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BARTHOLOMEW REARDON AND FAMILY
Bartholomew Reardon Senior
was born at Winchester, Hampshire, England in 1724 and
was the son of Daniel and Mary Reardon, nee Harrington.
He worked as a shoemaker at Gosport near Portsmouth,
England. He married Katherine Wood on 20 July
1781 at Gosport. In view of his age, 57, at this wedding
it may not have been his first marriage. Katherine did
not accompany him to Australia.
Bartholomew Snr was convicted of stealing
a hair trunk and sentenced to seven years transportation
on the Scarborough, one of the ships of the First
Fleet. Two years later with the colony facing severe
food shortages, he was sent on the Sirius to
Norfolk Island where he met Hannah Rowney. They were
married in November 1791 and produced five children
between 1791 and 1799.
Bart Snr’s role on the Island was as a
servant to Captain Piper the Commandant of
Norfolk Island, for whom he managed a piggery. He was
also bell ringer, i.e. more like a town crier. He
became a free settler in 1790. Bart Snr died on Norfolk
Island on 1 May 1807 aged 83.
His grave site is unknown so the the
First Fleeters Plaque was placed on its own memorial
stone on the cemetery boundary in 1987.
Hannah Rowneywas
born in 1755 in London, England to John and Mary
Flinger. Hannah was charged with stealing a bible and
prayer book and sentenced to seven years
transportation. She came out to Australia on the
Lady Juliana, part of the Second Fleet. Her husband,
Patrick Rowney, escaped capture and remained in
England.
On arrival in Sydney she was shipped off
almost immediately to Norfolk Island in the ship
Surprize, arriving in 1791, 15 months after Bart
Snr. She left Norfolk Island on 9 November 1807,
arriving in Hobart twenty days later.
The seven-sided monument at St. David's
Park Hobart lists the passengers arriving from Norfolk
Island to Hobart on the Lady Nelson in September
1807 including Hannah and her daughter Frances
but not her other daughter, Ann. Her son Bart
Junior remained there until 1810. Son-in-law to be,
Thomas Williams, is shown in a different place. The
third side shows the dedication of the memorial by the
Very Reverend Kenneth N Reardon, Dean of Hobart, who was
also a descendant of Bart Snr and a Fellowship member
for several years.
On 20 September Hannah was given twenty
acres at Queensborough, elsewhere identified as Sandy
Bay and nowadays a very desirable part of Hobart. No
evidence has been uncovered as to what happened to it.
Her second marriage was to William Horne, another
convict, on 20 May 1809 and they farmed at Pittwater
near Hobart. She died on 4 November 1829 at St Georges
Pittwater above Sorell.
Bartholomew Reardon Junior
was born on 15 December 1791. He showed such
considerable aptitude for farming in his youth working
his father's land that Captain Piper asked him to stay
on Norfolk after his family left. Captain Piper went on
to accumulate considerable wealth and Sydney's exclusive
suburb, Point Piper, bears his name. Bart Jnr arrived in
Hobart in 1810. His talents led to his being granted
substantial land grants: 600 acres at Macquarie River,
23 acres at Green Hills and a one quarter share of 11
000 acres at Emu Point north-west of Campbell Town.
He married Elizabeth Nash, also
born on Norfolk Island, on 1 January 1812. She died in
Hobart in 1878. One of their nine children was named
Edward Lord Reardon after his father's friend and
benefactor Edward Lord. One hundred years later the
Hobart Mercury dated 19 January 1911 quoted Bart Jnr
as saying that his father had gained land grants through
the good offices of Lieutenant Governor Edward Lord.
Author Robert Hughes includes in
his book The Fatal Shore, page 227, the following
assessment of Edward Lord.
Edward Lord
(1781-1859) a Welsh marine officer who in 1803 built the
first private house in Hobart, was the most powerful man
in the early settlement next to Collins, and its largest
stock owner. An arrogant land-grabbing troublemaker, he
burned all the Government House papers when Collins died
in 1810 in order to cover his business tracks.
David Collins was the first Lieutenant
Governor of Tasmania and Edward Lord succeeded him for a
short but fateful period. Lord was seen as using and
abandoning his protégé as Bart Jnr's business was
failing. Bart Jnr quarrelled with his neighbour, he was
drinking to excess and he stole a cow worth three pounds
for which he was given seven years in gaol at Macquarie
Harbour.
During the Arthur Phillip Chapter tour of
Tasmania in 2018 I visited Port Arthur where a video
presentation of prominent Tasmanian criminals included
Bart Jnr. In a rather unusual conversation afterwards,
one of the staff told me that things such as the
questionable deals done by Lord and others were not
exactly as they had been portrayed. A particular mention
in the video was that Bart Jnr had dinner with Governor
Macquarie. Bart Jr. died on 1 January 1849.
Francis Reardon,
eldest daughter of Bart Snr, was born on 12 October
1794. She travelled to Hobart with her mother on the
Lady Nelson arriving on 29 November 1807. Shortly
after, on 8 August 1808, she married the convict,
Thomas Whellan Williams. She was still only 13! I
hold a copy of the Marriage Certificate which both
participants signed with a cross, meaning that they were
probably illiterate. My sister’s research revealed that
Thomas Williams had received a 14-year sentence but we
have yet to discover what his crime was to get double
the usual term. On the St. David's memorial in Hobart,
Williams is mentioned as a later arrival in 1808 –
perhaps Thomas and Frances had met before Hobart. It
was a bountiful union as the couple produced ten
children. Frances died on 3 September 1862, Thomas on 10
January 1853.
Ann Reardon
was the second eldest daughter of Bart
Snr and Hannah. Ann was born on 12 May 1796 and died on
Norfolk Island in 1807, aged 11, not long before her
mother and sister sailed for Hobart. Her fallen
headstone has an inscription reading: HERE LYETH THE
BODY OF REDON.
Steven and Daniel Reardon
were sons of Bart Senior: Steven was born in 1798 and
died on 8 May 1801. Daniel was born in 1799 and died on
11 January 1801. The two boys are buried in Norfolk
Island cemetery near their father, Bartholomew Senior.
Their graves share a unique headstone
with their names carved on. How very sad to lose both
young boys in such a short time.
My direct line to my First Fleeter is as
follows: Bartholomew Reardon/Frances Williams/ Richard
Williams/ Susannah Williams/ George Biggs/ Elsie
Biggs/Sydney Featherstone/ Jean Coulter/ Tony Coulter.
Compiled by Anthony Coulter, FFF member
#8100 - Editorial Assistance by Gillian Doyle was
greatly appreciated. 8/12/19
SOURCES
Family archives and Internet links:
https://www.geni.com/people/Bartholomew-Reardon-Convict-Scarborough-1788/6000000020186099801
http://hmssirius.com.au/bartholomew-reardon-convict-scarborough-1788/
https://firstfleetfellowship.org.au/convicts/bartholomew-reardon/
https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/reardon/bartholomew/130899
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