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THE 'TRITTON' IMMIGRANTS
John TRITTON (1793 - 1848)
Mary HAMMOND (1799 -1835), Elizabeth RUSSELL (1815 -1894)
Plymouth to Botany Bay - Ship : BURHAMPOOTER - Arrived 6 August 1841
TRITTON FAMILY aboard the BURHAMPOOTER
Tritton, John Age 48
Tritton, Elizabeth Age 26 (nee Russell)
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Tritton, John Age 16
Tritton, Charlotte Age 14
Tritton, Harriett Age 11
Tritton, Alfred Age 8
Tritton, Sarah Anne Age 2
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Alfred Thomas Tritton, at 8 years of age, was the youngest son in a family of seven, boarding the Burhampooter in Plymouth on Monday 19th April 1841. The Tritton family were among two hundred and thirty four passengers bound for Botany Bay as “Bounty immigrants”, selected by colonists who would employ them on arrival and pay for their passage, which would later be reimbursed by the government.
One decade earlier, Alfred's Dad, John Tritton, had retired from a distinguished military career. He was working as a gardener when William Walker & Co.​ agreed to sponsor his family's move to the Colony.
John Tritton's military background | The Waterloo Campaign and the 10th Royal Regiment of the Hussars
After the French revolution, Britain stood under constant threat of a French invasion. This period of French domination over Continental Europe produced a series of conflicts fought between the First French Empire - under Napoleon Bonaparte - and a fluctuating array of European coalitions.
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Prominent in these battles, on behalf of England, was John Tritton, a private in the 10th Royal Regiment of Hussars.
In 1806, the 10th Hussars sailed for Corunna in Spain and saw action at the Battle of Sahagún in1808 during the Peninsula War. At Benavente the regiment captured General Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes, the French cavalry commander. The regiment then took part in the Battle of Corunna in January 1809 before returning to England.
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The 10th Hussars at the battle of Benavente in 1808
A few years later, John, who was 18 years old, joined the military. It is possible that John was with the regiment when they landed in Spain iwhere the regiment fought at the Battle of Morales in June 1813. During the battle the regiment destroyed the 16th French Dragoons between Toro and Zamora, taking around 260 prisoners. The regiment also fought at the Battle of Vitoria later in the month while still in Spain and then, having advanced into France, fought at the Battle of Orthezin February 1814 and the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814.
But John Tritton's most significant war memory came from being in the 10th Hussars, as part of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, when they charged the French cavalry and infantry at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. During this famous battle (in what is now Belgium), John Tritton, at 22 years of age, served as a dispatch runner for the Duke of Wellington. It was the second bloodiest single day battle of the Napoleonic Wars - after Borodino - and it would end Napoleon's military campaign. According to Wellington, the Battle of Waterloo was "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life".
Family Life
John Tritton had participated in Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815. This was a historical milestone that ended years of serial European wars and resulted in decades of relative peace in Europe. Returning home to England, John married his first wife Mary Hammond in 1817 but she didn't give birth to her first child until 1825, which suggests John continued to serve the military, away from home, for quite a few years after the defeat of Napoleon.
When John and Elizabeth boarded the Burhampooter in Plymouth in 1841, they were accompanied by 2 year old Sarah Ann, their first child together, and John's four older children who now had a new young mother.
William Walker and Co
John Tritton was brought out to the Colony by William Walker and Co., a company formed by William Walker in 1823 with his brother James Walker (a half-pay naval officer), and two nephews (Thomas and Archibald Walker). The firm had a wharf and warehouse at Dawes Point and engaged in coastal shipping and whaling.
William had received a grant of 1000 acres from Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1821 and another 1000 acres from Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane near Mudgee in 1823. James received 2000 acres at Wallerawang and settled there in 1824. By 1828 the company had capital of approximately £25,000 invested in the colony. In February 1831 both brothers chartered the "Forth" and returned to London to establish the firm of Walker Bros. & Co., which during the late 1830s exported large quantities of wool to London.
William Walker played an active part in public life during his long residence in New South Wales. He was a director of the Bank of New South Wales in 1820-24, a member of committees appointed to examine the bank's affairs in 1844 and 1845, and was on its first London board in 1853-54. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce and treasurer of the Agricultural Society, a strong supporter of the Scots Church and a subscriber to charitable institutions.
Petersham Land Grant
John Tritton's first family home in the Colony was in Petersham, located 6 kilometres south-west of Sydney CBD. Australian statesman William Wentworth lived there before moving into Vaucluse House and selling his estate to Robert Wardell in 1934. Following Wardell's murder by escaped convicts in 1834, his estate was subdivided.
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Petersham Railway Station 1852
However, the Tritton family was not destined to stay in Petersham. A fire destroyed their first home including all papers and title deeds, together with John's military discharges, medals and decorations. John's son was of the belief that due to the destruction of the title deeds, the Tritton's lost tenure of the property. But the fire must have occurred after John's death because NSW records show John Tritton, gardener, died at home in the Parish of Petersham in August 1848 - exactly 7 years after he arrived in the Colony of NSW.
FIRST GENERATION TRITTONS
Alfred Thomas TRITTON (1833 - 1907)
Elizabeth SHERRARD (1833 - 1881), Rosina ASHTON (1845 - 1903)
Alfred Thomas TRITTON (1833 - 1907)
Margaret CAVANAGH (1856 - 1908)
ALFRED THOMAS TRITTON
Elizabeth Sherrard
Alfred John Tritton (1854-1936)
Charlotte Tritton (1855-1855) Infant Death
Thomas Tritton (1856-1858) 2 yr old Death
Elizabeth Tritton (1858-1868) 10 yr old Death
Mary Tritton (1861-1962)
Edward Tritton (1863-1865) 2 yr old Death
Albert Tritton (1865-1932)
Clara Tritton (1868-1945)
Velina Tritton (1869-1954)
Herbert Tritton (1871-1920)​​​​
Rosina Ashton | Haycraft
Henry Tritton (1883-1957)
Henrietta Tritton (1885-1885) Infant Death
Frank Tritton (1887-1948)
​Alfred Thomas Tritton was just 19 years old in July 1853, when he exchanged vows with Elizabeth Sherrard at St Andrews Scots Presbyterian Church in Sydney. In the first year of marriage, Elizabeth gave birth to Alfred John Tritton. She fell pregnant again quickly. However, when Charlotte was born all was not well. Their first born daughter would survive for a mere 14 days in November 1855.
Braidwood - Alluvial Gold
Alfred decided now was the time for a change of scenery. Gold had been discovered in Braidwood in the Southern Highlands of NSW, approximately 200 kilometres south west of Sydney. The discovery of alluvial ore in the Araluen Valley began a rush to the area with subsequent finds occurring at Majors Creek, Jembaicumbene and Mongarlowe River. Braidwood's population grew rapidly. In 1856, Alfred, his young pregnant wife Elizabeth, and his two year old son, joined the throng in search of alluvial gold.
Life on the Goldfields
Life was a scramble in the early day gold diggings and it must have been tough for Elizabeth to give birth to their third child Thomas in these surroundings, which were basically overcrowded tent encampments. Diggers often arrived with just a roll of canvas and looked for an open piece of ground or chopped down trees to make space and pitch a tent. Inside there was usually enough room for up to two people to sleep, eat, and store tools and belongings. It was a constant battle to keep out the flies, cockroaches, spiders and other insects.
All children who lived on the goldfields faced dangers. They could easily fall down mineshafts, be burnt by open fires or be trodden on by horses. The living conditions and harsh weather were terrible, but the biggest threat was disease. It was common for children on the goldfields to die from scarlet fever, whooping cough, pneumonia, measles, diphtheria and tuberculosis. The goldfields were over-crowded, and sanitation was terrible. Raw sewerage ran in open drains and, together with mining waste, it contaminated the water supply. Under these conditions, children also died from diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid.
The new infant, Thomas, did not thrive in the conditions. In 1858, Alfred and Elizabeth would bury a second child; Thomas died when he was barely two years old. In that same year, Elizabeth gave birth in Braidwood to a daughter she named after herself. A little girl born into the dangerous world of the gold diggings.
Lambing Flats and the Chinese Riots
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Soon the word had got around that gold had been discovered in the Burrangong region - which later became the modern town of Young in NSW. In 1860, Alfred needed another change of scenery. He moved his grieving wife and four year old son to the Stoney Creek goldfield in Burrangong. Ever the optimist, Alfred was convinced their run of bad luck was behind them. ​
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In 1860, when Alfred and Elizabeth arrived at Stoney Creek with young Alfred John, they encountered a wave of anti-Chinese disturbances about to erupt on the goldfields throughout the entire Burrangong region - at Spring Creek, Stoney Creek, Back Creek, Wombat, Blackguard Gully, Tipperary Gully, and Lambing Flat.
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The sources of conflict between European and Chinese miners arose from the nature of the industry they were engaged in. Most gold mining in the early years was alluvial mining, where the gold was in small particles mixed with dirt, gravel and clay close to the surface of the ground, or buried in the beds of old watercourses. Extracting the gold was hard work, and generally speaking, the more work, the more gold the miner won. Europeans tended to work alone or in small groups but very few miners became wealthy; the reality of the diggings was that relatively few miners found even enough gold to earn them a living.
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​When Chinese miners arrived on the goldfields, they often worked in highly efficient teams. They lived communally and frugally, and could subsist on a much lower return than Europeans. Their success led to envy and resentment. Europeans claimed the Chinese muddied the water holes, they worked on the Sabbath, they were thieves, they had insanitary habits, they accepted low wages and would drive down the value of labour.
The problem first arose on the Bendigo goldfields. The Victorian government responded in 1855 by separating Chinese miners and imposing restrictions on them.​ By 1860, racist attacks on Chinese people were spreading to the NSW goldfields.
The most notorious of these incidents, and the one which has generated more folklore than any other in NSW history, was the so-called Lambing Flat Riot, which was actually a drawn-out series of incidents on the Burrangong Goldfield in New South Wales between November 1860 and September 1861 - at the exact same time that Alfred's family were living there.
The Burrangong affair was arguably the most serious civil disorder that has ever happened in Australia, involving more people and lasting much longer than the Eureka rebellion at Ballarat six years earlier.
In ten months of unrest at Burrangong, the most infamous riot on the gold fields occurred on the night of 30 June 1861 when a mob of between 2,000 and 3,000 European, North American and Australian-born gold miners attacked about 2,000 Chinese miners and drove the Chinese off the Lambing Flat, and then moved on to the Back Creek diggings - where 150–200 Chinese were encamped - destroying tents and looting possessions. Many of the Chinese were cruelly beaten, but no one was killed.
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Young Alfred John would remember these events for a lifetime and would often speak of those years when "many a Chinese lost his pig tail". But, in reality, it must have been a frightening time. The police arrived in the days that followed, identified the leaders of the riot, and three were arrested. The mob's reaction was an armed attack on the police camp by about a thousand miners on the night of 14 July, which the police broke up with gunfire and mounted sabre charges, leaving one rioter, William Lupton dead and many wounded. Eventually police reinforcements arrived from Sydney and stayed for a year. Some of the remaining Chinese miners were reinstated on segregated diggings, the ringleaders of the riots were tried and two were gaoled. At the end of the affair, Burrangong was quiet and some Chinese miners were still there.​​
In the midst of all the riots, on 24 May 1861, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Mary, at Stoney Creek, Burrangong. As the "Burrangong Affair" was coming to an end, Alfred Tritton decided it was time for his family to move on.
‘A Chase After Morgan’, Nicholas Chevalier, 1864
​​Morgan the Bushranger
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Daniel Morgan was the most famous alias of John Owen, an Australian bushranger described as "the most bloodthirsty ruffian that ever took to the bush in Australia" aka "Mad Dog Morgan" - but Morgan had many sympathisers where he was active. He was an expert bushman with superb horse-riding skills, which enabled him to evade capture by the authorities for a significant period of time.
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After Morgan killed a police sergeant in June 1864, the Government of New South Wales offered a one-thousand pound reward for his apprehension. He was shot and killed in April 1865 after holding up Peechelba station in Victoria.
The Tritton encounter with "Mad Dog" Morgan
Around this time on the Lachlan, the bushranger Morgan held up the Tritton household - not to take possession of the gold dust then stored in their hut - but to give instructions, under threat, to the mother that the police were to be informed that the bushrangers had passed by travelling in a certain direction indicated by Morgan him self. However, whenever the Tritton's reminisced about this experience, they would add that the police never did come by to seek the information. Nevertheless, the incident was long a subject for general conversation and remained a significant reminder of their time away from the city,
Jembaicumbene
Alfred, Elizabeth, John and baby Elizabeth moved on to Jambalcumbene Creek and its tributaries, off the Shoalhaven River in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. With quite a few years of alluvial gold mining experience, Alfred had a first class plant erected for gold washing on the bank of the river. Today, the upturned earth along the length of the Jembaicumbene Creek bears witness to the efforts of many hopeful miners. For the Tritton family, the end to their mining aspirations came quickly and decisively in the form of a big flood that swept away their "first class" plant. It also swept away their dreams. There would be no "get rich quick" solution. To change their family’s fortunes, it was time to return to Sydney to re-establish the retail firewood trade. The return coincided with Elizabeth's delivery of baby Edward in 1863, who would also die just two years later.
Short Weight in Coals
5 Jul 1884 • Redfern Police Court
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At the Redfern Police - Court on Friday last, Mr. Evans, inspector of weights and measures, prosecuted Alfred Tritton, coal and wood merchant, for selling four bags coal 99lb short in weight. Mr. Clarke, S.M., who presided, considered the case fully proved, and fined the defendant £20, together with the professional costs and court expenses
Return to Sydney - Firewood Dealer
​After years of living in various mining communities, Alfred Thomas Tritton took his family back to the inner western suburbs of Sydney. Alfred had a large connection in the retail firewood trade of Sydney, and he went back to making a living as a wood dealer and coal merchant.
In 1865, at just 11 years of age, his eldest son, Alfred John, quit school and joined his father in the business, cutting wood in the bush, in areas that are now some of Sydney's most prosperous suburbs
Family Tragedy - The 1881 Waterloo Accident
Although Elizabeth's family continued to grow with the birth of Albert (1865​) and Clara (1868), personal tragedy was looming yet again. In 1868, Alfred and Elizabeth buried their ten year old daughter, Elizabeth, who had survived the hazards of goldfields, only to die in the city. As parents, this was the fourth time they had buried a child.
In 1881, Alfred and Elizabeth and their six children (Velina and Herbert had been born in 1869 and 1871 respectively) were living in the heart of the city in Botany Road, Waterloo.
On Tuesday, 24th May, Elizabeth, who was 47 years old, left the house at 6pm to go on an errand. A few minutes later Alfred heard a scream and on running out he found Eliza had been run over and was lying speechless and insensible on the road. She died about 5 minutes after they moved her to the house.
Botany Road
At the inquest, Doctor Markey deposed that death was caused by a punctured wound on the side of the head and fracture of several ribs. Mary Ann Hordern, a dressmaker, deposed that she saw the deceased crossing the road in the direction of the butcher's shop. There were two buses going in the direction of Sydney, one behind the other, and the deceased passed between them. Following the buses were three cabs coming from Botany, and as the deceased had passed clear of the buses, she was knocked down by the foremost cab, the driver of which, did not pull up although his horse reared. Witnesses called to the driver to stop, but "in the most heartless of manner", he drove on.
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Although the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, the police were unable to find the driver of the cab who caused the accident. Alfred's six children - Alfred John (27), Mary (20), Albert (16), Clara (13), Velina (12), and Herbert(10) - were left to bury their mother.
Rosina, more children and business expansion
Alfred's decision to live in Botany, most likely coincided with his appointment as a government contractor engaged in the building of the first tram line to Botany and on other inner-city, infrastructure projects. After Elizabeth's shocking and sudden death, he wasted little time in finding a new bride. Just 6 months later, Alfred remarried. His new bride, Rosina Ashton had lost her first husband, George Haycraft, in 1876 at their home in London. Rosina made the decision to "start again" elsewhere and she boarded the Strathleven in 1879 with her three children (Benjamin (5), Mary (7) and George (12), bound for Sydney from Plymouth.
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The arrival of the Strathleven was noted with interest. It was the first "steam" operated vessel to bring government immigrants to the colony and it carried on board machinery for preserving fresh meat by the Bell-Coleman process. Great importance was attached to the return trip which would be taking fresh beef and mutton to England for the first time from the Colony.
Strathleven
​Between 1883 and 1887, Rosina would give birth to three more "Tritton" children - Henry (1883), Henrietta (1885) and baby Frank (1887) - although Henrietta would not survive. In total, Alfred fathered ​13 children (five deceased) and raised an additional three stepchildren but this did not stop him from expanding the family firewood business with his oldest son and relocating after acquiring 8 acres in Enfield.
In 1884, Alfred and his son entered the area now known as Cronulla, then wild scrub with Aboriginal inhabitants. The wood they sourced was carried by boat across Botany Bay. Together they would continue to expand the family firewood business with sawmills and branches in Wyong, Campbelltown, Picton, Menangle and Camden.
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Alfred Thomas Triton passed away in 1907 at 74 years of age at his daughter, Mary's home, presumably surrounded by family. His life, rich in experience, witnessed much of the colony's early history, but it had also seen its fair share of personal tragedy and loss. ​ Unable to change the family fortunes with a lucky strike on the goldfields, he had tended for government contracts, chopped wood and carted coal. As a first generation Australian, he ventured into wild bush land and scrub, and when he lost his childhood bride, Elizabeth, suddenly and abruptly, he rebounded quickly with Rosina. As a young man he took risks and "lived life to the full" guided at all times by his devotion to family and his essential protestant work ethic of diligence, discipline and frugality.
Turn of a Century
Before the 1850s, Australia was a remote, little-known colony populated mainly by British convicts. But within months of the discovery of gold in 1851, Australia had an international reputation. The changes brought about by the first gold rushes transformed Australia and set its course of development for decades to come. Just 50 years after the first fateful find of Gold at Bathurst, the British colonies would unite to become the independent Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.
Margaret and William's life may have not fulfilled some of their personal dreams, but they did live to see the start of a new century and the creation of a new Commonwealth.
Federation celebrations in Charter's Towers - 1900
SECOND GENERATION TRITTONS
Frank Milton TRITTON (1887 - 1948)
Ethel Mary HARRIS (1892 - 1968)
When Frank was born in 1887, his father Alfred Thomas was 54 years old. Frank was the baby with an older brother, Henry, from his fathers' marriage to Rosina, six older brother and sisters from his father's first marriage to Elizabeth and three further older siblings from his mother, Rosina's, first marriage in England. His oldest brother, Alfred John, who had grown up on mine sites and joined the timber trade at the age of eleven, was 33 years old - old enough to be his father.
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Dad's timber company was a well established business but Frank takes a job as a railway porter in Mascot close to the city. His closest companion is Benjamin Haycraft, his step brother from his Mum's former marriage. Benjamin is the Sydney Secretary of the "Apprentice Boys of Derry" who meet every month in the Forrester's Hall in Waterloo.
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