Taking a closer look Part 2

Continuing the story of Thomas Hannigan (senior) and his wife, Bridget Brown.

The early years of the new settlement at Launceston would have been very busy. Everything needed to sustain life had to be provided by the occupants, or brought in by ship. Buildings had to be erected, and land cleared for growing food.

By the time Governor Macquarie visited the settlement in 1821, he found various government buildings, erected and occupied since his first visit ten years earlier, including military barracks, commandant’s residence, lime kilns, blacksmith’s shop, stores, watch house and gaol, and a chaplain’s dwelling. The Rev. John Youl, an Anglican minister, had been appointed the first chaplain in 1819. On his arrival, he toured the district for three weeks, marrying 41 couples and baptising 64 children, some of the latter belonging to newlyweds, who had been waiting for an opportunity to be legally married.

On arrival in the colony, convicts were either set to work for the Government, constructing roads and buildings, or assigned to civilian employers. It seems likely that Thomas Hannigan was among the latter, and travelled to Van Diemen's Land as a servant to the free settler in Paterson's party. How he came to be a sailor is a mystery. There is no mention in his records of a conditional pardon, and it would have been many years before he would have been allowed the freedom of going to sea. He must have been fairly well-behaved in the colony, as he attracted no attention until the transgression of 1837.

By 1820, Thomas was married to a convict woman, Bridget Brown. There is no mention in Thomas's records of "permission to marry" and being Catholic, he would not have accepted an Anglican ceremony; so probably Bridget was a 'common law' wife.

I have very little information about her, apart from an entry in the book "Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls" by Phillip Tardif. (This is a history of over 1600 female convicts who were sent to Tasmania between 1803 - 1829.) It makes fascinating reading.

Brown, Bridget (or Wilson)

Convicted at Dublin City, November 1815. Transported for stealing apparel - 7 years.

Trade, servant. Age 24 (1817)

Colonial experience

1817: 27 August arrived at the Derwent from sydney aboard the Elizabeth Henrietta

1820 & 1821 Musters: wife of Thomas Hannigan, Port Dalrymple

1820: 28 December Assaulting Mary Harman. Bound over to keep the peace.

1825: 19 October Wife of Hannigan. Breaking open  box and stealing sundry articles of wearing apparel therefrom, the propert of Mrs. Maxey. Charge dismissed.

1826: 29 March Launceston. Assaulting Isabella Whittingham. Bound over to keep the peace for 3 months.

1827: 8 March. Drunk and disorderly. To find sureties for her good behaviour for 3 months.

1829: 21 October. Being drunk and disorderly. Reprimanded.

1830: 15 November. Using threatening language to Mary Beard and gross language before the Magistrates. To sit in the stocks 4 hours and find sureties to keep the peace.

1836: 29 March. Drunk and disorderly. fined 5 shillings.

1836: 12 October. Drunk and disorderly. Fined 5 shillings.

1837: 21 April. Being drunk. Fined 5 shillings.

We can surmise something about Bridget's life from the record. The second surname, Wilson, may indicate that she was married, or at least living with someone, at the time of her conviction. Did she have children? She was 23 at the time of her trial, so it's quite possible.
If she did, she never saw them again.
Notice the dates of her court appearances - almost always in October or March. Did she celebrate the birthdays of those lost children, perhaps? (All pure speculation, of course).

Returning to the Cornwall Chronicle report of her death, we can perhaps read between the lines:
“It came out in evidence, that deceased ... resided with a man named Thomas Henshaw, upon Mr. Lawrence’s sheep run, about five miles from Launceston. On Thursday evening she was taken unwell; on Friday she became worse, ... on Saturday, about one p.m., as she was gradually sinking, Henshaw went for a Mrs. Smith to attend her, and then made the best of his way to Launceston for a doctor; Mrs. Smith, on her arrival, gave deceased some gruel, and then some tea, upon which she almost instantly expired, in which state she was found by Dr. Grant upon his arrival....”

Reading this report, I am struck by the care Bridget received in her illness. Henshaw "went for a Mrs Smith to attend her" and Mrs. Smith did her best to minister to the dying woman. Henshaw "made the best of his way to Launceston for a doctor" a distance of 5 miles - perhaps he had a horse? The doctor attended, so Henshaw or his employer must have been prepared to pay for his services.
So even in her last moments, Bridget was loved and cared for. That's good to know.

Thomas and Bridget had at least five children, but only two, or possibly three, survived. When Bridget died, their daughter Mary was in gaol, and their son Thomas was about 14 years old.
At that time, only the children of the well-to-do were educated. Poor children went to work as soon as they were old enough to be useful. Thomas may have been employed on the property where Bridget was living with Thomas Henshaw, or he may have already followed in his father's footsteps, and become a sailor.