RICHARD RUSH - Webgirl.co.nz

RICHARD RUSH 

1799-1846 

We know from the first two editions of “A Humble Beginning” that 

Richard Rush was born on 20 th February 1799 in a village 

called Orsett, in Essex, England. He married Maria Steel on 

the 5 th of October 1819. We also know that Maria died on 22 nd April 

1827, either during or shortly after the birth of John George. 

Little else was known about Richard Rush prior to his arrival in the Hutt 

until early in 1842 when he married the recently widowed Cecilia 

Rodgers. 

Convicted 

However, we have now discovered that Richard Rush was in fact a 

convict who was tried and sentenced at the January 1832 Quarter 

Sessions i in Chelmsford (just north of Aveley) for Larceny, the offence 

being “pig stealing”. Richard’s occupation (trade or calling) on his 

Convict Transcript states “ploughs, reaps, milks, sows”, which means he 

was probably an agricultural labourer living on a landowner’s property, 

and working on the farm. 

Conditions in England 

In an effort to understand why Richard was forced to turn to crime to 

feed his family, we read the recently published book “The Immigrants” ii , 

where the author states that large numbers of the rural poor were forced 

to live at starvation level. William Cobbett, who quartered the 

countryside on horseback in the 1820s, wrote: 

“The labourers seem miserably poor. Their dwellings are little better 

than pigbeds and their looks indicate that their food is not nearly equal 

to that of a pig. Their wretched hovels are stuck upon little bits of 

ground on the roadside… In my whole life I never saw human 

wretchedness to equal this …” 

Essex was a fertile farming area on the north bank of the Thames River, 

north east of London, with a population in 1821 of 289,424. But by the 

1830s, desperate and hungry people were finding extralegal means of 

eking out their existences. Rural crime rates were linked to the 

relationship between wages and good harvests, and in 1829, Sir Robert 

Peel established England’s first police force in effort to stem the rising 

tide of crime and violence. It was also the period during which 

transportation for criminal offences was greatly extended, and by 1831, 

34% of those convicted at assizes were being sentenced to 

transportation. Most of the crimes committed at that time were crimes 

Richard Rush 1799-1846 update 

Prepared by Dale Hartle 

1 August 2001

against property. In towns and in metropolitan London theft, fraud and 

picking pockets were favourites; in the countryside, it was more likely to 

be poaching. 

The failed harvests of 1829 and 1830 and poor weather during the 

autumn of that year saw spontaneous and widespread rural protests, 

with the consequent government stamp-down with new laws, a police 

force, and harsher penalties. 

Quarter Sessions 

So it is against this background of poverty that Richard Rush found 

himself before the Court of Quarter Sessions (January) accused of 

stealing. 

His criminal record shows that he was actually accused of stealing 3 

sows valued at £3.15s, 3 pigs valued at £3.15s from William Squire of 

Little Burstead, and a John Woodward of Laingdon accused him of 

stealing 3 quarts of white wheat and nine sacks. The date of the crime 

was “the 7 th day of September in the 2 nd year of William IV”. 

He was found guilty, and convicted along with another person called 

William Wood. 

The transcript of Richard’s conviction shows the penalty he was given: 

“Richard Rush being now convicted of Larceny and ordered and 

adjudged by this court pursuant to the Sta tute in that was made and 

provided to be transported beyond the seas for one term of seven years 

to such place as His Majesty with the advice of his Privy Council shall 

think fit to declare and appoint.” 

From a study of the actual records of that period, common offences and 

convictions were housebreaking, stealing money and clothes, stealing a 

donkey, highway robbery, picking pockets, false pretences, and robbing 

master – Life; stealing bees, axes, boots, purses – 14 years; stealing pigs, 

fowls, a brass boiler, a great coat, a watch, a handkerchief, a glass – 7 

years. 

Transported 

Once convicted, people were held in local prisons or prison hulks until 

space was found on the transportation ships leaving for New South 

Wales iii . Richard was held at Chelmsford Prison, and was finally placed 

on the ship “Planter” which left Portsmouth on 16 June 1832. On board 

were 200 male and 200 female convicts. 

Transported convicts were handed over to the master of a ship at the 

beginning of the voyage and formally transferred into the custody of the 



2 August 2001

Governor of the colony who was receiving them. Indents, or Indentures, 

were the documents used to record the transaction on arrival. iv 

Life on board 

Conditions on board the convict ships were grim. Convicts were housed 

below decks on the prison deck and often further confined behind bars. 

In many cases they were restrained in chains and were only allowed on 

deck for fresh air and exercise. Living conditions were cramped and they 

slept on hammocks. Very little information seems to be available about 

the layout of the convict ships, but a few books do contain artists’ 

impressions and reproductions of images held in library collections. 

Although the convicts of the early transportation ships arrived in 

relatively good condition, the same cannot be said for those that 

followed. Cruel masters, harsh discipline and scurvy, dysentery and 

typhoid resulted in a huge loss of life. 

After the English authorities began to review the system in 1801, the 

ships were despatched twice a year, at the end of May and the beginning 

of September, to avoid the dangerous winters of the southern 

hemisphere. Surgeons employed by the early contractors had to obey to 

the master of the ship, but on later voyages were replaced by 

independent Surgeon Superintendents whose sole responsibility was for 

the well being of the convicts. As time went on, successful procedures 

were developed and the surgeons were supplied with explicit 

instructions as to how life on board was to be organised. By then the 

charterers were also paid a bonus to land the prisoners safe and sound 

at the end of the voyage. 

The “Planter” which carried Richard Rush and his fellow convicts from 

England to Australia, probably stopped off at Gibraltar before passing 

through the doldrums, down to Cape Town in South Africa, and then 

dropping into the Southern Ocean to face the perils of the ‘roaring 

forties’ to get the benefit of the prevailing winds, often encountering 

icebergs and gales, resting at any one of the South Australian penal 

settlements of Adelaide and Port Phillip in Melbourne, before arriving in 

Botany Bay 121 days later on 15 October 1832, having covered a 

distance of around 12,000 nautical miles. 



3 August 2001

Details about all convicts were carefully recorded, right down to the 

colour of their eyes and hair, and distinguishing marks. 

Transcript of 

List of Male Convicts by the ship Planter, 

Robert Laurence Fraser, Master 

Standing No of Convict 32-2087 

Indent No 13 

Name 

Richard Rush 

Age 31 

Reads 

None 

Writes 

None 

Religion 

Protestant 

Status 

Married 

Children – males 3 

Children – females 1 

Native Place 

Essex 

Trade or Calling 

Ploughs, reaps, milks, sows 

Offence 

Pig stealing 

Tried 

Essex Quarter Session 

When 3 January 1832 

Sentence 

7 years 

Former conviction 

None 

Height feet 5 

In 

2 ½ 

Complexion 

Brown 

Colour of hair 

Brown 

Colour of eyes 

Blue 

Particular marks or scars Small mark of a burn on lower left 

arm, dimple in chin, two small 

moles near left side of nose 

You will note from this record that he was quite short, with brown hair 

and blue eyes, and had 4 children. This is a surprise, because up until 

now we only ever knew about John George Rush, whom we assumed 

was the only child born in 1827. 

Richard’s other children 

Now we discover there were three other children, and efforts v to trace 

them have recently been undertaken. vi We now know the names and 

dates of birth of the other three children listed in his criminal records: 

• Richard Rush, born 29 November 1820 in Dunton 

• William Rush, born 7 April 1822 in Dunton 

• Maria Rush, born 26 October 1823 in Dunton 

No birth records for John George Rush have yet been discovered. 



4 August 2001

There was also a child called Sarah, whose mother was listed as Maria 

Steel, born on 14 May 1819, but no father was named in the birth 

records. However, a Sarah Rush aged 18 years married Sam Higgins in 

Dunton on 7 August 1837, and the father was listed as a John Rush 

(Richard’s brother perhaps). Richard was in Australia at the time, so 

perhaps the name was invented! Richard married Maria on 5 October 

1819, who presumably had 5 month old Sarah. Since Sarah was not 

Richard’s natural daughter, she is not listed among the 4 children on his 

criminal records. Also, the 1841 Census records list an Aaron Rush 

aged 4 years in Langdon Hills. Who were his parents 

The Hunter Valley 

On arrival in Botany Bay, Richard Rush was assigned to a Hunter Valley 

landowner Andrew Loder (or Leoder) who farmed in a district known as 

Patrick’s Plains near Singleton. Other convicts were also assigned to Mr 

Loder from the Planter. vii 

Information from Family History Society Singleton Inc viii , received in 

November 2000 states that the area was originally called St Patrick’s 

Plains being discovered on 15 th March 1820, two days before St Patrick’s 

Day. The word Saint was dropped about 20 years later. The first 

District Council was Patrick’s Plains and the Electoral Rolls show the 

area as Patrick’s Plains until the 1980s when the name was changed to 

Singleton. Singleton ix had been a town since 1836 in the District of 

Patrick’s Plains. 

The 1836/7 Muster x records Richard Rush as being at Andrew Loder’s 

property Mt Pleasant, Patrick’s Plains, being 100 acres, portion 45, 

parish of Whittingham, Co. Northumberland. Loder was a member of 

the area’s discovery party. 

In an Extract from “Singleton – Municipality and Shire 125 years on”, 

1866-1991 the discovery of the Singleton district is described: 

“The earliest journey to the north from the Hawkesbury of which any 

record is available was that conducted by William Parr in October- 

November 1817. Parr, a mineralogist in the employ of the 

Government, was accompanied on the trip by four men, one of whom 

was Benjamin Singleton. They travelled generally north-west and 

reached a small stream (probably the headwaters of Doyle’s Creek) 

before the shortage of rations and bushfires forced them to return. 

Benjamin Singleton, profiting from what he had learned with Parr, 

made the next trip in April 1818, accompanied by three men and a 

native. 

On the twelfth day they “fell in with upwards of 200 natives who had 

never seen a white man before”. They told Singleton he was within 

two days of a big river and good land to the north-east, but the party 



5 August 2001

eturned without proceeding further for they feared betrayal by the 

blacks. 

On 24 th October 1819, John Howe set out on the first of his trips. He 

was accompanied by George Loder, John Milward, three convicts and 

a native who succeeded in reaching the Hunter River about four 

miles west or seven miles upstream from the present township of 

Jerry’s Plains. As they were running short of supplies they decided to 

return to Windsor. 

It was on the 5 th March 1820 that John Howe set out on his second 

expedition that was to lead to the discovery of St Patrick’s Plains. His 

party this time was larger, consisting of George Loder Jnr, Benjamin 

Singleton, Daniel Philips, Andrew Loder, Thomas Dargin Jnr, Philip 

Thorley (all free) and Jeremiah Butler (ticket of leave), Nicholas 

Connelly, Samuel Marshall, Frederick Rhodes, James House, Robert 

Bridle (convicts), Myles and Mullaboy (natives). The explorers this 

time bore further to the east and on 15 th March reached the Hunter 

River in the vicinity of Whittingham, after crossing an extensive plain 

which Howe named “St Patrick’s Plains”. They made their way slowly 

downstream arriving at Wallis Plains on 21 st March. 

During the years 1821 to 1825, 283 land grants were made along the 

Hunter Valley, totalling 369,351 acres. By 1828 the agricultural life 

of the colony was centred on the Hunter. For the work in discovering 

the route to the area, Howe and all free men in his party received 

grants. Grants were apparently given with great freedom and people 

of all types appear in the lists. They were the true pioneers who took 

up their land and set about carving out a home in the new region; 

there were the professional and prominent men from the capital who 

treated this as a business and sent their workmen to set up a new 

station, and there were those who sold their grants as soon as 

possible, often to neighbours without ever seeing them.” 

A message posted to the Hunter Valley Genealogy list on the internet 

seeking information about Richard Rush received several responses. 

Greg Ball from Queensland replied: 

“I can give a couple of clues about the Patrick’s Plains area of the 

1830-1850 period. My father was born there and he said that his 

father spoke of very dense timber in some parts, however there were 

some good sized areas near the river which had little or no timber. 

This is borne out by the fact that Ben Singleton advertised in the 

Sydney press that he would shepherd livestock on Patrick’s Plains for 

a fee. Singleton, who founded the town of the same name, ploughed 

a furrow from his inn (The Barley Mow) to the first school in 

Whittingham, so that the children would not become lost in the thick 

timber. This was a distance of two miles or more. The Hunter river 

had very little sand in it in the early days – it had a gravel bottom, 



6 August 2001

and when John Howe reached it in 1820/1 near the junction of 

Doyles Creek, he caught a fine fish for lunch. It is now all sand.” 

A further email from Greg Ball explains how Richard Rush may have 

ended up there, given his occupation in his conviction records: 

“Patrick’s Plains, aka Patrick Plains, was an ill-defined area of the 

mid-Hunter River in NSW. Both of the above names are used by the 

Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages for NSW, however the name 

ceased to used from about 1900 onwards, except for the local 

government shire of Patrick’s Plains. Even this was abandoned some 

20-30 years ago. It is now Singleton Shire. There would have been 

only isolated settlements in the area in the 1830-1840 period and 

Richard Rush would have been allocated to work for one of the 

settlers - perhaps as a shepherd or agricultural worker,” 

A response from Faye Sheridan in Sydney said: 

“I had a look today at the library and the Patrick’s Plains area was 

the Singleton area of NSW. If you look on the website of the Singleton 

Family History Society it is very informative about the area. They 

publish a Patricks Plains Gazette and the website features articles 

from it. 

The internet address is www.xroyvision.com.au 

/singleton/sfhspage.html. They also perform family history searches 

for a small fee.” 

A research request to the Singleton Family History Society revealed the 

information about Patrick’s Plains previously mentioned, including a 

map of the area where Loder’s farm was located shown on the next page. 



7 August 2001

Living conditions in the area in the 1830s were hazardous and 

challenging, and the settlers’ lives were beset with many hardships – 

floods, droughts, and bushfires. There were the difficulties arising out of 

distance – distance from authority, distance from markets and from 

medical aid. Combined with bad roads were tracks and trails that had 

to be blazed, and the fear and insecurity arising out of the presence of 

sometimes hostile natives, and sometimes friendly bush-rangers. By the 

end of the 1830s the population of the area was just over 2,500 

consisting of a large number of convicts, and government employees. 

Apart from a church, hotel, school, and a mill, the town of Singleton did 

not really become established until the 1840s. xi 

Three methods of house construction were used in the early settlements: 

wattle and daub, timber slab and brick nog, using timber and clay 

available in the area, with an earthen floor. Richard Rush and the other 

convicts would have been put to work constructing these dwellings 

before setting up the farm. In fact, the Loder farmhouse “Abbey Green”, 

situated 5 kilometres south of Singleton, was not built until 1861 by 

Andrew Loder’s grandson George Thomas Loder III, and it still exists 



8 August 2001

today, although it cannot be seen from the road. Apparently the Loders 

treated their convicts well, and were enormously successful in raising 

merino sheep and Hereford and polled angus cattle. In 1868 the family 

began a meat preserving works complete with cannery. In 1851 George 

Loder acquired his grandfather’s original property and bought an 

adjoining 4000 acres, and the family’s last tie with the property was 

severed more than 30 years ago when descendants Mr and Mrs Duncan 

Hedley retired and finally sold the land. xii 

Ticket of Leave 

The record of a convict’s arrival in the Colony is called a convict indent. 

On arrival, the first major event in a convict’s career was assignment, 

with males often being assigned as labourers to private settlers. After 

several years of satisfactory service, convicts were entitled to apply for a 

Ticket of Leave (a form of parole) and with continued good behaviour 

they would eventually obtain a Certificate of Freedom or Pardon. xiii 

Richard Rush’s Ticket of Leave details are shown below: xiv 

Transcript of 

TICKET OF LEAVE 

No 36/1978 dated 26 December 1836 

Prisoner’s No 32/2087 

Name 

Richard Rush 

Ship 

Planter 

Master 

Fraser 

Year 1832 

Native Place 

Essex 

Trade or calling 

Ploughs, reaps, milks, sows 

Offence 

… 

Place of Trial 

Essex QS 

Date of Trial 3 Jan 1832 

Sentence 

Seven years 

Year of Birth 1799 

Height 

Five feet 3½ inches 

Complexion 

Sallow 

Hair 

Light Brown 

Eyes 

Blue 

Allowed to remain in the District of Patricks Plains 

On recommendation of Patricks Plains Bench 

Dated August 1836 

Notice the discrepancies in height and complexion between this 

document and the Transcript. 



9 August 2001

Censuses and Musters 

Information on an internet site xv about the background of Censuses and 

Musters reveals that New South Wales was the initial Australian colony, 

formed in 1788 as a place to send convicts, after the scope to send them 

to North America had ceased. Transportation to “the east coast of New 

South Wales or some one or other of the adjacent islands” was a fairly 

common sentence, for what we would today regard as fairly trivial 

offences. 

Because of the need to keep track of the convicts, who were usually 

assigned to work gangs or as servants to farmers or other settlers, from 

1795 the convict population was “mustered” annually, physically 

counted and various other details updated. The accuracy of these 

various musters was acknowledged as variable, at the time. 

The soldiers, officials, free settlers and their families were generally 

recorded at the same time. 

The NSW State Records xvi website records that: 

“at various times, the Government of the Colony conducted a census 

or muster of the inhabitants of the colony. These may have been for 

a specific purpose such as assessing landholdings or as a general 

‘head count’ of the population. These muster and census records can 

contain valuable information concerning a convict’s residence, 

employment and family circumstances.” 

The “General Return of Convicts in New South Wales, 1837” indicates a 

date of 31 December 1837. However, unlike earlier musters, it is not the 

product of mustering people at various places over a month or so. It is a 

wholly clerical reconstruction, based on the 1836 census (which does 

not survive), updated for new arrivals through 1837. Ages appear to be 

those of 1836. Some other updating has taken place, however, most 

thoroughly for initial letters A-G, and particularly to update the names of 

assigned masters through 1837, with some updating for 1838 or even 

1839. Entries with initial letters K, X and Z have not survived. The 

volumes were forwarded to London in December 1839. 

The details shown are: Name, Age, Ship of Arrival, Year Arrived, Where 

Tried, Master’s Name (to whom convict assigned), District, Remarks 

(generally current convict status – ticket of leave etc). 

There are two entries in the “General Return of Convicts in NSW 1837” 

for Richard Rush, the first one being our ancestor, who is recorded as 

being at Patrick’s Plains in 1837: 

Convicts Names Age Ship Year Master District Page 

22149 Rush Richard 38 Planter 1832 Leoder A Patricks Plains34 

22148 Rush Richard 18 Charles Kerr 1837 Collier Captain Petersham 7 



10 August 2001

Certificate of Freedom 

A Certificate of Freedom was a document stating that a convict’s 

sentence had been served, and was usually given to convicts with a 7 or 

14 year sentence. Convicts with a life sentence could receive a Pardon, 

but not a Certificate of Freedom. The Certificate of Freedom number 

was sometimes annotated on the indent or noted on a Ticket of Leave 

Butt. 

Richard Rush served his time, and one week short of seven years in New 

South Wales on 9 October 1839, received his Certificate of Freedom. xvii 

The details are shown below: 

Transcript of 

Certificate of Freedom 

No 39/1749 

Date 9 October 1839 

Prisoner’s No 32/2087 

Name 

Richard Rush 

Ship 

Planter 

Master 

Fraser 

Year 1832 

Native Place 

Essex 

Trade or Calling 

Labourer 

Offence 

… 

Place of Trial 

Essex QS 

Date of Trial 3 January 1832 

Sentence 

Seven years 

Year of Birth 1800 

Height 

5 feet 2 ¾ inches 

Complexion 

Brown 

Hair 

Brown 

Eyes 

Blue 

General remarks 

Small mark of a burn on lower left 

arm, dimple in chin, two small 

moles near left side of nose 

Held at Ticket of Leave No 36/1978 dated 26 Dec 1836 surrendered 

Notice the discrepancies in year of birth and height from the original 

Transcript. 



11 August 2001

Sydney to Wellington 

Having been released from his conviction, Richard was free to leave, and 

we assume he came to New Zealand sometime between February 1840 

and March 1841 probably as a crew member aboard a migrant or 

trading ship from Sydney. Searches of internet records of shipping 

departures from Sydney and arrivals in Wellington have so far failed to 

reveal exactly which ship Richard would have travelled on, as most 

records show only paying passengers’ names. Children, servants and 

crew are not named. The internet site www.cyndislist.com/austnz.htm 

gives a 30 printed page list of links to general resource sites, including 

convict and passenger lists. A comprehensive search of these links has 

not yet been undertaken. 

Richard obviously could not (or would not) return to England, and the 

fate of his children, except for John George, is unknown. We also 

wonder if the children he left behind ever knew what happened to their 

father, and whether he was in contact with them after he left England. 

We have located other Rush names from the Childerditch area of Essex, 

not far from Aveley, and wonder if they are related but so far no link has 

been established. 

Meeting Cecilia 

The newly widowed Cecilia Rodgers must have met Richard Rush soon 

after his arrival in Wellington, and they were married presumably early 

in 1841, since their first daughter Sarah Ann Maria was born on 13 

January 1842. Three more daughters were born to Richard and Cecilia 

between 1843 and 1846. 

Richard’s son John George was 15 when he arrived in Wellington 

sometime in 1842 aboard the “Esther”, a schooner which plied the 

eastern Australian coast from Botany Bay to Tasmania and New Zealand 

for several years. John George might have been in Australia looking for 

his father and may have discovered that he had gained his freedom and 

gone to Wellington. 

Richard was murdered in Lower Hutt on 15 June 1846, aged 47 years. 

Full details of his death and his New Zealand family are recorded in 

Chapter 2 of A Humble Beginning, 2 nd edition. 

A further newspaper xviii report on Saturday 20 June stated: 

“The funeral of the late Richard Rush, whose barbarous murder by the 

rebels was recorded in our last number, took place on Thursday 

afternoon. The body was interred in the Public Cemetery, and was 

followed to its last resting place by a considerable number of settlers. 

The Rev R Cole performed the burial service. 



12 August 2001

It is intended to raise a subscription for his widow and children and 

we earnestly solicit the attention of our fellow settlers to the appeal 

made to them in this day’s Spectator on their behalf.” 

The charitable assistance of the Inhabitants of Port Nicholson is 

requested on behalf of the widow of the late Richard Rush who 

was murdered at the Hutt on Monday last. The unhappy event is 

fully before the public. The unfortunate widow being left with four 

young children (and nearing confinement with the fifth) dependent 

on her for support. 

Subscription lists are lying at the bank: Mr C Mills, Lambton 

Quay; and at Barrett’s Hotel. 

Wellington, June 20, 1846 

Life in early Wellington 

A recent publication “Wellington, the First years of European Settlement 

1840-1850” xix gives a fascinating insight into early life and conditions in 

Wellington from 1840. The reader will find out what Richard Rush must 

have contended with in his trade as a carrier between the Hutt and 

Wellington. It describes the main route out to Petone as “a narrow track 

along the foreshore, really useable only at low water; even then strong 

winds could send spray flying across the track. To add to the fun, the 

streams at Ngauranga and Kaiwharawhara had to be forded.” Paintings 

show the extent of the bush which dominated the landscape in the mid- 

1840s. Further on in the book, there’s a graphic description of the 

native unrest in the Taita area in the early months of 1846, including 

several skirmishes and murders prior to Richard’s death. xx There is 

also mention of the incident on 25 August 1840 where Charles Rodgers 

and several other men were drowned off Petone Beach. 



13 August 2001

Richard Rush Jnr 

We are still uncertain if the Richard Rush convicted of sheep stealing in 

1836 was related to our Richard Rush. He could have been his eldest 

son going by the age of 18 stated in the 1837 Muster. He was convicted 

at Chelmsford, Essex, in the Quarter Session of 18 October 1836 and 

sentenced along with a Robert Ray of stealing two sheep on 18 October 

1836. 

“Richard Rush being now convicted of sheep stealing is ordered and 

adjudged by this Court pursuant to the Statute in that case made and, 

provided to be transported beyond the seas for the term of his natural 

life to such place as His Majesty with the advice of his Privy Council 

shall think fit to declare and appoint.” 

He was transported on the Charles Kerr which sailed from Spithead on 8 

June 1837, arriving in New South Wales on 9 October 1837, a journey of 

123 days. On board were 250 male convicts. The ship’s commander 

was Captain Arnold Harford and the ship’s surgeon John Edwards. xxi 

Internet searches of the State Records of New South Wales have failed to 

find any records of a Ticket of Leave or Certificate of Freedom for young 

Richard Rush. What happened to him Research continues. 

Other family convictions 

Sarah Rush, on 15 October 1833, at Bradwell Near the Sea, for Larceny 

by a servant – guilty. Sentence – “solitary confinement at Gaol of 

Springfield for 1 week and to be once privately and severely whipped.” 

On 26 and 27 November 1833, Christopher Rush of Braintree was along 

with 3 others convicted of “rioting and assault” and received one month 

hard labour at Springfield Gaol. 

Acknowledgements 

Brian Sharp made two weekend trips from London to the Chelmsford 

Essex Public Records Office, and Maureen Sharp made a day trip to 

Singleton from Sydney. 



14 August 2001

RICHARD RUSH - TIMELINE 

20 February 1799 Born in Orsett, Essex 

5 October 1819 married Maria Steel in Bulphan, Essex 

2 sons and 1 daughter born between 1820-1826 

early 1827 

John George Rush born (exact date unknown) 

22 April 1827 Maria Steel died in Dunton, Essex, cause unknown 

3 January 1832 Quarter Session trial – accused of stealing a pig - 

“Larceny”, at Chelmsford (just north of Aveley) 

16 June 1832 depart Portsmouth on “Planter” bound for Botany Bay, 

Australia 

121 days (200 males, and 200 females – convicts) 

Robert Laurence Fraser, Master 

Alick Osborne, Surgeon Superintendent 

15 October 1832 arrival in Sydney (Standing No of Convict 32-2087) 

7 years at Patrick’s Plains (just out of Singleton, Hunter Valley, 

NSW), assigned to landowner Andrew Loder 

26 December 1836 Ticket of Leave No 36/1978 

9 October 1839 Certificate of Freedom No 39/1749 

1840-March 1841 

to New Zealand (exact date and ship unknown) 

1841 Richard marries Cecilia Rodgers (exact date unknown) 

13 January 1842 Sarah Ann Maria born in the Hutt Valley 

1842 John George arrives in Wellington on the “Esther” from 

Sydney (exact date unknown) 

1 October 1843 Cecilia Eliza born in the Hutt Valley 

1 August 1845 Isabella born in the Hutt Valley 

15 June 1846 Richard killed in Lower Hutt, aged 47, buried Bolton 

Street 

10 August 1846 Isabella dies aged one year, buried Bolton Street 

1846 Ann born in the Hutt Valley (exact date unknown) 



15 August 2001

i The Quarter Sessions were an assembly of the Justices of the Peace of a county, whose 

job it was to judge suits and administer the affairs of the area. A statute of 1388 laid 

down that ‘Justices shall keep their sessions in every quarter of the year at least’, from 

which the name of the court is derived. They were held at Easter, Trinity 

(Midsummer), Michaelmas and Epiphany (January), and were presided over by the 

sheriff or his deputy. The Order Books are the formal records of the Court, giving the 

justices’ decisions and edicts. 

ii Simpson, Tony. The Immigrants. The Great Migration from Britain to New Zealand, 

1830-1890. 1997:Godwit Publishing Ltd, Auckland 

iii Some 1040 ships carried convicts from England and Ireland and other places to 

Australia, and it is thought that about 165,000 departed from the ports of embarkation, 

and that about 3,000 died en route. Several Australian websites contain the names of 

the ships and the numbers of passengers, port of departure, place of disembarkation 

and date of arrival, and links to other information: 

www.southernx.com.au/conship1.html. The link Indexes for Convicts Transported to 

Australia between 1788 and 1868 contains information on how to access indexes for all 

convicts who were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1869. You should be 

aware that it is highly unlikely that in tracing what may have happened to any 

individual convict, that you will be able to find information on all the events in his or 

her penal servitude, as there are gaps in the records, especially with assignment 

records, tickets of leave, and certificates of freedom. 

iv From www.carmen.murdoch.edu.au/community/dps/convicts/ships.html 

v Research undertaken at the Essex Public Records Office in Chelmsford by Brian 

Sharp, June 2001 

vi Other internet sites give passenger and crew list information, shipping arrivals and 

departures, and passenger diaries: http://www.blaxland.com/ozships/ 

vii 14012 James Jones, from Planter, 1832, assigned to Loder A at Patrick’s Plains 

viii Singleton Historical Society, www.singleton.nsw.govt.au 

ix Singleton is a town steeped in history. Following the discovery of this part of the 

Hunter Valley by John Howe and his exploring party in 1820, the fertile area of 

Patrick’s Plains was quickly settled. Benjamin Singleton, one of the original settlers, 

was granted land around the site of the present town. The main road to the Upper 

Hunter crossed the river at this point and Singleton gradually developed facilities which 

served the local rural community. In 1835, Darlington Post Office was renamed 

Singleton and in 1841 the town was officially known by that name. The original layout 

of Singleton was markedly different to other Australian towns. Streets were laid out 

diagonally rather than on the square. There are thus many acute street intersections 

and a variety of interesting streetscapes. 

(From http://www.singleton.nsw.gov.au/visitors/histbldg.html ) 

x The General Return of Convicts in New South Wales, 1837 is an alphabetical list of 

convicts giving their name, age, ship and year of arrival, n ame of employer and district. 

xi Whitelaw, Miss Ella: A History of Singleton (a typed booklet from the Singleton 

Museum) 



16 August 2001

xii Fink, Elizabeth Hunter Regional Estate Project “The Built Environment of the Shire 

of Singleton” August 1977 (includes photograph and description of Abbey Green) 

xiii The State Records of New South Wales are now available on the internet for 

searching. In the article Index to Certificates of Freedom, 1823-69, 

www.records.nsw.gov.au/publications/cf/index.introduction.htm, the convict system 

and records in New South Wales is explained, together with links to indexes and other 

records. 

xiv Faye Sheridan kindly visited the library in Sydney where these records are held in 

August 2000, photocopied the original handwritten transcripts and posted them to New 

Zealand. 

xv http://carmen.murdoch.edu.au/community/dps/convicts/census.html 

xvi http://www.records.nsw.gov.au 

xvii Reference to Richard Rush’s Certificate of Freedom can be found by searching the 

State Records of New South Wales – Certificates of Freedom (www.records.nsw.gov.au) 

Query string: Surname – Rush, First name – Richard, Vessel – Planter. 

Examples of other Certificates of Freedom are found on 

www.records.nsw.gov.au/publications/convicts.cfexamples.htm 

xviii New Zealand Spectator and Cook Strait Guardian, Saturday June 20, 1846 

xix McLean, Gavin. Wellington, the First years of European Settlement 1840-1850. 

Penguin Books, Auckland, 2000. 

xx On page 26 of “A Humble Beginning”, 2 nd edition, in the article ‘Sagacity of Dogs’, 

there is mention of a man called Gillespie and the reaction of his dog after his murder. 

In “Wellington, the First Years” on page 79, it says: “Blood was finally spilled on 2 April 

when a Ngati Rangatahi raiding party killed Andrew Gillespie and his son north of 

Boulcott’s Farm. For several weeks an uneasy calm prevailed in the Hutt. Greys 

‘vigorous policy’ had heightened tension. By May Almon Boulcott’s farmstead marked the 

northernmost advanced post of the 58 th Regiment when at dawn on 16 May Te Mamaku’s 

men struck Lieutenant G. H. Page’s detachment. They tomahawked the sentry, then 

swept into the farm. In a short, sharp engagement, fast, accurate British firing made up 

for being surprised and, helped by nine mounted militia, Page’s men drove off the Maori. 

Each side lost ten men. More skirmishing and deaths followed …” 

xxi From www.blaxland.com/ozships/passengr/sc/chaskerr.htm - a list of every convict 

on board the Charles Kerr 1837, giving name, age, birthplace, crime and sentence. 



17 August 2001

RICHARD RUSH - Webgirl.co.nz

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?