A Captain's Innings: Andrew Barclay (1759-1839)

By his own admission, Andrew Barclay was baptized on the 13 June 1759 in the Parish of Cambock, near Cupar in Fife, Scotland. His father died when he was three days old. He had two brothers John and David. He took to the sea at an early age and enjoyed an eventful career. After two voyages to the Baltic, he joined the navy to avoid being pressganged, beginning as a midshipman on the Elizabeth under the command of Captain Maitland. His subsequent share of French prizes amounted to £60. On returning home, Barclay discovered that his sweetheart had married his cousin and he ran away to the merchant Navy. He was finally pressganged although, soon after returned to the service of Captain Maitland. By the end of the American War of Independence he was the Captain’s Coxswain. He eventually took a quarter share in the Providence and was appointed Captain. Ultimately, he was forced to sell his share and resolved to settle in New South Wales. (1)

Barclay travelled to New South Wales via the Alexander under the command of Captain Hamilton in 1817. On arrival in Sydney, Governor Macquarie took an interest in him. He decided to settle in Van Diemen’s Land and was granted five hundred acres approximately ten miles South of Launceston and an allotment for a building in the town. (2) He was subsequently granted a further three hundred acres the following year. He built a large house in Launceston establishing an import/export business. He was made a magistrate for the County of Cornwall in 1817. (3) When Barclay married widow Mary Colquhoun in November 1821, he was himself listed as a widower(!). (4) His second bride had been born Mary Smallshaw. (5) She had previously (and recently) been married Walter Colquhoun in Launceston in 1819. (6) In addition to being clerk to the magistrates, Walter was also acting storekeeper in Port Dalrymple. (7) Walter died in July 1819 after what was only described as a ‘short illness’. (8) The Barclays went on to have one child together: a daughter named Mary. (9)

 

 

‘Cambock’ near Evandale, Tasmania. (10)

 

Barclay worked hard to develop his estate, building a house on it named ‘Trafalgar’, eventually selling his Launceston abode to settle there in 1823. His improvements included establishing a large orchard and garden. (11) He built up his herd, supplying meat to the commissariat to the extent that he had to expand his acreage. He bought smaller properties and after acquiring Camperdown in 1826 he was described as the largest owner of good land on the island. (12) Between 1825 and 1826 he built a second house named ‘Cambock’ on another part of his grant. The property was adorned with outbuildings and a stable that featured a bell tower meant for both labour management and emergencies such as bushfires and attacks by bushrangers or natives. (13) He later admitted that the management of both house and land became too much, and he consequently let the Trafalgar farm out to a tenant. (14)

The three Barclay properties - Trafalgar, Cambock and Camperdown - remained under the ownership of the trustees of Andrew Barclay until 1889 when they were divided into 36 farms and town allotments. (15) Cambock was purchased by J. W. Cheek around 1889. (16) It remained in his family’s possession for several decades. (17) Trafalgar alone remains one of the earliest existing farmhouses in the country. (18) It is a brick building with weatherboard extensions.  Cambock’s next owner, Alf Wilkes demolished the homestead without any community consultation in 1971 as he considered it unsafe. The naming of Barclay Street, Cambock Lane and Trafalgar Lane in Evandale although are further evidence of the Captain’s legacy. (19)

According to local historian Karl von Stieglitz writing in 1966, Captain Barclay and his wife were well thought of in the district. Barclay himself was only semi-literate and therefore dictated his memoirs to Surveyor Thomas Scott. When the memoir was finally printed, Barclay had been so concise with his account it was necessary to insert an additional 34 blank pages in order to allow it to be bound! (20) A collection of surviving letters sent to him, reveal that Barclay maintained communication with his family, friends and peers throughout his years on the island; their contents reflecting the high regard in which he was held. (21) Barclay’s daughter Mary, married Dr. James Riley Kenworthy in 1836. Barclay died on 11 September 1839, his wife having pre-deceased him by only several months. (22) The Kenworthy’s relocated to England around 1855. (23) Barclay and his wife were both interred in the Anglican cemetery in Evandale. (24)

 

-  Dr. Colin Woollcott Mallett, 5 January 2024.

Endnotes

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(1) Andrew Barclay and Thomas Scott, Life of Captain Andrew Barclay of Cambock near Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land, written from his own dictation at Cambock, 19 February 1836, to Thomas Scott Assistant Surveyor, Van Diemen’s Land, Thomas Grant, Edinburgh, 1854, pp 1-7.

(2) Barclay and Scott, Life of Captain Andrew Barclay, p 7.

(3) G. H. Stancombe, ‘Andrew Barclay (1759-1839)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography online,  https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barclay-andrew-1739 , accessed 21 June 2023.

(4) Tasmanian Archives: Register General’s Department; Register of Marriages, RGD 36-1-1 no. 520, https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD36-1-1p105j2k, accessed 21 June 2023. I could find no information on his first marriage or wife.

(5) In his will, Barclay left money to his brother-in-law, John Smallshaw of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. See: Tasmanian Archives: Andrew Barclay (NG105); Correspondence Deeds and associated Papers relating to the Estate of Andrew Barclay and Papers of Francis Wickham (NS105), Certified copy of Captain Andrew Barclay’s will (and codicil) NS105/1/15.

(6) Tasmanian Archives: Register General’s Department; Register of Marriages, RGD 36-1-1 no. 362, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/816758, accessed 25 June 2023.

(7) ‘The Police Fund of Van Diemen’s Land’, Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 19 July 1819, p 1, Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article656349, accessed 21 June 2023.

(8) ‘Hobart Town’, Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 31 July 1819, p 1, Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article656449, accessed 21 June 2023. I can find no death registration to explain his death.

(9) Barclay and Scott, Life of Captain Andrew Barclay, pp 7-8.

(10) ‘Back to Evandale’, Mercury 15 May 1946, p 6, Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26187017, accessed 21 June 2023.

(11) Barclay and Scott, Life of Captain Andrew Barclay, p 7.

(12) Stancombe, ‘Andrew Barclay (1759-1839)’.

(13) Tony McCormack, Reaching Out From Trafalagar: The Stories of Farmers and Their Farms Around Evandale, Bokprint, Youngtown, 2015, p 17.

(14) Barclay and Scott, Life of Captain Andrew Barclay, pp 7-8.

(15) ‘Cambock and Trafalgar Estates’, Tasmanian, 20 April 2889, p 9, Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199520132, accessed 21 June 2023.

(16) ‘Highways and Byways’, Daily Telegraph, 9 November 1903, p 6, Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article153903011, accessed 21 June 2023.

(17) ‘Back to Evandale’.

(18) Stancombe, ‘Andrew Barclay (1759-1839)’.

(19) Tony McCormack, Reaching Out From Trafalagar, pp iv-v, 2, 24.

(20) Karl R. von Stieglitz, A History of Evandale, Birchalls, Launceston, 1967, pp 17, 20.

(21) Tasmanian Archives: Andrew Barclay (NG105); Correspondence Deeds and associated Papers relating to the Estate of Andrew Barclay and Papers of Francis Wickham (NS105), Private letters addressed to Andrew Barclay, and one to J. R. Kenworthy NS105/43. Although his comparative wealth may have added to his appeal; like many successful men he appears to have been subject to many appeals for assistance both large and small. One such letter survives in the form of an epistle from a Samuel Slate of London, dated 19 July 1823 asked for assistance for his brother Stephen who had lost his apprenticeship and suffered from a stammer which limited his opportunities. Perhaps in contrast to his own social capital, his brother John (described as a ‘failed grocer’ in his autobiography) was described in a letter from Thomas Ashand of Leith, dated 24 September 1834, notes that John had been ostracised by one and all including his family (!).

(22) Tasmanian Archives: Register General’s Department; Register of Hobart Deaths, Launceston and Country Districts’ Deaths, RGD-35-1-16, nos. 68, 168, https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD35-1-16$init=RGD35-1-16P14, accessed 21 June 2023 and G. H. Stancombe, ‘Andrew Barclay (1759-1839)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography online,  https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barclay-andrew-1739 , accessed 21 June 2023.

(23) ‘Highways and Byways’.

(24) Stancombe, ‘Andrew Barclay (1759-1839)’.

Bibliography

 

Primary Sources

 

Tasmanian Archives: Andrew Barclay (NG105); Correspondence Deeds and associated Papers relating to the Estate of Andrew Barclay and Papers of Francis Wickham (NS105), Certified copy of Captain Andrew Barclay’s will (and codicil) NS105/1/15.

 

Tasmanian Archives: Andrew Barclay (NG105); Correspondence Deeds and associated Papers relating to the Estate of Andrew Barclay and Papers of Francis Wickham (NS105), Private letters addressed to Andrew Barclay, and one to J. R. Kenworthy NS105/43.

 

Tasmanian Archives: Register General’s Department; Register of Hobart Deaths, Launceston and Country Death, RGD 35-1-16.

 

Tasmanian Archives: Register General’s Department; Register of Marriages, RGD 36-1-1.

 

Newspapers

 

Daily Telegraph

Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter

Mercury

Tasmanian

 

 

Secondary Sources

 

Books

 

Barclay, Andrew and Scott, Thomas, Life of Captain Andrew Barclay of Cambock near Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land written from his own dictation at Cambock, 19 February 1836, to Thomas Scott Assistant Surveyor, Van Diemen’s Land, Thomas Grant, Edinburgh, 1854.

 

McCormack, Tony, Reaching Out From Trafalgar: The Stories of Farmers and Their Farms Around Evandale, Bokprint, Youngtown, 2015.

 

Stieglitz, Karl R., A History of Evandale, Birchalls, Launceston, 1967.

 

Online Sources

 

Stancombe, G. H., ‘Andrew Barclay (1759-1839)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography online,  https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barclay-andrew-1739 , accessed 21 June 2023.