Richard Evans

  General Notes:

source: Keith Shrimpton notes:
Page 61 of the Pragmatic Pioneers states: -
Richard Evans arrived at Port Jackson, according to the 1806 Muster, on board the convict transport Admiral Barrington on 16th October 1791. He was a soldier, a member of the N.S.W. Corps and had most likely previously served in other regiments; he stated in his memorial to Governor Macquarie in 1810, that he had served as a soldier for upwards of thirty years. He was transferred to Norfolk Island in November 1791 and remained there until March 1793, when he returned to Port Jackson. A Mary Evans also arrived and left Norfolk Island at exactly the same time as Richard and the Victualling Book indicates that she is the spouse of a Marine. Mary may, or may not be the wife or concubine of Richard Evans and may or may not be the Mary Morrison whom he married at St.Philips Sydney on 4th June 1796. The witnesses to the marriage were William Richardson a fellow Corps member and Isabella his wife. Soldiers required the permission of their Commanding Officer to marry at that time and permission for this marriage was granted by the Commanding Officer of the N.S.W. Corps, Captain William Patterson. Mary Morrison's origins and subsequent fate are unclear; the marriage may not have lasted long. Possibly she left the Colony, or she could be one of a number of Mary Evans who died here in later years. Richard returned to Norfolk Island in October 1796; how long he stayed is not known; he may have simply escorted a group of convicts being transported to that place and returned to Port Jackson a short time later. There was a Richard Evans the son of Richard Evans and Mary Martin, born in May 1799 and baptised at St.Philips Sydney, but it

Page 62 of the Pragmatic Pioneers states: -
Is unlikely that this child is the son of Richard Evans the soldier; there was a convict of the same name who may have been still in the Colony and who may have sired this child.

Elizabeth Jackson appears to be the person of that name who was convicted at Dublin, Ireland in November 1794 of stealing clothing from James Gallagher. According to an article that appeared in Freemans Journal on the 26th June 1794, Gallagher was a lodger in a boarding house at 46 Mary's Lane. She had taken advantage of an unlocked door in the early hours of the morning, and stole his clothes from his bedside. For stealing some old clothes she was sentenced to seven years Transportation and arrived at Port Jackson on board the Marquis Cornwallis on 11th February 1796. Her year of birth is unclear, according to the 1828 Census she was born about 1771, but the record of her burial in the St.Matthews Windsor Register states that she was seventy-eight years of age in 1837, indicating that she was born about 1759.

In the years between 1796 and 1806, records relating to Elizabeth Jackson and Richard Evans are full of contradictions and uncertainties. Neither appeared in the 1800-02 Muster; Richard because the Military were not obliged to attend General Musters, but Elizabeth's non-appearance cannot be so readily explained. Although she would not have regained her freedom until 1801, with Evans as her possible protector, she may have escaped listing on the basis of his immunity. Recent publications refer to Richard Evans and Elizabeth Jackson and the part that John Arndell allegedly played in their lives, but generally they are rife with obvious errors, omissions and suppositions. It has been claimed that John Arndell, the London born son of First Fleeter Assistant Surgeon Thomas Arndell, was the father of Elizabeth Jackson's four children, and that he died in the Colony in about 1805. The only references that have been found to date in Colonial records, that undoubtedly refer to John Arndell, are, that as John Arnold he arrived on Norfolk Island from Port Jackson on the Supply on 3rd April 1796, returned to Port Jackson on the Queensborough on 9th July of that year and a letter written by Governor Hunter which verifies that he was indeed the son of Assistant Surgeon Thomas Arndell. It is very unlikely that a free settler who was also the son of such a prominent official as Thomas Arndell, could live in the Colony for ten years, without being mentioned in any other documents including the 1800-02 Muster, not petition the

Page 63 of the Pragmatic Pioneers states: -
Governor for any indulgences and not purchase or be gran land. He allegedly died or disappeared in about 1805, some claim he was drowned, but there is no Coroner's Inquest, entry in any Church Register and no mention of him in the Sydney Gazette. Absolutely no evidence has been found that would suggest that John had anything more than a very transitory role in the life of the Colony. It is like that he decided, or was persuaded by his father for personal reasons, that he was not suited to colonial life and obtained a passage back to England soon after returned to Port Jackson from Norfolk Island. No record his arrival in or departure from the colony has been found but as no complete records of early passenger arrivals and departures have survived, it is likely that his movement will remain a mystery.

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Marion Purnell where it is noted:
Richard was a private in the NSW Corps who arrived in the colony aboard the ship 'Active' 26 Sep 1791.
Richard was a sergeant and settler down river from the Arndells. He was illiterate. Richard and Elizabeth Jackson were married from Thomas Arndell's Cattai farm.
George is delinitely the child of Elizabeth Jackson and Richard Evans - nothing points to Arndell ancestry here. He was married and buried as 'Evans'.

Samuel - his death certificate states that he died in 1874 at age 77 and that he was born at Norfolk Island, time in Australian territories unknown, name of father - John ARNOLD, occupation - unknown, mother - Elizabeth Jackson. As he was 77 when he died on 14 Jan 1874, he would have been 78 that year, so born about 1796.

Another daughter named Jane is mentioned in the Arndell tree in Ron Arndell's 'Pioneers of Portland Head' but no other record of her has been located.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser of 9 January 1813 reported:'An account has been received of the murder on Friday se'night of -Evans, a settler at or near Portland Head, and formerly a sergeant in the New South Wales Corps, now the 102d Regiment. The perpetration of the horrible offence is attributed to several natives, said to belong to the Lower Branch; but whether this supposition be accurate or not we have no present information.'

Richard married Elizabeth Jackson circa 1803 in Cattai, NSW Australia. (Elizabeth Jackson was born in 1771 and died in 1837 in Windsor, NSW Australia.)