Henry Rotton (1814 - 1881)

Biography

Henry Rotton (1814-1881), pastoralist, was born at Frome-Selwood, Somersetshire, England, son of Gilbert Rotton, solicitor, and his wife Mary Caroline, née Humphries. Failing to enter the navy, he joined a merchant ship that was wrecked in the West Indies. After rescue he was landed in Africa where he contracted yellow fever. In 1836 he reached Kangaroo Island, South Australia, as second mate in the Emma and soon made his way to Sydney. In February 1839 he took over the licence of the Queen Victoria Inn at Solitary Creek near Rydal. At that time he married Lorn Jane Macpherson, who died on 11 September 1843. In 1843-48 he was licensee of the Queen Victoria Inn, Bathurst.

In 1849 Rotton became a mail-coach proprietor and in 1850 had a four-horse service three times a week to and from Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith and Hartley, and many twice-weekly two-horse coaches to near-by towns. In 1851 Deas Thomson wrote to Governor FitzRoy from the goldfields that 'Rotton is anxious to buy as his carriages are nearly all broken down from the immense traffic and dreadful state of the roads'. He prospered from the gold rushes and in 1853 bought Blackdown, an estate at Kelso, near Bathurst, where he became a successful horse and cattle breeder with imported stock. He also acquired Gungalman in the Lachlan District and other pastoral interests.

As a supporter of John Robertson, in January 1858 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Western Boroughs, despite A. T. Holroyd 'sticking at nothing to obtain pledges'. Defeated for Bathurst in 1859 and 1860 because of his support for the abolition of state aid to religion, he represented Hartley in 1859-64. He opposed free selection before survey and from 1860 voted against Cowper-Robertson ministries. In 1861 Rotton opposed the extension of the southern railway at the expense of the western and northern lines.

At 2 a.m. on Sunday, 25 October 1863, Rotton was woken by his daughter Caroline asking for £500 as ransom for her husband, H. M. Keightley, being held at their Dunn's Plains station by Ben Hall and his gang. Rotton took the ransom money in marked notes and after the release of Keightley went on to Rockley to report the incident. In 1866 he became a sheep director for Bathurst and was chairman of the Bathurst Sheep Board in 1869-81. A zealous supporter of the Baptists, he was a member of the local public school board from 1868 and chairman from 1874. In 1872 he adjudicated in an important squatting case.

Aged 67, Rotton died on 11 October 1881 at Mynora, a property he owned near Moruya occupied by the Keightleys, and was buried in the Baptist cemetery, Bathurst, with Anglican rites. He was survived by a son and daughter of his first wife, and by five sons and six daughters of his second wife, Anne Ford, whom he had married on 18 March 1844. His personalty was valued for probate at £29,000.

From descendent Marlane Nygaard:

"I come from Henry, Gilberts son, my GG Grandfather who was a very important man in his time here in Australia. He came here in 1832, a young man, and died in 1881. He was a member of Parliament, in the first responsible Govt, his lovely home of Blackdown still stands today. He had off the top of my head 13 children, married a daughter of two convicts (which I am sure he did not know as he would not have got where he did in those days but we have it all now). I love Henry, I have been in the house, and I felt him there. He brought a half-sister and I together after 68 years of not knowing each other (I did not know my birth father, and my mother was too poor for the family to allow him to marry) This [reunion] happened after I visited the estate, and then she visited, and her name is Carolyn, and the Manager put two and two together and wrote to me in Canada (where I lived for 38yrs) --Marlane Nygaard

Born 1814 Frome-Selwood, Somerset, England. ^[1] 1814 Frome, Somerset, England. Map: Latitude: N51.2317. Longitude: W2.3215. Found multiple copies of birth date. Using 1814

Died 11 OCT 1881. "Mynora", near Moruya, New South Wales, Australia. ^[1]

Christening: 16 AUG 1814. Frome, Somerset, England. Map: Latitude: N51.2317. Longitude: W2.3215.

Marriage Husband @I4419@. Wife @I5627@. Child: @I6739@. Child: @I6740@. Marriage 29 APR 1839. Bowens Hollow, New South Wales, Australia. ^[2]

Christening: 16 AUG 1814. Frome, Somerset, England. Map: Latitude: N51.2317. Longitude: W2.3215.

Alt. Birth 1814 Frome, Somerset, England. Map: Latitude: N51.2317. Longitude: W2.3215.

Alt. Death 11 OCT 1881. Broulee, New South Wales, Australia. Map: Latitude: S35.8667. Longitude: E150.1833.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Source: #S249 Record for Lorn Jane Macpherson Link: http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1030&h=152041540102&indiv=try
2. ↑ Source: #S249 Record for Lorn Jane Macpherson Link: http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1030&h=152041540102&indiv=try

• Immigration Citation

Australian Dictionary of Biography (Secondary evidence) Text: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rotton-henry-4512

• Death Citation

NSW BDM (Secondary evidence) Page: 6860 Text: First name(s) Henry Last name Rotton Birth year - Death year 1881 Registration year 1881 Age at death - Registration district Broulee State New South Wales Country Australia Father's first name(s) Unnamed Gilbert Mother's first name(s) Mary C Registration number 6860

• Marriage (m. MacPHERSON, Lorn Jane) Citation

Australian Dictionary of Biography (Secondary evidence) Text: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rotton-henry-4512

• Marriage (m. FORD, Mary Anne) Citation

NSW BDM (Secondary evidence) Page: V1844446 29 Text: First name(s) Henry Last name Rotton Denomination Church of England Marriage year 1844 Registration year 1844 Registration district Kelso State New South Wales Country Australia Spouse's first name(s) Mary A Spouse's last name Ford Registration number - Volume reference V1844446 29 Cross reference - Record set New South Wales Marriages 1788-1945

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kihlstrom&id=I1506

Marlane Nygaard's memories and records (e-mail 3/21/2016

Henry Rotton on Wikipedia [1]

Acknowledgments

E. J. Lea-Scarlett, 'Rotton, Henry (1814–1881)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rotton-henry-4512/text7381, published in hardcopy 1976, accessed online 12 July 2014.