Thomas Guy and Ellen Wainwright
(aka Thomas Gay, Thomas Gray, Esther Eccles, Hester Wainwright)
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I am still sifting through the copious amounts of data so please excuse the
vague and often haphazard details! As I verify each fact, I will make links to the documentary evidence Of all the owners of Atherfield, certainly Thomas Guy (born 1759?) is the most colorful! There was a Thomas Guy born 22 Dec 1765 at Little Rissington, Gloucestershire who may or may not be ours. Originally from Gloucester, Great Britain, as Thomas Gray was arrested as a highwayman and sentenced to death 14 June 1784. The sentence was later commuted to transportation for life to the colony of New South Wales. He had stolen 2 guineas in gold, 43 shillings in silver and a silver watch. Thomas was dispatched to Australia on the Matilda (third fleet) and was around 32 years of age when he arrived in Port Jackson in 1791.
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It appears Ellen used the name Esther Eccles, so I'm not sure where the name Wainwright came from. Hopefully obtaining copies of birth and death certificates might shed some light on the mystery. She gave birth to a daughter, Mary Ann, born 24 May 1789 at Port Jackson. Some have thought the father may have been a certain James Wilson. Mother and child travelled to Norfolk Island on the "Sirius". Ellen gave birth to Henry born 25 August 1791 on Norfolk Island. It appears he died young but I have no record of this yet. Mary Ann died 9 April 1792 on Norfolk Island. Ellen was working as a dry nurse by June 1794. Mary Ann #2 was born 14 January 1795 on Norfolk Island. Mary's father was probably Nathaniel Lucas who was living with Ellen on Norfolk Island. Ellen travelled with the 2 children to Port Jackson on 3 November 1795 on board the "Supply" to give evidence in a court case and then returned to Norfolk Island on 18 January 1796 on the
"Reliance". Sometime before 1800, Ellen began to co-habit with Thomas Guy and presented him with 3 daughters.
In September 1808 the "City of Edinburgh" carried 28 families from Norfolk Island to The Derwent River and "left them in a state of wretchedness, almost naked" as noted by William Bligh (Governer of NSW) in his diary. Thomas Guy and his family were one of these families. Thomas had left behind a 2 story house shingled and boarded 11' x 18' and 3 log outhouses valued at 40 pounds on Norfolk Island and was a second class settler. He abandoned 11.25 acres of cleared land and 6.75 acres of uncleared land. Sometime after his arrival in New Norfolk, he was "located" 32 acres of land on the Derwent River, which in a later survey was measured as 34 acres. A very nice lady at the land titles office explained that "located" was different to "granted", and only 14 acres of this land appears to have been officially "granted". The other 20 acres was "granted" to a Mr Edward Dumeresq. So a trip to the Archives Office and/or the State Library seems to be required if I'm going to finally sort this out! In the meantime, here is the orginal grant of 32 acres dated September 20th, 1813. 
Thomas sold the main part of the Atherfield land in 1831 and a smaller portion 2 years later was sold. We think the Guy house was on this second plot of land and that Atherfield was built around 1831 after he sold the land to Mrs Ann Bridger, of Bush Inn fame - see next story. Thomas Guy made an honest woman of Ellen when he married her on 24 May 1812. The marriage certificate shows the bride's name as Ellen Wynwright. Ellen was aged 42 and Thomas would have been 53 years. Ann Guy married David Watson Bush 4 September 1814. Although she was only 14 at the time, she gave her age as 18 on the marriage certificate. David was 20. Ann gave birth to a daughter 4 months later. The Bushes had 4 children: Margaret Bush 2 January 1815, baptism in February Mary Ann Bush 15 February 1817 died at 6 days on 21st and buried the next day John Bush 14 January 1818 David Watson Bush jnr 26 Dec 1832 to 1886? David Watson Bush jnr was buried 12 Jul 1886 aged 53, although the dates for David snr and jnr may be confused - more research needed!  Frances Guy married William Hobson (born 1798?) on 27 January 1820 and apparently had no shyness about declaring her age as 14. The Hobsons had 4 children
Elizabeth Guy married Wiliam Wheeler on 24 July 1826 and presented him with 6 children
It appears the family moved to Victoria some time after 1820. Elizabeth died 14 January 1866 Mary (Ann) Wain(w)right married Dennis McCarty 11 December 1811 when she was 16. David was another colorful character who was sentenced to 2 years for smuggling liquor but his claim to fame was that he built the first road in Van Diemen's Land from Hobart to New Norfolk. Dennis drowned in a boating accident on the 20 March 1820, some have said under suspicious circumstances. On 25 July 1820 Mary Ann married Lieutenant Thomas Allen Lascelles and according to one source, within 5 months had given birth to a daughter. I can find no record of this birth. On the marriage certificate Mary Ann is shown as Mary Ann Carty aged 25 - the groom was shown as aged 36. Thomas died 11 Feb 1859, Mary Ann died aged 70 on 1 February 1865. Her children are as follows:
Please note that year of birth has sometimes been calculated by working backwards from death and marriage certificates. Until I obtain actual birth certificates it is safer to assume that birth years could be more than 5 years out! 
Thomas Guy passed away 10 August 1842 aged 83, and Ellen alias Eleanor Gay died of natural causes at her home on 8 November 1839 aged 79 although according to my arithmetic she was 70 years old! *update - If Ellen really was 79 when she died, it would mean she was born sometime in 1760, which seems to rule out the Ellen Eccles born 2 July 1769 at St John's Preston Lancashire, unless she lied about her age to get married, maybe to someone called Wainwright? If she was 79 when she died, then she was 28 upon her arrival in Port Jackson and between 40 to 45 when she had her 3 children by Thomas Guy - not out of the realms of possibility but enough to raise doubts.... I believe the "9" was misread as a "0" when the gravestone was restored. This is certainly more consistant with the other information we have discovered... If Thomas was really 83 when he died, that gives us a date of birth of 1759, which means the Thomas Guy born 22 Dec 1765 at Little Rissington, Gloucestershire is not our man. So more research on this is needed. It will be interesting to see if there is more information on their death certificates. These are the records from the pioneers index which gives year of death for Ellen as 1840 instead of 1839. It is also interesting that Thomas is shown as Gay in the register, but Guy on the headstone, whereas Ellen is shown as Guy in the register but Gay on the headstone... And both headstones were erected by their daughter Ann Bush. It is possible that Ann could not read or write, which would explain the spelling errors that seem to have followed the Guy/Gay/Gray family throughout their lives.
This plaque was affixed by the Fellowship of First Fleeters in 1988 
This is the small chapel at the burial ground - I included this because I think it is such a lovely tranquil sort of place and this photo clearly shows how restful it is. I'd like to be buried here! |
