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Woolwich & Districts
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The story of George John Chidgey
This story is recounted by one of George's
great-great-grandchildren; Patricia Braden.
George John
Chidgey was born in Plumstead, England on 2nd
February, 1815 to parents George Chidgey and Eliza
Browning Grose. However, while
he was still a young teenager his father George
died, and to make matters worse, his mother Eliza
was also very sick and was very concerned about
her six children becoming orphaned.
Therefore, Eliza wrote to her brother Joseph
Hickey Grose in Sydney, Australia, asking if he
could arrange (and probably pay) for her two
eldest sons’ passage to Australia.
She had resolved that under the care of their
uncle, who despite having been sent out as a
convict, her two eldest boys (aged 14 and 16)
would have the chance of a better life in
Australia than as orphans in London.
 The
“Sir William Wallace” set sail from England about
December, 1831 with George John and Joseph Thomas
Chidgey on board. This was a tiny wooden
sailing vessel (a Brigantine) which was only 87
feet long by 25 foot wide (or 25 Mts x 7 Mtrs) (to
put it into perspective, my kitchen / dining room
is about 20 foot /6 mts long!).
There were about 50 passengers and 4 children on
board, plus the crew; and merchandise which was
for sale in Sydney. It would have been
very cramped with no escaping from the other
passengers either day or night.
What a frightening adventure for these two young
boys, sailing alone into the unknown on such a
small ship. Imagine their terror when
they encountered storms and high seas during their
many months at sea.
I wonder what they thought as they sailed into
Sydney Harbour on 1st May 1832 (i)
They would have been unaware till nearly 12 months
later that their mother had died on 21st August
1832 - just 3 months after their arrival here –
and that their young siblings had been split up
and farmed out to different extended family
members.
Sydney at the time was still a very small town,
struggling to assert itself in its own
right. But they certainly had wonderful
opportunities in this strange new land where our
young lads found it so very different to their
previous life in Plumstead.
 (ii)
Their
uncle Joseph Hickey Grose was by now a very
successful business-man who not only owned
property at Parramatta, but he also owned a new
shipping company which plied the waters from
Sydney to Newcastle (NSW). He had faith in
his nephew’s abilities, and paid the huge amount
of 50 pounds in 1834 for George’s Indenture as an
Apprentice carpenter, which was a 4 year
agreement, during which time George had to live
with his master and agree to many personal
conditions, including not to drink, gamble nor to
marry. (iii)
At the end of his apprenticeship in November,
1838, George John moved temporarily to the
recently settled town of Melbourne where the
building industry was booming.
Here he met and married twenty year old Margaret
Carton who had recently arrived from
Ireland. Their marriage on 4th
October, 1841 was at St. James Church of England,
wherein he had reputedly assisted with the
Carpentry. (iv)
They moved back to Sydney and, whilst still
working as a Carpenter, set up the first grocery
shop in Balmain – where George John was granted
the position of first Postmaster in Balmain
(v).
The original Shop and Post
office in Balmain, NSW.
As he was doing well in his new country he wrote
to his now adult siblings in England, and
convinced his sister and one of his brothers to
immigrate to Australia, where they too
prospered.
George John and Margaret had nine sons and a
daughter of their own, and although money was
tight at times they appear to have had a happy
marriage until sadly, just a few days after the
birth and death of their last child in April 1861,
Margaret died of dysentery. (vi)
Poor George John had lost the only woman he had
loved and the adored mother of his children – five
of whom were still under ten years
old. His only daughter, Eve, had
turned just two years old that same
week.
In a marriage of convenience, he now wed Isabella
(nee Jeffcott) Davis (a widow whom they seem to
have already known), who had three small children
of her own and was in need of a father and
bread-winner.
His final years were spent working as a builder
whilst overseeing his sons who also worked in
their Carpentry and joinery business.
George John Chidgey died on Christmas Eve, 1891 at
his home in Beattie Street,
Balmain.
He had never regretted his mother’s decision to
send him to Australia where his own family had
grown, married and
reproduced. At
the time of his death, he had nine living
children, 45 grandchildren, and two great
grandchildren.(vii)
His descendants have now spread right Australia
and New Zealand and I am just one of his many
Great, Great Grandchildren – who have
grandchildren and great grandchildren of our own –
all of whose origins began in Plumstead.
By Patricia
Braden, 2020.
Footnotes:
(i) The
Sydney Monitor – 2nd May, 1832 – Page 3, Shipping
Intelligence – Via Trove (National Archives
Australia) – accessed 13/5/2020 by Patricia
Braden.
(ii)
Image: Bunkers Hill, 1830 -
Visit Sydney - Pocket Oz, Travel and
Information Guide: http://www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au/bunkers-hill.html
(iii) Original Indenture
Certificate donated to the Mitchell Library,
Sydney by Miss Gladys Chidgey -1892.
(Iv) The Chidgey Family
History – The early Years in Australia, by Kevin
and Elizabeth Chidgey. ISBN.0 9591282 0 4
– Book in my possession.
(v) Thornton and
Sommerville, “Balmain” -1860-1935- History of
Balmain.
(vi) NSW Death
Certificate No. 1273 – Margaret Chidgey (nee
Carton) – 20/4/1861. (Copy in my possession).
(vii) Sydney Morning Herald,
25th December, 1891 – Death Notices, Page 1
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