Matthew John Gibbons (1766 - 1835)

Born 26 Jan 1766 in St Pancras, Middlesex, England

Husband of Margaret Gordon — married 13 Jun 1793 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 20 Jul 1835 at age 69 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Matthew Gibbons was a convict on the Second Fleet.

He was probably the child Matthew Gibbons, son of Matthew and Elizabeth Gibbons, baptised on 26 January 1766, at St Pancras Old Church.^[1] A family friend, in a memorial asking for a pardon for Matthew, mentioned that Matthew's father was also called Matthew.

Convict arriving on the Second Fleet - Matthew Gibbons was sentenced to seven years transportation at the Old Bailey in London in July 1787, for the theft of a little over a pound of tea.^[2] He arrived in Sydney in 1790 aboard the Surprize as part of the Second Fleet. After marrying Margaret Gordon on 13 June 1793 he, two weeks later, enlisted in the New South Wales Corp and was given a conditional pardon in October of that year. With his wife he sailed with his employer Major Grose to England in December 1794. He was described as a copper plate printer in the baptism register for his son in England. Discharged from the NSW Corps in mid-1798 he joined the 3rd (Prince of Wales Dragoon Guards) Regiment. He was discharged from that regiment in October 1800 at the rank of sergeant. In June 1801 he sailed for New South Wales with his wife and two children on the Minorca, reaching Sydney in December.

In March 1802 he was granted 100 acres of land at Prospect. The land proved to be unproductive and in 1803 the family moved to the Evan district where he was granted 160 acres. In 1806 the family was recorded as holding 159 acres near Richmond. He used his profits from farming to start businesses in Sydney, including selling properties and operating an inn. In 1809 he was appointed Clerk of the Public Market in Sydney by the ant-Bligh regime, and was granted 100 acres at Toongabbie. He held a wine and spirit licence in 1809 and had a business as publican in George Street.

In 1814 he sold his businesses and returned to England. He returned to the colony in October 1822. He was granted land at Little Bulli. By 1824 he was living in Sydney and in 1828 was employed as a storekeeper in the Engineers Department, Sydney.^[3][4] He held 1000 acres of land (Stanwell Park) which was supervised by a convict overseer.

Matthew Gibbons died on 20 July 1835. He was buried in the Elizabeth Street/ Devonshire Street Cemetery, and his burial was registered in the register of St James, Sydney, which described him as a householder of Sussex Street, age 69, although his Obituary notice described him as a resident of Kent Street. His grave was moved to Rookwood Cemetery in 1901 when the Central Railway Station was built over the old Devonshire Street Cemetery (PLOT: 4_ZONE B/#/4722 Burial date "10 May 1901" in Rookwood Cemetery Search) .

Obituaries:
Sydney Gazette: "At his residence in Kent-street, on Tuesday morning last, after a lingering illness, Mr. MATTHEW GIBBONS, formerly of His Majesty's Lumber Yard, in the 68th year of his age."

The Sydney Herald: "On Monday last, at his residence Kent-street, Mr. Matthew Gibbons aged 75 years ; he was a very old colonist and very much respected."

• information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), pp 286-87

Sources

1. ↑ London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 for Matthew John Gibbons, Camden St Pancras Old Church 1725-1766 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1624/images/31280_194984-00374?pId=3741990
2. ↑ Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 23 July 2022), July 1787, trial of MATTHEW GIBBONS (t17870711-74).
3. ↑ 1828 census: Gibbons, Methew, 63, came free, Heroine, 1821, storekeeper, Engineers Dept., 26 Kent Street Sydney; Gibbons, Margaret, 63, came free, Heroine, 1821
4. ↑ Matthew J Gibbons, Storekeeper, Department of Public Works, in 1831: New South Wales, Australia, Returns of the Colony, 1822-1857https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1737/images/32079_223720__0001-00046?pId=2759

• Family tree and book on early settlers

See also:

• Purnell, Marion, Australian Royalty database, "Matthew John Gibbons, 1765–1835" https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I26883/Matthew-John-Gibbons
• Community Contributors, Convict Records database https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/gibbons/matthew/87461
• 'Gibbons, Matthew John (1765–1835)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/gibbons-matthew-john-28422/text36044, accessed 23 July 2022.
• James Jarvis, "Illawarra: A century of history, 1788-1888", in Royal Australian Historical Society Journal XXVIII 1942 Part 2, pp.96-98. https://www.rahs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Illawarra-1788-1888-P1.pdf
• Plan of the Allotments of Ground, Granted from the Crown in NSW, J Burr and G Ballisat, 1814, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/entity/12456?pid=28422
• Michael Adams, Little Bulli: The Pioneering of Stanwell Park and Northern Illawarra Till ... Google book
• Stanwell Park https://wn.com/stanwell_park/location
• Michael Adams, "Matthew John Gibbons, First Owner of Stanwell Park", Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin, December 1982, Archives Online, University of Wollongong, Australia. https://archivesonline.uow.edu.au/nodes/view/13357#idx103478