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The Death of Captain Wright

When the Wilkinsons left Sydney in 1837 Samuel Wright remained in the colony. He had built a stone house known as Old Bengalla on his original grant and as well running sheep and cattle he grew wheat and had a vineyard with at least ten varieties of vines. In April 1832, whilst still Police Magistrate at Parramatta, he mortgaged 2560 acres to Robert and Alexander Walker Scott for £500 on which he paid 12.5% interest . In September he brought 1000 acres of land to the south of the property from J B Bettington for £200 which had originally been granted to A C Cavenagh. His role in the district increased when he bought the first blocks offered for sale in the new town of 'Muscle brook' on 14 March 1834. Two years later he paid £225 for 320 acres on the banks of the Hunter in the Parish of Alnwick.

In 1837 and 1838 Wright leased and released various parts of his land. At the end of this period when the price of land and stock was high when speculation was intense Wright sold a large part of Bengalla to Scott for £10,000 and for a time lived in Sydney. The former soldiers now residents of the Hunter Valley and their friends gathered in March 1838 for the burial of Col. Henry Dumaresq in a hillside cave above the vineyard Dalwood. Dumaresq’s military career involved courageous service in the same campaigns as Wright. The Dumaresq family history recalls that Wright was a survivor of -

‘that terrible day at Albuera, when the out-numbered British Regiments stood like rocks on that fateful hill, while the rain poured down on them and the water in the gullies ran redly. The end of the day brought victory to the remnant army, and when pickets were placed for the night there was no one left to succour the wounded or bury the dead.’ - Dust of Ages by W A Wood Muswellbrook Historical Society

The Census of 1841 records Samuel Wright as living at Bengalla supported by a young couple of Scottish immigrants. In 1842 after 21 years in Australia Samuel visited his home in Ireland, presumably on the death of his brother. Mr Dodds of Maitland auctioned some of his goods on June 25. In August 1843 he sailed on the Strathedon which travelled to England via Madras. After over a year away he returned on the Persian which sailed from London 18 September 1844 with thirty cabin passengers and arrived (via Portsmouth) in Sydney 27 December.



Did Captain Wright hope that the arrival of his nephews in New South Wales would change his life? If so their departure surely left the old retired soldier lonely and depressed.. Samuel had never married and from 1846 employed Mrs. Agnes Butler as housekeeper at the Bengalla estate. As Samuel’s will provided for Agnes after his death and she had received no wages during her time with him, it seems probable that she was more than just a housekeeper. He remained a leading figure in the community including vice-patron to the Muswellbrook Benevolent Society but he had little to look forward to. At the beginning of March 1852 Captain Samuel Wright boarded the steamer Rose at Merton for one of his regular trips to Sydney. He carried a carpet bag which held spare clothes and a will that he had written in November 1851. On arriving in Sydney he went to his usual lodgings with Mrs. Garrison in Jamieson Street. It was his intention to have the draft will drawn up in legal form by his lawyer Mr. Holden of Smith and Croft of George Street. Dr. J W Turner of Hunter History Consultants wrote that whilst in Sydney Wright attempted to arrange an annuity for himself in his old age. Wright was now nearly seventy, unmarried, and it seems that he had fallen out with his nephews. He owed William Lawson of Bathurst £2000 on which he was paying 8% interest which was due to be re-paid in June. He also owed £250 to Elizabeth Boyd of 10 Notting Hill Terrace, Bayswater in London the widow of the paymaster of the Buffs on which he also paid 8% . It was due for repayment at the beginning of 1854.

He spent nearly three weeks in Sydney but did not get round to having the will formally drafted. On 22 March he sat in his lodgings and wrote the addenda to his will and had it witnessed by Alexander Chisholm and George Augustus Gordon who were also guests of Mrs. Garrison. The next day he took the carpet bag to the office of Smith and Croft and gave it to John Street for delivery to Frederick Wilkinson. The following evening he dined with Alexander Chisholm and played some whist. Chisholm had noticed that ‘at times there appeared to be something troubling him and that his mind did not seem altogether at ease’. Wright announced that he was returning home by the steamer and despite the pleading of his friends he refused their offer to accompany him. The Chief Officer of the Rose saw him go aboard and enter his cabin before the ship cast off at 10pm. Also travelling back to Muswellbrook on the Rose was Robert Beames, as the ship left he saw his neighbour Wright on board. The next morning as Beames walked on deck he saw a hat and glove in the sponson. A sailor gave it to the Chief Officer. As the Rose neared Newcastle the Chief Officer collected the fares but Wright was not to be found. The hat found by Beames was examined by Captain Day the Magistrate at Maitland and he found the name ‘Wright’ written in the band. On May 22 the Maitland Mercury expressed its sorrow and reported that inquiries had found ‘that there was nothing to warrant the slightest suspicion of any violence having been done to Captain Wright, and indeed the melancholy conclusion drawn is that the unfortunate gentleman jumped overboard.’

John Street gave the carpet bag to one of the partners, Thomas Whistler Smith, who took it to his home. It was the seventh of May before Rev. Wilkinson came to Smith’s house and opened the bag to find the clothes of his nephew and a will and attached list of debts. The Will appointed him and Wright’s friend and neighbour Captain William Ogilvie as executors of his estate. It left instructions that the real property be sold within two years of his death and the net proceeds be forwarded to the Rev. Frederick Fitzpatrick of Ballieboro Co. Cavan, Ireland, who had previously been instructed on its distribution. In June the executors notified the Supreme Court of their intention to execute the Will. The Court investigated the disappearance of Wright and found that he had died on 24 March 1852; it granted probate in September. The estate was valued at under £2000.

Eight days short of the first anniversary of his death the Maitland Mercury carried a large advertisement announcing the sale of his principle properties. The Bengalla Estate was described by the auctioneer Mr. Mort as being –

• Opposite to the Edenglassie property and in the neighbourhood of the estates of Messrs Cox, McIntyre and Hall.
  • The whole of the 12,335 acres are extremely well watered, and consist of thirteen various sized blocks so selected as to command a large amount of intervening country, the whole capable of depasturing a very large quantity of stock. About 7000 acres are elevated tableland, most abundantly watered by springs, forming themselves into small rivulets, and emptying into the river Wybong; the supply of water never fails. Two sections about midway betwixt the 7000 acres just alluded to, and the homestead are watered by permanent waterholes, fenced in with about a mile of fencing – these are known as the Vandy Creek station, and have good shingled huts upon them. The homestead (and another block adjoining the church reserve) have frontages to the River Hunter independent of other supplies: indeed, the water is never failing.
  

• The improvements upon the homestead are very considerable and comprise, amongst others, the following; viz.:-
  • House of six rooms, with good verandah, having kitchen, laundry, and servants room attached, lofty and well built stone store, with two cellars underneath, good barn and good shearing shed. Eight stall stable and coach house, box and yard for an entire horse, two good cottages, and carpenters shop. All the above buildings are shingled.
  • Four good huts. Vineyard of three acres.
  • Two small farms, which have been separately let. About three miles of fencing. A productive lime quarry (the only one in the neighbourhood), with a kiln and shingled hut. A stone quarry with hut. Huts on the sheep station etc. etc.