Susannah Wainwright (1813 - 1901)

Born 1813 in Manchester, Lancashire, England [uncertain]

Wife of John Painter — married 15 Sep 1834 in All Saints Church, Bong Bong, NSW

Descendants

Died 4 Feb 1901 at about age 88 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Andrew Lancaster [send private message] and M Rosewarne [send private message]

Biography

Susan Wainwright was a convict after the Third Fleet transported to New South Wales

Descendant Malcolm Gain told descendant Andrew Lancaster that according to Jean Marchment, late of Wauchope NSW, a cousin of his father that...

"in the closing years of the 19th Century Susannah told her granddaughter, Susan and Adam’s daughter Mabel May (Jean’s mother) that she was Irish and had been born in Balbriggan, county Dublin (a town on the coast facing Britain). But she also told Mabel May that John had been born in Wales - which might again be true. He too might have lied to the English authorities about being born in Tewkesbury (which is not too far from the Welsh border). I have read that it was pretty customary for people to lie about their name and place of birth on apprehension then and probably still is."

Extract from Chester Courant & Advertiser for North Wales :

Chester 10 August 1832

Cheshire Assizes

Crown Side

Before Mr Justice Alderson

Housebreaking - Peter Anderson (17) and Susannah Wainwright (19) were indicted, the former of breaking into the dwelling house of George Parrott of Brinnington and stealing upwards of £400 in Bank Notes and £29 in silver; and the latter with feloniously receiving the same.

The Chester Chronicle, Friday August 10th 1832

HOUSEBREAKING – Peter Anderson, (17) and Susannah Wainwright (19) were indicted, the former for breaking into the dwelling house of George Parrott, of Brinnington, and stealing upwards of £400 in Bank Notes and £29 in silver; and the latter with feloniously receiving the same.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Mr J.H. Lloyd stated the case for the prosecutor; Mr DUNN appeared for the prisoner Anderson.

The facts of the case are briefly these:- The prosecutor Mr Greorge Parrott resides at Brinnington, near Stockport. On Wednesday night the 30th of May, the house was broken into through one of the windows, and the sum of £460 in notes contained in a pocket-book, carried away; together with several parcels of silver, amounting to £29. The notes consisted of £50 and £10 notes. The £50 notes he had received on the 15th of May., from a Mr Absalom Watkins, of Manchester. There was a large quantity of silver plate in the house, but although it was removed it was not taken away: the doors were left wide open. The robbery was not discovered until the servants came down at five o’clock the following morning.

Mr Watkins proved the dates and numbers of the four £50 notes and the £10 note, which he paid Mr Parrott on the 15th of May. On the 29th of May he made another large payment to Mr Parrott in bank notes, but had not taken any account of the dates and numbers.

Mr John Winstanley, watchmaker, of Salford, Manchester, proved that a person agreed with him for the purchase of a watch, promising to call and pay for it and the end of the week. He did not come, but referred witness to the prisoner Anderson as the person who would be the purchaser. On an interview with the prisoner, the latter agreed for the watch, and offered a £10 Bank of England note in payment. Mr Winstanley, on referring to a handbill he had in his pocket, found that the note in question was one of those stolen from Mr Parrott. The prisoner then proposed that witness should give him £5 for the £10 note; but the latter said he had not the money then, but would change him £50 or £100 of the other notes if he (the prisoner) had them. Prisoner said he had not, but his girl had; and ultimately an appointment was made for next day, at No. 4 Hope Street, Salford, to bring the notes. The prisoner said he got the notes from Mr Parrott’s, and that he did not go there for that purpose, but to take the “wedge” – a cant term for silver plate. Witness asked him if he was not afraid of being detected whilst he was in the house; prisoner said no, for he had fastened the door with a pair of scissors! He said he had got rid of the silver money in paying debts, &c. Mr Winstanley gave immediate information to the Salford Police. The prisoner Wainwright and an old woman came to the place appointed in Hope-street. The old woman left the room, and Wainwright produced five £50 notes from her bosom. Mr Winstanley, referring to the handbill, selected two of the notes the numbers of which were best known, and agreed to give her £50 for the two. He left the room, as if to go and procure the money, but gave information to the police, who came and took her into custody.

The witness was cross-examined by Mr DUNN at great length, with a view to shake his testimony, because of the great improbability of his story, and other grounds of discredit.

John Diggles, Police-officer at Salford, proved apprehending the female prisoner on the 11th of June, in the Public-house, No 4 Hope-street. When searching, three more of the £50 notes were found upon her; the signature and no. agreed with those noted by Mr Absalom Watkins. Another of the Salford Police apprehended Anderson the next day, and found only a few shillings in silver upon him. He lived at Stockport, close by the prosecutor’s house. Only £260 of the money lost had been recovered in the whole.

The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty against both prisoners: Anderson, Death Recorded ; Wainwright, transported fourteen years

To quote Malcolm Gain's summary (distributed around family):

Anderson was sentenced to death and Susannah was sentenced to be "transported beyond the seas" for 14 years. On 11th December 1832, with 99 other female convicts, she set sail for NSW from Whitby on the "Diana". Hair shearing was one of the means of discipline used without success on board this ship which put in at Cape Town before continuing across the Indian Ocean to NSW. It arrived in Sydney on 25th May 1833 and Susannah was assigned to J Hassall, South Creek.

She ran away and was recaptured soon after. NSW GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30 October 1833

Absconded from service: Wainwright, Susannah, No. 33-252, 20, Diana,

Manchester, All work, 5 ft 2in, bluish eyes, brown hair, fair little freckled comp., small raised mole back of right wrist, finger nails short, from Andrew Foss, since 27th instant.

6 November 1833

List of runaways apprehended during the week: Wainwright, Susannah, Diana, from service with Andrew Foss.

The story of Susanna's marriages is complex!

Colonial Secretary Correspondence 36/7849 (4/2309):-

To his Excellency Lt General Sir

Richard Bourke

Governor of the Colony of New South Wales

The humble Petition of Susan Wainwright per ship Diana which arrived in May 1833, a native of Manchester convicted at Chester and sentenced to transportation for 14 years

Humbly Sheweth

That while an assigned servant to Mr Kennedy at Curwarry she formed an acquaintance with a man who represented himself to be an emigrant, and who stated his name to be Andrew Gandon who strongly solicited her to marry him, that your Petitioner considering him to be an industrious man and likely to make her situation more comfortable, consented, an application was made to your Excellency who gave permission. They were accordingly married by the Reverend Mr Vincent at Bong Bong.

At the expiration of about twelve months and when she had given birth to a child it was discovered that she had been grossly deceived, that her husband was and had for a long time been, a bushranger whose real name was John Painter, and who was assigned to Mr Hawkins at Bathurst from whose service he absconded. That at the time of the discovery he was employed by Major Elrington of Mount Elrington in County Murray from which place he was taken in custody to be dealt with. Your Petitioner has since been assigned to Major Elrington where she now is.

Your Petitioner being informed that this marriage is to all intents and purposes null and void and that this man has not nor ever can have any claim on her, and she having another opportunity of being comfortably settled with a young man whose name is William Chatterton per ship Minstrel which arrived in 1825, a native of Manchester convicted at Carlisle, sentence transportation for life, but is now holding a Ticket of Leave and in the Employment of John Coghill Esq. JP of Kirkham at his station Gillamatong, County St Vincent.

Your Petitioner having obtained the sanction of her master Major Elrington is induced to lay before your Excellency this plain unvarnished statement of facts, and humbly to solicit your Excellency's Permission to this second marriage.

In presuming thus to address your Excellency your Petitioner has been powerfully induced by the conviction of your Excellency's disposition to promote at all times the happiness of those over whom you are placed and most particularly has your Excellency's Administration been marked by acts of kindness to the unfortunate prisoner.

Thus assured your Petitioner humbly awaits your Excellency's answer to her Petition in the confident hope the answer will be favorable and your Petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray

Susan Wainwright

Mount Elrington

17th August 1836

Notes written on back of petition:

Let me see the Application for her marriage with And w Gandon.

Explain to this poor woman the law of the case and that it is not of my power to authorize the marriage she now desires to contract.

In the 1837 Convict Muster, a clerical reconstitution of people's whereabouts after the fact, corresponding rather to their situation in 1836, Susannah is listed as being 27 years of age and working for Mr W.S. Elrington in the Shoalhaven area. At this time John Painter was working for the "government" in the "vale of Clywdd", so named by Governor Macquarie in April 1815 and situated to the west of Mts York and Victoria. He was presumably being punished for absconding from private service and being kept under surveillance, perhaps involved in the building of the Hartley courthouse.

William, the son of Susannah Wainwright and William Chatterton was born on 16th April 1837 at Ballalaba. In August of that year Susannah was in the employ of Ann Simanton, Philip St, Sydney. She and William Snr made another application to marry on 15th August 1837 and applied for the publication of banns on the 18th . On the 26th August, permission to marry was granted but it seems that they never did marry. (Could Susan have gone to confession before the marriage and been dissuaded by the priest?) William Jnr was baptized at St James' Church, Sydney on 30th December 1837. In April of the following year, Susannah was sponsor at the baptism of Mary Ann Nicholls, the daughter of Thomas Nichols and Ann Keal, a prisoner at the Female Factory at Parramatta and on 23rd August 1838, Betsey Painter, daughter of Susan and Andrew Painter, was baptised at St Saviour's Anglican Church, Goulburn. At the time she was said to be living at Orenmeir, Co. Murray, no doubt at Mt Elrington.

Towards the end of February 1839, Susan's second daughter Martha would have been conceived. At this time William Chatterton was employed at Bedarvale. He had various problems leading to the cancellation of his ticket of leave around April 1839 but was able to get it back again by proving that he had been in the Sydney area in February 1839, therefore unable to have committed an offence in the Braidwood area. Susan was allowed to remain in the Braidwood district by the Campbelltown Bench on 28th February 1839 and granted a ticket of leave on 11th July. Martha was born on 28th November 1839.

In May 1840 the Bathurst Bench decided to grant John a ticket of leave and Susannah's ticket of leave was altered from Braidwood to Bathurst on 14th August 1840. In October 1840, according to the Ticket of Leave Muster Roll, John was still in the employ of Mr T. J. Hawkins JP (see the view from the homestead of Hawkins’ property “Blackdown” in the above contemporary watercolour by the well-known Sydney artist Conrad Martens) where he remained for at least a further year. About this time Susan conceived his son George. (During this time William Chatterton was employed by Major Elrington).

George was born in the Bathurst area on 4th July 1841 and baptized at the Catholic Church, Bathurst on 24th November 1841, his family living at a place called Lui at the time.

On 9th June 1842, John and Susan were issued ticket-of-leave passports N°42/636 and N°42/637 allowing them to travel together between Bathurst and Mudgee for 12 months in 1842/43, in the carrying business. John and Susan were both allowed to return to the Braidwood area on 20th March 1843.

When John, their second son together and Susannah’s third, born on 18/7/1843 was baptized (a Catholic, like all ensuing baptisms) on 21st June 1846, his father was working as a shepherd at Charleyong north of Braidwood. That is where their third daughter, Sarah, was born on 4th Sept. of the same year. By the time she was baptised on 22nd April 1847, her parents were working as servants or at least one of them was, at the Verge-designed Bedarvale homestead in the Braidwood area. About this time John Painter, who had been sentenced for life 27 years earlier in 1820, received approval for a conditional pardon which was granted on 1st June 1848 and a copy sent by the Principal Superintendant of Convicts on 14/2/1850.

Susan, their fourth daughter, was therefore born to free parents on 4th October 1849 and when she was baptized on 27th November 1850, her parents gave Braidwood as their place of abode but no profession was indicated. Susannah gave her name as Susan McNalley on this occasion, perhaps to "celebrate the break" with the convict past and mark a new chapter in the life of the family, perhaps also to cover past tracks.

Betsey, the eldest daughter, was married to Edward Goulding at Braidwood on 1st July 1851 by the Priest from the Catholic Church of Broulee, 10km NE of Moruya, on the South Coast of NSW in 1851. Broulee was the coastal access town to the Araluen gold fields south of Braidwood. The gold rush was in full swing in the area at that time. Edward was born in County Tyrone about 1832 and arrived in NSW in about 1844. He and Betsey had nine children together but apparently Edward was a bit of a tyrant and Elizabeth left him for another man by whom she had four more children: George 1869, Susan 1870, Christopher and Joseph 1871.

When Catherine, the fifth daughter, born 12th October 1851 was baptized on 29th June 1852 by the Priest from the County of Dampier, on the South Coast of NSW, her father was a labourer in Braidwood.

In May 1854 when Martha (doubtless the daughter of William Chatterton) was finally baptized and in October of the same year when Betsey was re-baptized a Catholic as Elisabeth Goulding* Painter, their parents were at last farmers at Orenmeir, no doubt the realization of a long-standing dream.

On 2nd April 1855 John Painter purchased a 120 acre farm at Tantulean Creek near Mongarlow for £167. It is surprising that a labourer and father of eight could have saved this sum.

In the 31st January 1870 issue of the Sydney Morning Herald, a personal message was published:

Any information concerning John Wainwright, a native of Manchester and reported to have been recently a resident of New York, will be thankfully received by his sister Susan Painter, Braidwood NSW.

Albury Banner and Wodonga Express Fri 6 Oct 1899 Page 17 :

Several of our old friends are now lying very ill and not expected to recover, and the Rev. Father Fogarty is again in town administering to the spiritual wants of several of his parishioners. Mrs. Painter (mother of Mrs. A. S. Livingstone, of Berlong) had the misfortune to become dazed, and, falling on the floor at her daughter's resi dence, she sustained a fractured thighbone, which by reason of her extreme old age it seems impossible to set. The esteemed old lady lies in a helpless condition.

Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, Sat 17 Nov 1900 Page 2:

A Hard Case. At the Orange Police Court on Wednesday, says the Orange Advocate, a particularly distressing case came on for hearing. An old woman named Susan Painter, who gave her age as 90, was charged with being an idle and disorderly person having no lawful means of support or fixed place of abode. From the evidence it appears, that some three months ago the old woman was turned into the streets by her relatives, and Sergeant Butler, acting on the instructions of Mr. King P.M., got her admission to the hospital, where she has been ever since, but the hospital authorities could not keep her any longer; as her temper was a menace to the welfare of the other patients. She refused to go to any Benevolent Asylum, and asked to be sent to her relatives at Tumberumba. The police there were communicated with and they reported that her relatives refused to take her. The old woman, who is very deaf and feeble, could only reiterate her request to be sent to Tumberumba. She could not understand that her relatives would not have her. Sergeant Butler explained that the only course was to send her to gaol, as she refused to go to a Benevolent Asylum, and they could not compel her to go. If she was sentenced to a short term her relatives could be again communicated with and she could be released if they would take her. The Bench sentenced her to one month in Bathurst gaol, where there is a hospital and plenty of attendants and she would be properly looked after.

Susan Painter née Wainwright died on 4th February 1901 at the Newington Asylum (home for the aged) in Sydney and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Rookwood, Sydney. Her death certificate indicates that she was married at Bong Bong, but gives her maiden name as McNalley and among her children only refers to her son John and a daughter whose name she didn’t remember but she had raised 8 children, who in turn gave her no less than 64 grandchildren!

Susanna was born about 1813. She passed away in 1901.

Sources

• The first version of the above was made by descendant Andrew Lancaster based upon his webpage about this family.
• Much of Andrew Lancaster's work derived from the research of fellow descendant Malcolm Gain.
• Newspapers and records mentioned above.
• Convict records