Expats: the Watkins family

I'm tracking the details of families in the 1841 England census, with a member born in Australia. This is entry #4. This was also the most difficult to put together, and it's difficult to avoid the temptation of explaining HOW I pieced this together, rather than to simply outline the facts.

Charles and Sarah WATKINS appear in the 1841 census, living in Kensington (London). The census states that Charles was 30 and a labourer, and born in 'Sydney'. Sarah was 32, and not born in Middlesex, and with them is a young girls named Rosina Walker or Watkins, aged 3 and again not born in Middlesex:














Charles was born on 25 Oct 1808, and baptized in 12 Aug 1810 at St Philip's Church in Sydney, the son of William and Ann Watkins. So we start this story with William and Ann.

William Watkins was probably born in the village of Newchurch, Monmouth, Wales about 1747. While there were a number of men named 'William Watkins' who came to New South Wales prior to 1800, only one arrived as a convict sentenced in Monmouth (and the others have been tracked and traced to confirm ). William was tried on 2nd August 1790 at the Monmouth County Assizes, with Richard Mortimer. While I have not sourced court records, they were sentenced to 7 years transportation, and transported to Australia on the 'William & Ann' arriving on 28 August 1791:



In 1796 (approximately when his 7 year sentence would expire) a William Watkins received a grant of 30 acres in Richmond Hill in the Hawkesbury district. This appears connected with our William Watkins, who joined the New South Wales Corp in 1799 (renamed the 102nd Regiment in 1808). We know this because of because of a number of documents including the 102nd Regiment Description Book (date book created not clear but possibly 1808), which is worth transcribing in toto:





Private Watkins Wm
Enlisted: 25 Dec 1799, Sydney, 
(“In what ship”, “Date of arrival” and “From what regiment" appears blank)
Age: 42 years 5 months, Size: 5 feet 10 inches
Servitude 8 years 251 days
Where born: Parish Newchurch, County Monmouth
Description: Swarthy, Hazle eyes, dark brown hair, long visage
Trade: Sawyer

And so, the swarthy Welsh William Watkins served his sentence and joined the 102nd Regiment that had kept watch over him as a convict. Transcriptions of NSW Corps records also indicate that his service was in George Johnston's detachment up till 1810, and as such he may well have participated in the Rum Rebellion in 1808.

While in service, William Watkins and Ann David/Davis/Davies had a number of children and ultimately married.

Ann David/Davis/Davies was tried on 28th March 1797 at the 'Glamorgan' (Brecon, Wales) Great Session, with Margaret Beynon. While I have not sourced court records, they were sentenced to transportation for Life, and transported to Australia on the 'Nile' arriving on 14 Dec 1801:


I don't have access to convict assignment records, but Ann (variously listed as David/Davis/Davies) formed a relationship with William soon after arriving.

In 1804, a 2-year old son James Watkins was baptized at St Philip's Church, Sydney. The entry states that James was born in Jun 1802, the maths implying that the child was conceived on the 'Nile' and was not William's son. In 1806, the NSW Muster states that Ann Davis had been issued a Ticket of Leave and was living with Wm Watkins Soldier (William himself is not in the muster as members of the military were not included). In the same year Samuel Marsden compiled a 'Female Muster' in which Ann appears, listed as having 1 male and 1 female child ('not legitimate'), and Ann was a 'concubine' (living unmarried with a man). On the 3rd Feb 1807, a child Maria was born, baptized shortly afterwards at St Philip's. The following year, 1808, Charles (seen in the 1841 census) was born.

In April 1810, William transferred to the newly arrived 73rd Regiment. This was presumably in anticipation of the departure of the 102nd Regiment (May 1810), in order to stay in Sydney. Finally, on 18 Jun 1810, William Watkins (Bachelor of Sydney, Private 73rd Regiment, Signed X) and Ann David (Spinster, of Sydney, Signed X) married at St Philips Church. Their son Charles was subsequently baptized on 12th Aug 1810 also at St Philip's. Their marriage may well have been the result of a notice published by Governor Macquarie on his arrival in the colony, "anxious to promote the interests of virtue (upon which those of society must ever rest) by the encouragement of lawful marriage".

Ann appeared again in the 1811 NSW Muster, and Ann had a final daughter, Patience, born 16 Feb 1812, baptized 15 Mar 1812, and curiously again on 20 Sep 1812 at St Philip's Church (noted 'Previously baptized').

The 73rd Regiment departed Australia in 1814, and William departed with them, leaving on the General Hewitt in March 1814 for Ceylon. Presumably, Ann and the children accompanied William on this journey - Charles and Patience were in England, so surely Ann went also? What approval would have been needed for an ex-convict wife of a soldier to leave the colony when the Regiment sailed? 96 women, and 163 children were on the General Hewitt when it sailed for Ceylon. The subsequent NSW Musters do not help. In 1817 Ann is listed as 'Settler’s wife, In the colony', in 1818 she is entered as 'dead', in 1820 'Married Sydney, In the colony', in 1821 as 'Housekeeper, In the colony'. Was Ann left behind while William was able to take the children to Ceylon (and then England)?

William was in Ceylon with the 73rd Regiment for a brief time before he retired. On discharge in 1816 he was listed as aged 52, and had served 1799-1816 in Regiments 102nd and 73rd.



William's retirements is in consequence of chronic rheumatism. As a transported convict for seven years, then sixteen as a private in the New South Wales (102nd) and 73rd Regiments this is unsurprising. His listed service includes service in the East Indies (Ceylon) from 18 Aug 1814 till 26 July 1816, but his papers are signed in February of 1816.  On 9th August 1816, William appears on a list of invalid soldiers examined at the Chelsea Hospital in London.

No further trace of William or Ann has been definitively identified after this date, and William presumably died in London or England/Wales (and Ann if she was survived Ceylon).

However..... their children Charles and Patience Watkins also made it to England. Continued in PART 2.

PART 2. The children.

As described at the top of this post, Charles appeared in the 1841 census. What happened to Charles before and after 1841? How did he get to England? I speculate that the Watkins family travelled together from Sydney to Ceylon with the 73rd, then on to London as William retired from active service.

Of Charles (born 1808) I can determine almost nothing. He was enrolled in the The Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea on 3rd June 1817. The RMA was established to educate orphans of military servicemen, but there is no evidence that Charles (and his siblings) were orphaned. His age on date of admission was stated as 8 years and 4 months, and his father had served in the 73rd Foot ('Black Watch'), and the family was living at 'Chelsea Calthorp Place 8 Paradise Row'. Of interest, his parents were listed as Charles and Ann (transcription error? Charles' real father? faked to get entry into RMA?), and he was stated to be apprenticed to 'William Watkins' presumably his father. Charles was discharged from the RMA on 3rd Feb 1823.

While Charles appears in the 1841 census in Chelsea with his (presumed) wife Sarah and daughter Rosina, I cannot uncover a marriage for Charles and Sarah. It is possible they are living on Paradise Row in 1841 (P. Row). There was a marriage at St. Luke's in Chelsea between Charles Watkins and Sarah FIRST on 02 Jul 1834, but I have not access a transcript to ascertain any further information available.

I can find no record of what happened to Charles, Sarah and Rosina after their 1841 census entry.

William and Ann's daughter Patience (born 1812) was also enrolled in the The Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea on 3rd June 1817. She was stated to be 5 years and 9 months at the time, and discharged on 9th Aug 1825 with an apprenticeship end date of 9th August 1829 (like her brother she is apprenticed to William Watkins), at which time she received a 5 pounds, 5 shillings reward.

Patience married Moses Ambrose on 12th Feb 1832 at All Saints, Fulham. They had at least two children, the first two being named Charles (1834) and Sarah (1838), baptized at St Luke's Chelsea and possible named after their uncle and aunt. In 1834 they were stated to be living in Calthorp Place (same as when Patience was entered into the RMA in 1817) and in 1838 was listed on Paradise Row (basically they lived in the family residence of Calthorpe Place on Paradise Row - a lively description is described in the book "Paradise Row: Or, A Broken Piece of Old Chelsea, Being the Curious and Diverting Annals of a Famous Village Street Newly Destroyed, Together with Particulars of Sundry Noble and Notable Persons who in Former Times Dwelt There; to which are Added Likenesses of the Principal of Them and of Their Several Houses", Reginald Blunt, Macmillan, 1906).

Curiously, Patience and her family appear in the 1841 census, but Patience states she was Born in the Colony - and as such certainly would not have been identified as Australian, except that her brother Charles had correctly stated his place of birth.


Moses Ambrose died in 1848, aged 35. In the 1851 census, Patience was a widowed laundress, living in Chelsea with Charles her son, as well as a son Robert aged nine. Curiously, Patience stated her birth place as the "E Indies". In 1861 Patience was still living with Charles her son (a carter) in Chelsea, and again stated that she was born in "India". These incorrect statements suggests either Patience believed her father had served significantly longer in Ceylon that the 18 months, or that questions regarding WHY she would have been born in Sydney and the implication of being the offspring off convicts was unappetizing.

Patience was admitted to, and discharged from, the workhouse in Kensington at least twice in 1864, and Patience's death was registered in the last quarter in 1864.

When and how the other two children Maria and James died is not known. There are a lot of loose ends with this family - their path to Sydney and the return to London is clear, but the Watkins family, especially the parents and son Charles, disappear into London.