Watkin Tench (1758 - 1833)

Born 6 Oct 1758 in Chester, Cheshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Maria (Sargent) Tench — married 22 Oct 1792 in Stoke Damerel, Devon, England

Died 7 May 1833 at age 74 in Devonport, Devon, England

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Biography

Watkin Tench is Notable.

Watkin Tench ... was a marine who came to Australia with the First Fleet

Watkin Tench is an English Author.

Lieutenant General Watkin Tench was a British marine officer who is best known for publishing two books describing his experiences in the First Fleet in 1787-88 and the first settlement in Australia in 1788-91. He fought in the American War of Independence in the 1870s and against France in the 1790s and 1800s, spending time as a prisoner of war on both occasions.

Note that most of the following biography has been sourced from the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Watkin Tench was born on 6th October 1758 at Chester, Cheshire, England.^[1] He was the son of Fisher Tench, a dancing master who ran a boarding school in the town, and Margaritta Tarleton of the Liverpool Tarletons. Tench joined His Majesty's Marine Forces, Plymouth division, as a Second Lieutenant on 25th January 1776, aged 17 years.

American War of Independence

He fought against the American forces in their War of Independence, during which he was captured when HMS Mermaid was driven ashore on the Maryland coast on 8th July 1778. Tench was in command of the Marine unit on board. He and the other officers were transported to Philadelphia and imprisoned. They were exchanged for English prisoners of war in October that year. From October 1778 to March 1779 he served in the Unicorn. He was promoted Captain-Lieutenant in September 1782 but, with the war over, was placed on half-pay in May 1786.

New South Wales, Australia

That had a major bearing on his volunteering for duty, when the Admiralty soon after called for volunteers for a three-year tour of service at the Botany Bay Penal Settlement. Tench sailed on the transport Charlotte with the First Fleet in May 1787 as one of the two Captain-Lieutenants of the marine detachment under Major Robert Ross. The fleet found Botany Bay to be unsuitable both as a safe harbour and for farming, and re-located to Port Jackson, landing on 26th January 1788. Military duties and routine tasks occupied his time initially. He was particularly friendly with Lieutenant William Dawes, whose observatory provided a quiet refuge and whose interest in the Aboriginals Tench shared, the latter meeting Eora Arabanoo-1 in '88 or '89. Tench viewed Woollarawarre Bennelong-2 "as an experiment in ‘softening, enlightening and refining a barbarian’"^[2].

Tench was a keen explorer and much of his leisure was spent as a member or as leader of expeditions to the west and south-west of the settlement, discovering the Nepean River and tracing it to the Hawkesbury, and penetrating as far as the Razorback. He stayed in Sydney until December 1791, sailing home on HMS Gorgon, arriving in Plymouth in July 1792.

Napoleon

He was next deployed aboard HMS Alexander as a brevet Major, serving in the Channel fleet's blockade of Brest against Napoleon. On 6th November 1794, the ship was surrendered after a hard-fought battle with three French ships. The crew were initially imprisoned on ships in Brest harbour, but later Tench was moved to Quimper and imprisoned on parole. He was exchanged in May 1795 after being held prisoner for six months. He was promoted brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in 1798. He retired from the sea in 1802 and served in shore posts at Chatham, Plymouth and Woolwich until he retired on half-pay as a Major General at the end of 1815. He was reactivated as Commandant in the Plymouth division in October 1819 at the age of 61, finally retiring with the rank of Lieutenant General on 18th July 1821.

Family

On 22 October 1792, at Stoke Damerel, Devon, Watkin Tench married Anna Maria Sargent, a daughter of Robert Sargent, a Devonport surgeon. The marriage register recorded Watkin Tench Esq. Captain of Marines, Bachelor & Anna Maria Sargent, of this parish, Spinster, by Licence. Witnesses were Sarah Sargent, Eliza Liddle, Rob't Sargent. ^[3]

Although he and Anna had no children of their own, in 1821 they took responsibility for Anna's three nephews and a niece, children of her sister Sarah and her husband Captain Bedford RN, when the four children were orphaned after the death of Sarah Bedford in February 1821; at the time, Tench was 63 and his wife was 56. Two of the boys became captains in the navy and one a bank manager at Penzance; the fourth child, a girl, died at Penzance in 1832.

Death

Lieutenant General Watkin Tench passed away on 7th May 1833 at Stoke Damerel (later renamed Devonport) near Plymouth, Devon, England, survived by his wife. He was buried on 11 May at Stoke Damerel, Devon, the burial register recording his age 74, and abode Sanbyn Street.^[4]

Probate: Watkin Tench wrote his will in April 1832. Probate was granted 19 June 1833.^[5]

Publications

Tench wrote and published three books:

• A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay: With an Account of New South Wales, its Productions, Inhabitants &c (London, 1789, three editions; also Dublin and New York editions and translations into French, German and Dutch). The Narrative was reprinted in Sydney in 1938, and the Narrative and the Complete Account, with introduction, notes and bibliography, under the title Sydney's First Four Years in Sydney in 1961 (revised ed., 1964).
• A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales, Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; and of its Natural Productions; Taken on the Spot (London, 1793).
• Letters Written in France, to a Friend in London, Between the Month of November 1794 and the Month of May 1795 (London, 1796).

Legacy

• Tench Reserve in Penrith, New South Wales
• Watkin Tench Parade in Pemulwuy, New South Wales

Research Notes

His name is not in the list of memorials within Stoke Damerel Church in Familysearch (Film # 007942791) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSZF-QS47?i=330&cat=371854, and not in the list published online of surviving gravestones by volunteers from the former Plymouth and West Devon Record Office (see link in https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/plymouths-curious-tale-hidden-gravestone-6214393).

Sources

1. ↑ Baptism at St. Mary's Chester: 'Watkin son of Mr. Fisher Tench and Margrett his wife of Bridge Street was baptised on the 10th day of November was born the 6th day of November 1758.' https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=GBPRS/B/765390102/1
2. ↑ https://www.sydneybarani.com.au/sites/significant-aboriginal-people-in-sydney/
3. ↑ Watkin Tench in 1792 Devon Marriages And Banns, Stoke Damerel, Devon, England, Archive Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, Find my past database https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FM%2F35006779%2F1
4. ↑ Watkin Tench in 1833 Devon Burials Stoke Damerel, Devon, England, Archive Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, Find my past database https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FD%2F33033183%2F1
5. ↑ England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 for Watkin Tench, PROB 11: Will Registers 1832-1834 Piece 1818: Farquhar, Quire Numbers 401-450 (1833) Ancestry.com sharing link

• Fitzhardinge, L F. 'Tench, Watkin (1758–1833)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 22 Jan 2019.
• Wikipedia: Watkin Tench; accessed 7 Jan 2019.
• G. A. Wood, ‘Lieutenant William Dawes and Captain Watkin Tench’, Journal and Proceedings (Royal Australian Historical Society), vol 10, part 1, 1924, pp 1-24 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-600977013/view?sectionId=nla.obj-606721152&partId=nla.obj-601029159#page/n16/mode/1up