LIST 4 - BAPTISMS - TROISIEME DIZAINE - ST PHILLIPS SYDNEY
This first 'primary source' list contains the details of 1579baptisms
recorded in St Phillip's church register for children born between 1811 and
1820, 802 males and 777 females.
The information recorded for each child includes:
reference number date of baptism date of birth Christian name father's Christian name father's family name father's year of arrival in the colony father's ship of arrival in the colony father's status upon arrival in the colony mother's Christian name mother's maiden name mother's year of arrival in the colony mother's ship of arrival in the colony mother's status upon arrival in the colony parent's civil status at the time of the child's birth parent's marital status at the time of the child's birth parent's year & country/church of marriage where applicable The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then
alphabetically by father's surname.
These St Phillips baptisms account for 23% of the "Troisieme Dizaine" .
There were 63 duplicate entries on the register during the period under study
reducing the total of individual baptisms to 1516(767 males & 749 females).
Where the father's surname has a second name separated by a slash '/', the surname
after the slash is how the name was spelt in the original document or if second
name is substantially different it refers to an alias. Where the mother's surname
has a second name separated by a slash, the surname after the slash is her
married name at the time of the recording being made if she was married more
than once.
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the
original source document.
When the Reverend William Cowper arrived to take up the incumbency
of the parish in 1809 he restarted the sequential numbering system of baptisms
(in fact the old numbering system had ceased in 1808 when Louisa Blaxland was
baptized on the 17th January and received the last number - 1078). Thus William Irwin, who was his first baptism on the 27th August 1809, became number one in the new numbering system. This new series is designated on the list with the letter "B".
Not only this, Cowper divided his baptisms into legitimate and illegitimate
categories, giving the latter another new numbering system. Thus Thomas, the son of Thomas Everstaff & Mary Reed, who as baptized on the 17th September 1809,
became number one in the list of illegitimate births. This illegitimate
series is designated on the list with the letter "C". This list is helpful
to the genealogist because it establishes for a fact that at the time of the
baptism, the parents were not married (and conversely, it provides evidence
that parents on list B were married).
For some reason in 1812, Cowper started his numbering system again, thus
James Lane is recorded twice in the register, firstly as the last of the old
series - number B274 and then again as the first of the new series - number D001. Unfortunately in October 1814 Cowper made an error in his sequential numbering system and went from baptism D356 to D257 instead of D357, this error
has not been repeated in the list presented here.
Also in the St Phillip's register can be found a "Memorandum of Private
Baptisms" which presumably means that certain baptisms took place in peoples
private homes rather than in the church itself. This list is also of great
benefit to the historian because in all likelihood, the wealthier people in
society at the time were able to avail themselves of this service. This list is identified with reference numbers starting with the letter "E".
This practice led to many duplicate entries in the register because quite
often Cowper copied the information from his private register to his regular
register but not always !
In May 1814 Cowper introduced another change in his recording practices when
he recorded the place of birth as well. This is most useful information to
the genealogist. As expected the vast majority were born in Sydney but it
is most helpful to the genealogist to see those who were born at sea or
overseas.
Cowper started yet another new register in 1819. This series is designated
with the letter "F". The last of the old D series was the baptism of Catherine
Crick on the 27th December 1818. Mary Ann Faney was the first of the "F"
series on the 3rd January 1819. Series F was used until the end of 1825.
Interestingly Cowper still kept the old series going for illegitimate
births, in spite of his new register.
Cowper obtained a brand new properly printed church register in 1826, where
the occupation of the father was now added to the data collected and not
unreasonably he started yet another numbering series.
It should be noted that this list contains considerably more information
than will be found in the original church register, being the result of decades of research, principally associated with the Pioneer Register Project. Many
entries in the church register list just the date of baptism and parents
names, sometimes only the mother's name if the birth was illegitimate.
Seventy three baptisms took place after 1820 when older children came to baptism,
the latest being Sarah Jane Fielder in 1830 at the age of eleven. Richard & Mary Ann Kerkham have the strange annotation that they were baptized as Wesleyans at Port Dalrymple in Van Diemens Land!
There were slightly more boys baptized than girls. By this decade less than half of fathers were convicts or former convicts, and only a third of the mothers were convicts or former convicts. The big change for the "Troisieme Dizaine"
was the increasing proportion of colonial born parents; 15% of mothers and
3% of fathers (by 1820 the percentages were 26% & 8% respectively). Sadly
the civil status of 19% of parents is unknown at this time. On a brighter note
three quarters of the births were legitimate.
Table 4.1 - Baptisms St Phillips Sydney
Total Males Females Convict Convict Colonial Colonial Legitimate
Father Mother Father Mother
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------1811 110 51 59 46 43 1 8 81
1812 160 75 85 69 66 3 15 117
1813 164 94 70 67 53 3 26 115
1814 134 74 60 60 57 3 12 95
1815 146 67 79 68 51 6 26 101
1816 131 59 72 58 45 3 21 95
1817 162 88 74 75 48 3 23 128
1818 167 85 82 69 45 10 29 125
1819 182 91 91 80 50 5 28 143
1820 150 79 71 68 36 12 39 119
>1820 73 39 34 42 23 1 9 50
------------------------------------------------------------------------Totals 1579 802 777 702 517 50 236 1169
Percentages 50.8% 49.2% 44.5% 32.7% 3.2% 14.9% 74.0%
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SPS" on List 1. To locate
an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name would be
made on List 1 from which the date of baptism would be retrieved, secondly using
the appropriate date, the baptism would be located on this list and finally
an alphabetical search on the name would be made on the baptismal date if
there should be more than one entry for that date.
The abbreviations used in this list are explained below:
d = defacto m = married CF = came free GS = government servant (convict) FS = free by servitude (emancipist) AP = free by absolute pardon CP = free by conditional pardon EX = exile NE = never emigrated -- = unknownEng = England
Gib = Gibralta
Ire = Ireland
Mal = Malta
Sct = Scotland
Wal = Wales
Cam = Cambridgeshire
Crn = Cornwall
Dub = Dublin
Dvn = Devonshire
Esx = Essex
Ham = Hampshire
Knt = Kent
Ldn = London
Mdx = Middlesex
Sry = Surrey
Ssx = Sussex
Stf = Staffordshire
Wwk = Warwickshire
NI = Norfolk Island
CCC = Christ Church Castlereagh
CCN = Christ Church Newcastle
SDH = St Davids Hobart VDL
SJL = St Johns Launceston VDL
SJP = St Johns Parramatta
SLL = St Lukes Liverpool
SMW = St Matthews Windsor
SPR = St Peters Richmond
SPS = St Phillips Sydney
* = duplicate entry
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