EMMETT, Henry James

1782 - 1848  (66 years)

• Name	EMMETT, Henry James  [1, 2]
  Born	21 Nov 1782	St Clement Danes, Westminster, Middlesex   [1, 2]
  Christened	15 Dec 1782	St Clement Danes, Westminster, Middlesex   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Buried	Dec 1848	New Town, Tasmania, Australia   [2]
  	St John's Anglican church
  Died	28 Dec 1848	New Town, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia   [1, 2]
  Person ID	I5142	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023

  
  

  Father	EMMETT, Henry James,   b. 28 Feb 1755, Saint Clement Danes, Westminster, Middlesex, England ,   d. 4 Jul 1796, St Pauls, Covent Garden, Westminster, Middlesex, England  (Age 41 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	TAYLOR, Grace West,   b. 6 Jun 1754, Lamberth,Convent Gardens,London,England ,   d. 1812, Marylebone, Middlesex, England  (Age 57 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F5655	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	TOWNSEND, Mary Thompson,   b. 2 Aug 1779, Westminster, London, England ,   d. 9 Feb 1856, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia  (Age 76 years)
  Children	1. EMMETT, Henry James,   b. 20 Aug 1809, St Anne's, Westminster, London, England. ,   d. 17 Dec 1881, Horton, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 72 years)  [natural]   2. EMMETT, Philip George,   b. 22 Oct 1810, St James Westminster, London, England ,   d. 15 Jul 1871, Corop, Victoria, Australia  (Age 60 years)  [natural]   3. EMMETT, John Kenworthy,   b. 13 Jul 1812, St Marys, Westminster, Middlesex, England. ,   d. 1912, London, England  (Age 99 years)  [natural]   4. EMMETT, Thomas Spencer,   b. 13 Jul 1812, St Marys, Westminster, Middlesex, England. ,   d. 1812, London, England  [natural]   5. EMMETT, George Grindal,   b. 3 Oct 1813, St George, Bloombury, Middlesex, England. ,   d. 1850, California, USA  (Age 36 years)  [natural]   6. EMMETT, Hamilton Cornwall,   b. 3 Aug 1815, St Lukes, Chelsea, London, England. ,   d. 28 Apr 1894, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia  (Age 78 years)  [natural]   7. EMMETT, Edward Nucella,   b. 18 Feb 1817, St Johns Westminster, England. ,   d. 18 Mar 1874, Manly, New South Wales, Australia  (Age 57 years)  [natural]   8. EMMETT, Skelton Buckley,   b. 28 Sep 1818, Wood Creek Hill, Westminster, Middlesex, England. ,   d. 15 Nov 1898, Bell Street, Glebe, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 80 years)  [natural]   9. EMMETT, Mary Elizabeth,   b. 3 Dec 1820, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia ,   d. 4 Sep 1863, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia  (Age 42 years)  [natural]   10. EMMETT, Grace West,   b. 13 Aug 1822, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia ,   d. 19 Jun 1900, Mount Wombat, Victoria, Australia.  (Age 77 years)  [natural]   11. EMMETT, William Abbott,   b. 22 Nov 1823, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia ,   d. 13 Oct 1915, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia  (Age 91 years)  [natural]
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023
  Family ID	F1361	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  1819 Regalia

  
  

  Documents

  Emmett, Henry James (1783-1848)

  
  

• Notes

  Australian Dictionary of Biography Emmett, Henry James (1783–1848) by E. T. Emmett This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966 Henry James Emmett (1783-1848), public servant, was the eldest son of Henry Emmett of London and his wife, Grace West, née Taylor. After seven years service at the War Office in England, he emigrated to Van Diemen's Land, arriving at Hobart Town in the Regalia in November 1819 with his wife Mary Thompson, née Townsend, their six children, and a settler's letter of recommendation from his former chief, Viscount Palmerston. On the strength of his capital and large family, he received 1100 acres (445 ha) at Ross and 500 acres (202 ha) in two lots near Hobart Town. He stocked his runs with cattle bought from the government and improved his flocks with imported merino rams, but settled his family in Hobart where in 1821 he became clerk to the bench of magistrates and later inspector of distilleries and breweries. In 1824 he resigned these positions, having been appointed chief clerk in the colonial secretary's office and editor of the Hobart Town Gazette by Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell. On the arrival of Colonel (Sir) George Arthur harmony between the paper's owner and the government ended; the proprietor launched a virulent attack on the lieutenant-governor and sacked Emmett in favour of a more outspoken editor. By 1828 his family had increased to nine, and had moved from his farm Marylands, near Crayfish Point, to Beauly Lodge which he had built at New Town. With the erection of this house Emmett's fortunes declined. Unable to cope with building expenses, he temporarily borrowed the fees collected by his office. When they fell into arrears, a board of inquiry ordered him to repay them fortnightly and furnish regular accounts, but exonerated him from deliberate dishonesty. As his financial troubles increased, his requests for a larger salary became more urgent, but the presumptive nature of his pleas for improved status, including appointment to the Commission of the Peace and a retiring allowance of land, met with blunt refusal. However, in 1833 he was appointed clerk of the peace and registrar of the Court of Requests, a title he considered of greater prestige than that of chief clerk. His financial embarrassment continued and he resorted again to the public purse, this time borrowing from wine and spirit licences which he had collected although he knew they were not his responsibility. Dismissed from office, he set up as a general agent, amanuensis, and debt collector and appealed unsuccessfully to the Colonial Office. Although offered a regular income in 1833 as editor of the Colonist, the most outspoken opposition newspaper, he refused when privately advised by the lieutenant-governor that it was unwise for a man with four sons in positions of confidence in the public service to join the hostile press. He sold his house and in 1836 moved to Campbell Town, where he spent £200 on building a windmill to improve the town's water supply. Lack of funds forced its abandonment, and the Emmetts went to Mayfarm on the Tamar River, the younger sons undertaking the mortgage. In 1841 he applied for the charge of a probation party without success, but two years later he rejoined government service as schoolmaster at the Back River school near New Norfolk, his experience in educating his family carrying weight with the Board of Education. Later he returned to Hobart where he died on 28 December 1848. He was buried at St John's, New Town, an Anglican church for which he had petitioned twenty years previously. His wife survived him eight years. The family name is perpetuated in a street and parish at Smithton and Lake and Mount Emmett in the highlands. Select Bibliography Historical Records of Australia, series 3, vols 3-6 L. Norman, Pioneer Shipping of Tasmania (Hob, 1938) correspondence file under Emmett (Archives Office of Tasmania) family memoirs (privately held). Citation details E. T. Emmett, 'Emmett, Henry James (1783–1848)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/emmett-henry-james-2025/text2493, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 7 September 2015. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966

  
  

• Sources

  [S309] Public Member Trees, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.;;), Database online. Record for Phillip George Emmett http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=0&pid=1386 [S309] Public Member Trees, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.;;), Database online. Record for Henry James Emmett http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=0&pid=1386