Thomas DUNN

Dear people. Below is a bit of a story of one of my ancestors Thomas DUNN. NSW Fallen Police does not only mean those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but those that served and lived and, hopefully, had their story told. If you had an ancestor that served, please tell us the story.

Thomas Dunn is a direct ancestor of one of my mothers sister. Something I will add to my ‘Mums Memories’. He was a copper, as I was. Mum would not have known of this.

THOMAS DUNN was born in 1776 in England or Ireland. In 1796 he was described as: 5ft 8in, dark complexion, dark hair and dark eyes.

At the age of 19 he was a servant for a brewer in King St, Westminster backing onto the Thames. In Sept 1796, he was caught stealing money from his employer and was convicted and sentenced at Newgate Prison on 28/10/1796 to 7 years deportation. He was 20 years of age.

After sentencing, he spent a few months at Newgate before being sent to the Hulks in Portsmouth Harbour on 12/3/1797, where he spent the next 21 months. He sailed from Portland Roads on 23/12/1798 on the ship “Hillsborough” (764 tons) with 300 male convicts aboard, some of whom had typhus.

The Master of the ship was William Hingston who treated the convicts harshly. It arrived in Sydney, after 212 days, on 26/7/1799 with typhus raging on board.

Ninety five of the 300 convicts had died during the voyage and a further 6 died after they landed, Gov. Hunter describing the survivors as “the most wretched and miserable convicts I have ever beheld, in the most sickly and wretched state”. Almost every prisoner required hospital treatment, due to the sickness; the treatment on board where they were kept double ironed and chained together on deck; their bedding which was constantly wet due to the stormy weather; plus being inadequately fed.

After serving his term, Thomas married Rose Bean in 1804. She had arrived in the Colony aboard the ship “Buffalo” in 1799 at the age of 13. She arrived with her parents and siblings as free settlers, her father James Bean having signed up as a builder under a “Terms of Settlement” agreement. James Bean would be contracted to build the Rum Hospital in Macquarie Street in 1811. Rose and her siblings were all born in London.

In 1803, when Rose was 17, she was raped by two Irish convicts who had escaped and attacked the Bean homestead. Thomas Dunn, who may have been assigned to the Bean farm at the time, married her the following year at St John’s Church, Parramatta. Dunn and Bean were both involved in the quashing of the rebellion of Irish convicts at Castle Hill in 1804, known as the Battle of Vinegar Hill.

In the 1806 Muster, Thomas was self-employed and renting 30 acres. He had 20 acres under pasture, growing maize and barley.

In 1810 he was appointed a constable in Sydney, victualled by the Government. He was also a landholder in Baulkam Hills.
In 1814 he received a grant of land.

By 1817, he was a District Constable, paid a salary from the Police Fund.

On Oct 19, 1820, he was appointed a Chief Constable for Sydney and was receiving a wage of 150 pound.

In 1824/25 he was granted 600 acres which he sold in 1830 for 125 pounds sterling.

In the 1828 Census, he was a pensioner on 50 pound a year, living in Cumberland Street. On his retirement, many praised his “exemplary conduct during his time as Chief Constable.”

Thomas died on 6/4/1832 aged 55 and was living in Castlereigh St, Sydney at the time of his death. Rose had died the year before on 5/11/1831. They had 8 children. Their daughter, Margaret, married Walter Butler (son of convict Laurence Butler), and had two children. Margaret would die at the young age of 31 years.