James Bloodsworth (convict)

James Bloodsworth
James Bloodsworth
Born	7 March 1759; Kingston upon Thames
Died	21 March 1804 (aged 45); South Row, Sydney (O'Connell Street), Sydney
Cause of death	pneumonia
Other names	Bloedworth, Bloodworth
Occupation	Bricklayer
Spouse(s)	Sarah Bellamy
Partner(s)	Mary Bryant
Parent(s)	Robert Bloodsworth and Ann Baker

Last updated April 10, 2019

James Bloodsworth (7 March 1759 – 21 March 1804) was a convict sentenced for the theft of one game cock and two hens at Esher, Surrey.^[1] James was a master bricklayer and builder responsible for the construction of most of the buildings in the colony of New South Wales between 1788 and 1800. James Bloodsworth was living at Kingston upon Thames, England and been tried at Kingston upon Thames Quarter Sessions on the 3 October 1785,^[1] when sentenced to seven years transportation.^[2]

A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts, especially those recently released from prison, is "ex-con" ("ex-convict"). Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences tend not to be described as "convicts".

Esher is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole.

Surrey is a subdivision of the English region of South East England in the United Kingdom. A historic and ceremonial county, Surrey is also one of the home counties. The county borders Kent to the east, East Sussex and West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west, Berkshire to the northwest, and Greater London to the northeast.

Convict years

In 1788 Bloodsworth was sent to New South Wales (Australia) in the First Fleet in Charlotte and was immediately appointed master bricklayer in the settlement at Sydney Cove. In March 1788 brick-making began at Long Cove (this site was later named Cockle Bay, and, still later, Darling Harbour) under his instruction. The site became known as the Brickfield. The approximate area is at the lower end of George Street, now known as Haymarket.^[3] In addition to bricks, at the same plant burned clay roof tiles, which gave greatly improved water tightness, durability and dignity to the burgeoning public buildings.^[4] Since there were no architects in the fleet he was largely responsible for the design and the erection of Australia's first buildings, although the army and navy officers in the settlement had some knowledge of architecture.^[2] Bloodsworth was placed in charge of a gang of labourers who were responsible for the erection of the first brick huts built by May 1788.^[3]

New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Tasman Sea to the east. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In September 2018, the population of New South Wales was over 8 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.1 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The First Fleet was the 11 ships that departed from Portsmouth, England, on 13 May 1787 to found the penal colony that became the first European settlement in Australia. The Fleet consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports, carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 convicts, marines, seamen, civil officers and free people, and a large quantity of stores. From England, the Fleet sailed southwest to Rio de Janeiro, then east to Cape Town and via the Great Southern Ocean to Botany Bay, arriving over the period of 18 to 20 January 1788, taking 250 to 252 days from departure to final arrival.

Besides designing many private houses, Bloodsworth can be credited with the first Government House (located on what is now the south-west corner of Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney.), which lasted from 1788 to 1845, and in 1790 the storehouse at King's Wharf on the shore of Sydney Cove. On 4 June 1789, just sixteen months after the first landing at Sydney Cove, the early settlers gathered to celebrate the birthday of King George III and the grand opening of Government House.^[3] Governor Arthur Phillip praised 'the pains he had taken to teach others the business of a bricklayer', and his conduct was exemplary at a time when most convicts were noted for indolence or rebelliousness. Bloodsworth worked under difficulties; although there were competent bricklayers among the convicts, they had no proper mortar to bind the bricks together. For the walls of Government House some lime mortar was obtained by burning oyster shells, but elsewhere mud-mortar had to be used. This was far from satisfactory, but by adapting his construction methods to these crude conditions he produced serviceable buildings, which also were by no means unseemly, because he was working within the long-established rules of Georgian architecture.^[2]

The Government House is the heritage-listed vice-regal residence of the Governor of New South Wales, Australia, located on Conservatorium Road in the Sydney central business district adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking Sydney Harbour, just south of the Sydney Opera House. Constructed between 1837 and 1843, the property has been the vice-regal residence of the Governor since Sir George Gipps, except for two brief periods; the first between 1901 and 1914, when the property was leased to the Commonwealth of Australia as the residence of the Governor-General of Australia, and the second from 1996 to 2011.

Arthur Phillip 18th and 19th-century British naval officer, Governor of New South Wales

Admiral Arthur Phillip was a Royal Navy officer and the first Governor of New South Wales who founded the British penal colony that later became the city of Sydney, Australia.

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, George III, and George IV—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830. The style was revived in the late 19th century in the United States as Colonial Revival architecture and in the early 20th century in Great Britain as Neo-Georgian architecture; in both it is also called Georgian Revival architecture. In the United States the term "Georgian" is generally used to describe all buildings from the period, regardless of style; in Britain it is generally restricted to buildings that are "architectural in intention", and have stylistic characteristics that are typical of the period, though that covers a wide range.

Post convict years

Bloodsworth was pardoned in 1790 and on 1 September 1791 was appointed superintendent over all the brickmakers and bricklayers. Next year he was offered rehabilitation to England, but he refused. In 1803 when offered a choice of employment at Port Phillip or the Derwent he again refused, preferring to remain in Sydney. In 1802 he had become a sergeant in the Sydney Loyal Association, a great mark of respect to a former convict. At that time he was farming his grant of fifty acres (20 ha) at Petersham; later he increased his holdings to 245 acres (99 ha).

Port Phillip , is a port in southern Victoria, Australia. It is nearly surrounded by the city of Melbourne and its suburbs. Geographically, the port covers 1,930 square kilometres and the shore stretches roughly 264 km (164 mi). Although it is extremely shallow for its size, most of the port is navigable. The deepest portion is only 24 metres (79 ft), and half the region is shallower than 8 m (26 ft). The volume of the water in the port is around 25 cubic kilometres (6.0 cu mi).

The Derwent River is a river located in Tasmania, Australia. It is also known by the palawa kani name timtumili minanya. The river rises in the state's Central Highlands at Lake St Clair, and descends more than 700 metres (2,300 ft) over a distance of more than 200 kilometres (120 mi), flowing through Hobart, the state's capital city, before emptying into Storm Bay and flowing into the Tasman Sea. The banks of the Derwent were once covered by forests and occupied by Tasmanian Aborigines. European settlers farmed the area and during the 20th century many dams were built on its tributaries for the generation of hydro-electricity.

Petersham, New South Wales Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Petersham is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Petersham is located 6 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Petersham is known for its extensive Portuguese commercial offerings, with many Portuguese businesses and restaurants, although only 156 (1.9%) of the population was actually born in Portugal.

Death

Although Bloodsworth had the asset of his farm and his government salary of £50, he was insolvent when he died from pneumonia on 21 March 1804 at his house on South Row, Sydney. Because of the high regard the settlers had for him, Governor Philip Gidley King ordered that he be given the nearest the young colony could provide to a state funeral. The Sydney Loyal Association escorted the cortège with muffled drums, and the body was laid in the old Sydney burial ground on 23 March,^[5] with military honours. He was survived by two sons and two daughters.^[2]

Captain Philip Gidley King was the third Governor of New South Wales, and did much to organise the young colony in the face of great obstacles.

From the Sydney Gazette 25 March 1804 No.56

DEATHS
On Wednesday last died, generally lamented, Mr. James Bloodsworth, for many years Superintendent of Builders in the Employ of Government. He came to the Colony among its first inhabitants in the year 1788, and obtained the Appointment, from his exemplary conduct, shortly after his arrival; the first house in this part of the Southern Hemisphere was by him erected, and most of the Public Buildings since have been under his direction. To lament his loss he has left a widow and five children, the youngest an infant now only one week old; and the complaint which terminated in his dissolution was supposed to proceed from a severe cold contracted about two months ago. Died 21 January 1804 Buried Old Sydney Burial Ground 23 January 1804
J.E. BRAY.
The Attention and concern which prevailed at the interment of the deceased was sufficient testimonies of the respect with which he filled and the integrity with which he uninterruptedly discharged the duties of a Public Trust during so long a period........
His Excellency was pleased to order that "THE FUNERAL SHOULD BE PROVIDED AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE" and to shew other marks of attention to so ??????? a Servant of the Crown. Four in the afternoon of Friday being at the wish of the widow appointed for the Funeral, the Relics of the deceased were at that hour removed from his house in South Street, and conveyed to the place of interment attended by a great number of friends, amoug whom were most of the Sydney Loyal Association, in which he had been appointed Sergeant.
Opposite to his old residence a Procession was formed, which moved in the following order:-
12 of the Loyal Association, arms reversed
Sergeant of the Association
Drum muffled & Fife
THE BIER
Two sons, chief Mourners followed by an infant daughter
Fourteen Female Mourners
Twenty-four male Mourners
A number of respectable inhabitants in Rank
The Non Commissioned Officers of the N.S.W. Corps
And a Crowd of spectators
The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. It was disbanded in 1818.
When near the burial ground the Association were obliged to file off, for the accommodation of the friends of the deceased, and the populace, who were become very numerous; and when the remains were deposited approached the grave and performed Military Honors.^[6]

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References

1 2 AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS-L Archives
1 2 3 4 Morton Herman (1966). "Bloodsworth, James ( - 1804)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1. MUP. p. 122. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
1 2 3 Australia's First Settlement Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine .
↑ Technology in Australia 1788-1988
↑ Genealogy - Ann Bloodsworth
↑ the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 25 March 1804 No.56

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[PT_Jackson_Convicts-1] 1 2 AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS-L Archives

[abd-2] 1 2 3 4 Morton Herman (1966). "Bloodsworth, James ( - 1804)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1. MUP. p. 122. Retrieved 2008-09-13.

[afs-3] 1 2 3 Australia's First Settlement Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine .

[4] Technology in Australia 1788-1988

[gene_ann-5] Genealogy - Ann Bloodsworth

[6] the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 25 March 1804 No.56