Thomas Rushton (1745? - 21 Nov 1822)

[Geoff Turner]

I would appreciate help with any information locals might have on my ancestor Thomas Rushton, a brewer from Liverpool who was transported to Australia as a convict and played an important role in the early Sydney brewing industry. I believe he was born in 1745, and married Amelia Tatlock (1753–1797) in Liverpool on 1 Aug 1774. He had a brewery in Dale St, Liverpool, from about 1770 to 1796. He was found guilty of forgery in Chester on 21 April 1802 and exiled for seven years, leaving Spithead aboard the convict ship Calcutta in April 1803. I know quite a bit about his life in Australia and my connection to him but would love more information about life in Liverpool -- his confirmed birth date, his parents, that sort of thing. Happy to share all I know about him in Australia. Thanks, Geoff Turner

[MaryA]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Gores Directory for 1790 has these Rushtons, makes me wonder if Edward and Thomas might be related.

Rushton Edward, victualler, 19, Crooked lane
Rushton James, hairdresser, 21, Redcross st.
Rushton Jas., officer in customs, 15, Sir Thomas' buildings
Rushton Thomas, brewer, 26, Dale st.
Rushton Thos., brandy vaults, shoe warehouse, 38, Pool lane
Rushton Thomas, corn meter, back of 27, Mersey st.
Rushton Thomas, hairdresser, 32, Harrington st.

In the 1772 Liverpool Directory the only entry for Rushton I can find is
Rushton Thomas, Barber and Shoe Warehouse, Pool Lane

and in 1769
Rushton and Lake, Barbers, Pool Lane

Next I have is 1825, Pool Lane, 48 Castle Street
No. 20 is Rushton & Melling
No occupations are given in this Baines.

These may not be connected, but possibles.

[Geoff Turner]

Thanks Mary.

Very kind of you to answer so quickly.

I was told my Thomas was a brewer in Dale St, but at age 26 in 1790 that seems a bit young to have been born in 1745 and married in 1774. His daughter Henrietta was born in 1786. My ancestor was definitely a brewer in Liverpool though, he was transported to Tasmania but almost immediately re-assigned to Sydney because of his brewing skills.

Maybe the birth dates and marriage dates I have are incorrect.

What made you think Thomas and Edward might have been related?

Geoff

[Bertieone]

Geoff,

Address, 26 Dale Street.

[Geoff Turner]

Of course, how silly of me.

Thanks.

[Bertieone]

What made you think Thomas and Edward might have been related?

Geoff

Both in the alcohol business,

Interesting link,

http://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/mrlhp/lo ... tondnb.htm

[retiringtype]

Per the manifest of the Calcutta he was aged 55 in 1803 (so born 1747/8) and had been sentenced to 14 years.

[Bertieone]

Suggestion of Bankruptcy,1784,

Foot of page,

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gFM ... er&f=false

[MaryA]

What made you think Thomas and Edward might have been related?

As Bert says, only the coincidence of occupations, one making and one selling the beer.

[Geoff Turner]

Thanks everyone, that's all very helpful in slowly building up a picture. If Thomas and Edward were brothers then we know Edward's father was Thomas, a Liverpool victualler, so he would also be our Thomas's father as well. But the only "Thomas, son of Thomas" baptisms I can find in the Lancashire OPC database are in 1743 at Bolton and 1749 at Bury. The only baptism they have in 1746 or 1747, which would tally with the age on the Calcutta manifest, is Tommy Rushton son of blacksmith James Rushton at Edenfield on 25 Sep 1747.

With regards to the bankruptcy in 1784, I'd assume that was him, but he must have traded through it to be still there in the Gores Directory for 1790.

I also don't quite understand why his trial in 1802 would have been in Chester Pleas of Session of Crownmote, Cheshire. Presumably some time between 1790 and 1802 he moved from Liverpool to the Chester area, or were Liverpool people tried at Chester for some reason?

Still plenty for me to mull over.

Geoff Turner

[MaryA]

I don't know all the official legal jargonese but I suspect there would be occasions when Liverpool people would be tried in Chester.

Don't assume that all records ie baptism and marriages etc. are online, there are many that are not, although they probably would be available at the Record Office.

[Blue70]

Wirral, across the River Mersey from Liverpool, was in Cheshire so he may have committed the crime in Wirral.


Blue

[Geoff Turner]

Thanks. Local knowledge makes all the difference. He was convicted of forgery so yes, that could have happened there.

I’m in Australia so I rely on online material. But I have been put on to an Australian woman who apparently knows a lot about him so I’m hoping for some more information from her. Which I’ll pass on, of course.

Geoff

[retiringtype]

Trying to find out more about the case...the Lancaster Gazette of 8 May 1802 says he got 14 years transportation for having forged bank notes

[retiringtype]

The Derby Mercury of 6 May 1802 (page 4) says that 30 forged one and two pound notes, together certain implements and materials, had been found on his person in Stockport. That explains why he was tried at Chester Assizes.

[Geoff Turner]

Thanks again. I gather Stockport is now part of Malpas. Rushton's wife Amelia had died in Liverpool in August 1797 so maybe he went off the rails a bit after that. He was pardoned in 1810 but would have had some grim times until arriving in Sydney, where he landed on his feet because Governor King needed his brewing prowess to help counter the rum monopoly held by the military, who were abusing it (cf the Rum Rebellion). But Rushton's experiences would not have been as bad as those of his common-law wife in Sydney, Elizabeth Smith. She was convicted in the Old Bailey of stealing a pair of linen sheets and transported to Sydney on the "hell ship" Neptune, part of the Second Fleet. This fleet was contracted out to a slave trading company which kept the convicts chained below decks for the entire voyage. Anyone suspected of petty theft was literally flogged to death. They were still throwing bodies overboard as they entered Sydney Harbour. In all, 26% of the convicts died on the voyage. Since one of the rationales of transportation was supplying labour to the colony, that was counter-productive, so the Royal Navy took over the job again after that. As well as having Elizabeth, Rushton had a mistress with whom he had a child. He died in 1822 at the home of the mistress. When they contacted Elizabeth to collect the body she was rather hostile, I gather from a researcher who has examined the coroner's report.

[MaryA]

Good story, I'm glad you have better records as not so many Coroners Reports are available here, we tend to rely on newspaper reports.

[daggers]

Geoff
You say ‘Stockport is now part of Malpas’. Not so, but it is within Greater Manchester. Malpas is quite separate, in the Cheshire countryside.
D

[Geoff Turner]

Sorry, I was confusing Stockport with Stockton.And Mary, as a retired newspaper jounalist I agree I would always prefer to have the source documents, not just a newspaper report. And newspapers are getting worse by the day. Geoff

[Geoff Turner]

I am also intrigued by a coincidence with the name Tatlock. Thomas Rushton married Amelia Tatlock on 1 Aug 1774 at St Thomas's, Liverpool. Their daughter Henrietta (Harriet) married William Tatlock Chippendall on 17 Dec 1811 at St Anne Richmond, Liverpool. So Tatlock was both her mother's maiden name and her husband's middle name. I guess it must be a fairly common name in that part of the world. Amelia Rushton (nee Tatlock) died in Liverpool in Aug 1797. I also found a burial record for Mrs Amelia Tatlock at Prescot in Lancashire in May 1755 and guess that could have been Amelia Rushton's mother. William Chippendall and his wife Henrietta and their family moved to Australia as free settlers aboard the Hebe in 1815, and William was later made chief constable of a rural area, so on the right side of the law. Henrietta didn't get to see much of Australia. Unfortunately she died in childbirth on Thomas Rushton's farm in 1817, leaving six children. Thomas Rushton might have helped the family move to Australia, at one stage he sent Henrietta £150 and said he was sending it through his solicitor so as to avoid the misunderstandings of the past!