LIST 11 - BAPTISMS - ST PETERS CAMPBELLTOWN

 
 
St Peters Campbelltown was founded in 1821 becoming the 10th Church of 
England parish established in the colony. There were 203 baptisms performed 
during the years 1821 to 1830, although 21 refer to children born before 1821, 
plus 25 performed after 1830 for children born between the years 1821 and 
1830. On average there was about one baptism performed per fortnight over 
the decade.
 
The information recorded for each child is exactly as described for both the 
pre and post 1826 presentations of St Phillips Sydney in List 3.
 
The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. 
 
With regard to the fathers; the arrival details of five remain unknown whilst 
in one case the ship of arrival remains unknown (3%).
 
One hundred and forty six were convicts or former convicts (72%), 8 were soldiers 
or former soldiers (4%), 36 came free (18%) and 32 were colonial born (16%).
 
With regard to the mothers; the names of twelve were not recorded and the arrival 
details of fourteen remain unknown whilst in one case the ship of arrival 
remains unknown (8%).
 
Fifty seven were convicts or former convicts (28%), 43 came free (21%) and 
113 were colonial born (56%).
 
Twenty eight (14%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
There were six duplicate entries.
 
The first baptism was performed on the 6th May 1821 by the Rev Reddall.
 
The Rev Thomas Reddall was appointed chaplain to the districts of Airds, Appin 
and Minto in 1822. He spent all his clerical life at St Peters until his death 
in 1838. In 1859 his son, Rev Thomas Reddall jnr., took over his fathers old 
parish.
 
Rev Reddall baptized one of his own daughters at St Peters during the decade 
and one of his grand daughters.
 
Archdeacon Thomas Scott performed one baptism in January 1827 and Rev Thomas 
Hassall performed one in January 1829.
 
Unfortunately the microfilm of the register for the years 1822 to 1825 has not 
been found nor consulted but fortunately a reasonable approximation of 
the entries can be recreated from the Kerrison James Index. The only 
information in this period which would not be certain is the chaplain but most 
certainly was Rev Reddall in all cases.
 
After 1826 the information recorded for each baptism was; date of baptism, date 
of birth, Christian name of child, Christian and family name of father, 
Christian name of mother (family name only when the child was illegitimate), 
the place of residence of the family, quality or profession of the father 
and minister performing the ceremony.
 
Rev Reddall had one peculiarity in that on occasions rather than recording the 
father's occupation he recorded the civil status of the parents, for example, 
convict, free by servitude, conditional pardon or native (colonial born). 
Perhaps these came under the description of "quality" in the column of "quality 
or profession".
 
Where the father's surname has a second name separated by a slash '/', the surname 
after the slash is how the name was spelt in the original document or if second 
name is substantially different it refers to an alias. Where the mother's surname 
has a second name separated by a slash, the surname after the slash is her 
married name at the time of the recording being made if she was married more 
than once. 
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the 
original source document. The numbering system was re-initialized in 1826 with 
the introduction of the new printed registers but was again re-initialized 
in 1827. Then 1828 skipped to number 53 from number 28 at the end of 1827. 
There does not appear to any numbering system after 1830.
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SPC" on List 1. To locate 
an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name would be 
made on List 1 from which the date of baptism would be retrieved, secondly using 
the appropriate date, the baptism would be located on this list and finally 
an alphabetical search on the name would be made on the baptismal date if 
there should be more than one entry for that date. 

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