His all too brief ministry in Jamaica was brought to an end by a serious illness. His return to England enabled him to provide first hand information about slavery.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church then decided that he should go to New South Wales, where some dissent among clergy required that there should be new leadership. In this role as District Chairman he had oversight of the church across the whole of New South Wales (including what we now know as Victoria) and Van Diemen's Land, and also parts of the Pacific. He also made several visits to New Zealand. After four years based in Sydney as Chairman of the New South Wales district, he was appointed as Chairman of the newly formed Van Diemen's Land district. A visit to Port phillip coincided with the arrival of the family of John Batman, at whose home he conducted worship on 24 April 1836. During this brief visit, Orton met the escaped convict William Buckley from whom he gained an insight into the life of the natives of Port Philip.

In 1839, the family moved from Hobart to the new settlement of Melbourne, where Orton was associated with plans for several new church buildings. He was also a prime mover in an attempt to secure land for a permanent aboriginal settlement in western Victoria (near Birregurra), but that programme was abandoned some years later, the government deeming it to have been a failure.

Ill-health dogged Joseph Orton, and in 1840 he sought permission of the Missionary Committee to return to England. With his family, he sailed from Melbourne in early 1842, but, sadly, he died during the voyage. His widow and children returned to Australia several years later.

Sources

JOURNAL OF JOSEPH ORTON:

• Volume 1 "A Private Journal 1795-1832", held in the archives of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London, in the Section - Biographical - South Seas Section of the archives of the Methodist Church, Overseas Missions. In the end pages, Joseph Orton recorded some details about various members of his family.
• Volume 2: Covers the period 1832-1942 in Australia. The original is in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, and is comprised of two volumes.

Published Books containing much detail of his life:

• Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850, Vol 2 (Melbourne University Press 1967)
• A Century of Victorian Methodism, C Irving Benson, (Melbourne 1935)
• Sphere of Benevolence, Alex Tyrrell (State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 1993)
• Historical Records of Victoria - FOUNDATION SERIES - Volumes 2A, 2B & 3. (Victorian Government Printing Office, Melbourne, 1982). Volume 2A is entitled 'The Aborigines of Port Phillip 1835-1839' and contains lengthy extracts from correspondence that Joseph Orton had on the subject of the aboriginal people.

OTHER SOURCES & REFERENCES

• Marriage Register image, London, England, Marriages and Banns, from [1]
• Birth/baptism Ancestry.com sharing link
• Marriage Ancestry.com sharing link
• Joseph Rennard Orton letter diary and correspondence, 1826-1841, Transcription, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales MLMSS 942
• Record of Joseph's time in Jamaica - Falmouth Methodist Society Island of Jamaica, Registry of baptisms, June 1824 to December 1839 http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/Methodist01.htm and http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/Methodist02.htm

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Al Orton for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Al and others.