The Lancasters of the Macleay River in Northern New South Wales

Genealogical notes by Andrew Lancaster. Main Page.
My main source has been Richard Lonsdale Lancaster of Fairlight, NSW, mentioned as RLL in some of the notes below.

1. Richard Lancaster of Foulridge near Colne in Eastern Lancashire, married Mary. They had 6 children baptized between 1761 and 1772. For the baptisms of their four eldest children they are Richard and Mary of Colne itself, and for the two youngest children they appear in the Colne register as Richard and "Molly" or "Mally" of Mosshouses, just to the north of Colne near Foulridge. Richard is probably the burial 19 April 1778 - Richard Lancaster of Foulridge. Molly or Mally Lancaster appears to have re-married 31 January 1785, to John Dearlove of Gisburn, stay maker. (This John made a will 9th June 1806, died 21st June 1806, and the will was proven 24th June 1806. According to the Colne register he was 85 when he died and he was buried 2 days later on the 23rd. Joseph Lancaster, weaver of Colne, was one of the executors. One of his daughters was married to a Henry Hargreaves of Horton. Another seems to have married Richard Sharp of Slaidburn, blacksmith. Both marriages happened in Gisburn.)

...Before summarizing their descendants, we can make some suggestions about who they might have been...

One possible marriage stands out in the records, but it is not in the parish of Colne. Richard Lancaster of Bolton by Bowland married Mary Hargreaves of Addingham 5 Nov 1757 in Bolton by Bowland, in Yorkshire, just near the Lancashire border. Banns had been 16th, 23rd and 30th of October. Banns are also noted in the Addingham register. (Also noted in the marriage entry in Bolton is that the rector who performed the marriage was Henry Nowell, and the two witnesses were Richard Walker and John Howgill. Henry Nowell, rector from 1748 until 1773, and John Howgill, are mentioned in numerous entries from the time, but Richard Walker may be a lead.)

Colne may have been a place with family connections for Mary as we shall discuss below. But the register says Richard was from Bolton by Bowland. There was a large Lancaster family over the centuries in neighboring Gisburn, and Richard's descendents, the Lancasters of the Macleay Valley in NSW, have confirmed a close DNA match with descendants of the Lancasters of Paythorne in Gisburn (neighbouring Bolton by Bowland), and also the Lancasters of Holme in Cliviger near Burnley (a family which appears in Burke's Peerage) as well as a family from Thornton in Lonsdale that had branches in Addingham and Bingley (and possibly came from Bingley). I suspect that all these families are off-shoots of the Gisburn/Gargrave family. The Lancasters were present in numbers in Gisburn from at least Tudor times, and it is possibly the same Lancaster family who were in neighboring Gargrave in the 14th century. See my webpage about the early Lancasters of Gisburn.

I have come to believe that Richard and Mary took part in the early movement which became Methodism. It was particularly striking in this region at this time. In the History of Wesleyan Methodism in Burnley and East Lancashire (1899) by Benjamin Moore, we read concerning Colne that...

Methodism had already been established in several small places in its neighbourhood. The first to provide a home for the Methodist preachers in the town itself was Richard Lancaster, who came originally from Gisburn (Everett, Methodism in Manchester). Richard Lancaster, in all probability the same man, is recorded to have paid in a contribution from the society at Roughlee on the 19th of October, 1758.

I have not yet ascertained what record is being referred to for 1758 in Roughlee, but it must be one of the records for what was from about that time called the Haworth circuit. Concerning Methodism however just to the north, in Gisburn and Bolton by Bowland, as mentioned on the Gisburn Village website, "in Gisburn, a Methodist society was established a few years later and from [ ...] 1758 to 1763, along with societies at Twiston and Newhurst (near Bolton by Bowland), made regular contributions to the funds of the Haworth circuit". Newhurst is still a farm in Forest Becks, Bolton by Bowland. Notice that 1758 is around the same time Richard was married. I believe his witness Richard Walker may have been the owner of Newhurst.

The strange result of searching so far is that I found out that BK15 1/3/1a at Keighley Local Studies Library (Quarterly Accounts of the Stewards of the Societies), says, under "Cash Received", Jan 22 1756 by "Society of Roughlee by R. Lancaster 7s". But the earliest references I can track to a meeting house in Colne refer instead to other people. For example Lancashire record Q/D/V/4/24d Record Book of Dissenting Meetings, 14 July 1748, mentions:

In an An Account of Methodism in Rossendale and the Neighbourhood, by William Jessop also mentions this Richard, and also refers to Everett's book. (My thanks to Fred Stringer for helping me check this!) Unfortunately I have not seen the book by Everett. There must have been some record I have not found.

It is remarkable to hear of evidence that any Richard Lancaster moved in this period from Gisburn to Colne! After so long searching for Richard Lancasters in the Colne area, and having only found one in Bolton who appeared to be a member of the Gisburn family, the chances of coincidence here seem very slim. Indeed this may explain the link to the Hargreaves family around Addingham. Methodists by necessity needed to "connect" to other congregations, especially in this time, and Keighley, near Addingham, as well as Roughlee and Haworth, were early centres of Methodism. The weaving trade provided an additional link between these parishes.

Moore's book also frequently mentions Lancasters from Burnley as very active in the Methodism of the area in the 1800s. As mentioned above, at least some of the Lancasters from around this town near Colne are relatives, proven by DNA, even if we do not yet know all the connections.

The name of William Lancaster has been connected with Burnley Methodism almost from its commencement. There was one of that name, who was one of the original trustees of the Keighley Green chapel; but whether he resided in Burnley, or in some other part of the Colne circuit, it is not easy to ascertain. It is not improbable that he was a descendant of the Richard Lancaster, who first provided a home for the Methodist preachers at Colne. There was another William Lancaster, who for several years was a leader, and whose two sons, Caleb and Joshua, still survive. A third William Lancaster came to Burnley from Gisburn, about the year 1798. At first he was employed in making the canal, and afterwards he took up the occupation of a hand-loom weaver. His name appears in the Keighley Green society- stewards' book as leader of the Gannow class in June 1809, when he paid 55. 3d. as its contribution to the circuit funds. He first attended the leaders' meeting at Keighley Green on the 24th of August, 1810. At the end of 1818, he removed to Balladen, near Rawtenstall, but returned to Burnley in 1822. Three years later his name occurs again as that of a leader of a class at Keighley Green.

The link of the Burnley Lancasters to Gisburn and the greater region is perhaps also a surprise, given what is published about them in Burkes, suggesting that this family immigrated around 1700 from Westmorland. However this was already a theory we doubted on genealogical grounds as explained on a separate webpage: http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/cliviger.html

There are many accounts of the dangers faced by John Wesley and his friends faced in Roughlee, but I think that the notice published in 1748 sums up the feeling on the other side:

Notice is hereby given, that if any man be mindful to enlist in his Majesty's service, under the command of the Rev. Mr. George White, Commander-in-Chief, and John Bannister, Lieut.-General of his Majesty's forces for the defence of the Church of England, and the support of the manufactory in and about Colne, both which are now in danger, let him repair to the drum-head at the Cross, where each man shall receive a pint of ale in advance, and all other proper encouragements.

A mob was led from Colne to Roughlee which man-handled both Wesley, his colleagues, and those associating with him, including some Inghamites. Eventually they let him go, but the behavior had been very brutal. Richard Lancaster was probably there and may have been young a young man at the time. I understand that at least one of the Roughlee Methodist families may have been named Hargreaves, and indeed I understand that this family also housed early meetings.

There is in fact one Lancaster family in Gisburn who used the name Richard several times. They are the branch who lived in Horton by Gisburn, and who later came to appear in the parish registers of neighboring Bracewell and Barnoldswick. There is even a Richard who could be our man, but it is earlier than we would expect: he was baptised with his brother John 16 February 1717/8 in Barnoldswick. They were the sons of Henry Lancaster of Brogden (it seems). See my webpage on the Horton Lancasters, one of a set of webpage on Gisburn area Lancasters. Barnoldswick, locally called Barlick, is roughly equidistant between Gisburn and Colne and has always been strongly associated with both. Foulridge is just over the hill from it. The fact that Richard's widow re-married a Gisburn man with a daughter married to a Hargreaves specifically from Horton in Gisburn is also interesting.

I note that a researcher has found a tax record for Wilkinsons in Foulridge for 1753, which appears to suggest the Wilkinsons were paying 5/0 on a property lately owned by one Richard Lancaster. This appears on the “One Guy From Barlick” webpage. This would have been before the record in Roughlee and before the marriage in Bolton by Bowland. This again adds to the impression I have that Richard may have married late in life.

Another even older Richard in the area of Bolton by Bowland is also worth mentioning. There was a Richard Lancaster baptism in 10 November 1708 in Waddington to the curate there, one Joseph Lancaster. This Richard certainly seems to have have married in Waddington and to have had some children there, Joseph in 1730 and Grace in 1732. But in theory he could have married again later in life. His father's will shows that they had connections with a Parker family in Bolton, and another document shows a connection with a Hargreaves. He seems to have had land in Chipping, which might make this a branch of the Goosnargh and Thornley Lancasters. That family could certainly have been related to the Gisburn Lancasters, though we have no DNA evidence for that yet. It does seem unexpected that the son of a cleric would be unable to sign his name though!

Lancaster genealogists of this eastern extension of Lancashire typically come to believe that Gisburn is the probable origin of at least most Lancasters there. It seems there was a general movement of people into the Pendle forest area in order to take advantage of new enclosures of land, and later the weaving economy. A generation earlier than Richard and Mary there was another couple in Colne, but living very close to the Gisburn border:

There was a wedding 15 Apr 1721 in Colne between Thomas Lancaster of Admergill and Jane Robinson of Blacko, just next to Blacko. They had a daughter baptised in Colne, 11 Mar 1721/2. At this time the residence was named as Spout House, which is in Blacko. Thomas Lancaster of Admergill was buried in Colne 18 Oct 1771. Jane Lancaster was buried in Colne, 10 Feb 1763. She was a resident of Burntmoor, near Admergill. Admergill is not in Colne or even in Lancashire, but technically part of Brogden, in Barnoldswick, where I believe our Lancasters may have lived before Colne.

Turning to the Hargreaves or Hargraves family, has been very difficult to determine which was Mary's. Mary does not appear to have been born in Addingham itself, and indeed Hargreaves is a typical name in Colne and nearly the whole Pendle and Craven area, but not really in Addingham itself. It is so common in Colne that only the surname Hartley was consistently more common. It was also common in Gisburn.

One possible lead is that Richard Lancaster "of Foulridge" appears as an illiterate witness, making his mark on the 1773 will of Robert Hargreaves of Foulridge. The administration rights went to Robert's wife, Grace, who he had apparently married the year before. I understand that a man who had to make a mark would not be called to sign such a document if he was not involved closely. On the other hand, as we shall see, the Lancasters and the Hargreaves were apparently living in neighboring farms, amongst the small collection of weaving families on the slopes of eastern Foulridge. It would not be a surprise if they were close even if not related, and Hargreaves was an exceptionally common surname in this area at this time.

If this is a real lead, it does not yet take us very far, because it is also hard to say much about Robert's ancestry. There had long been Hargreaves in the Colne area (for example they already appear in the 1377 poll taxes for the Pendle Chase area, and they had a long presence in Mosshouses itself) and many were named Robert (there was one in Colne in the time of Henry VIII, and from then on normally at least one) but the following register entries seem to belong to "our" Robert, who I think is very likely to be a close relative to Mary. (My great thanks to Fred Stringer and Christine Bradley for help tracking these!)

The age at death of Grace makes me think that Robert was elderly when he died, and was therefore likely to be a brother to our Mary, and a brother-in-law to Richard. Noyna End is quite close to Mosshouses. We do not have many leads to follow, but we can follow what we have...

There seems to be a chance that the previous wife of Robert had been named Anne. Given that Grace Foulds seems to come from Newchurch in Pendle, west of Colne, it is interesting that if we try to search for an earlier marriage between a Robert and an Anne (Nancy) the most likely looking one I have found so far is also there, 18 Dec 1760, between Robert Hargreaves and Anne Hargreaves in that same chapelry of Newchurch. (The surname Hargreaves was also extremely common in the Pendle area!) Banns were read: 30 Nov 1760, 7 Dec 1760, and 14 Dec 1760. Both Robert and Anne were said to be from Newchurch chapelry. Newchurch and the Pendle area is an obvious place for a Hargreaves in Colne to come from, but that does not explain the Addingham link.

But on the other hand, with Fred Stringer's help I can add some more Noyna End records for Hargreaves in the 1700s - that a James Hargreaves was having children about a generation before Robert would have been in his prime, and that it may be Robert's father. In a similar period there was also a James at Moss Houses itself, and the family may have been one of the Moss Houses Hargreaves. It also appears as if Robert himself may not have had children? Also needing explaining are the above mentioned two Noyna End burials with the name Anne Hargreaves, and one Noyna burial for an infant named Anne Hargreaves.

Unfortunately, this once again fails to explain the Addingham link. We have to consider the possibility that Robert is not even related to Mary. The Hargreaves surname was very common.

What keeps a lot of possibilities open is that people were moving between parishes in this period, especially weavers it seems. According to the admon Richard Lancaster was a "shaloon maker". Shaloon is a kind of textile, so Richard was a weaver like many people around him at the time. That the Hargreaves families of the region had weavers amongst them is a well known fact (google "spinning jenny"). Weavers did not need to live in the same place throughout their lifetimes, which appears to be what happened also in this case. It is known that shalloon was woven not only in Moss Houses and Noyna End, but also in Addingham, and the parish between Addingham and Foulridge, Kildwick. Kildwick itself has quite a few Hargreaves in the register.

Following is an attempt to outline the descendants of Richard and Mary Lancaster of Colne.

1.1. Joseph Lancaster. Baptised 25 Dec 1761 (Christmas). Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. Seems to be a weaver by 1811.

+Susan Norminton. Married 2 Feb 1782. The following baptisms were in Colne.

1.1.1. Mary Lancaster baptised 10 July 1785 in Colne.

1.1.2. Sarah Lancaster baptised 1787 in Colne.

1.1.3. Thomas Lancaster baptised 27 December 1788 in Colne.

1.1.4. Hannah Lancaster baptised 13 August 1811 in Colne, but according to VRI she was born 1 May 1797.

1.2. Benjamin Lancaster. Baptised 25 Dec 1762 (the following Christmas). Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. Concerning Benjamin, I can propose a family in Padiham, based on the name of the first child, the relative rarity of the name Benjamin, and the age at burial: 3 Sep 1838 St Peter, Burnley, whereupon Benjamin was 76 years old and resident in the Burnley Workhouse. There were other Lancasters in Padiham, and I am tempted to think they are relatives from Yorkshire. (They gave the name Mally in 1768, and on another occasion Henry/Harry in 1769.) Benjamin seems to have married twice. It is a 19th century story with lots of children but high infant mortality. Charles and Richard appear to be the only sons who might have carried on the name in this line, but both perhaps died as elderly bachelors in the parish. :-

+Ann Sutcliffe - of Habergham Eaves, Banns Read: 6 Dec 1789, 2nd: 13 Dec 1789, 3rd: 20 Dec 1789. Buried 23 Oct 1808 St Peter, Burnley. "Nanny Lancaster - Wife of Benjamin Lancaster". (A Thomas Lancaster of Padiham married a Betty Suttcliffe a few years later, 22 Oct 1795.

1.1.1. Mally Lancaster, baptised 27 Feb 1791 St Peter, Burnley, daughter of Benjamin and Anne, must likely be in this family, named after her grandmother. She appears to have been buried as Molly, 28 Nov 1792.

1.1.2. Hannah Thomasin Lancaster - Daughter of Benjamin Lancaster & Anne. Baptised 3 Feb 1793 St Peter, Burnley. She appears to have been buried 16 Mar 1796.

1.1.3. Charles Lancaster - Son of Benjamin Lancaster & Ann. Born: 29 May 1794. Baptised 6 Jul 1794 St Leonard, Padiham. Benjamin the father is noted as a threadmaker from Burnley. He appears to have lived to adulthood, and to have been buried 13 Aug 1850 St Thomas, Pendleton, at the age of 56. He was however said to have been a resident of Salford by this time, in Manchester.

1.1.4. Elisabeth Lancaster, again a child baptised in Padiham but resident in Burnley, daughter of Benjamin, a threadmaker, and Ann. Born 4 Feb 1797, and baptised 30 Apr 1797 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.1.5. Mary Lancaster - Daughter of Benjamin Lancaster (now a butcher, but still of Burnley) & Ann. Born 18 Nov 1799 and baptised 22 Dec 1799 St Leonard, Padiham. Mary Lancaster - Daughter of Benjamin Lancaster & Ann, "His late wife". Burial: 6 Jul 1813 St Peter, Burnley, Lancashire, England. At the time of this burial she is said to reside at Habergham, and to be 13.

1.1.6. John Lancaster - Son of Benjamin Lancaster (butcher of Burnley again) & Ann. Born: 12 Jul 1802. Baptised: 19 Sep 1802 St Leonard, Padiham, Lancashire, England. Apparently buried 16 Dec 1802 St Peter, Burnley

1.1.7. Ann Lancaster - Daughter of Benjamin Lancaster (butcher of Burnley again) & Ann. Baptisms: 16 Oct 1803 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.1.8. Richard Lancaster (perhaps named after his grandfather) - Son of Benjamin Lancaster (butcher of Burnley) & Ann. Born 21 Jul 1807 and baptised 6 Sep 1807 St Leonard, Padiham, Lancashire, England.

+Ann Holland Marriage: 23 Oct 1815 St Leonard, Padiham. Both of the chapelry

1.1.9. Alice Lancaster - Daughter of Benjamin Lancaster (Now a weaver of Padiham) & Ann. Born:1 Jun 1816, baptised 16 Jun 1816 St Leonard, Padiham. Died of convulsions 16 Apr 1817, aged 5 weeks, and buried 17 Apr 1817.

1.1.10. John Lancaster - Son of Benjamin Lancaster (again a Padiham weaver) & Ann. Born 12 Feb 1818 and baptised 19 Jul 1818 St Leonard, Padiham. Died 1 Nov 1818 aged 9 months and buried 3 Nov 1818 St Leonard, Padiham

1.1.11. Margaret Lancaster - Daughter of Benjamin Lancaster (now a Padiham labourer) & Ann. Born 1 Sep 1819 and baptised 10 Oct 1819 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.1.12. Isabella Lancaster - daughter of Benjamin Lancaster (again a Padiham labourer) & Anne. Baptised 24 Feb 1822 St Leonard, Padiham. It seems possible she is the same as "Elizabeth Lancaster - daughter of Benjamin Lancaster & Ann", who was buried 13 Jul 1822 St Leonard, Padiham, aged 22 weeks.

1.1.13. Henry Lancaster - son of Benjamin Lancaster (Padiham labourer) & Ann. Born 18 May 1823, and baptised 1 Jun 1823 St Leonard, Padiham. Died 6 Apr 1825, aged 2. Buried 8 Apr 1825 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.1.14. Catharine Lancaster - daughter of Benjamin Lancaster (of Padiham) & Ann. Died of measles 17 May 1827, aged 1y 7 weeks. Buried 20 May 1827 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.1.15. Hannah Lancaster - daughter of Benjamin (Padiham labourer) Lancaster & Ann. Born 9 May 1828, and baptised 25 May 1828 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.1.16. Elizabeth Lancaster - Daughter of Benjamin Lancaster (Padiham labourer) & Ann. Born 4 Jan 1832, and baptised 22 Jan 1832 St Leonard, Padiham. Died of consumption 15 May 1833, aged 18 months. Buried 17 May 1833 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.1.17. Christopher Lancaster - Son of Benjamin Lancaster (Padiham labourer) & Ann. Born 2 May 1836 and baptised 8 May 1836 St Leonard, Padiham. Died 8 May 1836 of convulsions, aged 8 days. Buried 10 May 1836 St Leonard, Padiham.

1.3. Jane Lancaster. Baptised 2 Mar 1766. Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. Apparently buried 14 May 1769 St Bartholomew, Colne. (It is worth noting that there had been a burial of a Jane Lancaster a few years earlier in Colne, 10 Feb 1763. She lived near the border with Gisburn. She is mentioned above. Just over that border, another Jane Lancaster, wife of Henry Lancaster of Bonny Blacks, was buried in Gisburn in 4 June 1743.)

1.4. Richard Lancaster. Baptism 16 Sep 1769 in Colne. Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. (An old prayer book suggests August 12 1770 was his birthday. Might he have been a second Richard after the death of a first?) Became a saddler and moved to Manchester. He appears to have been buried 7 Sept 1834 in St Luke Chorlton (prayer book says 3 October), in what is now Manchester. He was a widower resident on Chapel Street Salford by this time, and recorded as being 62 years old.

+Mary Lonsdale. 9 July 1791 in Manchester. Her brother Thomas was also in the leather trade, a fellmonger and Richard and he may have worked together in Hebden Bridge and Waterside, Colne. Thomas Lonsdale moved to Kemptville, Canada. His apprentice Samuel Smith developed a successful tanning business out of Hebden Bridge. See http://www.a2a.org.uk/html/055-ddx2079.htm. The Lonsdales of the region have been blessed by some very strong genealogy, first by James E. Vine, before the age of internet, whose manuscripts are widely circulated (I have information from them via Michael Lonsdale and Richard Lonsdale Lancaster); and secondly by Michael Lonsdale, whose website is here: http://www.michaellonsdale.co.uk. Our Lonsdales are classified under the original scheme of Mr Vines as the "Harden Branch". Unfortunately, the Harden branch is classified as a "loose end" - not yet connected to the others. This must be the subject for another webpage.

1.4.1. Maria or Meriah Lancaster. Born 22 and baptised 26 Jul 1792 in Manchester. The old prayer book suggests she was born 9 March 1793 and that she died aged 55 (so about 1847-8).

+James Jackson at St John's Shrove Sunday (9 February) 1812. James is said to have been the brother of a John, and the nephew of a Sir Peter Jackson.

1.4.2. Richard Lancaster. A prayer book says he was born 11 June 1796 at Hebden Bridge near Halifax in Yorkshire. This is why we can suspect that Richard his father worked with his brother in law, a fell monger whose firm became reasonably important. The Hebden Bridge Wesleyan register gives a date of 21 July 1795 for a baptism of Richard and Mary Lancaster. They seem to have been living in Wadsworth, which is right on the border with Colne. Richard is supposed to have died at Liverpool, but I have not found any trace of that yet. There is a Richard Lancaster who continued to live in Colne during the early 1800s, but perhaps this Richard married Betty Foulds there 11 May 1809, which probably makes that Richard a little too old.

1.4.3. Thomas Lancaster. The prayer book in Australia said he was buried at Colne 8 June 1798.

1.4.4. William Henry Lancaster. (see below)

1.5. James Lancaster. Baptism 15 Sep 1771. Son of Richard and Mally of Mosshouses. Found in the register.

1.6. John Lancaster. Buried 15 Jul 1772. Son of Richard and Molly of Mosshouses. Is there perhaps a chance that this is the same boy baptised as James?

There are perhaps signs of another marriage or at least another child, late in life:

Burial: 16 Sep 1823 St Luke, Chorlton on Medlock, Lancashire, England. Richard Lancaster - son of Richard Lancaster & Jane. Age: 9 months. Abode: Silk St Manchester.

The burial we suspect to be that of our Richard b.1769 is in the same register a few years later: Chapel street's extension the A6 actually crosses Silk street.

Burial: 7 Sep 1834 St Luke, Chorlton on Medlock, Lancashire, England. Richd. Lancaster - Age: 62 years. Abode: Chapel St Salford. Notes: Widower

1.4.4. William Henry Lancaster.

Photo courtesy of Richard Lonsdale LancasterBorn 20 December 1805, Christened 6 January 1806 at Old Church Manchester by Rev Joshua Brooks, who had married the parents. He became a taylor before moving to Australia. He appears in the 1841 census: William (35 year old tailor) and Anne (35 year old Bonnet Maker) in Bury Street Salford. Anne's sister Susannah Morris, who later moved to Australia to join her sister, seems to be living with them, though I can't make out her occupation. Also with them is a Mary Hartly, 24 years old, who appears to have travelled to Australia with the Lancasters. John Lancaster was 5 and our ancestor James was marked as 5 months. The family set out from Liverpool on 1 November 1841.

He arrived in Sydney with his family on 13 March 1842 aboard the Agnes. In Australia he became a school teacher (Kempsey, Christmas Creek, Rollands Plains), post master, and farmer. In 1850 and 1851 he appears in government records as a paid teacher on the Macleay (Church of England Denominational School). In 1852 he was teaching a larger class in "Christmas Creek", possibly at Frederickton. He had a grant of land at Pola Creek in 1855, just north of Frederickton. He paid 84 pounds, one shilling "half of which he recouped the following year by sales, retaining only 20 acres" (RLL). He became a post master in 1864. He died 20 August 1880.

+Ann Morris. Daughter of Robert Morris, chandler, and Mary Rothwell. Married 28 April 1833 St Johns Manchester. In England she had apparently been a dress maker. She died 15 May 1865 at Cleveland Vale in the district of the Macleay River. We have not found any extra information about her parents, apart from what is mentioned in Australian documents, and the baptism of Ann herself. She was baptised in Manchester cathedral, just like her husband, and only a few days before, 29 December 1805. She was born on the 1st of December.

We have only leads and hints which might one day tell us more about Ann. There was a marriage with the right names for her parents a generation too early, and in another part of Lancashire: 4 Jan 1774 at Saint Peter, Bolton Le Moors. But I do not believe we can assume any connection. There was a couple named Charles and Ann Morris in Manchester about the right generation to be Ann's grandparents, but no sign they had a son named Robert.


William Henry Lancaster and Ann Morris had five children, of whom three died, and two sons survived. And it is these two sons, John and James, from whom the Macleay Valley Lancasters descend...

Photo courtesy of Richard Lonsdale Lancaster

1.4.4.1. John Lancaster. Born 8 August 1835. Baptised Old Church Manchester. In Australia he became a school master at Frederickton and Belmore Creek. Buried 5 February 1912 East Kempsey. He became one of the first owners of land at Arakoon (South West Rocks area). He appears to be have been an early proponent of cooperatives in the area. He took over the Pola Creek farm from his father. RLL reports that John's loans to his brother James were taken into account by his father in this decision.

+ Eleanor Preece. Born Herefordshire. Married 8 March 1859 at Port Macquarie in NSW. Died 17 June 1865 aged 39.

1.4.4.1.1. Henry John Lancaster. b. 6 March 1860.

+Jennie Eaton.

1.4.4.1.1.1. Nellie. Married Ernie Cook. Son David.

1.4.4.1.1.2. Phyllis. Married Ray Cleveland. Stationer at Pennant Hills. Daughter Jan.

1.4.4.1.2. Herbert James Lancaster. b. 28 April 1862. Builder and Glass Merchant. Became a well-known glass manufacturer in Sydney.

1.4.4.1.2.1. Edgar Lancaster. Married Elvira Hockley. Son Dr. Norman Lancaster.

1.4.4.1.2.2. Clifford. 1895-1905. Fatal accident when young.

1.4.4.1.2.3. Virka. 1898-1898.

1.4.4.1.3. Percival Thomas Lancaster. b. 16 January 1864. d. 6 February 1916. Single. Farmed on the Belmore river.

+ Elizabeth Ann Halliday. Married 20 June 1864 at Rollands Plains NSW.

1.4.4.1.4. Adelene Rosa Ann. b. 1869 d. 19 July 1919. Unmarried.

1.4.4.1.5. Isabella Charlotte. b. 1 Nov 1871 m. 7 Jan 1891 Arthur James Walker. 4 children.

1.4.4.1.6. Gordena Eleanor. b. 1874 m. Mr Pugh d. 28 August 1950. 4 children.

1.4.4.1.7. Douglas Edward Lancaster. b. 1868 d. 8 October 1914. Storekeeper and teacher.

1.4.4.1.8. Leila Evelyn. b. 1875. m. Fred Debenham. 2 children

1.4.4.1.9. Edith Evaline. b. 1872 d. 11 February 1939. Unmarried.

1.4.4.1.10. George Ernest Lancaster. b. 1882 d. 7 October 1933.

+ Iris Carpenter

1.4.4.1.10.1. Ken Lancaster

1.4.4.1.10.2. Alan Richard Lancaster d. April 1976

1.4.4.1.11. Lavinia Gertrude. b. 1878. Unmarried.

1.4.4.1.12. Harold Cecil Victor (perhaps married twice?). Entered the church.

+Amy Winton

1.4.4.1.12.1. John Lancaster

1.4.4.1.12.2. Harold Lancaster

1.4.4.1.12.3. Bruce Lancaster

1.4.4.1.13. Laura Ethel Elizabeth. b. 1886. d. 26 November 1945. Married Archdeacon A.B. Tress.

1.4.4.2. Richard Lancaster. Born 30 May 1837. Died 1 March 1839. Buried Cheetham Hill, Manchester.

1.4.4.3. Mary Lancaster. Born 1 October 1839. Died 22 December 1839. Buried Irnvell St, Manchester.

1.4.4.4. James Henry Lancaster. Born 11 January 1841 at Bury St Salford. Farmer, Postmaster and Store Keeper. Raised family at "Cleveland Vale" the punt site on the Macleay River just across from Frederickton, after running his father's farm at Pola Creek while he taught. At Cleveland Vale he was first a tenant of the Bishop of Newcastle, but later bought the property himself. He probably planted the two Norfolk Pines at Cleveland Vale "matching the two planted at the other family home, just to the north of Frederickton" (RLL). About 1874 he and his family moved across the river. James leased the store of Mr J.W. Wilson, auctioneer, near the wharf in Frederickton, and on 1 June 1874 he replaced Mr Wilson as Postmaster. Richard Lonsdale Lancaster, his grandson, has the impression that this move may have been due to ill health. James died relatively young at 22 February 1879, the year before his father died. He left no will, which led to some family quarrels later.

+Jane Norton. Married Frederickton Jan 18 1862. A Protestant Irish immigrant to Australia from County Offaly. At one time she was an assistant teacher at Frederickton, working with her brother-in-law John Lancaster (above). After James died, she later married Cornelius Christian, with whom she sometimes helped look after her grandson Mick (Donald James Andrew Llewellyn) Lancaster. She was buried 10 August 1916 at Frederickton.

1.4.4.4.1. William James Lancaster. b. 1862. Paid out for his share of his father's inheritance, but this apparently later became the cause of some dispute with his mother.

+ Mary Agatha Garner 5 March 1886

1.4.4.4.1.1. Randolf William Bede Lancaster

1.4.4.4.1.2. Mena Mary Magdalene.

1.4.4.4.1.3. Juanita Myra Coralie. Married a Hamer.

1.4.4.4.1.4. Albert James Norton Lancaster

1.4.4.4.1.5. Valerie Garner. Married surname O'Gorman Hughes.

1.4.4.4.2. Clara Ann. No Children. Clara was the eldest daughter and helped look after her mother and youngest siblings for some time. She eventually became a nurse. After he became a doctor, she travelled and worked with her brother Llewellyn, and later sometimes looked after the son of his deceased first wife, my grandfather. In WW1, she and Laurence worked for the armed forces overseas. She worked for the Red Cross, spending two years at a hospital in Clitheroe, Lancashire, very close to the homes of her Lancaster ancestors, and also some time in Paris.

+ December 1913. Laurence Bedford Elwell, a doctor. He worked at Stanthorpe, and eventually became a specialist in tuberculosis at Wickham Terrace in Brisbane.

1.4.4.4.3. Albert John Lancaster

+ Lydia Arthur (d. 1979, aged 99)

1.4.4.4.3.1. Olive Bertha Lydia. Married name Pickering.

1.4.4.4.3.2. Florence Linda d. 18 MArch 1859, aged 49.

1.4.4.4.3.3. Rupert Leo Lancaster. Died 20 January 1976, aged 54.

1.4.4.4.3.4. Edna Jean. b. 1913. d. 25 June 1956, aged 50.

1.4.4.4.3.5. George Edward Lancaster d. 21 June 1951, aged 50.

1.4.4.4.3.6. Arthur Lambert Lancaster

1.4.4.4.3.7. John James Lancaster. b. 1918

1.4.4.4.3.8. Clifford Hubert Lancaster. b. 1920.

1.4.4.4.4. Stanley Robert Jackson Lancaster. b. 1869 d. 17 November 1936.

+ Married Christina Ellen Andersen in 1898. She died 12 April 1941 aged 69.

Photo Courtesy of Richard and Eleanor Lancaster

1.4.4.4.5. Dr. Llewellyn Bentley Lancaster. b. 24 June 1871. d. 6 December 1921. Studied at Newington in Sydney and eventually became a doctor, at Sydney University. "After medical residency at Sydney and Coast hospitals, he had short periods as medical officer in Warwick (Qld.) and Yarloop (W.A.)." He and his more senior colleague Doctor Casement were well-known figures in Kempsey, and are said to be the loose basis for two characters in the historical novel, A River Town, about the town by the famous author Thomas Keneally (author of the books that became Schindler's List, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, and A Commonwealth of Thieves). As a young doctor, he travelled widely in Australia, spending significant amounts of time in both Queensland and Western Australia. He is remembered as a very good chess player, who played several matches at a top Australian level, sometimes by correspondence in those days.

Lilllian Spence

+ First wife: Lillian Emily Spence. Matron of Macleay District Hospital. Died 16 August 1904 after giving birth to her only child. Her father was William Andrew Spence and her Spence family were from Port Macquarie and are discussed on another webpage. Her mother Elizabeth Mahony's family emigrated from Swansea in Wales, with her father originally coming from Cork in Ireland. Elizabeth's father (Hugh Harvest Mahony) and brothers were amongst the first Europeans in the area of Canungra in South East Queensland. They also have a dedicated webpage.

1.4.4.4.5.1. Donald James Andrew Llewellyn ("Mick") Lancaster. 

Mick Lancaster

Mick did not stay with his father's family but rather it was arranged that he spend time with his Aunt Clara, and later his grandmother Jane Norton, who was by then married to Cornelius Christian of Clybucca on the northern side of the lower Macleay. During his life he lived in several parts of the lower Macleay, eventually coming to spend his later years looking over Kempsey from the hill over the river. He was for some time in Frederickton, near or on the old property that his grandfather had owned. He went to two of the best boarding schools in Sydney, but it is said that he ran away or was kicked out - returning to find his own way on the Macleay. He is best remembered as the president over many years of the Macleay River Dairy Coop, his family having been involved in the cooperative movement since it first started to be discussed. Due to the good grazing area of the river plain, it was a very successful cooperative, but it was also one which came under enormous pressure to be excluded from the Sydney market (a pressure he associated in a newspaper article with Stalinism amongst Lismore academics). He pressed the cooperative into business ventures far from its original field, which apparently stretched some people's imagination. He is said to have thought of the farmers as an electorate with whom he needed to keep constant good relationships. He also made a venture into national politics on one occasion. Family stories say that he lost to the smear campaign of an older fellow conservative who managed to create doubts that Mick Lancaster was a perhaps going to work with the communists, or was perhaps too much of a friend to Aboriginals. In summary, it appears that throughout his life he had a reputation for grandiose plans, and this was used against him at times, but was also the source of admiration and fond memories. See "MACLAE" which was written by Carrolline Rhodes on the 100th centenary of the Coop. The Coop is rare in that it still survives today.

+Marjorie Robinson's family also had settled on the river near the point where steam boats were loaded for their trip upstream. They are the subject of a seperate webpage.

+Edith Hulda Amith. Like Lillian Spence, she was a matron who first met her future husband professionally. Because Dr Lancaster died relatively young, and with his estate not in very good order, she sustained the family for a long time as a single mother in Sydney.

1.4.4.4.5.2. Geoffrey Bentley Lancaster. b. 11 April 1911 d. 2 February 1988, Western Australia.

1.4.4.4.5.3. Henry Oliver Lancaster. b. 1 February 1913; d. 2 December 2001. A distinguished academic: Initially starting an economics course with the aim of becoming an actuary (his mother's idea), he entered medicine and served as a pathologist for the Army in the second world war. This led him to return to mathematics, which is how he came to make significant contributions in the area of statistics used in medicine. There is a lot of information about his professional career on the internet, but unfortunately much of them are on "pay per view" sites. See however http://www.science.usyd.edu.au/about_us/fame_lancaster.shtml for example. I can provide copies non-commercially of the very good article from Historical Records of Australian Science, 2004.

1.4.4.4.5.4. Richard Lonsdale Lancaster. b. 12 April 1914. Apart from other things, our Lancaster family's great genealogist!

1.4.4.4.5.5. Loaline Lonsdale. b. 14 March 1919. Married name Johnston.

1.4.4.4.6. Eveline Jane. b. 1875/8 m. 1 January 1914. Married Ernest (Ern) Williams, postmaster, Richard Lonsdale Lancaster, says "had terms of service at Central Kempsey and like his father before him, at West Kempsey. Richard also reports that she was known to him as "Auntie Pop", that she looked after her mother Jane in her declining years, and that she live for some time in Stanmore. Evelyn and Ernest had 3 children.

1.4.4.4.7. James Morris Lancaster. b. 1876. d. 1909. Unmarried.

1.4.4.5. Maria Lancaster. The little sister of John and James was the first Lancaster in our family to be born in Australia. She was born 3 August 1847 and died 22 October 1847 at Rollands Plains NSW. The service was in Port Macquarie.