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MIDDLETON, Reverand George Augustus

MIDDLETON, Reverand George Augustus

Male 1791 - 1848  (56 years)

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  • Name MIDDLETON, George Augustus  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] 
    Title Reverand 
    Born 31 Aug 1791  Whitley, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Christened 16 Nov 1791  St. James', Westminster, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] 
    Gender Male 
    Died 15 May 1848  Phoenix Park, Hinton New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Buried Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Person ID I8965  My Genealogy
    Last Modified 16 Sep 2023 

    Father MIDDLETON, Charles,   b. 5 Sep 1756, Fleet Street, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1813, Westminster, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 56 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother POWELL, Mary,   b. 29 May 1756, Parish of St James, Westminster, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1817, Westminster, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 60 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Married 1 Dec 1784  St Margaret, Westminster, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [14, 15] 
    • By Licence Mary was of the parish of St James Westminster.
    Family ID F1766  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 ROSE, Sarah Ann,   b. 30 Dec 1808, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Mar 1863  (Age 54 years) 
    Married 17 Feb 1824  Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    Children 
     1. MIDDLETON, George Augustus,   b. 11 Jan 1818, Kennington, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Aug 1900  (Age 82 years)  [natural]
     2. MIDDLETON, Charles Robert,   b. 2 Jul 1825, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 10 Jun 1912, Raymond Terrace, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 86 years)  [natural]
     3. MIDDLETON, Osman Edward,   b. 21 Aug 1826, Hoxham, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 27 Oct 1882  (Age 56 years)  [natural]
     4. MIDDLETON, Sarah Ann,   b. 22 Dec 1828,   d. 30 Oct 1867, Glebe, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 38 years)  [natural]
     5. MIDDLETON, Isabella Lydia,   b. 27 Sep 1830, Glenrose, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 11 Sep 1914, Albury, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 83 years)  [natural]
     6. MIDDLETON, William Powell,   b. 5 Jul 1831, Balmain, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 2 Jun 1892, Brighton Street, Petersham, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 60 years)  [natural]
     7. MIDDLETON, Juliana Agnes,   b. 26 Dec 1834, Balmain, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1902, Young, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 67 years)  [natural]
     8. MIDDLETON, Francis Gilbert,   b. 13 Nov 1836, Hoxham, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1918, Murrumburrah, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 81 years)  [natural]
     9. MIDDLETON, Augustus,   b. 1838, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1838, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 0 years)  [natural]
     10. MIDDLETON, Georgiana,   b. 19 Sep 1839, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1919, Stockton, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years)  [natural]
     11. MIDDLETON, Alexander Dudley,   b. 21 Jan 1841, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 24 Aug 1908, Royal Hotel, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 67 years)  [natural]
     12. MIDDLETON, Evan Augustus,   b. 1844, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1910, Murrumburrah, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 66 years)  [natural]
     13. MIDDLETON, Albert Ernest,   b. 12 Aug 1844, Seaham, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 May 1914, Temora, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 69 years)  [natural]
     14. MIDDLETON, Cecil Arnold,   b. 29 Apr 1846, Phoenix Park, Hinton New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Aug 1925, Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years)  [natural]
     15. MIDDLETON, Clarence Tyrrell,   b. 12 Nov 1847, Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1848, Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 0 years)  [natural]
    Last Modified 16 Sep 2023 
    Family ID F2406  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 HULL, Mary Ann,   b. 20 Nov 1796, Shaftesbury, Dorset, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 30 Jun 1819, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 22 years) 
    Married 17 Mar 1817  St Mary's Church, Lambeth, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. MIDDLETON, George Augustus,   b. 11 Jan 1818, Kennington, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Aug 1900  (Age 82 years)  [natural]
    Last Modified 16 Sep 2023 
    Family ID F2407  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    Announcement of Rev Middleton's Appointment as Assistant Chaplain.    		Announcement of Rev Middleton's Appointment as Assistant Chaplain.
    New South Wales, Australia, Record of Appointments to Government Offices, 1814-1825    		New South Wales, Australia, Record of Appointments to Government Offices, 1814-1825
    New South Wales, Australia, Butts of Marriage Licenses, 1813–1835, 1894    		New South Wales, Australia, Butts of Marriage Licenses, 1813–1835, 1894
    Christ Church Newcastle    		Christ Church Newcastle

    Histories
    george augustus middleton    		george augustus middleton

  • Notes 
    • Reverand George Augustus Middleton

      born 31 Aug 1791 London died 15 May 1848 Hinton nr Morpeth NSW buried Morpeth cemetery
      son of Charles MIDDLETON
      & Mary née POWELL ;
      married (i) 17 Mar 1817 S Mary Lambeth
      Mary Ann HULL
      born c1796 Shaftesbury died 30 Jun 1819 Lambeth
      daughter of Thomas HULL and Catherine née SHORT;
      married (ii) 17 Feb 1824 S Luke Liverpool NSW
      Sarah ROSE
      arrived 1821 Australia HEROINE
      born c1810 died 15 Mar 1863 age 53 Morpeth
      daughter of Robert ROSE of London
      [Rev. Middleton married Sarah Rose Pennington, step-daughter of Joseph Penninton at Liverpool in 1824.]
      Education
      1803-­‐1809 Westminster
      1809-­‐ S Johns college Cambridge
      MA Lambeth
      18 Jul 1819 deacon London for colonies
      01 Aug 1819 priest Salisbury for London for colonies, by letters dimissory (30 Jul 1819) from London to Salisbury Positions
      06 Aug 1819 chaplain’s warrant issued
      09 Oct 1819-­‐27 Jan 1820 from England arrived Australia PRINCE REGENT
      1819 assistant chaplain NSW
      Jan 1820 chaplain Parramatta
      Dec 1820-­‐10 May 1827 chaplain Christ Church Newcastle
      1828 farmer Paterson’s Plains
      1828-­‐1837 unofficial ministry Morpeth, Maitland, Branxton, Paterson
      01 Nov 1837 took oaths
      01 Nov 1837-­‐1839 minister Hinton, Seaham, Butterwick
      1839 priest at Hinton
      06 Jan 1839-­‐11 Apr 1848 all baptisms in Morpeth register are by him

      Middleton, George Augustus (1791–1848)

      by Niel Gunson

      This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, (MUP), 1967

      George Augustus Middleton (1791-1848), Anglican clergyman, was born on 31 August 1791 in London, the son of Charles Middleton. He was educated at Westminster School and at St John's College, Cambridge, and was later awarded a Lambeth M.A. After the death of his wife Mary Ann, née Hull, he was ordained deacon and priest and in August 1819 commissioned as an assistant chaplain for New South Wales. With his son George Augustus he arrived in the Prince Regent at Sydney in January 1820. Almost immediately Middleton took charge of Parramatta and in December he was sent to Newcastle, where Christ Church had been built in 1817. He was the first chaplain appointed north of the Hawkesbury, although general spiritual oversight had been given by Rev. William Cowper. By December he claimed to have 'at length succeeded in introducing into the Town a degree of order to which under the present administration it had ever been a stranger' and also complained of the commandant's morals. In 1822 his application to return to England for 'some Private Family arrangements' was looked on favourably by Earl Bathurst but apparently he did not go.

      Unhappy with conditions in the penal settlement Middleton became increasingly interested in the spiritual welfare of the free settlers in the Hunter valley. He regularly visited settlers on the Paterson and Williams Rivers, Patrick's Plains and as far as Segenhoe. This itinerant ministry led to the appointment of catechists to assist his work. Middleton also showed great interest in the Aboriginals. According to John Bingle, who accompanied him 'with the whole tribe of upwards of one hundred' on a trip to Lake Macquarie, Middleton was 'an especial favourite with the blacks'. Middleton gave full support to Rev. Lancelot Threlkeld, accompanying him on his preliminary visit to Lake Macquarie in 1825. Like other clergy Middleton augmented his original land grant, and his 2400 acres (971 ha) at Glenrose, Paterson's Plains, earned him John Dunmore Lang's censure in the comment, 'every priest his own butcher'. According to Commandant James Morisset, his time was too much 'occupied in dealing in Cattle with the Convict Settlers: and I am sorry to say that my respect for that Gentleman has been much diminished by the reports I hear of his frequently dining with, and at the same table of people of that description'.

      By 1826 Middleton's outspoken views had made him dangerous enemies. When reproved by Archdeacon Thomas Scott for treating a convict's family with 'cruelty and oppression', he asked unsuccessfully for an official investigation, and circulated letters seeking the vindication of his own clerical and private character. Scott had already decided to send him to the penal settlement at Port Macquarie as chaplain, but in May 1827 Middleton resigned in disgust, looking on the transfer as 'banishment'. He moved to Moore Park, on the Paterson River near Hinton, where he continued an unofficial itinerant ministry. From 1828 to 1830 he regularly visited and baptized in the district between Morpeth, Maitland, Branxton and Paterson, and was said to have kept a school at Phoenix Park near Morpeth. He also accompanied his friend, John Blaxland junior, on an exploratory journey when they discovered the overland route to Newcastle. After Bishop William Grant Broughton's pastoral visitation to the Hunter valley in 1837, Middleton was licensed to serve in the parishes of Butterwick and Seaham, and in April 1838 he was authorized to solemnize marriages in his house at Hinton, there being no church building in the area. In 1839 the Hinton parish was further limited to the lower reaches of the Williams and Paterson Rivers. Middleton also did much of the parish work in the ecclesiastical centre of Morpeth until failing health confined him to Hinton. He died there on 15 May 1848.

      At Liverpool on 12 February 1824 he had married, as his second wife, Sarah, daughter of Robert Rose of London. His widow died at Tressingfield in March 1863; of their children Charles Robert became a police magistrate.

      According to Threlkeld, Middleton was 'not Evangelical'. On his arrival he was said to be 'a great Gambler', and Samuel Marsden thought him 'a stranger to religion, but well read'. Although his interest in missions and itinerant work linked him closely with the Evangelical tradition, he was apparently the exception, both in educational standards and doctrine, of the colonial chaplains in the colony when Scott arrived. In 1826 the press, possibly with mild sarcasm, described him as 'unassuming, retired, devout, and unbusinesslike'. A window in his memory is in Newcastle Cathedral.

      Paterson River History

      Rev. George Middleton, Mary Hull & Sarah Rose

      The Reverend George Augustus Middleton was the sole resident pastor in the lower Hunter Valley from mid 1821 to mid 1827 and during that time he forged a close relationship with the Paterson district.

      Born in London in 1791, Middleton attended Cambridge University but failed to graduate. On 17 March 1817, at the age of 25, he married Mary Hull. In 1818 Mary died after giving birth to a son named George. George snr was ordained as a priest for the colonies in 1819, sailed on the Prince Regent and arrived in Sydney in January 1820 with George aged two.

      Shortly after arrival he began work as Assistant Chaplain at Parramatta, standing in for the Reverend Samuel Marsden. In 1821 he was appointed to the convict settlement at Newcastle which was under the military control of commandant Major James Morisset.[1]

      Middleton was soon rankled by Morisset's disregard for the Sabbath and his concubinage, to the extent that relations between the two men broke down completely. Middleton probably welcomed the opportunity to escape the tensions of Newcastle by travelling up-river to his glebe at Patersons Plains.

      Middleton's glebe land at Patersons Plains (shaded in blue). The main campus buildings of Tocal College stand today in the north west corner of his glebe.

      Glebes, which consisted of land allocated to the clergy, were an important feature of English rural life at this time, and were equally important for the suppport of clergy in the colony of New South Wales up until 1827. In mid 1821 Middleton selected 400 acres of glebe land on the river at Patersons Plains up-stream from the government settlement at Old Banks and immediately north of John Swan's block (see map).[2]

      By the end of 1822 Middleton had cleared 14 acres of his glebe and planted 9 acres of wheat. On it he was running 3 horses, 54 horned cattle and 52 pigs.[3]

      Middleton also became a landowner in his own right. By 1828 he had been granted 2,000 acres of Crown land at Patersons Plains adjoining James Webber's land (later called 'Tocal'). Middleton named his land 'Glenrose', and at the time of the 1828 census he had cleared 130 acres, of which 32 acres were cultivated. He was running 6 horses, 337 cattle and 285 sheep.[4]

      Middleton was an independent character who reluctantly ceded to authority, and this trait brought him into conflict not only with Morisset but also with Governor Darling and the Archdeacon. These spats led to his censure by the Evangelical movement of the church through savage attacks on him in the Sydney Gazette in 1826. 'More than anything, he is remembered for his absenteeism, an unjust charge which has long overshadowed his contribution to the development of the church in the Hunter Valley.'[5]

      George Middleton re-married in February 1824, his second bride being Sarah Rose, then aged 15 (born 29 January 1809 according to a descendant). Sarah had arrived in New South Wales as a free person on the Heroine in 1821. They were wed at St. Luke's Liverpool (NSW) and Sarah subsequently bore him 15 children, two of whom died as infants.

      In 1826 Middleton was invited to surrender his glebe at Patersons Plains to the Church and School Corporation in return for compensation. He accepted and his glebe was vested in the corporation in 1827.[6] Middleton resigned from the ministry in 1827 and moved to his land grant 'Glenrose' at Paterson. From there he provided an unofficial and itinerant ministry to those in pastoral need.

      By mid 1831 drought forced Middleton to move to Sydney, where he lived for a time with his family at Waterview, one of the first houses in Balmain.[7] Sometime in the 1830s the family rented a house at Phoenix Park near Morpeth. In 1837, with the approval of Bishop Broughton, Middleton returned to active ministry in the parish of Butterwick (across the river from his old glebe at Patersons Plains) and remained there until his death in 1848 at the age of 55. Sarah died in 1863 aged 53 years. They are buried together in Morpeth cemetery.

      Notes and references
      1. Roach, Brian. "George Augustus Middleton - A Prodigal Priest?". M.A. thesis, University of Newcastle, 2003.
      2. Roach, "George Augustus Middleton", 63.
      3. Baxter, Carol (ed.). General Muster and Land and Stock Muster of New South Wales 1822. Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record, 1988.
      4. Sainty MR and KA Johnston (eds). Census of New South Wales 1828. Library of Australian History, 2008 (revised edition on CD). Note: the 1828 census indicates Middleton had 2,400 acres of land. Because he surrendered his glebe in 1827 the census should have indicated 2,000 acres at Glenrose. The reason for the discrepancy is unclear. An early map of the (civil) Parish of Houghton shows Glenrose as 2,000 acres.
      5. Roach, "George Augustus Middleton", 15.
      6. Waddell, James. A History of St. Peter's Church East Maitland N.S.W. Published by the author, 1996, 3.
      7. Middleton's witness statement in Rex v Mills, Chapman and Chapman, 1834.
      External links
      Rev. George Middleton in Aust. Dict. Biography.
      Rev. George and Sarah Middleton's headstone inscription and photo.
      See also
      Elkin, AP. The Diocese of Newcastle. Australasian Medical Publishing Company, 1955.
      An overview of settlement at Patersons Plains up to the end of 1821.

      Also see https://www.jenwilletts.com/george_augustus_middleton.htm

  • Sources 
    1. [S309] Public Member Trees, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.;;), Database online.
      Record for George Middleton
      http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=103289043&pid=2444

    2. [S95] New South Wales, Australia, Butts of Marriage Licenses, 1813–1835, 1894, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2014;;), Series Title: Licenses for Marriages, 1813-1827; NRS Number: NRS 1037; Reel Number: 2281; Volume Number: 4/1710.
      New South Wales, Australia, Butts of Marriage Licenses, 1813–1835, 1894      		 New South Wales, Australia, Butts of Marriage Licenses, 1813–1835, 1894


    3. [S374] New South Wales, Australia, Record of Appointments to Government Offices, 1814-1825, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2011;;), State Archives NSW; NRS 388; Item: (2/812); Fiche: Fiche 755 - 756.
      New South Wales, Australia, Record of Appointments to Government Offices, 1814-1825      		 New South Wales, Australia, Record of Appointments to Government Offices, 1814-1825


    4. [S309] Public Member Trees, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.;;), Database online.
      Record for Charles Middleton
      http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=103289043&pid=2444

    5. [S308] Ancestry Family Trees, (Name: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.;;), Ancestry Family Tree.

    6. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, "Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XT6Y-CX7 : 11 February 2018), George Augustus Middleton in entry for Juliana Agnes Middleton, ; citing CHRIST CHURCH, NEWCASTLE, NEW SOUTH WALE.
      George Augustus Middleton in entry for Juliana Agnes Middleton, "Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981"
      https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XT6Y-CX7

    7. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JWMV-1B5 : 11 February 2018, George Alexander Middleton, 31 Mar 1790); citing St James', Westminster, Middlesex, England, index based upon da.
      George Alexander Middleton, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975"
      https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JWMV-1B5

    8. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, Australia Deaths and Burials, 1816-1980 Transcription.
      Burial Record - George Augustus Middleton

    9. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 21 August 2016, 12:31), entry for George Augustus Middleton(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KJZD-M4K); contributed by various users. PersonID KJZD-M4K.
      George Augustus Middleton
      https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KJZD-M4K

    10. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, "Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTX4-67G : 11 February 2018), George Augustus Middleton in entry for Sarah Ann Middleton, 02 Feb 1829; citing CHRIST CHURCH NEWCASTLE, NEW SOUT.
      George Augustus Middleton in entry for Sarah Ann Middleton, "Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981"
      https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTX4-67G

    11. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, New South Wales Deaths 1788-1945 Transcription.
      Death Record - George Augustus Middleton

    12. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, "Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTD1-ZFS : 11 February 2018), George Augustus Middleton in entry for Georgiana Middleton, 05 Aug 1840; citing Butterwick and Seaham, New South.
      George Augustus Middleton in entry for Georgiana Middleton, "Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981"
      https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTD1-ZFS

    13. [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, England Pallots Baptism Index.
      Baptism Record - George Augustus Middleton

    14. [S309] Public Member Trees, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.;;), Database online.
      Record for Mary Powell
      http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=103289043&pid=12163

    15. [S309] Public Member Trees, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.;;), Database online.
      Record for Charles Middleton
      http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=103289043&pid=12163


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