William Sly (1821 - 1874)

Born 1 Mar 1821 in Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Sophia (Westbrook) Sly — married 2 Apr 1844 in St Peter's Church of England, Richmond, Colony of New South Wales

Descendants

Died 4 Oct 1874 at age 53 in Richmond, Colony of New South Wales

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Biography

William Sly was a convict after the Third Fleet transported to New South Wales

William SLY, son of William SLY and Unknown UNKNOWN, was born about 1820 in Surrey, England, United Kingdom, died on 4 October 1874 at the Black Horse Hotel, Richmond, Colony of New South Wales ^{[1] [2]} at age 54, and was buried in St. Peter's Church of England Cemetery, Richmond, Colony of New South Wales.

• Convict details ~ 1836 ~ William was tried at the Southampton Assizes, Hampshire, England, he was sentenced to life, transportation, for stealing a horse. ^[3]

• Convict details ~ 5 May 1836 ~ William was transported from Portsmouth, Hampshire, England aboard the "Moffatt".

• Convict details ~ 31 August 1836 ~ William was transported to Port Jackson, Colony of N.S.W. aboard the "Moffatt".

• Convict details ~ 24 March 1848 ~ William was granted a Conditional Pardon.

William married Sophia WESTBROOK, daughter of James WESTBROOK and Elizabeth PHIPPS, on 2 April 1844 in Church of England, Richmond, Colony of New South Wales. ^[4]

Sophia was born on 11 February 1825 in Richmond (R.D.), Colony of New South Wales, died on 18 May 1900 in Richmond (R.D.), Colony of New South Wales at age 75, and was buried in St. Peter's Church of England Cemetery, Richmond, Colony of New South Wales.

William was born in 1821. He passed away in 1874. ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, 1788-1991
   Death: Name, Reg. Number/Year, Father's Name, Mother's Name, District
   SLY WILLIAM - 7616/1874 - WILLIAM / DIED RICHMOND - RICHMOND.
2. ↑ The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW) Fri, 9 Oct, 1874, Page 1
   DEATHS.
   SLY.—October 4, at the Black Horse Hotel, Richmond, William Sly, aged 54 years, leaving a disconsolate widow and 10 children to mourn the loss of a good husband and affectionate father. He was universally respected and deeply regretted by his kind friend, in whose service he had lived so long as a good and faithful servant 38 years.
3. ↑ Convict Records of Australia
   William Sly, one of 399 convicts transported on the Moffatt, 05 May 1836
   Name: William Sly - Aliases: none - Gender: m - Date of Birth: 1818 - Occupation: Stable boy - Date of Death: 4th October, 1874 - Age: 56 years - Sentenced to Life - Crime: Stealing a horse - Convicted at: Southampton Assizes - Sentence term: Life - Ship: Moffatt - Departure date: 5th May, 1836 - Arrival date: 31st August, 1836 - Place of arrival New South Wales - Passenger manifest Travelled with 403 other convicts
   
   Assigned to work as assistant Hotel manager to a Mrs Seymour at the Black Horse Hotel, corner of Bosworth and Windsor streets Richmond
   
   Sick List of the Moffatt 1836:
   William Sly, Convict; disease or hurt, cynanche tonsil. Put on sick list, 1 June 1836. Discharged, 3 June 1836.
   
   1844: TOL Windsor
   
   2/4/1844: Married Sophia Westbrook (1825-1900) (see below) – they had 13 children.
   
   1/5/1849: CP
   The following extracts are taken from: Hawkesbury heritage & happenings
   
   Richmond’s Black Horse Inn
   
   During the early days, the colony was teeming with hotels that provided meals, drinks and sometimes accommodation for travellers.
   
   Located in Richmond, the first license was issued 15 Feb 1819 to Paul Randall and recorded in theColonial Secretary’s Papers, 1788-1825 and issued for the ‘Black Horse Prince.’ In later years it became known as the ‘Black Horse.’ A copy of the exact certificate was transcribed in the Windsor & Richmond Gazette in 1919.
   
   Paul Randall was a convict who arrived in NSW in 1791 on board the “Admiral Barrington” Back in England, his brother William was involved in a robbery while his wife Mary was also implicated. Mary arrived on the “Bellona” in 1793. It appears their daughter Margaret (born in 1799) took over the operation of the Black Horse in the late 1820s leading the hotel into its heyday. Margaret had married in 1820 to Dr Henry Seymour, a convict who arrived in 1817. Following the death of her parents, Mary (1832) and Paul (1834) Margaret inherited the inn. Her parents are both buried at St. Peter’s, Richmond. It was during the 1830s that Margaret had constructed, in Windsor Street, a more established two-story building. It is thought that the original single-storey residence remained adjoining the new structure and certainly surviving photographs correspond with this theory. Margaret ran the Black Horse for forty years.
   
   As Henry and Margaret did not have any children they adopted Sophia Westbrook who was a daughter of James Westbrook and Eliza Phipps. Sophia married in Richmond in 1844, William Sly a convict who had arrived on the “Moffatt” in 1836. She inherited the Black Horse from the Seymour’s and the Sly’s operated it for many years. Sophia died in 1900 and son William became the licensee. Over the next twenty years or so, William Sly Jnr leased the hotel to a number of individuals including Sportsman O’Keefe who was a champion cross country rider. In the late 1920s the license was transferred to a newly established hotel at Kurrajong Heights. In the early 1930s the old inn site on the corner of Windsor and Bosworth Streets, was purchased Mr Grimwood and operated as a garage for many years.
   
   4/10/1874: William died and was buried at St Peters Church, Richmond, NSW. William Sly worked as a groom and was later the outdoor manager of the Black Horse Inn, Richmond. nsw. He worked for Margaret Seymour and later married Sophie Westbrook. They went on to own and manage the Black Horse until his death in 1874.
4. ↑ NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, 1788-1971
   Marriage: Registration Number/Year, Groom's name, Bride's name, District
   1226/1844 V18441226 158 - SLY WILLIAM / WESTBROOK SOPHIA - CE (Church of England, Richmond)
   328/1844 V1844328 29 - SLY WILLIAM / WESTBROOK SOPHIA - CE (Church of England, Richmond).
5. ↑ Unsourced family tree handed down to Kristy (Sly) Baxter.