Researchers who have claimed this convict
There are currently 6 researchers who have claimed Laurence Butler
- Researcher (406)
- Researcher (Maxwell Cluff)
- Researcher (Lyn Fox)
- Researcher (Lyn Fox)
- Researcher (Colin Bateman)
- Researcher (Catherine Foster)
|
 |
Biographies
LAURENCE BUTLER arrived in the Colony of NSW on 30/10/1802 on the ship "Atlas 2". He was born in 1750 in Ireland, probably in Wexford County, and was living with his wife Catherine in the small village of Ferns in northern Wexford when he became involved in the rebellion. He was charged with acting as a rebel captain and ‘aiding, abetting and assisting in the murder of a man named Grimes’, a Protestant in the local yeomen militia who in turn was accused of murdering a blacksmith named Carton who was accused of making pikes. Butler’s court-martial trial, held in December 1800, found him guilty, and he was given a life sentence and transportation to NSW (after two years in New Geneva Barracks prison in Waterford).
For the first few years, he was assigned as a carpenter in the government lumber yard in Sydney, while working as a cabinet maker in his spare time, making furniture for free settlers such as John Blaxland. In the 1806 Muster, he was living with another convict, Mary Ann Fowles, who had arrived in 1794. She was listed in Marsden’s Female Muster as having 1 natural child - Walter Butler, Laurence's first son who was born late 1806-1807. Mary Ann Fowles appears to have died between 1809 and 1811.
In 1808 he was given a conditional pardon by Gov. Foveau, which as cancelled on the arrival of Gov. Macquarie, but was granted a Ticket of Leave. He set up his cabinet making business at No 7 Pitt Street, Sydney, employing several journeymen and apprentices.
In 1810 and 1812 he petitioned Gov. Macquarie for mitigation of his sentence and was finally granted a conditional pardon in Feb 1813. His first application was endorsed by John Oxley, Gregory Blaxland and Elizabeth Macarthur.
By 1812 he was living with Ann Roberts, a convict who arrived on the "Speke" in Nov 1808, and had 4 children with her between 1812 and 1819, two of whom died in late 1819. He married Ann in 1817, shortly after hearing of his Irish wife Catherine’s death.
In 1813, Laurence was one of 17 traders who tried to set up the first regulated banking system in the colony, forming the Commercial Society of Sydney, and issuing promissory notes at a fixed rate. The group was subsequently banned by Gov. Macquarie.
In 1816 Laurence was granted 100 acres in the district of Petersham, now the Callan Park Hospital grounds in the Sydney suburb of Lilyfield.
In 1817, he was one of the 78 signatories to a petition seeking to reverse a British government decision to forbid the importation of goods on convict transport ships. Macquarie described them as a ‘great majority of the most respectable Inhabitants of the Colony’.
During the years, Laurence built up a profitable cabinet making business, and general merchandising business, and is now recognised as Australia's first cabinet maker of note with several pieces of furniture attributed to his manufactory in various museums.
By the time of his death in December 1820, aged 70, Laurence left his 3 surviving children, Walter, Lawrence and Ann, two houses/premises in Pitt Street and a house in Kent Street Sydney, the 100acre farm at Petersham, his considerable warehouse stock and 50 head of cattle in his Will which, according to son Walter, was valued at upwards of £2000. His wife Ann died 4 years later, leaving Walter, at the age of 17, responsible for the upbringing of his half-siblings, 12 year old Lawrence and 7 year old Ann. (See Claim-a Convict- Mary Ann Fowler, and Ann Robert)
Submitted by Researcher (406) on 11 May 2014
|
Disclaimer: The information has not been verified by Claim a Convict. As this information is contributed, it is the responsibility of those who use the data to verify its accuracy. Research notes
There are currently no research notes attached to this convict. |
