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Wentworth, D'Arcy

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NameWentworth, D'ArcyOccupationPrincipal Surgeon, Superintendent of Police.Place of ResidenceSydneyBiographyD’Arcy Wentworth was born 1762 in Portadown, Northern Ireland, to Darcy and Martha Wentworth (nee Dixon).

D’Arcy was three times accused of highway robbery at the Old Bailey and acquitted of all charges. He appeared before the court once again in 1789 on a fourth charge of robbery. The prosecutor of the case informed the judge ‘My Lord, Mr. Wentworth, the prisoner at the Bar, has taken a passage to go in a fleet to Botany Bay and has obtained an appointment in it as Assistant Surgeon and desires to be discharged immediately'.

Wentworth sailed to Australia a free man with the Second Fleet. On board he met 16-year-old convict Catherine Crowley who was transported for stealing wearing apparel. They arrived at Port Jackson in 1790 and on the voyage to Norfolk Island, where D’Arcy was appointed. D’Arcy and Catherine had two children before her death in 1800;

William Charles Wentworth b.1790 aboard ‘Surprize’ (married Sarah Morton Cox, died 1872, England)
D’Arcy b.1793 (married Elizabeth Macpherson, died 1861, Launceston)
John Matthew b.1795 (died 1820)
Martha b.1800 (died 1800)

On his return to Sydney in 1796 D’Arcy became Assistant Surgeon of the Colony, Principal Surgeon, Superintendent of Police, and one of the founding members of the Bank of New South Wales.

By about 1802 Maria Ainsley, a 32-year-old former convict and widow, lived with D’Arcy as his housekeeper, and cared for his three sons. Maria became a mother figure to the boys and she and D’Arcy lived as partners for many years. Maria had an illegitimate son to a previous partner.

By 1810, D’Arcy was in a relationship with Mary Ann Macneal (nee Lawes), who abandoned her husband and child to live with him. She lived with him at his Sydney and Parramatta homes. Maria Ainslie stayed at Wentworth’s Homebush property.

D’Arcy and Mary Ann had several children;

George b.1810 (married Ann Fulton, died 1851, Castlereagh)
Martha b.1813 (married John Reddall, died 1847, Parramatta)
Sophia b.1816 (married Robert Towns, died 1878, Sydney)
Robert Charles b.1819
John b.1819 (died 1854, Saint Peters)
Mary Ann b.1820 (married Stephen Addison and Charles Hollings
Katherine b.1825 (married Benjamin Darley & William Bassett, died 1898, England)
Charles D’Arcy b.1828 (married Eliza Harriet Derepas, died 1866, Sydney)

In 1821, Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted D’Arcy Wentworth 1,650 acres of land situated at Shellharbour and 1,500 acres at Dunsters Hill and Mt. Wentworth. The 1,650 acres included the site of the Private Town of Peterborough, later named Shellharbour Village.

On his death in 1827, Wentworth was one of the richest men on the Colony. He left his Peterborough Estate, which by extra grants acquired totalled 13,060 acres in trust to five of his children, Martha (Reddall), Sophia (Towns), Mary Ann (Addison/Hollings), Catherine (Bassett/Darley) and his son Robert. The main streets in the village are named for Wentworth and his children.

Son-in-law John Reddall (and presumably wife, Martha) lived at the 'Peterborough Homestead' and managed the estate for the Wentworth family from about the 1830's. They had three children, Cornelia Honora 1829, George Thomas 1831, and Thomas Alexander 1832. Thomas Alexander married Charlotte Osborne, and their son, John Ernest Reddall built 'Wentworth Cottage', on what is today Pioneer Drive. Martha Reddall died in 1847.

Mary Ann and husband Stephen Addison, lived at ‘Lake House’ on the Wentworth’s Peterborough Estate (Shellharbour), which Addison managed from the mid 1840's. Two of their sons were born at Peterborough; John Elliott 1845 and Stephen McComish 1848.

External LinkThe Late D'Arcy Wentworth Esq 1827D'Arcy Wentworth 1923The Only Memorial to Dr D'Arcy Wentworth 1925D'Arcy Wentworth's Home 1937Sketches of the Early History of Australia - Surgeon D'Arcy Wentworth 1911Sketches of the Early History of Australia - Surgeon D'Arcy Wentworth 1911St John's Online - Catherine Crowley: A Convict Sea WifeSt John's Online - D'Arcy Wentworth: A Gentleman Rogue

Map or Plan

Peterborough Estate Map

Plan ZA Plan of the Town of Peterborough

Plan Z of the Peterborough Estate

Plan of the Village of Peterborough

Plan of the Peterborough Estate

Plan of Portion E Peterborough Estate

Place

Old Peterborough Homestead

Peterborough Estate

Village of Peterborough

Lake House

Wentworth Cottage

Family

Russell

Reddall

Nichols

Addison

Person

Addison, Stephen Captain

Towns, Robert

Photograph

D'Arcy Wentworth 1762? - 1827

Industry

Cedar Getters

D'Arcy Wentworth c.1762-1827.

CONNECTIONS

CollectionPeopleFamilyReddallAddisonLocalityShellharbourPersonChisholm, CarolineTowns, RobertPlacePeterborough EstateLake HouseOld Peterborough HomesteadWentworth Cottage

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Wentworth, D'Arcy