MOTTRAM Samuel
- Home
- /
- Redcoat Index
- /
- Redcoats G – M
- /
- MOTTRAM Samuel
| NAME Samuel MOTTRAM | Name variations: Motram, Mottrem |
|---|---|
| Birth Date and Place | 19 Jan 1800 Stone, Staffordshire, England [Staffordshire Record Office]. |
| Baptism Date and Place | 15 Feb 1800 St Michael’s Church, Stone, Staffordshire, England [Staffordshire Record Office] |
| Marriage Date and Place | c. 1833 Cork, Ireland – not verified. |
| Spouse | Catherine MAGNER, Magnor [WABDM]. |
| Children | Margaret b.1836 Ireland – not verified. John b.1839 Hobart, Tasmania [TasBDM Reg.#128]. Thomas b.& d. unknown, Western Australia – not verified. Jane b.1844, Western Australia – not verified. Samuel b.1846 Western Australia – not verified. Annie b.1849 Western Australia – not verified. James b.1851 Perth, Western Australia – not verified. Dates and places of most children from misc. sources but not verified by primary sources. |
| Occupations | Labourer. |
| Land Acquisition in WA | None. |
| Death Date and Place | 23 Jul 1882 Havelock, Tullaroop Shire, Victoria [VicBDM Reg# 9215] Cause of Death: Paraplegia 12 months. |
| Burial Date and Place | July 1882 Maryborough Cemetery, Victoria [FindaGrave]. |
| Death, Funeral, Obituary Notices | None. |
| Will and Probate | None. |
| BRITISH ARMY | |
| Regiment | 90th Light Infantry Regiment, Perthshire Volunteers. 01 Jan 1831 transferred to 51st (2nd Yorkshire West Riding, The Kings Own Light Infantry) Regiment. |
| Soldier No. and Rank | #585 Private [WO97-649-107]. |
| Attestation Date and Place | 13 July 1826 Carlisle, Cumberland. |
| Physical Description | Height: 5 ft. 10¼ ins. Complexion: fair. Eyes: hazel. Hair: brown. |
| Service/Campaigns | Ionian Islands 5½ years – 2 Dec 1828 to 12 Jun 1834. Australian Colonies – 9 years. |
| Promotions | None. |
| Medals, Clasps and Badges | None. |
| Casualty/Medical | Suffering from a severe Rheumatic affection which caused enlargement of the left knee thereby together with his age incapacitated him for service. Unfit for service in India. |
| Regimental Courts Martial | None. |
| District Courts Martial | None. |
| General Courts Martial | None. |
| Arrival Australian NSW: Ship and Date | Lord Lyndoch. Embarked 24 Mar 1838 at Deptford. Paid to 31 Jul 1838. Dep. 4 Apr 1838 London. Arr. 8 Aug 1838 Port Jackson, NSW. [WO12-6200-193]. |
| Arrival Western Australia: Ship and Date | Runnymede 25 Jun 1840 from Hobart [TROVE]. |
| Military Postings within Western Australia | York 25 to 30 Jun 1840. Mahogany Creek 1 Jul 1840 to 31 May 1841. Mottram reached 14 years service with the Army on 10 Jul 1840. He had been receiving 2d. per diem additional pay since arriving in Australia. Perth HQ 1 Jun 1841 to 31 Jan 1842 inc. Garrison Duty (Jan 1842). Rottnest Island 1 Feb 1842 to 31 Jan 1847. Perth HQ 1 Feb to 11 Mar 1847, thereafter on Furlough and attached to the 96th Regiment awaiting Discharge and Medical examination for Pension purposes [WO12-6208-190]. [All sourcing from WO12-6202 TO 6208]. |
| Courts Martial in Western Australia | None. |
| Discharge Date and Place Admission to Pension Date and Place | 11 Mar 1847 Perth, Western Australia. 24 Aug 1847 Perth, Western Australia [WO23-59-8]. |
| Age at Discharge | 43 years 8 months. |
| Length of Service | 20 years 265 days. |
| Chelsea Pension Reference | WO97-649-107. |
| Pension District | Western Australia (1847-1865?). Melbourne, Victoria (1865?-1882). |
| Pension Amount | 1s. 0d. per diem. |
| Notes on Pension Payment | Paid by Regiment to 31 Mar 1848. Paid by Commissariat to 30 Jun 1851. Thereafter transferred to Captain Bruce’s Pay List. There is nothing to suggest Mottram was taken onto EPF strength, this was merely a means of receiving his pension entitlement as a military pensioner once Perth became a Pension District with the arrival of Captain John Bruce and the EPF men [WO22-248-39]. |
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Samuel Mottram was posted to Rottnest Island for over five years during his Army service in Western Australia. This is an unusual amount of time for a continuous posting. While he was on Rottnest, Superintendent Henry Francis Vincent was in charge of the Rottnest Establishment. Vincent was a controversial gaoler and ultimately there would be an investigation into the treatment of the natives incarcerated on the Island during Vincent’s time there. Mottram and many other 51st Regiment soldiers would give depositions at that investigation before a bench of Magistrates in August 1846. Click here for a transcription of the proceedings.
It is clear from Mottram’s record of pension payments that by 1865 he had left Western Australia and settled in Victoria. It is not certain if all the family left at the same time. However, in 1865 his pension payment record shows that there was a stoppage for his wife’s baggage to be sent from Perth to Melbourne [WO22-252]. Catherine Mottram, his wife, made appearances in the Perth Police Court on at least a dozen occasions from 1851 to 1862 for drunkenness, bad language and bad behaviour [TROVE]. This may mean the whole family left for Victoria sometime after 1862 – or at least by that year Catherine had mended her ways!