Thomas Henderson, villain or victim?

We last left Thomas Henderson as a 51-year-old widower with a boy of 7 in tow. 

Thomas was released from his convict sentence in November 1798. There are no details of how he was employed as a convict, but circumstantial evidence suggests that he was probably assigned to work on one of the growing number of farms to the north of the Parramatta River. The area was known as 'Field of Mars, remembered today in the suburb of Marsfield. In the colonial era, the area ran from Parramatta to the Lane Cove River and as far north as Baulkham Hills. Many of the prominent landowners in the colony owned land in the area, including Samuel Marsden, William Wentworth,  William Cox, John Macarthur and Gregory Blaxland.

After his release, Thomas rented land from William Wentworth and became a farmer. He farmed 50 acres in the Field of Mars area. I have found evidence that the farm was probably very close to Parramatta. It was also close to the Parramatta River.  There is evidence the farm was in two separate parts, with one on the river. One of the workers testified in Court that he heard the 8 o'clock drums from Parramatta, so it must have been in hearing of the Parramatta Barracks.

Some time after his wife's death, Thomas was living 'as husband and wife' with Margaret Broughton. Margaret was a convict who arrived in 1804. Perhaps she was assigned to Thomas as a servant to help care for his son Robert. Margaret Broughton was possibly 30 years younger than Thomas!

An item from the newspaper in 1806 mentions a 'Thomas Anderson' who has been taken into custody for possession of a still. He had voluntarily surrendered the still to the magistrate. Six years later in 1812 Thomas is once again embroiled in trouble with the law. With his 16-year-old son Robert and several other defendants, Thomas faced trial on three separate counts of theft from Samuel Marsden's farm. The full transcripts of the trial were prepared by Keith Henderson some years ago and they provide a lot of the details about Thomas's life as a farmer. While Robert was acquitted of all charges, Thomas was found guilty on two counts and was sentenced to a total of 5 years at the Penal Colony at Newcastle.

Thomas Henderson's story is littered with names of men who were prominent on the British colony of New South Wales. Samuel Marsden was the senior clergyman in the colony and officiated at many of the key moments in the Henderson family life. He was also the supposed victim of Thomas' theft in 1812. Thomas rented land from William Wentworth, one of the explorers who crossed the Blue Mountains in 1813. At his trial in 1812, Thomas called on William Cox as a character witness. Cox was the man who followed the explorers tracks and built the road over the mountains that opened up the interior. These connection should not come as a great surprise. Sydney probably had a population of about 5,000 people in 1812.

A list of Settlers and Convicts in the Colony in 1816 shows Thomas 'at public labour at Newcastle'. But in August 1816 he is granted remittance of his remaining sentence and is sent back to Sydney aboard the Government vessel Lady Nelson. He was a witness at Robert's marriage to Catherine Geary in 

Joan Taylor reported that Thomas owned 2 acres of land in the Parramatta/Ryde area and this is supported by the Settler and Convict lists for 1817, 1818, 1820 and 1821 which show Thomas as a 'Landholder'. That area remained farming land for many more years.

No records have been discovered of Thomas Henderson's death, but he is not listed in the Settler and Convict list for 1822, so he probably died between 1821 and 1822. He was about 70 years of age and had spent almost 30 years in the colony.

After reading and researching Thomas Henderson's life, my own opinion is that he was neither serious villain or a victim of injustice. He was a man who took any opportunity that presented itself and worried about the consequences later.

Replica of the Lady Nelson in Hobart.