William Broughton (1768 - 1821)

Born 1768 in Chatham, St Mary, Kent, England

Husband of Elizabeth Charlotte (Kennedy) Broughton — married 4 Dec 1810 in St John's Church of England, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.

Descendants

Died 28 Jul 1821 at about age 53 in Appin, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

William Broughton (1768-1821)

William Broughton was a public servant and settler. He stood out among a number of dissolute officials as a loyal, trustworthy public servant who, as Macquarie reported, performed 'faithful, honest, useful and ardous service' for thirty years. Because he was without powerful patronage in London, however, he was consistently passed over in favour of less competent men. He gave valuable evidence to Commissioner Bigge on the employment of convict labour.^[1]

He was born was born in 1768 at Chatham, Kent, England and was baptized on 27th November 1768 in St Mary's Church of England, Chatham. He was a son of Henry Broughton and Sarah Walker.^[2]

William Broughton came to New South Wales on the Charlotte in the First Fleet as a servant to Surgeon John White. He worked in several managerial roles in the commissariat from 20th February 1789, in Sydney, Parramatta, Norfolk Island and Van Diemans Land (Tasmania). He was granted small plots of land in 1793 and again in 1795.

Appointments:^[3]

Feb 1789 appointed storekeeper at Parramatta

Dec 1800 sent to Norfolk Island as storekeeper and acting deputy commissary

Nov 1805 appointed deputy commissary in NSW

Nov 1809 appointed magistrate

From November 1809 Acting Commissary General until Macquarie restored John Palmer to the post; re-appointed Acting Commissary in March 1810; made Deputy Assistant Commissary-General in June 1813 under David Allan and Acting Assistant Commissary General from 1814;

July 1816 - March 1818 sent to Hobart to correct abuses in the commissariat

William Broughton was granted 1,000 acres (405 ha) near Appin in 1811. He built a nice house and named the property Lachlan Vale, in honour of the Governor who had always given him support in tough times.

He had briefly been a director of the Bank of New South Wales, and supporter of the Benevolent Society.

William Broughton had a common-law marriage with Elizabeth Heathorn (alias Ann Glossop), who had arrived in the Pitt in February 1792 after being sentenced at Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, to transportation for seven years.^[4] Between 1792 and 1807 they had five children.

1. Mary Heathorn (Broughton) Carne (abt.1793-1872)
2. Sarah Heathorn (Broughton) Smith (1799-1838)
3. William Henry Broughton (1802-1858)
4. Rebekah (Broughton) O'Brien (1804-1888)
5. Elizabeth Isabella (Broughton) Throsby (1807-1891)

In the 1805 muster they are at Norfolk Island: William Broughton, store keeper, Ann 'Glossip' (sentence expired); children are listed with their mother's surname Glossip: Ann, William, Rebecca.^[5]

With one daughter to accompany her, Elizabeth Heathorn (alias Ann Glossop) sailed for England in October 1809 in the Boyd but perished in the infamous massacre in New Zealand of all on board except four, of whom her daughter, Betsey, was one. This child was brought back to New South Wales.

William Broughton married a second time on 4th December 1810 to Elizabeth Charlotte (Kennedy) Simpson, a daughter of James Raworth Kennedy, of Nettlestead, Kent, and widow of Captain Roger Simpson of Parramatta.^[6][7] They had a further five children.

• James Gordon Broughton (1811-1833)
• Frances Matilda (Broughton) Clayton (1814-1894)
• Emma Carne (Broughton) Garland (1815-1893)
• John Archer Broughton (1818-1878)
• Robert Kennedy Broughton (1820-1876)

William Broughton age 53, passed away on 28th July 1821 at Lachlan Vale, Appin, and was buried in St Luke's Church of England Cemetery, Liverpool. ^[8] Elizabeth remained at their farm, Lachlan Vale, Appin, and died on 20th December 1843. ^[9]

His grave in Liverpool Pioneer Memorial Park, Liverpool NSW is inscribed:

Sacred to the memory

of

Acting Assistant

Commissary-General

Broughton

Who departed this life

July 20th 1821,

Aged 53 years,

Having faithfully served 33 years

in the above department

in New South Wales.

OBITUARY Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Saturday 28 July 1821, page 4:^[10]

At Appin, on Sunday last, after a painful indispostion, WILLIAM BROUGHTON, Esquire, Acting Assistant Commissary General, and a Magistrate for the Terri-tory.—Mr. Broughton arrived in the Colony with the first fleet, under the auspices of His Excellency Governor PHILLIP, and had been employed under every subsequent Administration, in the Commissariat Department of this Territory and its Dependencies; in the various duties of which public responsibility he afforded general satisfaction. The funeral took place on Wednesday at Liverpool, and was attended by His EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR in CHIEF, and most of the Civil and Military Officers, and respectable Inhabitants of the Colony.

Research Notes

Unfortunately some family historians have implied that William Broughton had advance warning that Governor Macquarie who had not yet arrived at the colony, would act against couples engaged in illicit relationships, so William 'suggested' that Elizabeth leave with Betsy. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FOR THIS and there is NO evidence that he already had thoughts about marriage with his second wife, at the time that Elizabeth and Betsy set off on their doomed voyage.

Sources

1. ↑ Vivienne Parsons, 'Broughton, William (1768–1821)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/broughton-william-1831/text2105, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 4 October 2020.
2. ↑ "England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJD-BJ3J : 21 July 2017), William Broughton, 27 Nov 1768; citing Christening, Chatham, St Mary, Kent, England, Kent Archives Office, Maidstone; FHL microfilm 1,473,646.
3. ↑ see Parsons, Gillen
4. ↑ A record of their marriage has not been found. She is known as Elizabeth Heathorn/ Hartheern/ Heathern on the birth registrations of her children. In the 1805 muster the children have surname Glossip
5. ↑ Carol Baxter, Musters of New South Wales and Norfolk Island 1805-1806
6. ↑ http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx New South Wales Marriage Index #1139/1810 V18101139 3A BROUGHTON WILLIAM married SIMPSON ELIZABETH C (CB=St John's Church of England, Parramatta, NSW)
7. ↑ Ancestry.com: New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Marriages, 1790-1966 for William Broughton https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60735/images/44132_1831101454_0699-00174?pId=27847
8. ↑ Death: NSW, Australia BDM Index5167/1821 V18215167 2B BROUGHTON WILLIAM AGE 53
9. ↑ Death: NSW, Australia BDM Index 658/1843 V1843658 27B BROUGHTON ELIZABETH C AGE 63
10. ↑ 1821 'Family Notices', The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), 28 July, p. 4. , viewed 05 Oct 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2180384

• "Australian Royalty", [digital index],https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I66547/William-Broughton

• "The founders of Australia : a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet" by Gillen, Mollie, Sydney : Library of Australian History, 1989

See also:

• Colonial Secretary Index, 1788-1825, State records of New South Wales http://colsec.records.nsw.gov.au/b/F07c_bro-bry-04.htm#P1608_59398

• Makers of Australian History. (1912, February 2). The Tumut and Adelong Times (NSW : 1864 - 1867; 1899 - 1950), p. 2. Retrieved November 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139325278

• "Bellsite", [digital index], https://www.bellsite.id.au/gdbtree/HTMLFiles/HTMLFiles_116/P10521.html

• Descendants fighting in World War One: 1917 'Engaged In The Great Adventure.', Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), 20 June, p. 14. , viewed 05 Oct 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160387411