William Wentworth
| William Wentworth | |
|---|---|
c. 1861
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|
| Born |
William Charles Wentworth 13 August 1790 Norfolk Island |
| Died | 20 March 1872 (aged 81) England |
William Charles Wentworth (13 August 1790 – 20 March 1872) was an Australian explorer, journalist, politician and author, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales. He was the first native-born Australian to achieve a reputation overseas, and a leading advocate for self-government for the Australian colonies.
William Wentworth was born in August (possibly the 13th) 1790 to D'Arcy Wentworth and Catherine Crowley. D'Arcy was the impecunious distant offspring of the aristocratic Wentworth family. He was born in Ireland in 1762, but had left to train as a surgeon in London. To maintain his lifestyle he apparently became a highwayman but soon found himself in trouble with the law. After being acquitted four times of highway robbery, to avoid a further prosecution D'Arcy took the position of assistant surgeon to the new colony of New South Wales. He boarded the Neptune sometime in December 1789. On board the ship was a seventeen-year-old girl from Ireland, who was being transported to Sydney following a conviction for stealing some clothing. On board ship, D'Arcy Wentworth and Catherine Crowley became lovers.
The Neptune arrived in Sydney as part of the Second Fleet on 29 June 1790. D'Arcy and Catherine, now heavily pregnant, departed for Norfolk Island on the Surprize. While anchored off Norfolk Island in August, possibly the 13th, Catherine gave birth to a son whom she named William. Although born less than nine months after they first met, D'Arcy acknowledged the boy as his.
There has always been confusion about the date and circumstances of Wentworth's birth. The text of his obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald of 6 May 1872, says about the year 1792. Burke's Colonial Gentry, 1891–1896, Page 96, says he was born in 1793, describes his mother as Catherine Parry, and that she was the wife of D'Arcy. In the biography "William Charles Wentworth" by A. C. V. Melbourne. M.A., PhD, Associate Professor of History, University of Queensland, he says that he was born in 1792. His mother is believed to have been a Catherine Williams, who had been a convict on the Neptune, where D'arcy first became acquainted with her.
26 October 1793 was celebrated as his birth date for some years. His coffin had attached to it a plate of pure silver which bore the simple inscription, William Charles Wentworth, born 26 October 1793 died March, 20th, 1872.
In 1796 D'Arcy and Catherine Wentworth moved from Norfolk Island to Sydney, with the young William. The family lived at Parramatta, where his father became a prosperous landowner. In 1802 William was sent to England, where he was educated at a school in London. In about 1807, D'Arcy Wentworth sold 450 acres (180 ha) at the Brush Farm (near Eastwood) to Gregory Blaxland for £1,500. William returned to Sydney in 1810, where he was appointed acting Provost Marshal by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and given a land grant of 1,750 acres (710 ha) on the Nepean River.
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