NEWSTEAD Nathaniel

Baptism for Nathaniel Newstead
Tortoise convict ship from Britain
Army Medical Report
Kojonup Barracks
WA Record 15 May 1897
NAME: Nathaniel NEWSTEADName variations: None encountered.
Birth Date and Placec. 1820 Thorpe, Norwich, Norfolk, England [WO97-1042-005].
Baptism Date and Place27 Apr 1820 Thorpe Episcopi Church, Norfolk [Norfolk Record Office].
Marriage Date and Place16 Apr 1860 Perth, Western Australia  [WABDM Reg. #1452].
SpouseMary CODY/CODEY (Widow of Sergeant John Robinson EPF).
ChildrenNone.
Stepdaughters from marriage of Mary & John Robinson:
Elizabeth Mary b. 1855, Kojonup, Western Australia [WABDM Reg. #3928].
Alicia Eliza Catherine b. 1857 Kojonup, Western Australia [WABDM Reg. #3090 & RC Kojonup baptism].
OccupationsLabourer.
Contract Mail Carrier.
Farmer.
Land Acquisition in WASee Additional Details below.
Death Date and Place21 Apr 1897 Kojonup, Western Australia [WABDM Reg. #1379].
Burial Date and PlaceApril 1897 Kojonup, Western Australia – not verified.
Death, Funeral, Obituary NoticesWA Record page 8, 15 May 1897.
Will and ProbateLetters of Administration/Probate: to be advised. Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Cons 3403-1910-272 [WASRO].
Misc. Newspaper ArticlesPerth Gazette 4 Apr 1851 – Witness stolen property, Quarter Sessions.
Perth Gazette 23 Feb 1855 – Murder of Police Escort.
Inquirer and Commercial News 3 Feb 1864 – Greenough Flats Fire subscription.
Inquirer and Commercial News 26 Aug 1885 – Krakouer Shooting.
Kalgoorlie Miner 23 Dec 1910 – Advertisement Letters of Administration.
Great Southern Herald 15 Feb 1911 – Transfer of Land.
BRITISH ARMY
Regiment96th Regiment of Foot.
Soldier No. and Rank#1546 Private [WO97-1042-005].
Attestation Date and Place6 Oct 1840 Norwich, Norfolk.
Physical DescriptionHeight: 5 ft. 5 ins.  Complexion: dark. Eyes: brown.  Hair: brown.
Marks or Scars: Sore under left ear.
Service/CampaignsAustralasia 8 years.
PromotionsNone.
Medals, Clasps and BadgesGood Conduct Badge 1d. per diem (VDL) [WO12-9620-336].
Casualty/MedicalI certify that Pte. Nathaniel Newstead No 1546 of the 96th Regt. is totally unfit for service in consequence of extreme deafness. It is my opinion that this infirmity which has now existed nearly five years is the result of disease induced by exposure to cold and damp whilst on duty in the bush in Van Diemen’s Land in pursuit of Bushrangers.
* in subsequent report on this man’s case from Lt. Col. Irwin, dated Perth W Australia 18/6/52, from which it appears the man was severely wounded in the neck and left shoulder already when on service after Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land, but which was omitted to be stated before.
Signed Assistant Surgeon. [WO97-1042-005 p.3].
Regimental Courts MartialNone.
District Courts MartialNone.
General Courts MartialNone.
Arrival Australia: Ship and DateTortoise.  Embarked 16 Aug 1841.
Dep. 26 Oct 1841 Plymouth. Arr.19 Feb 1842 Hobart,  [WO12-9613-307 & DPS].
Arrival Western Australia: Ship and DateJava 24 Feb 1847 from Hobart, embarked 27 Jan 1847 [WO12-9620-336].
Military Postings within Western AustraliaPerth HQ 24 Feb 1847 to 30 Nov 1847 inc. On Guard March, October.
1 Dec 1847 to 31 Jan 1848 On Command.
Perth HQ 1 Feb to 30 Nov 1848 inc. On Guard February, June.
Kojonup 1 Jan to 15 May 1849.
[All sources WO12-9620 TO 9622].
Courts Martial in Western AustraliaNone.
Discharge Date and Place15 May 1849 Perth, Western Australia – conditional  [WO28-266-101].
13 Nov 1849 Perth, Western Australia – Admission to Pension [WO23-150].
1 Aug 1850 Perth, Western Australia – Final Discharge after furlough [WO12-9813-152].
Age at Discharge26 years 6 months [WO97-1042-005].
Length of Service8 years 236 days [WO97-1042-005].
Chelsea Pension ReferenceWO97-1042-005.
Pension DistrictWestern Australia.
Pension Amount6d. per diem for two years.
9d. per diem permanent from 1 Oct 1852.
1s. 2½d. per diem from 12 May 1874.
Notes on Pension PaymentPaid by Regiment to 31 Jul 1850.
Paid by Commissariat to 30 Jun 1851.
Thereafter, transferred to Captain Bruce’s Pay List.
There is nothing to suggest Newstead 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 [WO22-248-43].

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Land Transactions
An intrepid researcher will need to clarify Nathaniel Newstead’s land holdings and the execution of his estate. The plan at left has no original drafting date on it, nor specific dates to identify when amendments were made. However, the plan makes perfect sense of the advertisement placed by the Land Titles Office in January 1911 regarding the Transfer of Land Application made by Newstead’s step-daughter Mary Elizabeth Bagg nearly 14 years after his death. His other step-daughter, Eliza Catherine (Mrs Krakouer), died in 1894.The Application does not cover the ten acres of enrolled pensioner force land referred to as P9 on the plan. This was not granted to Newstead directly, but assigned to him after his marriage to ‘Mary’ Robinson, née Cody, the widow of an enrolled pensioner guard who had resided in Kojonup prior to his death in 1859. The Lot was assigned to Newstead in 1862. He applied for and received full title to P9 on 14 July 1879 – Title No. 2991.

Carting Contracts
From the early 1850s, Newstead was tendering for mail delivery contracts from Kojonup. The successful contractors were advertised in the newspapers. One of his early contracts was for delivery from Kojonup to Albany at $8 pounds per trip (monthly). He was still delivering mail on horseback at the age of 60 plus from Kojonup to Eticup. See advertisement (left).

 

Witness for the Prosecution
In January 1851 Nathaniel Newstead by an act of kindness in return for a drink at the pub, inadvertently assisted in a crime. He was in the Magistrate’s Court and then Quarter Sessions 2nd to 3rd April 1851 to explain his side of the story. Click here to read about the robbery of a chest of tea and a bag of sugar and Newstead’s part in it.

In February 1855 Newstead was merely doing his job as a carrier from Albany back to Kojonup when he was asked by William Burrell, Gaoler at Albany to take a passenger. He had to hand the prisoner over to the Kojonup to Perth carrier to continue the journey to the Perth Hospital where the prisoner was to receive treatment. The story continues with a cast of characters of whom I have already profiled: William Burrell (above), David Granger and Constable Mooney – soldiers formerly of the 51st and 21st Regiments serving in the Colony. Read the story here.

In August 1885 a Supreme Court Criminal Sitting was considering an incident which took place the previous June. It concerned the shooting of a sailor named Rhodber by an Albany storekeeper named Abraham Krakouer. Newstead has a non-speaking part in the murder trial – mentioned only in passing. However, his involvement was of a personal nature – the accused Krakouer was his son-in-law, the husband of Eliza Catherine, Newstead’s step-daughter. One of the witnesses at the trial was Newstead’s other son-in-law, Samuel Bagg. In fact Bagg and Newstead appeared to be together drinking in the Weld Arms. The entire plot is about men, drink and guns. Read the story here.

Supportive Citizen

In the last decade of his life, Newstead made a point of putting forward his name as a ‘Householder’ in order that a Kojonup Householders Certificate could be issued to those applying for an Inn or Publican’s Licence. Some of those he certified to be ‘fit and proper’ to hold a licence were William Cornwall, Thomas Godriche Palmer, William House, and William Thomas Jones.