John Davies M.H.A. (1813 - 1872)

Born 1813 in London, England

Husband of Elizabeth (Ellis) Davies — married 16 Dec 1840 in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 11 Jun 1872 at about age 59 in Windemere, Macquarie Street, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

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Biography

John Davies M.H.A. was a convict after the Third Fleet.

John Davies M.H.A. is Notable.

John Davies was a Jewish clerk convicted of fraud, aged 18.

At the Middlesex Session of the Peace on the 6 December 1830, he received a sentence of 7 years transportation to Australia. He departed from Plymouth, England on the transport "Argyle", 5 March 1831 and arrived at Hobart Van Diemens Land on 3 August 1831.

John's gaol report prior to embarking the Argyle states he was of bad character, audacious and impudent. The "Argyle's" ship indent says he was employed as one of the ship's barbers.

John Davies, Physical Description

On arrival in Van Diemens Land, John's physical description was documented but his record in the convict conduct book is devoid of any information regarding his assignment or behavior; it contains nothing but his name.^[1]

John was assigned to the Commissariat Department where he worked until January 1832. He was then sent to Sydney as he was assigned as a clerk to Francis Stephens Esq. However his service came to an abrupt end when he briefly absconded with the wife of a ticket of leave holder. In November 1832 he arrived in Sydney from Port Macquarie to be sent to the Phoenix hulk to give evidence in a trial. He was subsequently returned to Port Macquarie, then petitioned the Governor to be returned to Hobart to claim his ticket of leave. He wrote that his assignment was 'contrary to the wishes of your petitioner. Your petitioner is quite a youth only now twenty years of age and he is necessitated to mix and associate with characters most depraved' and he asked that the Governor be 'graciously pleased to [let him] be forwarded back to Van Diemens Land to fulfil the remained[sic] of his sentence.'^[2][3]

John Davies Certificate of Freedom, 6 December 1837

John served his full sentence of 7 years. He received his Certificate of Freedom on 6 December 1837.

John Davies, Chief Constable of Police, Penrith. 1 November 1840

On 1 November 1840, John was made Chief Constable of Police for the district of Penrith.

On 16 December 1840 he married Elizabeth Ellis in Parramatta, New South Wales by Presbyterian minister James Allan. The marriage registration recorded that John Davies, bachelor, was Chief Constable of Penrith and Elizabeth Ellis was a spinster of Penrith. They both signed the register. Witnesses were Chas. Jackson and James Smith.^[4][5]

By this time, his brother Edward was a bushranger and murderer. He was convicted and then sentenced to hang. John resigned as Chief Constable, a Government Gazette notice appearing on 16 March 1841, the same date as his brother's hanging.

John Davies, Chief Constable Resignation Notice, 16 March 1841

Moving to Victoria, John became a correspondent for the Port Phillip Gazette in February 1842.

In May 1842, he was once again made a Chief Constable of Police, this time in Portland, Victoria. John was active in theater and seemed to like the attention he received.

In 1847, he had gone back to New South Wales and worked as a government clerk and was also made Chief Constable of Police for the Wellington district in the same year. Outspoken and known for settling disputes by violence, Davies was involved in quite a few court appearances for assault on people. Some of those people were to later become notable in Australia's history.

In 1850 John moved to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), where he acquired a hotel at Brighton. In 1852 he took over the Waterloo Hotel in Hobart and in partnership with Auber George Jones published the Hobarton Guardian. It was incorporated on 5 July 1854 with the first issue of the Hobarton Mercury. With Davies as sole proprietor it became a daily in 1858 and by 1860 had absorbed four other papers, the Colonial Times, Tasmanian Daily News, Daily Courier and Hobart Town Courier.

In 1853, John, in partnership with another man, acquired the Tasmanian newspaper, the Guardian. Within months John Davies was to become the sole owner, and in 1854 the name of the paper was changed to the Hobarton Mercury, a bi-weekly paper. In 1860, the newspaper was renamed the Mercury.

Between 1860 and 1870, Davies stood for election of many seats of parliament in Tasmania, losing most and winning others.

John Davies died 11 June 1872,^[6] his sons carrying on the newspaper and their sons and family, too. That newspaper was to be bought by News Limited in March 1988.

From Convict and Jew, ostracized by his own faith for his marriage to an Anglican, Australian Media Magnate and Politician. A Great Australian

The other family of John Davies

John Davies had an extra-marital relationship with Ellen Duncan.

She had five children, and John Davies acknowledged they were his children in his will, where he stated that he was putative father of Mary Ann, Alice, John, Fanny and Louis Leslie. In a codicil to his will, he appointed Ellen Duncan as one of the executors. ^[7]

The birth records of the three girls, Mary Ann, Alice and Fanny have not been found, however we know that one of them was known as:

• Pauline, born about 1861-1862, in Hobart.

The births of the two boys are in Hobart birth registrations:

• John William Davies, born 2 June 1866, mother Ellen Duncan, father John Davies, merchant.^[8]
• Louis Leslie Davies, born 23 January 1871, mother Ellen Duncan, father John Davies, newspaper proprietor.^[9]

DNA

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Please direct any questions about the DNA analysis or any DNA confirmation data to Veronica Williams 21:37, 10 September 2019 (UTC)

Sources

1. ↑ Tasmania has very good records. It is rare but sometimes the records have been souvenired by some person, or the person the convict record was about, if they had reached an influential position, was destroyed.
2. ↑ Levi, J. S. These Are the Names : Jewish Lives in Australia, 1788-1850 / John S. Levi. Miegunyah, 2006, pp. 175-178.
3. ↑ Convict reference to placement on hulk in 1837 here.
4. ↑ Marriage certificate: NSW 835/1840 Vol.75 DAVIES JOHN ELLIS ELIZABETH JN=Presbyterian Parramatta (Reel 5028 accessed May 2024)
5. ↑ "Australia Marriages, 1810-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTCG-G4S : 12 December 2014), John Davies and Elizabeth Ellis, 16 Dec 1840; citing Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, reference ; FHL microfilm 993,982.
6. ↑ Full Mercury Newspaper Obituary
7. ↑ Will of John Davies, Tasmanian archives: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AD960-1-8/1cc8ea53-a3ca-4a45-bdd9-bbe3a66ff17b and Codicil: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AD960-1-8/17b3c309-c99d-400c-a8df-00210451e0e4
8. ↑ Birth of John William Davies 1866, Tasmanian archives: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/RGD33-1-9/RGD33-1-9_186
9. ↑ Birth of Louis Leslie Davies 1871, Tasmanian archives: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/RGD33-1-10/RGD33-1-10-P265

See also:

• Australian Dictionary of Biography John Davies, Volume 4, (MUP), 1972

• Convict Records the transport ship "Argyle" - 1831

• mercurynie.com.au History of The Mercury Newspaper, Hobart, Tasmania.- John Davies mother Hannah Benjamin did not join her husband Michael until 1832, the statement inferring John committed the crime to join his family in Australia might be classed as an excuse for the facts.

• Obituaries Australia John Davies, An Obituary written by a correspondent of the Mercury Newpaper, Hobart, Tasmania. No reference to have been a convict, but has a reference to have brought newspaper experience from the British colony of India, the later which is not true.

• Trove Digital Archives Newspapers and Photographs

Related resources:

• Famous Australian Convicts

• Convicts After the Third Fleet