William Wall (1758 - 1821)

Born 1758 in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England

Husband of Grace (Brown) Wall — married 1790 in New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Mary (McGuire) Wall — married 13 Jun 1808 in New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 20 Feb 1821 at about age 63 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Hunter [send private message]

Biography

William Wall was a convict on the First Fleet.

William Wall was a convict on the First Fleet so reached Australia in 1788 and is reported to have used the alias "Harding".

He had at least two wives in Australia and is thought to have had one back in England as well. Possibly born in 1758 and died 1821, a convict from Oxford, arrived per "Alexander", one of the First Fleet of ships.

A note on the Australian-English web site says:

Grace Brown was convicted at the Old Bailey in 1788 of stealing ten yards of ribbon. She arrived in NSW on the Lady Juliana. Grace cohabited with William Wall (aka Harding), who arrived as a convict on the Alexander. William was born circa 1764 at Harpsden, Oxford and died in 1821 (possibly hanged himself). William was convicted at Oxford in 1786 of theft.

Child Phoebe Brown born 1792. (1)

Wall children

Sarah A b1800

John 1804-1806 (drowned in Tank Stream)

Joseph 1806

William married Mary McGuire in 1808.

Children

George E b1809 -Port Jackson - married Ann Cox in 1836 at Cobbity.

Rhoda b1811 - Bringelly

Edward T b1813 - Bringelly

A note on the University of Wollongong site says:

William WALL Alternative names: HARDING

He was tried at Oxford, Oxfordshire on 8 March 1786 for stealing clothing with a value of 7 shillings. He was sentenced to transportation for 7 years and left England on the Alexander aged about 23 at that time (May 1787). His occupation was listed as labourer. He died in 1821.

Notes: Described as having hanged himself in a state of lunacy. (2)

________________________________

The Home Office records have this note:

Name: William Wall

Vessel: Alexander

Fleet: First

Convicted Date: 8 Mar 1786

Voyage Date: Feb 1787

Colony: New South Wales

Place of Conviction: Oxford, Oxfordshire, England (3)

________________________________

The Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834 has this record:

Name: William Wall

Vessel: Alexander

Fleet: First

Piece: HO 10/7

Province: New South Wales

Title: Convicts embarked

Year(s): 1787

Place of Conviction: Oxford

7 YEARS FOR GRAND LARCENCY

CONVICTION DATE 8TH MAR 1786 (4)

Notes from the Convicts Australia Site

Contributed by: Phil Hands on 25/02/2018 [published on the Convicts Australia site.]

William Wall was born about 1764 in Oxfordshire England. In 1785, when he was a 21 year old labourer, he was caught stealing: two linen shirts, one linen shift, and one dimity mantle. The total value of the theft was seven shillings. In August 1785 he was tried and convicted in Oxford and sentenced to transportation for 7 years.' On the 6 January 1786 he was incarcerated on board the 'Ceres' prison hulk, and 15 months later, on the 12 April 1787, he was put on board the 'Alexander' which sailed for Port Botany on the 13th May 1787, arriving in Port Jackson on the 26th January 1788 with the First Fleet. He had thus been incarcerated for two years before arriving in Port Jackson, Sydney Cove, to serve the remaining five years of his sentence.

William left his wife (name unknown) and two young boys - William Wall and Richard Wall, back in England, Richard did eventually follow his father, he arrived in 1803 as a free settler on the 'Glatton', as did William jnr in 1814 on board the 'General Hewitt', also as a free settler.

In 1799, aged about 35 and having stayed out of trouble, William was made a Police Constable for the Nepean District and in 1800 an Overseer of Women Prisoners. In 1802 William was on record as being a Private in the Loyal Sydney Association, a volunteer organisation formed to counteract any threat of a convict insurgence.

Entered into a common law relationship with convict Grace Brown ('Lady Juliana' 1790) that produced 5 children between 1792-1805. Grace Brown returned to England in 1809 aboard the ship Admiral Gambier with her 2 remaining children Joseph 4 and Phoebe 17, the others having died.

William then married convict Mary Ann McGuire ('Sydney Cove' 1807) on 13th June 1808 that produced 3 children between 1809-1813.

In 1809 William was granted a Wine and Spirits Licence.

In January 1810 William petitioned Governor Lachlan Macquarie for a grant of land pointing out that he had a family of five and having held several positions of trust with the government over a period of almost twenty years he had been promised 150 – 200 acres and a Licence for Vending Spirits by Governor King. In April, three months later, William was appointed as Government Storekeeper and in November of the same year he was finally granted his 200 acres at Castle Hill on the basis of his long service to the government. William, now aged 46, was at the pinnacle of his respectability and success in the new Colony. He was a land owner, government storekeeper, had been a police constable, overseer of women prisoners and a volunteer in the Loyal Sydney Association. All seemed to go well for William for the next six years. But in February 1816 it was recommended by the Colonial Secretary, John Thomas Campbell, that William be dismissed from his job as Government Storekeeper for malpractice. He had been 'receiving meat into the Government Stores from persons not authorised to turn in any trade, and in conniving at other malpractices'. William then began operating as a Private Storekeeper on a leased lot at 10 York Street Sydney with his third wife Mary Ann McGuire.

In August 1817 William announced his separation from Mary Ann McGuire. Soon after this separation, their youngest son George Edward Wall, and their only daughter, Rhoda Ann Wall, were sent to Orphan Schools. Presumably Mary and William were unwilling or unable financially, to look after them. One son, however, Edward Thomas Wall, it is assumed, remained with his mother, Mary Ann McGuire.

In January 1819 William petitioned Governor Lachlan Macquarie for permission to return to England. It is possible that he wished to renew contact with his two brothers and his second wife Grace and their children Joseph Wall and Phoebe Wall, who were now living in England. Permission was granted, and he left Sydney on the 'Shipley' on the 26th March 1819.

Sydney Gazette Saturday 16th January 1819 p. 3 William Wall leaving the Colony in the Shipley, requests all Claims to be presented for Liquidation forthwith.

He returned to Sydney on the 'Hebe' on the 31st December 1820, thus being away for just 21 months. While in England, sadly, his daughter Phoebe Wall, aged 28, died.

William hung himself on 20th February 1821 at his home in York Street, Sydney, age 57.

Sydney Gazette Saturday 24th February 1821 p. 3 On Tuesday morning last the body of Mr. William Wall, one of the primitive Europeans of, the Colony, and who has only within these last few months returned from a visit to England, was found suspended on his premises in York-street. The vital spark was quite extinct when the body was discovered ; and the un- fortunate but respected old man is supposed to have perpetrated the unhappy act under the influence of temporary derangement ; to which effect a Coroner's Inquest, assembled on the occasion, returned a Verdict.

Coroner's Inquest into the death of William Wall. Evidence taken at the house of Chris Mrs (sic) the 20 Feb 1821 in the afore noon, in York Street, Sydney James Pooley, shoe maker, being sworn: 'I have known the deceased many years. About half past 8 o'clock last night I saw him arrive on his own premises. He was walking calmly in the passage between his own home and his neighbours and had a piece of paling in his hand. I said to him, 'Mr Wall you have done a wrong thing to use your wife in this manner.' He said, 'I own your eyes I have often told you I would do you an injury for interfering on the behalf of that woman'. He was a little in liquor but not drunk, he walked steadily and spoke quietly but angrily. He had his senses about him. 'My wife went for some constables. Six came up and they went into Wall's premises to take him into custody for stabbing his wife on Friday night. He had not been quarrelling with his wife last night but from his general habits I am sure that he intended last night to have got in and beat his wife. He left the passage when the constables were sent for, and let himself in to the front room of his own house. He was very quiet. We opened the window to see if he was in the room and when we did so, he clapped it to, three or several times. I and Wall's little boy remained outside the gate till half past eleven and we then went home and went to bed. Mrs Wall was at my house for safety. She and her little boy slept on the floor. 'One of the Constables came this night about 1 o'clock and told me that their front window and back door were both open. I replied that that was the state in which I had left them. When the first bell rang in the morning I got up and went to Mr Wall's house and found all the doors and windows fast. At about 7 o'clock she told her little boy to go home and fetch her black stockings. He returned back, saying his father was hanging. I ran up and found the door of the bakehouse behind his house open and saw him hanging. I jumped on the stool and cut him down. He was warm and quite dead but not stiff so I attempted to recover him to life. There were no symptoms of re-animation. 'I have always thought the deceased out of his mind – I attribute his lunacy to his domestic quarrels, to the loss of his daughter and to his intoxication – when he was sober he was given to fits of passion – I consider he was not right in his mind at any time – Finis. E S Hall, Coroner

Sources:

• 1. Grace Brown on the Australian genealogy site

• 2. William Wall on the First Fleet Online site (run from the University of Wollongong)

• 3. The Official Record from the Home Office: Convict Transportation Registers; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO11); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England

• 4. From the New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834.