These are notes, very much indebted to Richard Lonsdale Lancaster of Fairlight in Sydney, but of course meant to be improved upon. Please contact me if they ring a bell, and mention the source if you pass them along.
More of my genealogical webpages are here:
http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/
As far as I know there is no surviving photo of Jane Norton, which is a shame. She is an important figure in the family tree of my father. Her first husband James Lancaster died comparatively young. At least one of her older children sold his inheritance to her, and later tried to claim it back. But I descend from one of the youngest children, Llewellyn Bentley Lancaster, and he led an unusual life. Apparently the family had enough money by that time to send him to Sydney to study, and he became a well-known doctor in the Macleay Valley in NSW, complementing his elder colleague Dr Casement.
Concerning the ancestry of my Lancasters, there is another webpage. My grandfather, Mick Lancaster, who was more properly known as Donald James Andrew Llewellyn Lancaster, or in more official places as D. J. Lancaster, was the only son of Dr Lancaster and his first wife, a Nurse from a Port Macquarie named Lillian Spence at marriage. Concerning her Spence family, I have made another webpage.
Lillian died soon after giving birth to my grandfather, and Dr Lancaster married again. It is difficult to reconstruct what must have been the thinking behind the family's approach to him as the son of the dead mother. He was sent to live with Clara, his father's eldest sister and another nurse, and he was sent to the two best known private schools in Sydney from which he apparently ran away. He ended up spending some significant part of his young life with his grandmother, Jane Norton, who had by now re-married to Cornelius Christian and lived in Clybucca on the lower Macleay. The area seems to have become his home. His eventual wife Marjorie Robinson was from one of the better known families who lived close to the river mouth. Concerning this Robinson family also, there is another webpage.
The siblings of Jane Norton all came to Australia, eventually bringing their mother. It seems to have been the intention that the father would work until he could also make his way, but sadly he never made it.
William Norton and Mary née Bentley had...
John Norton b. abt. 1824. Arrived on the Garland 15 Mar 1851 with Thomas
William Norton b. abt. 1830. d. 9 Oct 1898. Arrived on the Scotia 11 Jul 1849.
Thomas Norton b. abt. 1831. d. 1 Jul 1904. Arrived on the Garland 15 Mar 1851 with John
Anne Norton b. abt.1 834. d. 27 Aug 1878. Arrived on the Bolton 23 Jun 1853. Married Robert Berry in Sydney (licensee of the Bakers Arms)
The youngest three brought their mother Mary on the Mangerton arriving 29 Jul 1855, lived with Anne a while then went with Thomas, northwards...
James Norton b. abt. 1835
Sarah Norton b. abt 1838. d. 11 Feb 1838
Jane Norton b. abt. 1840. d. 10 Aug 1916
There is a family story that there may have been relatives in Hull, somehow connected to the Avery Mills, and the US.
The Nortons.
Jane was an Irish Protestant, apparently not of Scottish descent as is common in Ulster, but probably of English or local Irish descent, and from the old plantations in the Midlands of Ireland. More precisely, they were from Kings County, or County Offaly, as it is now called. The plantations there had started in 1566.
Offaly's modern name is derived from the more ancient name of the Kingdom of Uí Failghe, which is perhaps not a close equivalent, having contained parts of neighbouring Laois (formerly Queens) and Kildare Counties. While the Nortons were protestant and had an English sounding name, it should be kept in mind that the English encouraged Irish families to become more English and change their surname and religion in return for a better life. Looking around on the internet at least, it appears to be widely accepted that at least just to the west in neighbouring Galway, Limerick, Roscommon, Tipperary, and Westmeath (the western part of the ancient province of Connaght) some Naughtons became Nortons. These Naughtons are said to have been kin of the royal line of the Uí Maine. This family are said to have established their kingdom having come from Airgíalla/Oriel, and conquered the previous "Fir Bolg" kings, possibly bringing the Irish language (Gaelic) with them.
The webpage of Bill Naughton, for example, is particularly interesting to us because it shows a example of a local Irishman named both Naughton and Norton being left in a position of some respect and safety under the Protestant English. This was the last chief of the O'Naghtens who was named either Sean O'Nachten or John Norton depending on the context. He lived in the Barony of Athlone, not terribly far to the north of our area.
At the time when Jane was born Offaly was called King's County. Her father, William Norton, worked for the Earl of Rosse, who administered his estates from Birr Castle. Birr was called Parsonstown, by the English of the time, named after the Earl's family, and it was in the parish or barony of Eglish. This area is right on the County border with Tipperary and Galway.
In 1796, it was recorded that there were "Norton Bog Leases" at Fadden Beg, north of the village of Eglish, again implying that the family had been there some time. To quote my great uncle Richard Lonsdale Lancaster:
Later in the 1854 "Griffiths valuation" there is confirmation that at Parkmore, William Norton was the lessee of house, office, pound and land with a total value of three pounds ten shilling. It seems that William, Jane's father, in addition to living on property owned by the Earl of Rosse, (family name Parsons) was also a well regarded employee being the overseer of cattle in the Earl's Parkmore holdings. His area manager reported him a sober, honest and trustworthy person. [This when the lease came up for renewal in 1827.] Subsequently in Australia William's occupation was given by family members as "Estate Manager", "Carpenter" and "Farmer".
The internet shows Parkmore to be in Fivealley now. Fadden Beg, or Faddan Beg, is in Carrig.
There were at least 3 other places where Norton families lived in Offaly in the 1854 Griffiths Valuations (as well as others scattered around Ireland)...
Edward in Fearroy, Kilcumreragh, in the extreme north of Offaly,
2xThomas in Kinnitty, Ballincur, not so far from Birr,
2xWilliam in Edenderry, Monasteroris, in Eastern Offaly.
The Bentleys
I have made my small contribution to the genealogical history of this family in the area of Jane's mother's parents. It had long been known that Mary had been born about 1801 in Egypt and that her father Charles was in the military. Her mother's name was Bridget. This is particularly striking because at the time in question, Egypt must have only just been taken from the French by none other than Admiral Nelson in one of his first famous actions. What's more, knowing the time and place could eliminate the possibility of finding the wrong Charles Bentley. As it happens, the records even mention his birthplace as being in Offaly.
WO 97/1142/26 CHARLES BENTLEY Born KILBRIDGE [Kilbride?], Offaly
Served a total of 21 years 295 days (so he must have been about 32 when he joined to army, about 1794)
14th Dragoons; served for 240 days
In 1794, they were sent from Ireland, where they'd been based, to the Low Countries. War had broken out with France in 1792. He must have stayed with them until some time in 1795.
16th Foot Regiment; served for 1 year
In 1795, this regiment appear to have been involved in the Maroon Wars in Jamaica.
30th Foot Regiment; 30 July 1796 - 31 July 1808; 12 years 2 days
During this period they were Marines, fighting in the Mediterranean under Nelson, culminating in Egypt in 1801.
2nd Garrison Battalion; 1 August 1808 - 9 September 1812; 4 years 39 days
At about this time, the 30th entered the Peninsular war in Portugal and Spain, the campaign which made Wellington famous. It could be that Charles was already injured or otherwise unable to serve in that type of action.
1st Garrison Battalion; 10 September 1812 - 24 September 1816; 4 years 15 days
Discharged in Malta, aged 54 in 1816, whereupon he was unfit due to "lameness of the left leg and arm".
This was about one year after Waterloo, and Charles had been in the military since not long after the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars.
He was 5 foot 5 inches, had black hair (at 54), hazel eyes, and a dark complexion.
He was a weaver by trade.
This military record confirm that he would have been in Egypt at the right time. So the Bentleys, like the Nortons, appear to have been native to Offaly, if perhaps English by descent. And like so many of their tribe, these families seem to have contributed to their share to the British military...
WO 97/1183/29 BENJAMIN BENTLEY Born KILBRIDE, Offaly Served in 67th Foot Regiment; Corps of Military Labourers Discharged aged 42 1822-1844
Perhaps an uncle or brother of Mary? There were also more Bentleys in Kilbride during the above-mentioned Griffith Valuations: William and James, both in Raheen.
WO 97/650/15 THOMAS NORTON Born TYSAME, Offaly Served in 51st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 42 1816-1841
WO 97/869/112 JOHN NORTON Born EGLISH, Offaly Served in 75th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 19 1845-1847
This could be Jane's brother, who later came to Australia.
Bentley appears to be an English name, but they may well have been in Ireland a long time. Just for example, a Captain Bentley appears in Limerick in 1659.