Matthias Duncombe (abt. 1814 - 1887)

Born about 1814 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Husband of Ellen (Trenwith) Duncombe — married 7 Jun 1838 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Jane (Lamb) Bloxam — married 1868 in Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 1887 at about age 73 in Kiama, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Matthias Duncombe was a convict after the Third Fleet transported to New South Wales

Matthias Duncombe was born in 1814 in Leicester.^[1]

On the 19th October 1835 he was sentenced to transportation for 7 years for robbing his master, a miller. He was 5'6" tall, ruddy and freckled complexion, with light hair and grey eyes.^[1] Matthias was initially sent to the Justicia prison hulk moored at Woolwich^[2] then transported to New South Wales via the Bengal Merchant on the 4th Aug 1836. He received his ticket of freedom in 1843.^[3]

In 1838 he was given permission to marry Ellen Trenwith, an Irish free settler.^[4] In about April of 1856 their son John died in an accident at Numba, and the following year Matthias accidentally killed Ellen during a drunken domestic dispute when she struck him with a bridle, he retaliated by taking it and striking her, and she died the next day of a puncture wound from a sharp point on the bit. 'The prisoner called no witnesses, but in his defence has said that during the last eighteen months his wife had not been in a right state of mind, owing to the accidental death of one of her children. The result was... that she drank whenever she could get liquor, and, when intoxicated, was accustomed to assault him...' He was sentenced to three months in Darlinghurst jail.^[5][6]

Matthias married Jane Lamb at Shoalhaven in 1868.^[7] She is said to had an Indigenous parent.^[8]

He received a land grant at Wandandian in 1877.^[9]

He died at Kiama in 1887.^[10]

Research Notes

Age: he was recorded as 19 at his sentencing in 1835, but 22 on his convict indent in 1836 and his application to marry fits with the larger age. His Certificate of Freedom shows his birth year as 1814.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842. Retrieved from Ancestry.com.au
2. ↑ UK, Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849. Retrieved from Ancestry.com.au
3. ↑ QUARTER SESSIONS. (1843, June 8). Australasian Chronicle (Sydney, NSW : 1839 - 1843), p. 4. Retrieved June 30, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31740093
4. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, 1826-1851.
5. ↑ MANSLAUGHTER. (1857, June 8). Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 - 1950), p. 2. Retrieved November 5, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136438047
6. ↑ SHOALHAVEN. (1857, March 18). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), p. 3. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60277176
7. ↑ NSW BDM: Marriage 3375/1868
8. ↑ http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-NSW/2010-06/1277516934
9. ↑ NOTICE UNDER REAL PROPERTY ACT. (1877, November 23). New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), p. 4545. Retrieved June 30, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225826987
10. ↑ NSW BDM: Death 9835/1887 DUNCOMB NATHIAS, father: JOHN D, DIED KIAMA, district: KIAMA