On the 19th of March 1820 Mary
Riches was born in the St. Clement’s district of the city of Norwich, Norfolk,
England. She was the daughter of Robert and
Ann Riches. There were three of elder
children, who were born in Skeyton, a small village further north in Norfolk,
where Mary’s parents had married in 1810.
On the night 6th of July Mary’s
father went out with two brothers, Henry and George Adams, and stole two sheep
and two lambs, the property of a farmer who had brought them to Norwich for
sale. They were duly caught and put in
prison, but Mary’s father supplied a bit more information about other thefts
the two brothers had carried out. Two
weeks late at the local Assizes Robert presented his information to the judge
and was let off for his part in the theft.
The two brothers were sentenced to death. On July 29th Robert was released
from prison.
On August 13th, Mary was
baptized in the St. Clement’s, Church of England, her father being there at the
altar, and being described as Robert Howard Riches, a Labourer, and his wife as
Ann, late Munford.
St.
Clement’s, Norwich
In January 1822 Mary’s father was again up
against a judge, and again for stealing animals, this time along with a Joseph
Reeve, it was eleven geese, nine ducks and six turkeys. But Robert had no information he could share
that would get him off this time and was duly sentenced to seven years
transportation. On the 4th
April Mary’s father left England on the transport Asia.
By now Mary’s mother was expecting another
baby, and she moved her 4 daughters to the town of Spowston, just outside of
Norwich and here in August Ann had another daughter, Phyllis.
Robert Riches life in Australia was better
than expected, and he was assigned as a ploughman to James Atkinson of
“Oldbury” at Sutton Forest, south west of Sydney. On November 28th, 1823 Robert
applied to the Government to have his family brought out to Australia. He had the recommendation of Mr Atkinson in
Australia, but also of Mr Jno. Wortell of Sprowston.
In mid September 1824, Mary, along with her
mother and three sisters, Sarah, Rachel and Elizabeth, the younger sister, Phyllis,
seems to have died before their departure, made their way to Woolwich on The
Thames, where they boarded the transport Henry.
On board they were giving their surname as Richie.
On October 1st, Mary’s eldest
sister, Sarah, fell ill with a severe headache, nausea and a feeling of
oppression over the heart area. The
doctor on board, William Carlyle, induced vomiting, but Sarah continued to feel
pain in the chest.
The next day the doctor bled Sarah, but she
fainted during this and continued to be ill.
Her face and upper chest were covered with a purple coloured looking
efflorescence. She was to drink barley water and be kept as cool as possible.
On the 4th Mary herself fell ill
with a fever, showing hurried respiration and slight convulsive tremors. By the next day both girls were covered
vesicular pimples but Sarah’s eyes were inflamed and constantly tearing.
By now the ship had moved down the Thames
to Gravesend. Mary, while still showing
pretty numerous eruptions over her body, she was not suffering to the same
level as her elder sister. Sarah could
no longer answer coherently. Her throat had swelled to the extent she could not
take any liquid let alone food. At about
3 o’clock on the 8th of October Sarah died. Within two hours her body had been committed
to the river Thames.
Mary slowly started to get better, and by
the 10th the doctor was no longer reporting her health in his diary.
It took just on 4 months before the Henry,
on the 9th February, sailed in to Hobart, Tasmania, and the local
newspaper reported that she brought no mail but newspapers from the 6th
October. Nearly all the convicts were
taken off before she sailed for Sydney on the 20th.
On the 27th of February 1825 the
Henry entered Port Jackson. The local
Sydney newspapers reported that she had on board “2 female prisoners, 2 free
women, and 4 children” as well as 5 ewes and 2 rams, of the best Spanish Merino
sheep.
Mary, with her mother and sisters, now made
there way down to Sutton Forest, south west of Sydney, where her father was
still working on Mr. Atkinson’s property.
Here in March 1825 the family was now re-united and by the following February
Mary had a brother James, and he was written in the parish register as having
the surname Richards.
Mary ‘s young life was spent in the
surrounding area of Sutton Forest, although there was a brief time in 1828 when
her parents were living in Cambridge street in Sydney, her mother working as a
laundress. A further two sisters
arrived, Sarah and Susan, but Sarah died aged 7 at Sutton Forest. Mary had now seen three sisters die.
On the 24th of April 1842 Mary
gave birth to a daughter. The new born
baby was privately baptized the next day by Reverend Vidal of All Saint’s Church,
Sutton Forest, and the father was identified as John Holland, a local
farmer. But the baby died two days later
and was buried in the grounds of All Saint’s.
On April 17, 1843 Mary married James
Powell, at All Saint’s. James had come
out to Australia in 1832 as convict. He
was originally from Bristol, Gloucestershire and had been the previous year sentenced
to 14 years for picking pockets. He was
now on a Ticket of Leave and had permission to run bullock teams between Sydney
and Yass. Mary’s older sister Rachel was
her witness at the ceremony, and Mary had to mark the sign of a cross for where
her name was, Mary Richey.
By September 1844 Mary and James were
living at Carrickbilly, near Berrima, when she gave birth to their first child,
Susan Ann, name after her two grandmothers, on September 19th. James
was now a carrier.
On the 3rd of September 1845
James obtained his Certificate of Freedom and was now a free man to go and work
for himself instead of being assigned to others. He became a shopkeeper in the town of Berrima
and there in 1847 Mary gave birth to a son, Alfred James.
By 1849, a second son, Joseph Henry, had
come along, and James was now running cattle sales to improve their income. Mary had another daughter, Emma, who arrived
the following year and by July 1852 when her son Theodore arrived, James was a licensed
auctioneer, but Mary’s life as the wife of a up and coming young business man
was to end.
On the 8th of December Mary died
in Berrima, just less than 6 months after the birth of her son Theodore.
Mary’s funeral was held in the Holy Trinity
church in Berrima before the coffin was taken to Bong Bong, a distance of about
12 kilometers, the closest cemetery, and here she was buried on the 10th. Her headstone reads:
Sacred
To The Memory Of
Mary Powell
Who Departed This Life
On The 8th of December 1852
Aged 32 Years
Leaving 5 Small Children
To Deplore Their Loss
She is buried alongside two of her
husband’s young children from his subsequent marriage, just outside the church
building.
In September 2013 there is a tree of about
5 feet growing in the plot, a sign that even after death life goes on.
Although she never got to see her children
grow old, all five lived very fruitful lives in the communities they inhabited,
all three of the sons being involved in government positions, the Post Office,
the Sheriff’s Office and local government.
From Mary’s humble beginnings in the
streets of Norwich to her death in Berrima 32 years later, she prepared the
path for her children’s lives.
Mary's
Grave at Christ Church, Bong Bong
Mary Riches 1820 – 1852
|
Joseph Henry Powell 1849 – 1927
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Reginald Joseph Powell 1894 – 1977
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Lorna Bessie Powell 1922 – 2009
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Kevin Reginald Brady 1961 –
