Sarah Morton (Cox) Wentworth (1805 - 1880)

Born 1 Jan 1805 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of William Charles Wentworth — married 26 Oct 1829 in Sydney NSW Australia

Descendants

Died 14 Jul 1880 at age 75 in Eastbourne Sussex England

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Biography

Sarah Cox was born in Sydney, Colony of New South Wales (Australia) on 1st January 1805.^[1] She was the daughter of two former convicts, Francis Cox and Frances 'Fanny' Morton, both transported from England for theft. Sarah was christened in St Philip's Church of England (Anglican Church), Sydney that September.^[2]

Sarah was apprenticed to a milliner about 1821, an Elizabeth Foster, who had opened a store in Sydney in 1818.^[3]

William

She met her future husband, lawyer, explorer, newspaper proprietor, squatter and politician, William Charles Wentworth, son of Doctor D'Arcy Wentworth, in 1825 when he took on her case against Captain John Payne, a mariner who traded between Sydney and Port Dalrymple Van Dieman's Land, for breach of promise of marriage. He had only returned to the colony the year before after eight years of study in England. The jury found in her favour to the tune of £100 plus costs, a year's salary for many workers at the time. The couple initially moved out of Wentworth's Macquarie Place house, next to Sarah's parents, to the 295ac Petersham estate on the road to Parramatta. In 1827, Wentworth purchased Vaucluse House and immediately set about improving the run-down house into quite the colonial mansion. Sarah and William eventually married in 26th October 1829 in St Philip's Church,^[4][5] although, as a convict's daughter who had children with William before they married, she was never accepted in colonial 'society'. Neither was William for that matter for the same reasons, although he was tolerated due to his wealth. None of that seemed to matter to Sarah or William though, as they frequently entertained their enormous extended families; indeed, William was virtually guardian to his eight much-younger half-siblings.^[3]

Sarah

Sarah was an immensely practical woman who took on the day to day running of the Wentworth estates leaving her husband free to pursue his public career and enterprises. She saw to clothing her large family, dressmakers and tailors often living at Vaucluse. She saw to it that Wentworth's Sydney butcher's shop was a profitable and quality concern. The girls attended school in Sydney as well as the boys, acquiring the accomplishments expected of young women of wealth. Sarah was known to be extremely close to all her children. As well as Vaucluse, the Wentworth's kept a country estate from 1836 to 1848, Windemere, in the Hunter Valley.^[3]

Sarah and William's eleven children, only one of whom was an infant mortality, were:

1. Thomasine C 'Timmie' (Cox) Wentworth (1825-1913), married Thomas Fisher in 1844
2. William Charles 'Willie' (Cox) Wentworth (1827-59), unmarried
3. Fanny Catherine Wentworth (1829-93), married John Reeve in 1847
4. Fitzwilliam 'Fitz' Wentworth (1833-1915), married Mary Hill in 1868
5. Sarah Eleanor 'Joody' Wentworth (1835-57), unmarried
6. Eliza Sophia 'Didy' Wentworth (1838-98), unmarried
7. Isabella Christiana 'Belle' Wentworth (1840-56), unmarried
8. Laura Wentworth (1842-87), married (later Lieutenant Colonel) Harry Keays-Young in 1872
9. Edith Wentworth (1845-91), married Reverend Charles Dunbar in 1872
10. D'Arcy Bland Wentworth (1848-1922) married Lucy Bowman in 1872
11. Unnamed daughter Wentworth (stillborn 1850)

From the early 1850s the Wentworths relocated to England, never purchasing a property but preferring to rent. They travelled extensively on the continent. The 1850s were not kind to the family, with children Belle (1856), Sarah (1857), and Willie (1859) passing away. Sarah returned to New South Wales in 1861-62, and, after William's death in 1872-73 and once more in 1876-77. Whilst it was her intention to return permanently to her Vaucluse House it reached the point where her health was no longer up to the voyage. She was torn between her children and grandchildren in England and those in New South Wales.^[3]

Sarah outlived William by eight years, passing away whilst holidaying at Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in 1880. She is buried in Eastbourne Cemetery with a headstone. This amazing Aussie currency lass and pioneer was 75 years of age.^[6] Sarah was survived by five daughters and two sons, and thirteen grandchildren.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #859/1806 V1806859 4
2. ↑ Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XT6H-G6B : 11 February 2018), Sarah Cox in entry for Thomasine Cox Wentworth, 15 Jan 1826; citing ST JAMES, SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA; FHL microfilm 993,949.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Liston, Carol. Sarah Wentworth: Mistress of Vaucluse. Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Glebe, New South Wales, 1988. ISBN 0 949753 34 3
4. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #4695/1829 V18294695 3B; church code CA
5. ↑ Australia Marriages, 1810-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTZ9-MR3 : 10 February 2018), William Chas Wentworth and Sarah Cox, 26 Oct 1829; citing Vanclure, New South Wales, Australia, reference 29/30; FHL microfilm 990,953.
6. ↑ UK FreeBMD Death Index Sep qtr 1880, vol 2b, page 40

• Dynasties Sarah Wentworth nee Cox