John Dell 1763 1866 Launceston Tasmania

JOHN DELL (1763 -1866)
Member of NSW Corps (renamed 102nd Regiment 1808)

John Dell at 100 years old, 5 November 1863 (photo: W. Paul Dowling, photographer, Launceston, Tasmania); source: artblatt.com, Joyce Evans collection
1763 Born 5 November 1763, Reading, Berkshire; Parents John Dell (1736-1817)and Elizabeth Moor (1742-1838).
1786 On 23 July 1786, joined the British Army, 4th Dragoons.
1789 Enlisted in the NSW Corps, 17 June 1789 (3 July 1789?) as a Drummer.
1790 Departed Portsmouth, England for NSW on the "Surprize" on 19 January 1790 as part of the Second Fleet and arrived at Sydney Cove 26 June 1790. It seems that his brother Matthew and mother Elizabeth were convicts (convicted Reading 24 April 1789 and sentenced to 7 years transportation) transported on the "Neptune" and "Lady Juliana" respectively, also part of the Second Fleet, which arrived at Sydney Cove on 28 and 6 June 1790 respectively.
It is also possible that John Dell travelled to Australia on the "Neptune" as he told James Smith that the Captain of one of the ships he travelled to Australia on was Donald Trail. Donald Trail was Captain of the Neptune on its 1790 voyage.
In addition, I believe that jenwilletts.com has misinterpreted the Phillips to Grenville despatch which clearly states that the 1790 detachment of the NSW Corps was divided between all 3 ships, and it did not only travel on the "Surprize". The following paragraph from the despatch is instructive in this regard: "Returns are enclosed of those officers and privates who have arrived on the Surprize, Scarborough and Neptune -----etc".
1791 Departed Sydney for Norfolk Island, March 1791 on the "Supply" (Master, David Blackburn), one of several trips he made to the island.
1794 Returned to Sydney from Norfolk Island on 6 November 1794 aboard the "Daedelus" in company with Mary Hounsett. John was a Private by this time being paid at the rate of one shilling a day.
1795 Married Mary Hounsett (in the name of Honslow) on 15 November 1795. Witnesses were Francis McGuin and Sarah Smith. Mary signed her name with an X. She was a convict, tried in the Old Bailey on 14 January 1789 of theft of twelve shillings and sentenced to death, with a recommendation for mercy, which resulted in seven years transportation. She departed from Portsmouth and arrived in Sydney on the 'Lady Juliana' on 6 June 1790.
1798 From 25 June 1798 to 24 June 1804 was a private in Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson's company of the NSW Corps (later the 102nd Regiment of Foot).
1798 John and Mary had two children: Elizabeth , born 16 November 1798 in Sydney; and;
1800 Joseph, born probably late April 1800 in Sydney (no registration).
1800 John's first wife, Mary died 2 May 1800 in Sydney possibly from child-birth complications.
1801 Some Family Trees for John Dell (1763-1866) on Ancestry.com.au and a NSW Corps web site attribute, without documentary evidence, a marriage to Elizabeth Robinson which resulted in three children (John William, b.1802; Joseph R, b.1804; and James, b.1807- d.1807). I do not believe this is so. My evidence for this is set out in a post script on page 11 below.*
1804 From 24 June 1804 to 24 June 1808 was a private in Captain Wilson's company of the NSW Corps. There is a comment "Det. (detached) Parramatta" against his name for each Pay Muster for the period from 25 October 1804 until 24 April 1806, indicating that prior to and subsequently he was located in Sydney, so could not have been present in Port Dalrymple with Colonel Patterson and involved with the founding of Launceston as has been claimed in some reports.
1805 John had a third child, George, born 4 June 1805, out of wedlock with the mother's name being recorded as Sarah and registered in Parramatta also indicating he was resident there at that time.
1805 George Dell was baptised on 14 July 1805 at St John's Church, Parramatta, NSW.
1806 Convict Muster 1806 notes Sarah Green (Convict, Ticket of Leave, arrived Sydney 14 December 1801 on the "Nile") living with J Dell, Sldr. Sarah Green was Committed for trial on 5 August 1799. She is described as 23 years old, 5ft 7, fresh complexion, brown hair and dark eyes and noted as having been born in Manchester. She was charged with stealing 2 silver spoons and wearing apparel in the house of Sam(?) Woodford with whom she lived as a servant. She was tried at the Old Bailey on 20 September 1799 and sentenced to 7 years transportation. She was committed to Tothill Fields prison in Westminster and delivered on board the "Nile" in June 1801. The "Nile" departed Spithead on 21 June for New South Wales and arrived at Sydney Cove on 14 December 1801.
1808 From October 1808 the NSW Corps was disbanded and became the 102nd Regiment of Foot following the decision to replace it with the 73rd regiment following the "Rum Rebellion".
1808 From 24 October 1808 until his discharge in Horsham, England on 25 March 1811 he is listed in the Pay Musters as being a private in Captain Henry Steel(e)'s Company of the NSW Corps (after Lachlan Macquarie's arrival in NSW in December 1808, it became the 102nd Regiment of Foot). The pay musters indicate that from April 1806 until he left for England in May 1810 he was stationed in Sydney.
1809 Married Sarah Ann Green on 3 August and 5 November 1809 at St Phillips Church Sydney. This second marriage may have been because Rev Henry Fulton was suspended from office by Major George Johnston, rebel leader of the NSW Corps placing the legality of the original marriage in doubt. John Dell and Sarah were among nine couples remarried. Apart from George born in 1805, John and Sarah had at least another four children. Ann was born in 1810 in Sydney or on board ship returning to England, Rebecca in 1812 in England, John in 1814 in England and Charles in 1819 in Launceston, Tasmania.
1810 John's fifth child Ann was born to Sarah in 1810, either in Sydney, NSW or on board ship returning to England (No registration found, birth year inferred from other records) .
1810 John Dell departed Sydney on 12 May 1810 for England, reputedly on the "Hindostan" as one of the party appointed to escort ex-Governor Bligh back to England, following the arrival in New South Wales of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his disbanding of the NSW Corps. It is not known whether Sarah and John's four children (Elizabeth, Joseph, George and Ann) travelled with him on the "Hindostan" or on the "Dromedary" or the "Porpoise" which departed the same day. From comments in his Obituary, which seem to be based on John Dell's earlier (probably mis-remembered) reminiscences, it is probable that he and his family travelled back to England on the "Dromedary" on which Colonel William Patterson died on 21 June 1810. Governor Bligh survived the trip and died in England on 7 December 1817.
1810 All three ships arrived in England (Spithead) on 25 October 1810.
1810 From late December 1810 for two months John was on long service leave from the Army.
1811 John was discharged from the Army at Horsham, West Sussex on 25 March 1811 after 24 years and 8 months service.
1812 John and Sarah were living in London in an area where Sarah had previously lived and Rebecca was born in this year (no birth registration or baptism record has been discovered and her birth year is inferred from other records).
1815 John Dell was made a pensioner of Chelsea Hospital on 15 April 1815 at a rate of 1 Shilling a day.
1816 Sarah gave birth to John (Jnr.) on 6 February 1816 and was baptised on 14 April 1816 at the Parish of St George, Middlesex, England
1817 John gained permission from Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, on 5 September 1817 for he and his family to return to New South Wales.
1818 John, Sarah and 5 children (Elizabeth remained in England) departed London for Sydney Cove, NSW, most probably on the "Neptune" which departed England on 20 December 1817 or on the "Lady Castlereagh" which departed England on 22 December 1817. I favour the "Neptune" because John Dell, in speaking to James Smith in early 1866 ( and who subsequently reported that conversation in "Recollections of a Centenarian" published in the Colonial Monthly No.4 of December 1867), referred to the captain of the ship he returned to Australia on as being commanded by Captain Donald Traill. Research has shown that Traill was, in fact, the Captain of the "Neptune" in 1790 when John Dell first came to New South Wales. His comment to Smith was that Trail withdrew as Captain of the "Neptune" in 1818 and handed over to his second officer. This does not seem likely as the "Neptune" that Traill captained was destroyed by explosion and fire at Cape Town in 1796, en route to India. The "Neptune" which undertook the 1818 voyage was a different ship, and the Captain of the vessel on that occasion was recorded as Robert Carns. This mention of Traill could be a confusion and indicate that John Dell travelled to New South Wales in 1790 on the "Neptune" or it could be that he was just spinning Smith a yarn.
1818 In May 1818 John, Sarah, Joseph, George, Rebecca, Ann and John Jnr., arrived in Sydney, probably (for the reasons outlined above) on the "Neptune" which arrived 5 May 1818 or, alternatively, on the "Lady Castlereagh" which arrived 30 April 1818.
1818 On 25 September 1818, Governor Macquarie gave permission for John, Sarah and family to become settlers at Port Dalrymple with a grant of 100 acres at Norfolk Plains (Longford). The grant was on the Lake River (now Macquarie River). He was also allocated a government man (convict) on government victuals for 6 months and a government cow on credit for 18 months to be paid for in money or wheat.
1818 On 26 September 1818. a notice was placed in the Sydney Gazette that John Dell, his wife and 5 children were proceeding to Van Diemen's Land by the Elizabeth Henrietta and asking for all claims to be presented for payment.
1818 John and family departed Sydney on 27 September 1818 (source: Lachlan Macquarie's 1818 journal) on the "Elizabeth Henrietta" and arrived at Port Dalrymple (George Town) on 11 October 1818 . John established himself as a government servant (constable in the Launceston police and town bailiff) and was given two more cows in payment for his service and allowed to purchase two more cows from government stock.
1819 On 27 February 1819 John and Sarah's last child Charles was born in Launceston and baptised on 6 December 1819 in St John's Church, Launceston, VDL.
1819 By mid-1819, John had 10 acres of his property sown to wheat and the remaining 90 acres sown to pasture. His stock had grown to 15 head of cattle and 80 head of sheep.
1819 On 15 October 1819, a census showed John and Sarah Dell along with Joseph, 17 yrs; George, 15 yrs; John, 4.5 yrs; Charles, 7 mths; Ann, 10 yrs and Rebecca, 7.5 yrs living at Port Dalrymple (which included Launceston).
1820 John was obviously active as a farmer during the year as he is recorded in Government Notices as supplying meat to the Commissariat. For example as being approved to supply 250 lbs on 12 February, 400 lbs on 4 May and 800 lbs on 2 November.
1821 On 11 March 1821, John's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Henry Hedington at the Parish of St John, Hackney, Middlesex, England.
1821 On 7 April 1821, a notice from the Commissariat Office in Hobart Town, dated 16 March 1821, was published in the Hobart Town Gazette showing " a List of Persons who have tendered supplies of wheat for the use of His Majesty's Stores and from whom the number of bushels will be received at the under-mentioned Stations on the Days set forth - At Port Dalrymple ..... John Dell 50 .... "
1821 On 6 October 1821 the Hobart Town Gazette published a statement of the Police Fund for the Quarter ending 30 June 1821 and it recorded (among other matters) that John Dell, acting under the Provost Marshall, was paid 5 Pounds "for rent of premises for confinement of Debtors at Launceston".
1826 A government notice dated April 2 1826, published in local newspapers noted the appointment, on 15 February 1826, of John Dell as a constable in Launceston.
1827 John's son, George, married Esther Knott on 10 December 1927 at the Church of St George in the East, Tower Hamlets, London. His sister Elizabeth and brother-in- law Henry Hedington were witnesses. Sometime between 15 October 1819 and his wedding, George returned to England. It may have been after 30 June 1823, as he is noted as having received a land grant of 60 acres adjoining the South Esk River on that date. He remained in England for the rest of his life, dying on 20 September 1873 in South Hackney, London. It is interesting to note that George is still listed as the owner of land Grant 1423 of 60 acres in the Launceston vicinity as late as February 1834.
1828 Court documents recovered during the demolition of the then Tasmanian Inn, dated 16, 19 and 23 January 1828 comprise three "Informations" signed by John Dell as District Constable relating to minor court proceedings.
1829 John's daughter Ann married James Anderson on 2 May 1829 in Launceston.
1830 John's daughter Rebecca married Joseph Thorne at the Parish of St John's on 2 August 1830 in Launceston
1830 On 1 November 1830 John Dell tendered his resignation from the position of District Constable for Launceston after serving 11 years as a constable according to his letter of resignation. He also sought a small pension also noting his 23 years service as a soldier in the British Army. John was aged 67 at this time.
1831 A Government Notice dated 19 January 1831, confirmed John's resignation as district constable at Launceston, appointing Mr John Storey as his replacement.
1831 Johns eldest son Joseph married Mary Brookwell Peat on 6 July 1831 in Launceston. *[Joseph is my line via his daughter Elizabeth.]
1833 In September 1833, John is noted as having assigned to him a convict. This was replicated in November 1835,December 1835,May 1836,July 1836 and in 1838 .
1834 In 1834 John built a brick and stone house in High Street Launceston at the cost of 500 Pounds. During the years up to 1847 John acquired blocks of land in Charles, York, Cameron and Brisbane Streets.
1836 John sold 320 acres about 2.5 miles east of Breadalbane to T B Bartley. John had been granted this further 320 acres in August 1830 on which he raised a mortgage and cleared prior to its sale.
1838 On 18 May 1838, Elizabeth Hedington, John's eldest daughter, her husband Henry and their 6 children (Mary Ann,15 yrs; George,14 yrs; Clarissa,11 yrs; Thomas,10 yrs; Elizabeth,3 yrs; and John, infant) arrived in Sydney on the "Orontes" as Assisted Immigrants.
1839 John's eldest daughter Elizabeth, her husband Henry Hedington and six children arrived in Launceston on 17 January 1839 having emigrated from England as free settlers.
1842 John's son, John Jnr, was married to Mary Ann West on 28 March 1842 at Longford.
1849 John's youngest child, Charles married Elizabeth Miller (nee Odger) on 28 September 1849 in Launceston.
1853 In October 1853, John was living in a 4-room cottage in upper Elizabeth Street, Launceston, that was advertised To Let with immediate possession available.
1854 John's son Charles died on 29 August 1854 in Launceston.
1855 A press report of a court case in July 1855 indicates that John and Sarah were living at Muddy Plains, near the Westbury Road. The case involved the robbery and assault of Sarah by a William Howell who was armed with a pistol.
1859 John's second son, John Jnr., died on 14 June 1859 in Launceston.
1860 John's wife Sarah Ann died on 20 July 1860 in Launceston at the home of her daughter Ann, by then married (no wedding details discovered) to William Brean.
1863 John Dell became Launceston's first Centenarian and was presented with an inscribed gold medallion to mark the occasion.
1866 John Dell died on Friday 2 March 1866 in Launceston at the home of his daughter Ann (Brean) at the age of 102 years.
1866 A few months before his death a Mr James Smith interviewed him about his life and subsequently published "Recollections of a Centenarian" in the Colonial Monthly of December 1867. I have transcribed the full article as a convenient reference and made it an Attachment (see below). Some of the material seems fanciful and some is wrong in fact, but of interest nevertheless. That which sheds light on his life story has been referred to at the appropriate stages above.
1866 On 3 March 1866, the Cornwall Chronicle published the following Obituary:
"DEATH OF MR.JOHN DELL.
It is with feelings of sincere regret that we record the death of Mr. John Dell, at the patriarchal age of 102 years and four months. He had been ailing but a very short time, and had the use of his faculties to the last hour of his life. He was reading as usual without the use of spectacles, and out of bed on Thursday night, but he breathed his last yesterday, at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. William Brean, of Brisbane- street, and his remains are to be interred on Monday. Mr. Dell was born at Reading, in Berkshire in 1763 and arrived in New South Wales with the 102nd Regiment of Foot (New South Wales Corps) in 1788, (1790) in the ship "Surprise", ("Neptune"?) the first of the fleet which brought convicts to Botany Bay, and he was present in Sydney during the whole(?) of the of the period of government of Governor Phillip, and at the arrest of Governor Bligh, who it will be remembered by those who have read the early history of New South Wales, was arrested by Colonel Johnson, the Colonel of the regiment in which Dell served, the 102nd. This corps was raised specially for service in New South Wales, and Mr Dell returned with it in 1808, and on board of the vessel in which Governor Bligh (It was Colonel Paterson, who travelled on "Dromedary", and died 21 June 1810 off Cape Horn) died on the passage to England. He was pensioned in 1815, and has been in a receipt of a pension for more than half a century. He arrived in this colony in 1818, and was for some time Chief (District) Constable of Launceston, but retired many years ago from office, to a large farm at Norfolk Plains. Mr. Dell was the owner of very valuable property in this colony, though he did not die wealthy. The Court House Square belonged to him at one time, and he fenced it in, but subsequently he returned it to the Government in exchange for a grant of six hundred and forty acres of land in the country. Mr. Dell was a temperate man but not a teetotaller. It is strange that throughout his eventful career, he never learned to smoke, but this may account for the steadiness of his nerves to the latest day of his long life. He had encountered great hardships in New South Wales, having been in the bush there for three days disabled by a spear wound inflicted by an aborigine. He was in a very exhausted state when discovered, but his iron constitution enabled him to rally, and he was soon in as sound a state of health as ever. For some years past his sight was keener and his hair of a darker colour than they had been twenty years previous. He was rather eccentric of late, but no one from his hale appearance would suppose him to be much above seventy years of age. His voice was a good strong firm bass without a quaver in it. Very few men have ever been blessed with such a long period of (un)interrupted sound health as Mr. Dell. He will be missed and his death be lamented by a wide circle of relatives and friends. "
1866 John Dell was buried at the Cypress Street Cemetery on Monday 5 March 1866 after a service at St John's Church of England, Launceston.

Anthony Robert Dell (4th Great Grandson)
Dynnyrne, Tasmania
9 September 2016

*Post script:

In Sydney, from 1791 to 12 May 1810, there were at least four different John Dells. The first, my 4th Great Grandfather, John Dell, a soldier in the NSW Corps, arrived in Sydney Cove in June 1790 on either the 'Surprize' or the 'Neptune'.

The second John Dell arrived as a convict, transported under the name of Dall, on 20 August 1791 on the 'Atlantic'. Dall was tried at the Justice Hall, Old Bailey, Middlesex, convicted on 9 September 1789 and sentenced to 7 years transportation.

A third John Dell (also a convict) is noted as arriving at Sydney Cove on 26 July 1799 on the 'Hillsborough'. This John Dell was tried at Middlesex in September 1796. He appears on the NSW Convict and Settler Lists for six years from 1816 to 1821 inclusive as John Dell (1816,17, 20 and 21) and John Dill (1818 and 1819) and then cannot be definitely identified .

A fourth John Dell was born in Sydney in 1802 to Elizabeth Robinson who, according to the 1806 Convict Muster, was living with a John Dell, probably the 1791 arrival on the 'Atlantic' for the reasons set out below. This fourth John Dell appears on the NSW General Muster 1822 noted as 'BC' (Born in the Colony) and as being a servant to E Loane, Sydney. He is noted again in the 1828 NSW Census as aged 26, 'BC', as being a stonecutter and living in Georges Lane, Phillips Street, Sydney.

In the NSW General Muster of 1806, Sarah Green (a convict who arrived in Sydney in December 1801 on the 'Nile') is noted as living with Jn Dell, Sldr; and Elizabeth Robinson (a convict who arrived in Sydney 30 April 1796 on the 'Indispensible') is noted as living with Jn Dell.

The only other John Dell documented in the 1806 General Muster is noted as having arrived on 'Atlantic', as self employed, his condition as FBCS (which I assume means 'free by completion of sentence/servitude'), and his occupation as sawyer. His trial proceedings in England do not give an occupation but the nature of his crime (stealing a panel saw and other woodworking tools) would tend to indicate that the John Dell in the 1806 Muster is in fact John Dall. He re-appears in the 1811 Muster as John Dall, also noted as having arrived on the 'Atlantic'. From then on does not appear in a way that can identify him, although it is likely (because he is not listed as either Dell or Dall on the 1816 Settler and Convict List) that he is the John Dell who died in Sydney on 2 March 1816 at the age of 49.

From 1802 to 1807, Elizabeth Robinson had 3 children whose father was a John Dell; John William Dell (10 March 1802), Joseph R Dell (22 August 1804) and James Dell (28 July 1807). Elizabeth and James both died in 1807. I believe, because of the information in the 1806 muster, that the father was the second John Dell, sawyer. I acknowledge that timing wise it is possible that John Dell, soldier, or John Dell, convict ex 'Hillsborough', could be the father but I believe the fact that John Dell, sawyer, is noted as living with Elizabeth Robinson in 1806 at the same time as John Dell, soldier, is noted as living with Sarah Green is persuasive.

On 15 February 1812 (while John Dell was in England, just having been discharged from the army), in Sydney, a John Dell was appointed a constable, from which position he resigned on 12 March 1813. I have not been able to determine whether this John Dell is ex 'Atlantic' or ex 'Hillsborough', but age would rule out John Dell born 1802 in Sydney.

The records show there was still a John Dell in New South Wales in 19 October 1831 when he received a land grant in the Parish of St Matthew, County of Cumberland, near Penrith, NSW and 29 May 1832 when a deed was despatched to him. From the available records it has not been possible to determine whether the John Dell receiving the grant was born in Sydney in 1802 or was ex 'Hillsborough' 1799.

In Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), during John Dell's residence (from 11 October 1818 until his death on 2 March 1866), in addition to his son John (1814-1859) and his son John 1849-1865), there two other John Dells during this period.

The fourth John Dell was a convict (number 534) who arrived on the 'Thames' in November 1829 having been tried and convicted in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire of stock stealing on 7 March 1829 and transported for 7 years. He was aged 22 and is listed as a farm labourer, ploughman, shepherd and gardener.

His sentence of transportation expired on 7 March 1836 and was notified in the Cornwall Chronicle of Saturday 12 March 1836.

This fourth John Dell came before the courts again in 1864 and, on 8 April, was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for sheep stealing. His Honor, Sir Valentine Fleming, in sentencing Dell was reported as saying that "... this was one of those cases which revealed almost an insanity in crime, for he had found that it was a precisely similar offence for which the prisoner had been originally transported. Since then he had been convicted of embezzlement and pig-stealing, and now he was again charged with sheep stealing. His Honor addressed the prisoner at considerable length, and sentenced him to imprisonment for four years."

A fifth John Dell, arrived in Tasmania on 27 April 1851 ex "Panama". He was aged 6 years and came with his mother and siblings, departing from Liverpool, his natal place Perth (presumably in Scotland).

Select Bibliography/ sources:

1. Ancestry.com, New South Wales and Tasmania Australia Convict Musters 1806 -1849, 2007 (database on line).

2. Ancestry.com, New South Wales Australia, Colonial Secretary's papers, 1788 - 1856, 2010 (database on line).

3. Australia, Death Index 1787-1985 [ancestry.com]

4. Australia, Marriage Index 1788-1950 [ancestry.com]

5. Bartlett, Anne M; "John Dell and the Founding of Launceston", Launceston Historical Society Occasional Papers, Volume 2, 1995, pp13-19.

6. Bethell, Llewellyn Slingsby; "The Story of Port Dalrymple: Life and Work in Northern Tasmania", Blubber Head Press, Hobart 1980.

7. Carne, Delma and Dell, Lillian; "John Dell 1763 - 1866 , A founding father of Launceston 1806", Self published by Delma Carne, Victoria 1987.

8. "Cornwall Chronicle", Launceston, Tasmania, 10 June 1865, 21 June 1865 and 3 March 1866.

9. Historical Records of Australia Vol.1, (ed) Frederick Watson, 1914

10. Macquarie, Lachlan, 1810 Journal [May] and 1818 Journal [September], from "Memoranda and Related Papers, 22 December1808 - 14July1823, Mitchell Library, Sydney.

11. Smith, James, "Recollections of a Centenarian" in the "The Colonial Monthly: an Australian Magazine", No. 4, December 1867, pp.252-257 [Vol 1 (new series) September 1865 to January 1868]. Sourced from Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office, Hobart

12. Tasmanian State Archives and Heritage Office, Names Index.

13. Various Tasmanian (Hobart and Launceston) newspapers sourced through www.nla.trove.gov.au

ATTACHMENT: Extract from the COLONAL MONTHLY, N0. 4, December 1867, pp. 252-257 [Vol. 1 (new series), September 1865 to January 1868]; Sourced from the Tasmanian Archives and Heritage office, Hobart, Tasmania

"RECOLLECTIONS OF A CENTENARIAN

About two years and a half ago (one year and nine months) the Launceston papers recorded the death of John Dell, who had been for half a century an out pensioner of Chelsea Hospital, and was, at the time of his decease, in the hundred and second year of his age (103rd). I made his acquaintance a few months before his departure to join the majority, and enjoyed a long conversa-tion with him, of which I took down the particulars on the same evening, immediately after parting with the veteran; and believing that the retrospect of so long and so chequered a life will possess some interest for the readers of the COLONIAL MONTHLY, I will transcribe the notes I then made, without embellishment, and in the same order in which I received the information he gave me. In person, Dell was rather below the middle hight (sic),with a well-shaped head, though rather narrow in the forehead, an aquiline nose, long white hair flowing over his shoulders, white moustache, and a full white beard; his head and face bearing a general resemblance to that of Rip Van Winkle, as represented by Mr. Jefferson, in the last act of the drama of that name. His eyesight was good; indeed, the last time I saw him he was stooping to pick up a pin on the footpath, but his hearing was slightly defective. He was very communicative; keenly enjoyed a joke; and was fond of imitating the voices of people he described. He remarked that visitors came to see him as though he was the Norfolk giant, "whom" he added, "I very well remember. The giant thought he should like to be a soldier; but, Lord bless you, he could hardly stand upon his pins!"
In the following narrative, there is a want of chronological sequence in many of the incidents detailed, because the old man's mind passed discursively from one to the other, back-wards and forwards, and I saw it was inexpedient to check the flow of his recollections by asking him to fix the precise date of the events which he remembered, whenever those dates were not spontaneously given.
He said he was born at Reading, on the 5th of November, 1763; and had been one of a family of twenty-four children. He remembered the excitement occasioned by the Gordon riots (June 1780); and the London coach bringing down the news of New- gate having been sacked and of the city having been fired; while the passengers had been obliged to decorate themselves with the colours of the No-Popery fanatics. He and another Reading lad were apprenticed to a veneer-cutter in London.
One day while he and his fellow-apprentice, who had been sent out upon an errand by their master, were staring "gawky-like" in at a shop-window in Fleet-street, and, in the plenitude of their admiration, were observing to each other that there was nothing like that in Reading, they were accosted by a respectably-dressed man, who had overheard their conversa-tion, and told them that his wife was also from Reading, and would so like to have an hour's chat with them about the dear old place. Would they go home with him and have some tea? They eagerly consented; and were conducted to a house in an obscure neighbourhood somewhere at the back of the Fleet prison. As soon as they entered, their host locked the door behind them; and this action, combined with the altered demeanour of the man, frightened the lads into the belief that they had been inveigled there to be murdered. They suffered no violence, however, and were reasonably well fed and lodged. They remained there some days, together with numerous other inmates who had been similarly kidnapped. Dell watched every opportunity to escape, and at length found a propitious moment. The front door was opened to admit a portly elderly gentleman, whom he described as resembling a clergy-man in appearance. Quick as thought, Dell ran butt at him with his head, "doubled him up," to use his own expression, rushed through the door, and flew bare-headed along the streets, crying out "murder! Murder!" to the astonishment of the people he met and passed. He reached his master's house in safety, and found him very uneasy at the lengthened absence of his apprentices, for which he was wholly unable to account. Dell was taken before the lord Mayor, who issued an order for the release of his companion in confinement. They had both fallen, it appeared, into the hands of a crimp; but this mode of recruiting the army and navy was so far connived at by the authorities, that no steps were taken to liberate the other un- fortunate detanus.
Subsequently Dell enlisted in the 102nd regiment of foot (NSW Corps) and came out to Australia in 1788 with Governor Phillips (sic)whom he described as an atrocious and ferocious ruffian, with a fine head set upon a most diminutive body. (John Dell arrived in New South Wales with the NSW Corps in June 1790 on either the "Surprize" or the "Neptune").As the vessel they sailed in dropped down the river Thames, she anchored for the night near a transport containing troops just returned from the revolted colonies of North America. Dell recognising an old acquaintance named Fitzpatrick on board the transport, obtained leave to go and bid him welcome and farewell. The sacrifice of human life both in the ship which conveyed Governor Phillips (sic) to New South Wales and in the settlement, by cruelty, disease, overwork, and insufficient food, Dell asserted to have been something frightful. He mentioned the story of a beautiful young girl who had been trans-ported for stealing a silver thimble, which had been marked and dropped into her workbox by the lady with whom she was living as a nursery governess; this lady having been jealous her husband's admiration for the girl, whose brother, Dell added was an officer in the Guards. While in the penal set-tlement, she happened to pick up a parcel containing some boots and other articles, which had been apparently stolen from the Government stores, and hastily abandoned by the thief. They were found in her possession, and she was tried for the offence. Governor Phillips (sic), addressing her, said, "Now, if you will speak the truth, on the honour of a gentleman, I will acquit you." She replied, "On the honour of a gentlewoman - as I am - I found the things as I said I did." "It is the old story!' brusquely rejoined the Governor. She was found guilty and condemned to be hanged. She died, protesting her innocence, and bitterly denouncing the broken faith of the Governor.
At one time, owing to contagious diseases, generated by too much work, too little food, insufficient clothing and miserable accommodation, the mortality in the hospital was so great, that the patients "died like rotten sheep." A deep pit was dug, in which the dead bodies were flung without coffins and without any religious ceremonial. The men entrusted with the duty of burying the deceased convicts were so brutalized by the employment, so callous to all feeling, and so sordid, that they stripped the corpses of their shirts in order to sell them for a plug of tobacco. While they were taking a fine linen shirt off the body of one man, who was understood to have come of respectable parentage, and who had been transported for forgery, the poor fellow, in whom some spark of life still lingered, feebly entreated to be carried back again. "What's the use?" was the coarse rejoinder of the amateur sextons. "You'll be brought back again to be buried tomorrow. You'll be dead enough then." He pleaded so hard, however, that he was taken back to the hospital,. where, thanks to a naturally robust constitution, and possibly also to the interest which his case inspired, he succeeded in pulling through. When Dell returned to England in 1810 (He arrived with his family at Spithead on 25 October 1810), he met this very man, whose sentence had then expired, in Holborn.. He took the soldier home to his mother, that the visitor might assure her that the ex- convict's report of the horrors of the penal settlement were in no wise exaggerated. Dell was treated with hospitable kindness, and he described in a few graphic touches, the kindly old lady sitting " with her hands clasped over one knee," listening to his story with a white, wondering face. I don't suppose the veteran had ever heard the names, much more read the narratives, of Thucydides, Defoe, and Manzoni; but his picture of the hideous scenes in that lazar-house were as vivid as anything in the writings of those authors, and made me feel how truthful their descriptions of the plague in Athens, London, and Milan, are.
While in Sydney, a comrade who had enlisted in the 102nd regiment, under an assumed name, and who was also a native of reading, made some offensive remark to the adjutant, who drew his sword and split his skull open. The wounded man was tried by court-martial, and two privates (who were shortly afterwards promoted to be petty officers) swore they saw the prisoner present a firelock at the adjutant. The poor fellow was found guilty of insubordination, and sentenced to be shot. When brought out for execution, and twelve men had been detailed to perform the judicial murder, the doomed man asked to be permitted to speak to the sergeant. Permission was granted, and it turned out that it was in order to obtain a few minutes' interview with Dell. With the colonel's leave, Dell went to him. The dying man said he had paid what few debts he had owed; and begged his old comrade and fellow- towns-man to receive and accept the pay due to him. "I have one last request to make," he added. "Whenever you go back to Reading, my mother and sister are sure to hear of it, and to make inquiries about me. Tell them you saw me die; but don't tell them the cause or manner of my death." When Dell did go home, almost the first people he saw, were the bereaved mother and sister, to whom the tidings he was per-mitted to communicate were a heavy and unexpected blow.
In 1792, Dell said, one of the sentinels on duty in Sydney told all his comrades what appeared to be a cock-and-a-bull story of his having seen the execution of the King of France in the moon, describing the event with an extraordinary minuteness of detail, just as an eye-witness might have done. He was taken before the governor and the Colonel, but persisted in his statement, repeating it with the utmost circumstantiality, and explaining how he had seen the king walking up to the guillotine with bare head and bare arms. The sentinel was generally set down as insane; but when, a year afterwards, the intelligence of the execution of Louis XVI reached New south Wales, the date of that event was found to coincide exactly with the date at which the sentinel alleged he had witnessed the strange spectacle in the moon!
Among the free settlers in New South Wales was a Louis Bourbon, who, it was understood, was a member of the royal family of France. He owned five thousand acres of land, together with stock, farming implements, etc. When the English and Irish faction fight (?) took place in Sydney (Most probably "Second Battle of Vinegar Hill", Castle Hill, 4 March 1805), a body of the rioters went out to the farm of M. Bourbon. He was a brave man, and would not comply with their demands. He was strung up to a tree, head downwards, and was left in that position for some time, from which he was fortunately rescued in time to save his life.
During Dell's absence, as he had never written home, most of his friends believed him dead, but his fond mother clung to the belief he was living, and regularly celebrated his birth-day. When he did return to England, after an absence of upward of 20 years (almost exactly 20 years), an elder brother, sixteen years his senior, chanced to return from sea at the same time, and their mother was, happily, alive to welcome them home.
Dell secured a passage from Australia for (from?) the Colonel (Johnston) who put Governor Bligh under arrest. He (Dell) was sentry at Government house in his time. He described Bligh as having been no less tyrannical and overbearing than Phillips (sic). Governors Hunter and King he characterised as good men. This led him to speak of Flinders, and of his first entrance into Port Phillip Heads. When the captain and his party left the vessel for the purpose of exploring the Bay, said Dell, they were absent so long that their return was despaired of, and it was concluded that they must have fallen in with hostile natives and been massacred. All preparations were made for setting sail next morning; but, about eleven o'clock at night, a cooey was heard, and the whole party returned in safety to the "Investigator," after determining the existence of what are now known as Corio and Hobson's Bays.
When Dell came out a second time to Australia ( most likely departing England on the "Neptune", 20 December 1817), it was on board a ship commanded by a man named Donald Trail (This is unlikely- but possible- Traill captained another "Neptune", part of the Second Fleet, arriving in Sydney in 1790. This "Neptune" was destroyed in Cape Town in 1796. Another "Neptune" departed London in 1817 Captained by Robert Carns and was, therefore, most likely the ship that brought John Dell and his family back to Australia). He had been instrumental in bringing three of his crew to justice for an alleged mutiny; and, as the custom then was, they were hung in chains opposite Blackwall. After the vessel had left the Pool, some perverse wind or evil current seemed to take the ship close to the scene of execution and to fix her there, immovable. The groans of the dying men were audible to all on board; and the fact was commented on by the crew in their own superstitious way. At length, the captain's mind became so oppressed with the horror of the spectacle, and with the sinister augury of the circumstance, that, alleging that business of importance unexpectedly called him back to London, he relinquished the command of the vessel to the second officer, quitted it abruptly and was never seen on board again.
Concerning his Tasmanian experiences, Dell spoke somewhat charily, and the only incident which I noted down was the following:- Two convicts escaped from Port Arthur and took to the bush. They were without provisions, and famish-ing. One of them, while his comrade slept, murdered him, cut him up, and fed upon his flesh. When apprehended by the detachment of soldiers which had been sent in pursuit of the fugitives, of which detachment Dell was one (This would not seem possible, as John Dell was never a soldier during his time in Tasmania. He was discharged from the Army at Horsham, West Sussex on 25 March 1811, was made a Chelsea pensioner by April 1815, and did not arrive in Tasmania until October 1818. The story he told James Smith seems to contain a confection of elements of the escape of Alexander Pearce from Macquarie Harbour and his subsequent capture. Pearce was hanged in June 1824, so John Dell, living in Launceston at the time would have knowledge of the incident), the cannibal was searched, and his pockets were found full of the dead man's flesh, which his murderer declared with savage glee was as sweet meat as he had ever fed upon. The capture had been affected in the northern part of the island, and while conveying the prisoner across to Hobart Town, the soldiers encamped for the night on the edge (as I understand) of the Salt Pan Plains. So exasperated were they with the cannibal, and so loathsome did his crime appear to be in their eyes, that they determined to take the law into their own hands. They dug a hole, thrust him into it head downwards, and buried him alive.
I give the foregoing reminiscences just as they were given to me; adding nothing and omitting nothing. I do not pretend to decide to what extent, if any, Dell unconsciously mixed up what he had heard or read or imagined, with what he had actually seen and known; but that he implicitly believed in the accuracy of every statement that he made, I am fully persuaded; and I very much regret that none of his neigh-bours in Launceston were at the pains - so far as I am aware - to collect from him the particulars of so many events con-nected with the history of these colonies, from the date of the first settlement of Sydney downward, of which this venerable pensioner had been an eye-witness. It was a strange sensa-tion to converse with a man who had arrived at years of maturity before the United States had thrown off their all-egiance to the mother country, and before the French Revolution had changed the history of the world. Ten years before meet-ing Dell, I had taken leave, on quitting England, of a nonage-narian friend, who had been formally introduced at court to Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, and had heard Mirabeau thundering in the tribune. through media like these we seem to touch the hands of people who are three generations removed from us, and we are thus brought in closer relations with the past than it is possible to establish by the mere study of books.
JAMES SMITH."