William Drydale -1st "Drysdale" in Australia arrived 1798 - convict ship Barwell

[Ronda231]

William Deydale [Drysdale] was convicted at Hants. Assizes, Hampshire, England on 01 March 1796 and sentenced for a term of 7 years.   

He was subsequently transported on the convict ship "Barwell" leaving Portsmouth on 7 November 1797 & arriving 18 May 1798 in Port Jackson [Sydney] New South Wales.   

William Deydale [Drysdale], was one of the 296 male convicts that were transported on the Barwell, nine convicts died on the voyage.

What happened to him after that remains a mystery.

Ref: Indents from Early Fleet Ships 1786-1799 NRS 1150

[Mowsehowse]

Hello Ronda,I assume you have combed all news coverage as far as possible?
Years ago at a museum in Melbourne we found a vast exhibition about transported "convicts".

Your Drydale ought to show up somewhere.I don't have any helpful info. Sorry.  
Good luck with him.

[Ronda231]

Thank you very much for your encouragment!

Best regards

[John Bell]

Try William DEYDALE...I think this may be your man.

[Ronda231]

Many thanks to Valerie Kehoe who contacted the National Library of Australia about this 'Drysdale' on my behalf. It seems as if this is a 'dead end' and either the chap died soon after arrival in Australia or he eventually returned to the UK.

Quote:
 
"Dear Valerie,

Thank you for contacting the National Library of Australia.

I understand that you are looking for information about a convict called William Deydale, who was transported on the ship ‘Barwell’ to NSW in 1798.

The NSW State Archives holds the records on convicts sent to NSW. I conducted a search of the ‘Convict Indents (digitised) Index 1788-1801 and could not locate anyone called Deydale at all. I did find a William Drydale who was transported on the “Barwell’ within the index, the name may have been transcribed incorrectly as you will see when you look at the digitised document. I was unable to find any further records for William Drydale/Deydale within the databases.

An additional search within the digitised newspapers and gazettes, available on Trove, also did not result in any notices or articles on William Drydale/Deydale.

I could not locate any death or marriage records on the NSW birth, death, and marriage registry website for William Drydale/Deydale.........".
Unquote

During my own research I came up with some further information on a number of other 'Drysdale Convicts' for the period up until about 1850 and this is summarised below:

Data from Australia Convict transportation databases & Find my past

1. Convict - William Drydale 1796 Hampshire - Barwell Indents from Early Fleet Ships 1786-1799
William Deydale, Convicted at Hants. Assizes for a term of 7 years on 01 March 1796.   
William Deydale, one of 311 convicts transported on the Barwell, September 1797. New South Wales.   

2. Convict - Robert Drysdale, Convicted at Glasgow Circuit Court of Justiciary for a term of 14 years on 23 April 1810.
Robert Drysdale, one of 299 convicts transported on the Admiral Gambier and Friends & Eolus, April 1811.  New South Wales.
Robert Drysdall — pardon year 1821 - Absolute Pardons 1791-1843

3. Convict - Robert Drysdale, Convicted at Glasgow Court of Justiciary for a term of 14 years on 26 April 1817.
Robert Drysdale, one of 300 convicts transported on the Lady Castlereagh, December 1817. Van Diemen's Land [and New South Wales].   
Robert Drysdale — 1817 Lady Castlereagh New South Wales
Robert Drydale [2] — 1829 Layton New South Wales

4. Convict - James Drysdale, Convicted at Middlesex Gaol, Delivery for a term of life on 25 October 1827.
James Drysdale, one of 185 convicts transported on the Countess of Harcourt, 29 April 1828.   New South Wales.
James Drysdale born 1809 shipped 1828 Countess of Harcourt New South Wales
James Drysdale - Pardon year - 1844, Countess of Harcourt - Recommendations for Conditional Pardons 1826-1856
James Drysdale [2] born 1768 shipped 1828 Borodino New South Wales

5. Convict - John Drysdale, Convicted at Stirling Court of Justiciary for a term of 14 years on 29 March 1830.
John Drysdale, one of 160 convicts transported on the Southworth, 23 June 1830.  Van Diemen's Land. [Tasmania]
John Drysdale - 1830 Southworth New South Wales
John Drysdale [2] — Castlereagh New South Wales

6. Convict - John Waugh Drysdale, convicted at Durham Assizes for a term of life on 29 July 1835.
John Waugh Drysdale, one of 320 convicts transported on the John Barry, 07 September 1835. New South Wales.
John Drysdale or Waugh - Recommendations for Conditional Pardons 1826-1856 (Nrs 1173)

7. Convict - George Drysdale, Convicted at Scotland. Perth Court of Justiciary for a term of 7 years on 01 May 1847.
George Drysdale, one of 300 convicts transported on the Cornwall, 28 February 1851. Van Diemen's Land.

Regards

[Ronda231]

Convict no 2 in the above list left a lasting legacy - see photo of church below

Robert Drysdale - the first Drysdale Convict to settle in Australia – a Life precis

1774 - Robert Drysdale was born on 28-9-1774 and baptised on 3-10-1774, his parents were Robert Drysdale, a Grieve [pit head supervisor] at Aikendean Coal Hill and Christian Tod - both of Carrington, Midlothian.

Robert, following in his father’s footsteps, became a miner and relocated to Old Monkland in Lanarkshire to work in the ironstone mines there, which were booming at that time.

In 1793 Robert married Janet Bell of Old Monkland and they had 3 children, Robert in 1794, James in 1796 and John in 1798 – subsequently, Robert became a grocer, James an iron miner and John a blacksmith.

It seems likely that Janet Bell died shortly thereafter, because Robert married again.

In 1799, he married Janet Taylor of Dollar at Old Monkland who, in 1800, gave birth to Janet Drysdale - subsequently Janet married John Nelson a Coal Miner from Carnwath.

Sometime thereafter, Robert decided to engage in some unknown criminal activity and this resulted in his appearance at the Glasgow circuit court in 1810 charged with theft aggravated by breach of trust, the jury found him guilty and the sentence passed on 23rd April 1810 was ‘transport to Australia for 14 years’.

The following year he was allocated to the convict ship Admiral Gambier which departed England on 12th May 1811, arriving at Port Jackson on 29 September 1811, the total length of the voyage was 140 days. The ship disembarked one hundred and ninety-seven male prisoners, including Robert Drysdale, at Port Jackson (Sydney) three having died en-route.

In 1812 he received a letter or parcel from home which was to to be collected from the GPO Sydney (announced in the Sydney Gazette).

The following records relating to Robert have been retrieved from the Australian Archives:

    • Convicts New South Wales. Male A-K - 1820 - Robert Drysdale destined for Van Diemans Land (Tasmania)
    • Robert Drysdale, stonemason, on 25-10-1821 was granted a conditional pardon
    • Robert Drysdale - New South Wales General Muster 1822 - self-employed Stonemason
    • Robert Drysdale - New South Wales General Muster in 1825 – by then Robert had gained ‘Freedom by Servitude’ and was employed by Geo. Cox in Bringelly.
    • Robert Drisdale age 54 - 1828 NSW census – was a Protestant and a stonemason to Geo. Cox, residing on his Wimbourne estate in Evan, NSW.
    • In the period 1836 – 1838 Robert was the stonemason contracted to build the new Anglican Church of St Thomas in Mulgoa.

Robert Drysdale died on 19 Sep 1846 and is buried in St. Thomas Church Cemetery, Mulgoa, Penrith City, New South Wales, Australiam he was about 72 years old when he died.

Source material supporting the above may be downloaded from the FamilySearch website for:

Robert Drysdale Male 28 September 1774 – 19 September 1846 • MGCB-ZRL

Regards

Photo by By Dave Rave - stood there, pressed the button - Previously published: nup, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85186985

St Thomas Church of England and Cemetery, St Thomas Road, Mulgoa

The site for this Gothic Revival, rural Anglican church was donated by Edward Cox in the 1830s, and the foundation stone laid in 1836. It was designed by James Chadley and Thomas Makinson, and built by Robert Drysdale. It was consecrated in 1838, and memorials in the cemetery date from the following year. A parsonage built nearby was demolished in the mid-1960s.

Reference: https://penrithcity.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=104358

[shume]

Reading about that voyage of the Bardwell we know that several convicts died on route. However I think the alphabetical indents were drawn up in 1822, well after the ship arrived..
So assuming he did arrive at Port Jackson, its likely that he stayed within NSW, lived and died there.
There seems to be no Ticket of Leave or pardons information that I can find.. 1797 plus 7 years = 1804 ish.
It is highly UNLIKELY he returned to England as he would not have the money and in all the years I have researched convicts only one returned to his village in England after 14 years.
Nothing on Findmypast or Family search.. you might need Parish church records for a death.

[Ronda231]

Hi Shume,

You make a valid point about William Drydale actually arriving and disembarking in NSW, so this is one step forward.
Point taken about the unlikeliness of a paid return as a Passenger, alternatively as a free man (after 1804) he could have signed on as a seaman aboard a departing ship, but I think it more likely he died in NSW in the early 1800s without leaving a paper record.

Thanks and best regards