my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, soldier and magistrate involved in the famous “rum rebellion” - Australia's 1st and only military coup of the government (1808).
there is currently some dispute regarding the parentage and spouses of Capt Brabyn, see E. Weir's theories at bottom of page.
see also:
born in Cornwall, England on 6th August,1758 to parents John Brabyn (1732-1759) and Joanna Jago, both of Cornwall, whom had married in 1752.
“According to family tradition, he was the younger of two sons, and lived on a small farm with his widowed mother. One day, while visiting the local market town, John's brother was picked up by a recruiting sergeant and signed on to serve in the army. When his mother found out, she went to see the recruiting officer and requested her son's release, as she depended on him to run the farm, and offered John in his place.” John entered the army in 1778.
hmm… to have lost his father at age 1yr old, then to be effectively rejected by his mother, no wonder he decided to come to Australia (if he had a choice), what else did he have to lose… oh, yes … his wife and then his eldest son…
married “Mary” presumably before 1789
son John Frederick born in 1789 in Flanders
during military service in Flanders, legend has it that he saved the life of the Duke of York.
“By virtue of his size and strength, was a member of the Duke's personal guard. When the Duke's horse was shot from underneath him on the battle field Brabyn rode past and lifted the Duke onto his own horse and carried him to safety. Olive Mills claims that “In return for his service, the Duke promised him that his son, who was born on the field of battle in Flanders, should, on coming of age, receive a commission in the army.” If this is so, then he failed to keep his word, for his son John Frederick Brabyn joined the H.M.S. Lady Nelson in 1801 as a “Boy, 1st. Class”. A sword that was Brabyn's, and was in the possession of the family for many years (until stolen), bore the Royal Coat of Arms, and gave rise to the legend that this was presented to him by the Duke. This may well be so, but it could also be that the Royal Coat of Arms was commonly attached to military arms and regalia. The family stories have him visiting the Duke of York on his visits to England (he went in 1811 and 1815), and the Duke was said to have interceded on his behalf - but since Brabyn failed in his objective to get out of the army, his influence seems negligible in an area where royal patronage would be likely to carry weight. Brabyn's residence in Windsor, “York Lodge”, may well have been named to perpetuate a connection with the Duke of York, but there is no such dedication in existence today. ”
he left Cork, Ireland on 9th August 1795 aboard the Marquis of Cornwallis in charge of a detachment of the NSW Corps as Ensign John Brabyn of the 12th Regiment of the NSW Corps (later named Royal Veteran Company) carrying 163 male and 70 female convicts. During the voyage a mutiny broke out & John Brabyn gave evidence in the subsequent court hearings on 12th March 1796. The ships passenger lists includes “Brabyn Mrs Mary and her two children, John and Jennifer”, and his wife Mary was the 1st white free woman to die on Norfolk Is. (1796) - she died within a week of them arriving on Norfolk Island.
arrived in Sydney Cove, Port Jackson on 11th Feb. 1796, only 8 years after the first white settlement of the Colony of New South Wales (ie. the first white settlement of Australia) by Governor Phillip in 1788.
he was later promoted to Lieutenant & then to Captain & was known as a man of judgment, tact & ability who held important & honourable positions as a member of court at several notable trials resulting from conflict between important civil & military personages, and the governors.
In 1796 on his arrival in Australia John Brabyn was granted the lease of 19 acres on Norfolk Island by Governor John Hunter, which he now cultivated and also became a trader, though unlike most of his fellow officers, he did not trade in rum, having seen the misery caused by alcohol during his army service. It seems he arrived on Norfolk Island on 2nd April 1796, and his wife Mary, died there on 29th April 1796.
On the 15th of August,1800 John was promoted Lieutenant and returned to Sydney Town, and from there he continued on to Cornwall in England to bring his seven year daughter Jennifer Ann back to Australia.
John's brother George, the eldest son was now the owner of the Brabyn family farm at Pelynt, and in 1780 George had married Sarah Medlands in Cornwall and they were now the parents of a son.
John and his daughter Jennifer Ann returned to Sydney with the family silver which was John's heritage, sailing on the ship “Hercules” and it was here that John met the Irish woman Sarah DENNISON (also called herself Sarah HOWARD and Sarah ELLIOT) who was said to be the wife of Bernard (Barney) Dennison an Irish convict who had come to Australia on the ship “Martha” to New South Wales in 1791.
he sat with the judge-advocate in connection with the Paterson-Macarthur duel on 4th Sept, 1801.
he was given a further grant of 200 acres by Governor King in 1801.
in 1802, he married Sarah Elliott (1768-1847).
he was a member of the court in the trial of D'Arcy Wentworth for contempt in 1807.
he sat with the judge-advocate in the trial of John Macarthur (the one who brought merino sheep to Australia) in 1808.
“Brabyn played an important part in the events leading up to the deposition of Governor Bligh in January 1808, for he was a member of the court whose actions at the trial of John Macarthur precipitated the governor's “arrest” by the military.”
“Macarthur, the most powerful and arrogant of the officers, though by that time he had retired from military service, was on trial for sedition in refusing to pay a fine. When Macarthur refused to be tried and the six members of the court bench, including Brabyn, supported him, Governor Bligh was furious and declared he would gaol them all. In consequence, between Macarthur, the six officers, and Major Johnston, a plot was launched and a military coup carried out on 26th January 1808, later known as the “Rum Rebellion”. Bligh was imprisoned, Johnston declared himself Governor and Macarthur Colonial Secretary. The officers made huge land grants to each other, and most of the civilian positions passed into the hands of the military. That Brabyn played only a supporting role is evident in that he received no land and no immediate position. By continuing to side with Macarthur after the “rebellion”, he incurred the wrath of Major Johnston and was assigned to Van Dieman's Land.”
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he was detached to Tasmania as Commandant at Port Dalrymple, Launceston from Dec. 1808.
his 14 yr old eldest daughter
Jennifer married Peter Mills, in Port Dalrymple, 1810.
I am guessing there may have been conflicts between Jennifer and her step-mother as:
she married at a young age of 15, although this was probably common then, but perhaps it was also to escape a Cinderella scenario of living with a step-mother and two younger step-sisters while her father may have been too busy to devote much time to her.
it does not seem that her father returned to see her again after 1810, even though she became destitute and a widow.
given that she named her first son after her father, presumably the conflict wasn't with him.
her husband, Peter Mills was a friend of Gov. Bligh, the man whom John Brabyn had opposed in the Rum Rebellion.
John Brabyn's will and secret grant of land to his grandson, dealt very unfairly with Jennifer who only received a silver cutlery set as part of the will, a will dated the day after he died.
as an aside, could there also have been a conflict between John Brabyn or his wife, with his son John Frederick:
John Frederick left his father and step-mother in 1802, joining the Lady Nelson, perhaps in response to his father's re-marriage - this is pure speculation on my part, but given the coincidence and the latter circumstances around Jennifer, I wonder if his step-mother created conflicts?
he is said to have been the better of a bad lot of Commandants who were mostly ineffectual as administrators & were chiefs of a colony racked by fraud, deficiencies in stores, quarrelling, & maladministration.
he was replaced as commandant and administrator of the county of Cornwall in January 1810 by Major Gordon and returned to Sydney.
after military rule in NSW was abruptly ended to be replaced by Macquarie and his own troops to restore legitimate government, in March 1810, he went to England with the officers of the disbanded NSW Corps for trial. He was left unpunished for his part in the Rum Rebellion, as were most of the other officers, and in less than a year, he was put in charge of the NSW Veteran Company, and in 1812 was back in Sydney via the Guildford.
in 1817? he was granted leave to visit Europe, and on his return, he was detached to Parramatta, NSW from 1821-1824 when he retired from active service.
he died at “York Lodge”, Windsor, NSW on 3rd August 1835 & was buried in the old Windsor Cemetery.
after his death, a notice was issued in the NSW Government Gazette, 1 Aug. 1839, of a grant of land of 800 acres in the Parish of Vane, County of Durham, NSW. This was conveyed to his son-in-law, Charles Marsden to hold in trust. On Sarah's death in 1847, her sole executor of her will was Rev. Thos. Hassell. This notice of land was not made known to his eldest daughter in Tasmania who was Sarah's step-daughter, and it was his youngest daughter of Sarah who had married the Rev. Samuel Marsden's son who took control of the grant. (Rev. Samuel Marsden was a noted clergyman, the second minister to arrive in the colony).