FF JOHN GRIFFITHS Marine
‘Friendship’ (c1762-1844)
- this story is under review by Membership Team
John GRIFFITHS was born c1758
He joined the Plymouth division (27th
Company) in January 1783, a former labourer aged 24,
with fair complexion, hazel eyes and nearly 5ft 10ins
tall.
John was a private marine 51st Plymouth
Company and arrived in Sydney Cove on 26/1/1788 on
Friendship.
At Port Jackson he served in the company
of Captain James Meredith.
He then worked as a carpenter (a
tolerable sawyer) to 6th Jun 1789 when he was
sent to Norfolk Island by
Supply.
Here he was a settler on lot No 74 at
Creswell Bay by lease in February 1792, with 50 to 60
acres ploughable, eight cultivated, at October 1793
In June 1794 he was living with JANE
THOMPSON (Neptune 1790)and two children, and
selling grain to stores.
Jane had been sent on the Suprizeon
7th August 1790 with her small son Robert-
aged 6 years-, who was born in England and had survived
the voyage on the Neptune.
Victualling records show at least two
children: John (15th January 1792) and
Elizabeth (1794). However the muster of the Supply,
sailing for Port Jackson in April 1796, shows Griffiths
sailing with Jane and three children as James, Jane and
George.
By 1796 Griffiths was sharing a 75 acre
grant with two others at Mulgrave Place.
At the end of 1802 he was a Sergeant in
the Sydney Loyal Association.
In the 1806 Muster Jane Thompson is with
John Griffiths, and Marsden’s list as a concubine with
three male and two female children- Robert 1784, John
1792, Elizabeth 1794, George Birth Date not known and
Mary 1803.
On 30thDecember 1809 he leased
a town lot of 78 rods at the Rocks near Cockle Bay where
he operated as a sawyer; he had been granted 100 acres a
month earlier in St George’s parish. The 100 grant had
been made by Col Patterson, Administrator of the Colony
after the overthrow of Governor Bligh. This grant was
revoked when Governor Macquarie arrived as Governor in
1810, and the grantees has to make petitions setting out
reasons why they should have their land re-granted.
John, in his petition to Macquarie, he
stated that he had arrived in the Colony as a Marine at
its First settlement and had conducted himself in a
manner becoming a soldier and citizen. He had been
appointed a Sergeant in the Loyal Association by
Governor King, and had been a Sergeant Major. He had a
wife and five children to support, and in view of the
long time he had been in the Colony and his conduct
during that time, he humbly transmitted the grants to
the Governor in accordance with general orders and
ardently craved the honour of the Governor’s illustrious
notice.
Jane Thompson died in February 1812, her
age given as 44 years, which would make her 19 at the
date of her conviction in 1787, and 16 when Robert
Thompson was born. He death, as Jane Griffiths, was
mentioned in the Sydney Gazette-‘aged 44 years, from
Manchester, Ship Neptune’ FBS Funeral 5th
February 1812
John was recorded as a sawyer in Sydney 1814.
\On 1/2/1819 he married Bridget Ann
HOLLAND (aka Bridget Ann MOORE- Indispensable) at
Castlereagh.
He continued to live in NSW and in 1822
and again in 1828 he was working as a sawyer, then aged
67 years in 1829 he was a dairyman at Evan to Sir John
Jamison, son of Thomas Jamison, assistant surgeon on
HMS Sirius
With him were his wife Ann Bridget, Mary
(his daughter with Jane Thompson) who became Sir John
Jamison’s mistress then wife and two small children
James and Mary, probably his grandchildren.
Thomas had acquired extensive property in
NSW, and when he died in 1811 appointed his son, Sir
John, a naval surgeon, who had been knighted by the King
of Sweden, his principal heir and executor.
Sir John arrived in the Colony in 1814
added considerably to the family property, and when he
died, in 1844, was one of the wealthiest and most
influential men in the colony.
In the early 1820’s, he built a mansion
which he named Regentville, on the banks of the Nepean
River. It was a large two storied building with a
veranda across the front and a single story wing on each
side. Built before other large houses, such as Captain
Piper’s Henrietta Villa, Regentville was the pride of
the Colony
His hostess at Regentville was his
mistress, 22 y/o Mary Griffiths John Griffiths and Jane
Thompson’s daughter
She had his seven children and Sir John
married her in 1844 not long before his death. But by
then his fortunes had suffered a reverse due to the
failure of a bank and the depressed economy. Mary died
in 1874
First Fleeter John Griffiths died
5/5/1844 at his son-in-law’s home in Hobart
Obituary Notice:
DIED. At Hobart Town, on the 5th instant,
at the residence of his son, Richard John Griffiths,
formerly of the Royal marines, and one of the first
settlers in New South Wales, aged 82 years and three
months.-Sydney
Morning Herald Tue 21 May 1844 p. 3
Complied by John Boyd 2020.
The Fellowship of First Fleeters
installed a FFF Plaque on John Griffith’s Grave on 11th
September 1999.
Refer FFF Web Site:http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/graves.html
Under
see
FFF Plaque 107 – Installed 11th
September 1999for
FF JOHN GRIFFITHS Marine‘Friendship’(c1758-1844)
Sources:
-The Founders of Australia by Mollie
Gillen Pages 150-151
-https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I27339/John-Griffiths
-The Women of the Neptune by Ann Needham,
Laurel Riddler, Merle Hadley and Phyllis Scott
Pages161-162
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