​The 39th Regiment served in Ireland from December 1818 until its redeployment to New South Wales got underway in 1825. It is estimated that by 1824, maybe a third of the troops were Irish recruits. Since these three women each became mothers during the 1820s, it is likely they were Irish-born and had married “their” soldier in Ireland prior to embarkation for Australia. This conclusion was reinforced when we were unable to identify a marriage record for either the Smiths or the Hills; this seems to indicate both couples married in Ireland and those records were destroyed during the catastrophic fire in the Public Records Office of Ireland in 1922.

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More details of the lives of the Hale, Smith and Hill families after they left the Sound are provided below.

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The invisible wives and children of the British Army​

The War Office ordered a general restructuring of army battalions in 1825. The 39th therefore expanded to 42 sergeants, 14 drummers and 740 rank and file, divided across six service companies of 86 rank and file each and four (smaller) depot companies.

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The British Army’s “conditions of service” that applied to wives and children during the era that the Regiment served in Australia were set down as Regulations and Orders. These rules were discussed by military historian Clem Sargent in his article for the Military Historical Society of Australia in 2002, the key detail being;-​

... that when a Regiment embarks for Garrison Duty on foreign service, the lawful wives of the soldiers shall be permitted to embark, in the proportion of Twelve per Company, including the wives of Non-commissioned Officers, and Rations are to be issued to them as long as the Corps remains in a Foreign Garrison. (R 1816 p 370).

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The musters indicate that not all of the rank and file in the 39th served in Australia; five sergeants and about 20 rank and file remained in England as part of a depot company. Newspaper reports between July 1832 - March 1833 indicate that 625 rank and file and 66 women (plus 144 children) left Sydney for India or England.

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Our research into this topic has identified nearly 90 women, including the wives of 13 officers, who were attached to the Regiment while it served in Australia. (And we’ve also found that more than 25 of these women remained in New South Wales after their husbands were discharged in mid-1832.) These figures are consistent with the “Twelve per Company” rule but are probably incomplete. It is worth noting that at least 70 soldiers died either on duty or while enroute to Australia during this period and we have found four instances of a widow marrying another soldier in the Regiment within a very short amount of time.

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Most members of the 39th Regiment arrived in Australia in the period April 1826 to January 1830 as the guard on 29 convict transports. The first detachment arrived in Hobart on the Woodman under Wakefield’s command, followed by 30 troops on Regalia (arrived Sydney, 5 August 1826), then one officer, one sergeant and another 29 troops on Earl St Vincent. (This detachment transshipped to Sydney on the Portland, arriving on 11 September 1826.)

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There are no passenger lists (“manifests”) for these voyages from England. The November 1828 census in New South Wales captured total troops at each location, but no wives or children. And they were never referred to in the musters. However, matching of details from the musters and embarkation records plus checks against newspaper reports allows for a reasonably accurate list of soldiers who sailed on each ship to be prepared. Some of the names were also reported in newspapers – for instance, the Earl St Vincent brought Captain Smith (and the body of his wife, Ann, who died during the voyage), “serjeant George Millwood [Milward] corporals Shaw [Shore]and M'Donnough, 27 privates, 4 women, and 6 children”. The wives of officers were generally named in newspapers, but the other women were anonymous. A few were mentioned by name (for example, “Mrs Medigan”) in the journal of the official Superintendent Surgeon who accompanied each voyage to ensure the convicts arrived in good health in Australia.

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As a result of this multi-directional fact check process, it was possible to identify that the 20 members of the 39th Regiment who embarked on the Amity in November 1826 arrived in Australia on the three ships named above. This means it is very likely that Anne Hale, Mary Smith and Mary Hill were all stationed at Buttevant Barracks in County Cork, Ireland before their embarkation and resided at the same barracks in Sydney for several weeks before boarding the Amity. The Hales and the Smiths also sailed to Australia together on the Woodman.

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The Hales

​John Hale appears to have been a perfect recruit for the British Army. From the position of Private when he and Anne Higgins married in 1820, he was promoted to Corporal in 1825, Sergeant on 13 August 1826, Colour Sergeant on 25 December 1828, Sergeant-Major around 1833-34, then finally to Quartermaster in March 1834. This final promotion was key to identifying John’s wife, Anne, and his children.

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The “Sergeants” page for Quarter 2, 1828 is missing from the online copy of the Regimental musters, but cross-checking of Historical Records of Australia and newspaper shipping notices indicates that John and his family – plus Mary Hill – must have returned to Sydney on the government brig, Governor Phillip, which left the Sound on 17 June and arrived in Sydney on 4 July 1828. In Quarter 3, John is noted as [on] “Duty” in the 2nd muster, then “Command” for the 3rd muster.  During the next few years, John served at Bathurst, then returned to duty in Sydney.

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The musters show that John (and his family) arrived in India on 22 September 1832, indicating they sailed to Madras on Burrell. The musters after Quarter 1, 1833 are held at The National Archives (TNA) in Britain, but newspaper reports show that in the period that the Regiment began to experience the disastrous impact of an outbreak of cholera, John was promoted to the position of Sergeant-Major.

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This boost to John Hale’s career was probably fuelled by the terrible impact of so-called “Asiatic cholera” on everyone connected to the 39th Regiment during their deployment in India, as well as many, many other individuals. From at early as February 1829 and in the following years, Australian newspapers published articles concerning the spread of cholera to and within India, using phrases such as “the cholera, that scourge to every constitution” and “the cholera morbus which is the plague of India”.

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The Regiment’s official historian recorded that:

Cholera broke out among the European troops at Bangalore about the 22nd of March 1833; and in the course of five weeks the regiment lost Captain Thomas Meyrick, four serjeants, forty-two rank and file, two women, and eleven children.

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Sergeant-Major Hale was promoted to the position of Quartermaster on 7 March 1834, following the tragedy of Quartermaster Lloyd’s death through shipwreck in the Indian Ocean. Further tragedy followed just days later –British Army records show that John died “in Camp near Seringapatam” [current day Srirangapatna] on 24 March 1834.

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Parish register transcripts for the Presidency of Madras show that Anne Hale, Widow (European) married “Sjt Richard Mills” at Bangalore on 5 November 1834. This marriage was witnessed by Ann Dimond, most likely the wife of Sergeant Michael Dimond, yet another of the many Irish-born members of the Regiment.

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Sadly, like Captain Wakefield – by then, the Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 39th – Richard Mills died at Kamptee in May 1840. Richard is noted as a Private in the burial register.

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The records from India indicate there was at least one more chapter in the life of Anne Hale and her daughters, although it has not been possible to fully authenticate the story locked away in those archives.

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The established practice of facilitating the marriage of the widow of any soldier that died on service to another member of the Regiment as soon as possible is mentioned above. Sargent also notes this practice. In February 1841, “Ann Mills, Widow” of Kamptee, married Sergeant John Norman, “Bachelor, serjeant H.M. 39th Regiment” at Kamptee. The marriage was witnessed by William Ritchy of the same Regiment. Other records from Bellary in October 1830 show the marriage of “Anne Hale, Spinster European” to Private William Ritchy of the 39th. This marriage took place with the consent of Lt Colonel Wakefield. This “bride” seems to be John Hale’s younger daughter, Elizabeth, since we have not identified another Hale family involved with the 39th at this time. The records also show the 1836 marriage of “Marea Hale” to Sergeant Thomas Bestwick of the 39th Regiment; this is probably the older Hale daughter.

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John Norman born in Rochdale, Lancashire was discharged from the 39th Regiment in England in 1847. In 1848, he married Susan Campbell at Prestwich St Mary in Manchester, Lancashire. The marriage record stated he was a bachelor. John Norman, a Chelsea Pensioner born c.1803 is listed with his wife Susan (a school mistress) living in Oldham Above Town in the 1851 England census. And Royal Chelsea, Hospital pension registers show that John Norman of the 39th Regiment died on 18 November 1862.

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Nothing further can be identified from historic records for Anne Hale (née Higgins) or her daughters Maria or Elizabeth. One hopes they survived India and were able to return to England or Ireland and live peacefully after the challenges of the turbulent years that the 39th served in India.

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The Smith family​

In comparison to what can be found regarding the Hale family, very little is known of the lives of James Smith and his wife Mary Carmody.

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The musters show James was a labourer from Cork and he enlisted on 20 July 1821 for seven years.

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James was promoted to Corporal on the same date that John Hale was promoted to Sergeant – 13 August 1826, just weeks prior to the departure of Amity on her history-making voyage.

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Parish registers for Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic church show that Bridget Smith, [the child of] Corp. James Smith, 39th Regt and Mary Carmody was born at the Military Barracks in Parramatta, NSW on 27 July 1828 and baptised at the Barracks on 31 July 1828. The combination of musters and newspapers once again reveals that James (and Mary) must have returned from the Sound on the Mermaid, which Wakefield predicted would depart on 16 January 1828. This cutter arrived back in Sydney on 21 February; James took up duty at Parramatta in March.

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Sergeant John Fitzgerald and Ann McDonough were witnesses to the baptism. Ann and her husband, (then) Corporal Henry McDonough arrived in the colony on Earl St Vincent, with the Smiths plus five of the other soldiers who began serving at the Sound in 1826. These historic records from Saint Mary’s show that the men and women connected to the Regiment had strong bonds and relied on each other for support at important moments. It is also another indicator of the Irish ancestry of so many of the soldiers and their wives.

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Other than this baptism plus the musters, the records show only that after Parramatta, James served at Port Macquarie and in Sydney before departing for India in July 1832 on the Southworth. Research by a military genealogist in London in 2024 revealed that James Smith died at Bellary on 31 March 1839. Roman Catholic records of burials in India for this era are incomplete; it is estimated this set of documents covers only 70% of deaths in India. Details of the final place of rest for James and what life held for Mary and Bridget once they left Australia have not yet been found.

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The Hill family

Many, many descendants of Private William Hill and his wife Mary have traced the history of this couple, as well as other military researchers / family historians.

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William Hill, Captain Wakefield and both Wood families returned to Sydney on 31 December 1828. Wakefield, the Hill family, Privates William Harrigan (or Horrigan) and Maurice Mullins and 18 other soldiers left Sydney on Isabella for Norfolk Island on 5 February 1829, where Wakefield took up the role of temporary Commandant. (The Captain’s short tenure in that role ended with Lt Colonel Morisset’s arrival, but the Australian Almanack of 1 January 1830 shows that Wakefield stayed on at Norfolk Island as Superintendent of Works.)

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Eliza Hill was born at Norfolk Island on 21 November 1829 during William’s posting. The family returned from Norfolk Island in June 1830; Aaron Price’s journal plus newspaper reports show they returned to Sydney on the Lucy Ann. Eliza was baptised at St Phillip’s on 11 July 1830.

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A third child, Joseph, was born in Sydney in December 1831. The family departed for Madras on Hercules in December 1832.

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Records show that Mary and William became the parents of two more children while stationed at Bangalore – Jane (born 1835) and William (born 1837). Sadly, these records also show the death of the three youngest children: Joseph died in May 1833, then Jane in 1835, both at Bangalore. Their youngest son, William, also died at Bellary during the 1839 cholera outbreak.

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We know nothing else of Mary Hill’s history – not her maiden name, nor her birthplace, date of birth or marriage. We do know she died from cholera at Bellary on 7 May 1839, and was buried there on the following day. Her death (and that of her youngest son William) were recorded in a “Special Report on Cholera, as it affected H.M.’s 39th Regiment at Bellary” prepared by Assistant Surgeon J Macgregor Esq.

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William Hill, aged almost 45, suffering the effects of disease and general debility, took his discharge from the British Army in 1840. He returned to live in Somerset, taking Frederick and Eliza with him.

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Further milestones in Frederick Hill’s life story can be identified via marriage, birth and death records plus the details included in the official documentation of his discharge from the Royal Artillery. He died in Wales in November 1901 and is buried in an unmarked grave with his wife, Margaret Hill (née Clark) at Pembroke Dock. It is unknown if his descendants are aware that Frederick is probably the first European child to have been born in what is now known as Western Australia.  

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Eliza Hill’s life story is fully documented. She married George Binding in Somerset in 1851 and became the mother of a son, James. As with so many others from this county, they were lured to travel to Victoria as assisted immigrants and arrived in Melbourne in August 1854. Eliza was the mother of 11 children in total and has hundreds of descendants in Australia. Our family’s link to the early days of Europeans at King George Sound is an important part of our ancestry.

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Other women and children at the Sound​

In his “Return of the Population…” dated 10 July 1827, Captain Wakefield, second Commandant of the settlement at King George Sound, stated there were 3 women and 4 children. It is unclear which family these children belong to, and other Returns prepared by Wakefield have not been found. Did he decide to count Private Hill’s child before Frederick was born? Did Mary Hill forget the exact date of Frederick’s birth when he was baptised in Sydney 14 months later? Maybe another Smith child was born before James and Mary returned to Sydney in 1828? It is unlikely the exact facts will be found.

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What we do know from Professor Garden’s 1976 history of Albany is that Mrs Ann Wood and Mrs Sarah Wood – wives of the two convict overseers supplied by NSW Royal Veteran Company No. 1 – arrived at the Sound on the Amity on 8 August 1827. Ann Wood was accompanied by her first two children, Mary Ann and James. Their arrival came about a month after Wakefield prepared his Return, therefore they would not have been counted.

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Both convict overseers and their families returned to Sydney on the Governor Phillip in December 1828 and were discharged from the Army in 1829. The history of William and Ann Wood and their family after they settled at Bong Bong in NSW has been fully documented by their descendants. However, the final chapter in the lives of Thomas and Sarah Wood is shrouded by imperfect historic records.

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Other Returns of the Population prepared by Wakefield’s successor, Lt George Sleeman, then by Captain Collet Barker – the fourth and final Commandant of King George Sound drawn from the 39th Regiment – show us that a small number of women and children were always in residence until the departure of Barker, 20 soldiers, two women and four children in March 1831. Further research is underway to uncover the identities and life stories of those other families.

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Sources / bibliography

• Albany, A Panorama of the Sound, Donald S Garden, 1977

• Australian Almanack for the Year of our Lord 1830 (sanctioned by Sir Ralph Darling, published by Ralph Mansfield, Gazette Office), 1830

• BBC (bbc.com)

• Commandant of Solitude, The Journals of Captain Collet Barker 1828 – 1831, Derek John Mulvaney and Neville J Green, 1992 and 2021

• Historic Records of Australia, Series 3, Volume 6, ed. Dr Frederick Watson, 1922

• Historical Record of the 39th or Dorsetshire Regiment 1702-1853, Richard Cannon Esq., 1853

• History of Norfolk Island From the period of its Discovery in the year 1774, Aaron Price, 1854

• Parish register transcripts from the Presidency of Madras / British India Office

• “Possessory Lien—the First European Settlement, King George’s Sound, New Holland (1826-1831)”, Early Days Volume 6, Robert Stephens, 1962-1969, (via Fretopia, fretopia.org)

• Reports on Asiatic cholera in regiments of the Madras Army from 1828 to 1844 (Chapter 4), ed. Samuel Rogers, 1848

• Sabretache (Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia), Clem Sargent, 2002

• The Settlement on the Sound, D A P West, 1976

• War Office records including Muster rolls / pay lists and embarkation registers for 39th Regiment, [British Army] Officers' Birth Certificates, Wills & Personal Papers and Royal Hospital Chelsea pension information

• Western Port and Beyond, Malcolm G Horsburgh, 1985 (privately published)

 

Newspapers

The Australian – 22 February 1828, 9 Jul 1828, 4 June 1830

The Hobart Town Gazette – 6 May 1826, 19 August 1826, 2 September 1826

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser - 10 February 1829

The Sydney Herald – 14 July 1834

The (Sydney) Monitor – 11 August 1826, 10 November 1826, 1 January 1834