LIST 52 - DEATHS - ALPHABETICAL ORDER

 
 
There were 5,325 deaths recorded during this decade which is almost double 
from the previous decade.
 
The information recorded for each death is as follows:
 date
 church
  family name
 Christian name
 age
 civil status at time of death
 year and ship of arrival
 
The deaths are listed in alphabetical order on the name of the deceased. 
 
The identity of the deceased is the most difficult to ascertain. In the case 
of births there are three reference points to help in the identification; the 
father, the mother and the child. In the case of marriages, there are two; the 
bride and the groom. But of course there is only the one for the deceased. Added 
to which the information is often supplied by family and friends who may not 
be certain of the ship of arrival nor the age of the deceased.
 
Consequently the arrival status of only 83% of the deceased have been found. 
There were 2,831 convicts or former convicts (53%), 121 were soldiers or former 
soldiers (2%), 377 came free (7%) and 1,011 were colonial born (19%). Finally 
there were 75 burials where the deceased was described as "free" but it is 
uncertain whether this means came free, born free or free by servitude (1%).
 
The ages at death were obviously not supplied by the deceased and are prone 
to considerable variation compared to other sources, such as the census data 
or shipping indents, but the recorded figure has been preserved in this list. 
In those instances where no age of death was recorded it was sometimes 
possible to calculate it from other sources as well. The age is unknown for 
462 (9%) entries.
 
The ages ranged from Susan Close who only lived for three hours to Jerediah 
Cottle who claimed to be 96. The rate of infant mortality is shocking to 
modern sensitivities with 829 (16%) of all deaths being for children under the 
age of five. On the other hand 729 (14%) lived past the age of 60.
 
The ship of arrival, when recorded, may not have been correct. This is because 
the informants may not have known with certainty the ship of arrival, which 
may have been decades earlier. In the case of women it maybe because she was 
buried under her married name or her maiden name which may have differed 
from that recorded on the convict shipping indents. When the deceased's 
ship of arrival cannot be confirmed by reference to the relevant shipping indent 
the year of arrival has been omitted. Even so the ship of arrival and status 
upon arrival are the major details contributed by the research for this volume.
 
For the colonial born their year of birth and parents names are recorded in 
the ship of arrival column.
 
The 1825 Muster (which is in fact a combination of the three musters for 
the years 1823,1824,1825) has the distinction of recording the deaths of 
some people listed in the muster. There were 194 deaths which cannot be located 
in any of the church registers. Of these 38 were not able to be located on 
the indent of the nominated ship and are indicated by the absence of any 
"civil status". Perhaps one of the reasons there were no burial recordings 
is that 12 entries refer to deaths in the Bathurst district when Holy Trinity's 
register did not commence until 1826 and 11 entries refer to deaths at Port 
Macquarie when St Thomas's register did not commence until October 1824 and 
interestingly 12 entries list the cause of death as "killed by the aborigines". 
Regretfully very few have an exact date, many have only the year and most (110) 
have no date at all, just the notation "dead" recorded against their names. 
Consequently no date of death means no age at death can be calculated.
 
An added bonus of the 1825 Muster, the names of 246 convicts who had left the 
colony over the three years are recorded, sometimes even with the name of the 
ship.
 
In similar fashion, the 1828 Census in Appendix 2 lists those convicts who 
died between November 1828 and April 1834 (not all of course) recording the 
year and month, but not the day, of death. Of this number 44 are recorded 
as dying in 1829 or 1830 with no corresponding burial record, as well a further 
32 which have no year of death stated and may in fact have occurred in 
1831,1832, 1833 or 1834. Again two of the entries record the cause of death 
as "killed by the aborigines".
 
There were 146 deaths collected from the Pioneer Register Project and other 
miscellaneous sources which have no corresponding burial record. Exactly 
where the descendants found this information is not clear but presumably 
there must be some source document to back up the claims.
 
The above three categories indicate that not all deaths were recorded in 
church burial registers. Just how many will probably never be known but 
certainly many more deaths occurred in the colony than those recorded in this 
list.
 
There were 59 hangings, with sixteen of these not being recorded in church burial 
records.
 
There is a certain logical basis to the fact that the Christian name of the 
son of Edward Murray and Ann Heyne was not recorded at his burial because he 
was not batpized!
 
There were 19 duplicate entries and one triplicate entry - how one could be 
buried more than once is a mystery! These have been preserved on the list in 
order to be able to locate the relevant baptism on the duplicated church register. 
The majority refer to burials at St Marys Sydney which no doubt have arisen 
as a result of the chaotic nature of the records of this parish. Others refer 
to both an Anglican and a Catholic burial, one to an Anglican and a Presbyterian 
burial. It is not clear how Eliza Hatfield could have been buried at both 
Newcastle and Liverpool. Likewise it is difficult to explain how two prisoners; 
James Moran and Patrick Sullivan could have been executed at both Sydney and 
Irish Town!
 
Ann Spencer's burial in 1829 managed to be recorded three times!
 
Records have been collected from twenty two different churches and are listed 
in table below. Unlike baptisms, no burials performed by the 
Wesleyan-Methodist nor Baptists have been located.
 
 
 Table 52.1. - Original Sources
 
 SPS 1322 25%
 SJS 793 15%
 SJP 653 12%
 SMW 408 8%
 SMS 400 8%
 SLL 378 7%
 CCN 228 4%
 SPR 140 3%
 HTK 111 2% 
 CCC  105 2%
 STPM 81 2%
 SPC 77 1%
 SJB 45 below 1%
 SKS 42 below 1% 
 SJW 41 below 1%
  STSR 34 below 1%
 SJPT 27 below 1%
 SAKP 21 below 1%
 SPCO 19 below 1%
 ASSF 8 below 1%
 SPEM 8 below 1%
  EKPH 6 below 1%
 
 
The abbreviations used in this volume are explained below.
 
 
 ASSF : All Saints Sutton Forrest 
 CCC : Christ Church Castlereagh 
  CCN : Christ Church Newcastle 
 EKPH : Ebenezer Kirk Portland Head 
 HTK : Holy Trinity Kelso 
 SAKP : St Annes Kissing Point 
 SJB : St Johns Moreton Bay
 SJP : St Johns Parramatta 
 SJPT : St James Pitt Town 
 SJS : St James Sydney 
 SJW : St Johns Wilberforce 
 SKS : Scots Kirk Sydney
 SLL : St Lukes Liverpool 
 SMS : Catholic St Marys Sydney 
 SMW : St Matthews Windsor 
 SPC : St Peters Campbelltown 
 SPCO : St Pauls Cobbitty 
 SPEM : St Peters East Maitland
 SPR : St Peters Richmond 
 SPS : St Phillips Sydney 
 STPM : St Thomas Port Macquarie 
 STSR : St Thomas Sackville Reach 
 
 AP : absolute pardon
 CP : conditional pardon
 TL : ticket of leave
 
 * : duplicate
 ** : triplicate

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