The great battle of Waterloo had taken place in 1815 and resulted in the final defeat of Napoleon by the English and Prussian armies.\u00a0 The victorious Duke of Wellington returned to England a hero and was showered with gifts. \u00a0His victory had been made possible,\u00a0 not only by his own genius,\u00a0 but also by the products of the mammoth Royal Ordinance Factory,\u00a0 located at Woolwich,\u00a0 then known as the Warren of\u00a0 Woolwich and in more recent times as the Royal Arsenal.\u00a0 (The word \u201cwarrne\u201d is derived from the Old French warenne <\/i>or varenne <\/i>meaning a waste land enclosure or preserve.)<\/p>\n
Within the confines of the Warren,\u00a0 Martha and her brothers,\u00a0 John and Thomas,\u00a0 spent their early lives.\u00a0 Martha was the daughter of William and Mary Neavy, \u00a0formerly of Birmingham,\u00a0 Warwickshire,\u00a0 although the Neavy family\u2019s earlier origins were in Kent.\u00a0 She was born on 1 May 1815 (her tombstone incorrectly records 1816) and baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene,\u00a0 Woolwich,\u00a0 on 7 June 1815.\u00a0 Her father,\u00a0 a smith by trade,\u00a0 is believed to have made ordinance used at Waterloo and to have been one of the many artisans of Huguenot and French extraction employed by the Royal Laboratory in the craft of cannon and gun making.\u00a0 His son,\u00a0 Thomas Neavy,\u00a0 was appointed a labourer at the Arsenal on 20 March 1846.<\/p>\n
William Neavy suffered several variations of his surname,\u00a0 in official and other records,\u00a0 as did most people of Huguenot or Walloon descent.\u00a0 At the time of the Census of 1841 we find that he,\u00a0 his wife,\u00a0 and 10-year-old grand daughter,\u00a0 were respectively listed as William,\u00a0 Mary and Ann Neavy of New Road,\u00a0 Woolwich.\u00a0 Poll books of 1837 and 1841 give Nevey as the spelling,\u00a0 and the rate books for the period 1839 to 1841 list William Nivey,\u00a0 New Road,\u00a0 Woolich.\u00a0\u00a0 The surname Nevy,\u00a0 deriving from Nevene<\/i>,\u00a0 Neve <\/i>and Neuey<\/i>,\u00a0 is found in the Register of the Huguenot chapels of St Mary Birdin,\u00a0 Canterbury and St Mary the Virgin,\u00a0 Dover.\u00a0 Nevey,\u00a0 Neavy and Navy are also found in Kent Registers.\u00a0 The surname recorded on the marriage certificate of Martha reads Neavy,\u00a0 but Nevy is that recorded for all family births in the Register of St Mary Magdalene,\u00a0 Woolwich.\u00a0 Martha\u2019s baptismal and therefore legal surname was\u00a0 Nevy\u00a0 and that of her parents,\u00a0 Neavy \u2013 a cause for confusion.\u00a0 Prior to 1 July 1837,\u00a0 and the establishment of registration by Public Record Offices,\u00a0 the responsibility for records was the prerogative of the Established Church.\u00a0 In 1538 King Henry VIII had ordered all parishes to record baptisms,\u00a0 marriages and deaths;\u00a0 some records\u00a0 were well kept,\u00a0 others not.\u00a0 Spelling variations for names were common but the baptismal name was deemed the legal name.<\/p>\n
The Royal Arsenal drew upon two main pools of labour,\u00a0 and after\u00a0 Waterloo there were still about 5000 employees in the\u00a0 Warren.\u00a0 Many of the artisans were of French extraction \u2013 an irony when one considers that the products of the Arsenal were used mainly against the French.\u00a0 In addition,\u00a0 there were convicts from the three hulks,\u00a0 Warrior,\u00a0 Justicia<\/i> and Defence <\/i>\u2013 old battle-ships each housing up to 600 men,\u00a0 which were anchored off-shore.\u00a0 An Act of Parliament passed in 1771 authorised punishment by hard labour for persons who had committed crimes which held the penalty of transportation\u00a0 \u2013 these prisoners were liable to transportation.\u00a0 While they were awaiting outward shipping,\u00a0 Woolwich was one of the places which had the unenviable task of finding work for them.\u00a0 No convict was allowed on shore without an iron on one or both legs.\u00a0 They were well fed as they had to be fit enough to make the roads,\u00a0 put up buildings and do all the non-technical heavy work necessary for the manufacture and testing of ordinance.\u00a0 They were primarily employed in the work of proving shell,\u00a0 which was particularly heavy labour. \u00a0\u00a0They were seen no doubt as impudent and an unattractive lot and no asset to the town of Woolwich.\u00a0 By 1835 the depressed times,\u00a0 and the years of peace,\u00a0 had had a profound effect on employment in the Warren,\u00a0 and the establishment was reduced to 500 employees;\u00a0 but transportation did not cease until 1853 and convicts were still available.<\/p>\n
Martha grew up used to the sight of men in irons,\u00a0 ships at the Woolwich Docks,\u00a0 the clang of metal and the sound of the great forges.\u00a0 The environment\u00a0 was not the best one for a small girl or for a marriageable young woman;\u00a0 however there was one great advantage for Martha \u2013 she was able to attend the sole school in Woolwich,\u00a0 the Arsenal School.\u00a0 This school had been established for the education of apprentices employed in the Workshops,\u00a0 but after a time the girl cartridge-makers and a few of the children of some employees shared in the lessons \u2013 possibly to assist with keeping them from mischief.\u00a0 Little is know about the number of children so educated,\u00a0 but the standard was high,\u00a0 and as a result Martha became well fitted to seek employment as a governess and children\u2019s nurse and to cope intelligently with the difficulties of the future.<\/p>\n
As a child and young woman she had watched ships sailing down the Thames,\u00a0 and the loading and unloading at Woolwich.\u00a0 Later,\u00a0 possibly under the new sponsorship of the South Australia Church Society,\u00a0 she herself made the hazardous journey to South Australia.\u00a0 Among other things,\u00a0 the Society was interested in sending young women of good repute from depressed areas out to the Colonies,\u00a0 both as prospective brides for the large male population and for the improvement of the conduct of the new communities.\u00a0 It also sent,\u00a0 under contract,\u00a0 teachers for Church schools.<\/p>\n
The brig,\u00a0 William Hutt,\u00a0 <\/i>260 tons,\u00a0 built at Grimsby in 1833 and named after Sir William Hutt,\u00a0 one of the Colonisation Commissioners,\u00a0 reported at Kingscote Harbour,\u00a0 Kangaroo Island,\u00a0 on 16 January 1837 \u2013 where she was stranded for a time on the sandy spit off Point Marsden.\u00a0 Three days after her arrival at Kangaroo Island the marriage took place between Martha Neavy and Benjamin Smith.\u00a0 The ceremony was performed by the Master \u2013 Alexander Fleming \u2013 and witnessed by the owner,\u00a0 Henry French.\u00a0 Possibly,\u00a0 the couple had met in London while the three ships,\u00a0 TamO\u2019Shanter,\u00a0 Africaine<\/i>,\u00a0 and William Hutt<\/i>,\u00a0 were lying together in St Katherine\u2019s Dock,\u00a0 or Ben Smith may have been related to a family named Smith who lived next door to the Neavy household in Woolwich.\u00a0 The William Hutt<\/i> proceeded to Holdfast Bay where she spent four days before entering the Port River.\u00a0 A fortnight late she berthed at the end of the Creek and continued unloading at the Landing Place.<\/p>\n
The prefabricated Church carried on board the William Hutt<\/i> was landed at Holdfast Bay where it stayed some weeks before an attempt was made to erect it;\u00a0 but because of the type of construction it was found to be unsuitable and the Church Society Trustees decided not to proceed.\u00a0 Six months later with money raised by Public Subscription the foundation stone of Holy Trinity Church,\u00a0 Adelaide,\u00a0 was laid by Governor Hindmarsh,\u00a0 and on the fly-leaf of the first Marriage Register was entered the record of the marriage of Benjamin and Martha Smith.\u00a0 It reads:<\/p>\n
On board the Brig William Hutt Kingscote Harbour January 19th<\/sup> 1837 I hereby certify that I have this day joined together in Holy Matrimony Benjamin Smith late of Berkshire and Martha Neavy later of Woolwich according to the form prescribed and Ordered by the Established<\/em><\/p>\n Church of England [Sealed with a red seal embossed with the Gothic \u2018F\u2019 ]<\/em><\/p>\n From the time of his arrival in 1837,\u00a0 the Colonial Chaplain,\u00a0 the Reverend Howard,\u00a0 performed all marriages in the young Colony,\u00a0 the licences being signed by the Governor.\u00a0 The legality of these marriages,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 and of those performed on ships in the harbours was called into question.\u00a0 As a result,\u00a0 the law validating retrospectively all marriages was passed in 1839 and a full report of this Act and the reasons for it was printed in The South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register <\/i>on Saturday,\u00a0 7 December 1839.\u00a0 There can now be no dispute,\u00a0 therefore,\u00a0 as to the legality of the marriage of Ben and Martha Smith!<\/p>\n That early marriages were few is not surprising for the Colonisation Commissioners did not encourage the immigration of the unmarried.\u00a0 The Commissioners,\u00a0 in fact,\u00a0 made the position very clear when on 9 January 1836 they placed an advertisement in The Times<\/i>,\u00a0 London,\u00a0 for the purpose of attracting suitable couples for the new settlement.\u00a0 They required:<\/p>\n . . . persons of the labouring class and not exceeding 26 years of age being married either now or before embarkation and not having children above two years of age.\u00a0 It is requested that persons not fully answering the description will not take the trouble to apply.\u00a0 Testimonials of character,\u00a0 honesty and sobriety and industry will be required and strictly enforced. The immigrants will be taken to the Colony free of all costs and will be maintained by the Colonial Government under its protection until they shall obtain employment as directed.\u00a0 The ships engaged will be of the first class,\u00a0 will carry an experienced medical man and will be fitted up so that each married couple shall have a separate berth.\u00a0\u00a0 The provisions on board both as to quality and quantity shall,\u00a0 as all other arrangements,\u00a0 be the best scale shipping every for immigrants.\u00a0 It is intended that the first ship shall sail with 100 couples on 14th<\/sup> August next.\u00a0 Application either from intending immigrants or from others on their behalf to be made (preferably by letter) to the Emigration Agents of the South Australian Commission between the hours of 11 and 4 at the office,\u00a0 6 Adelphi Terrace,\u00a0 Strand \u2013 Rowland Hill,\u00a0 Secretary.<\/em><\/p>\n The only singe people journeying to the new Colony of South Australia at this time would seen to have been South Australian Company employees and members of the South Australian Church Society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The great battle of Waterloo had taken place in 1815 and resulted in the final defeat of Napoleon by the English and Prussian armies.\u00a0 The victorious Duke of Wellington returned to England a hero and was showered with gifts. \u00a0His victory had been made possible,\u00a0 not only by his own genius,\u00a0 but also by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74,"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensmith.falkor.gen.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em>Alexander Fleming
\n<\/em>Witness to the Sig: and nature of Alexander Fleming
\n<\/em>Henry French<\/em><\/p>\n