[Index]
Edward Charles Collinson CLOSE (1790 - 1866)
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Edward Charles CLOSE
Marrianne Collinson CLOSE (1827 - 1903)
Robert Campbell CLOSE (1831 - )
George Thomas Palmer CLOSE (1834 - )
Edward Charles Collinson CLOSE (1790 - 1866)

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Sophia Susannah PALMER (1803 - 1856)
Edward CLOSE











Marrianne COLLINSON












b. 12 Mar 1790 at Rangamati, Bengal, India
m. 1821 Sophia Susannah PALMER (1803 - 1856) at Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
d. 1866 aged 76
Near Relatives of Edward Charles Collinson CLOSE (1790 - 1866)
Relationship Person Born Birth Place Died Death Place Age
Father in Law John PALMER 17 Jun 1760 Portsmouth, Hampshire, England 27 Sep 1833 Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia 73
Mother in Law Susan STILWELL 06 Aug 1762 Staten Island, Richmond, New York, USA 22 Nov 1832 Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia 70

Father Edward CLOSE
Mother Marrianne COLLINSON

Self Edward Charles Collinson CLOSE 12 Mar 1790 Rangamati, Bengal, India 1866 76

Wife Sophia Susannah PALMER 1803 Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia 1856 53

Son Edward Charles CLOSE
Daughter Marrianne Collinson CLOSE 1827 Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia 02 May 1903 Duntroon, ACT, Australia 76
Son Robert Campbell CLOSE 1831 New South Wales, Australia
Son George Thomas Palmer CLOSE 1834 New South Wales, Australia

Son in Law George Palmer CAMPBELL 27 Jun 1818 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 25 Oct 1881 London, Middlesex, England 63

Grandson John Edward Robert CAMPBELL 20 Jul 1855 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 19 May 1936 Malvern, Worcester, England 80
Granddaughter Sophia Susanna CAMPBELL 1857 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 1885 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 28
Grandson Frederick Arthur CAMPBELL 1861 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 21 Dec 1931 Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia 70
Grandson Edward Charles Close CAMPBELL 1862 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 15 Dec 1905 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 43
Granddaughter Sarah Marrianne Emily CAMPBELL 1866 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Grandson Robert George CAMPBELL 1871 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 1871 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 0

Nephew George Thomas PALMER 06 Mar 1809 Somerset, England 14 Feb 1889 Argyle, New South Wales, Australia 79
Nephew William Pemberton PALMER 11 Oct 1810 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 19 May 1864 Warialda, New South Wales, Australia 53
Nephew John Macquarie PALMER 1814 Windsor, New South Wales, Australia
Niece Catherine Irena PALMER 1816 Windsor, New South Wales, Australia 28 Apr 1863 Bayswater, London, Middlesex, England 47
Niece Ingram Rider PALMER 1818 1824 6
Nephew Henry Edmund Mitchell PALMER 1821 India
Nephew Rodber Wylde PALMER 1823 Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia 1887 Albury, New South Wales, Australia 64
Niece Susan Adrianna 'Addie' PALMER 1825 Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia 25 Nov 1902 Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia 77
Nephew Pemberton Campbell PALMER 1827 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 15 Aug 1885 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 58

Brother in Law George Thomas PALMER 26 Apr 1784 Brompton, Kent, England 26 Oct 1854 Bath, Somerset, England 70
Brother in Law John Westwick PALMER 1786 Brompton, Kent, England 1787 1
Brother in Law Henry Westwick PALMER 1787 Brompton, Kent, England 1788 Brompton, Kent, England 1
Brother in Law John PALMER 1797 Brompton, Kent, England 1839 42
Brother in Law Edmund PALMER 1800 Cape of Good Hope, South Africa 1800 0
Brother in Law Edwin Campbell PALMER 1801 Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia 1802 1
Events in Edward Charles Collinson CLOSE (1790 - 1866)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
12 Mar 1790 Edward Charles Collinson CLOSE was born Rangamati, Bengal, India
1821 31 Married Sophia Susannah PALMER (aged 18) Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia V1821802 3B/1821
1827 37 Birth of daughter Marrianne Collinson CLOSE Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia 6
1831 41 Birth of son Robert Campbell CLOSE New South Wales, Australia V1831317 15/1831
1834 44 Birth of son George Thomas Palmer CLOSE New South Wales, Australia V18341735 25A/1834
1856 66 Death of wife Sophia Susannah PALMER (aged 53)
1866 76 Edward Charles Collinson CLOSE died
Personal Notes:
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010219b.htm

CLOSE, EDWARD CHARLES (1790-1866), settler and churchman, was born on 12 March 1790 at Rangamati, Bengal, the only child of Edward Close, merchant, and Marrianne, daughter of Michael Collinson. Educated in England, he entered the army in 1808, serving throughout the Peninsular war as a lieutenant in the 48th Regiment. On 3 August 1817 he arrived in New South Wales with a detachment of his regiment in the Matilda and after several years in Sydney was transferred to Newcastle. As acting engineer he was responsible in 1821-22 for putting down mooring chains and removing dangerous shoals from Newcastle Harbour. He built a fort near the signal station and erected an iron beacon in which a large coal fire was lit each night at sunset. This light on Beacon Hill functioned until 1857, when it was replaced by the Nobby's Head light-house.

On 27 September 1821 at St John's, Parramatta, Close married Sophia Susannah, only daughter of John Palmer and his wife Susan. Late next year he resigned from the army to settle on his 2560-acre (1036 ha) grant, Illulaung, the place of green hills, which adjoined the government reserve for the township of Morpeth, at the head of navigation of the Hunter River.

Appointed to the magistracy in 1825 Close was one of the magistrates who had to report on the shooting of four Aboriginals by mounted police under the command of Lieutenant Nathaniel Lowe. Three of the natives had been killed while escaping from captivity, and the fourth was taken from the police office at Maitland and shot. Governor (Sir) Ralph Darling, an opponent of martial action against the Aboriginals, sent the acting attorney-general, William Henry Moore, to investigate the magistrates' report more fully. Close regarded this as an accusation of improper conduct, and was so unco-operative and resentful that Moore's investigation proved fruitless. Lowe was tried in Sydney in 1827 for 'deliberate murder upon a man in custody and without the means of acting offensively' but the credibility of the crown witnesses was impugned and he was acquitted.

Close was removed from the magistracy for his attitude in this affair, but Darling raised no objection to his appointment in 1829 to the Legislative Council, an office which he accepted reluctantly and found increasingly onerous. He complained of the expenditure of time and money involved in attending sessions of the council, and of the frequent delays and postponements which occurred. His resignation was accepted in 1838. Meanwhile part of Illulaung was subdivided and an important trading centre developed along the Morpeth waterfront. In 1836 Close built a school which his own children attended and in which Protestant services were conducted regularly. He was treasurer of the Maitland church funds, trustee of the savings bank, first president of the Maitland Hospital, and warden of the district council in 1843-52.

Edward Charles Close junior laid the foundation stone of St James's Church of England, Morpeth, on 2 January 1837. The site was given and the total cost of the construction met by Edward Close in fulfilment of a vow, made during the Peninsular war, that if his life were spared he would build a church as a thank-offering. St James's was consecrated on 31 December 1840 by Bishop William Grant Broughton and enlarged in 1864 by the substantial benefaction of Mrs Close's cousin, John Campbell. The difficulty of obtaining a suitable home for the first bishop of Newcastle, William Tyrrell, was overcome when Close offered Closebourne, his recently built home at Morpeth, to the church. The house was purchased in 1848, became the headquarters of the diocese of Newcastle, and until 1911 was the residence of its bishops. Close built Morpeth House, where his wife died on 26 June 1856, aged 53. He continued to participate in local affairs for some years, chiefly as clergyman's warden at Morpeth, an office which he held for twenty-four years. He died on 7 May 1866 and was buried beside his wife in St James's churchyard.

His surviving sons, Edward Charles, M.L.A. for Morpeth in 1859 and 1862, Robert Campbell and George Thomas Palmer, and his only daughter, Marrianne Collinson, who married George Campbell of Duntroon, provided an endowment for the clergy of St James's, and the citizens of the district presented the large east window of the church, as memorials to Edward Close. A life-size portrait, presented by friends in recognition of his services, hangs in the committee room of Maitland Hospital.

Sound common sense and honesty of purpose won for Close the respect of his fellows, outweighing his disabilities as a public speaker and his assumption, on occasion, of unwarranted authority. He conducted his estate in the English manorial tradition, providing educational and medical facilities for his employees and tenants, as well as bonfires and bell-ringings on ceremonial occasions. His continuing and practical support of the church earned him the lasting regard of its clergy, so that his name is indissolubly linked with the foundation of the Church of England in the Hunter valley.
Select Bibliography

Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vols 12-14, 19; A. P. Elkin, Morpeth and I (Syd, 1937); J. H. Collinson Close, ‘Edward Charles Close, Pioneer of Morpeth, and "Father of the Hunter"’, Journal and Proceedings (Royal Australian Historical Society), vol 13, part 4, 1927, pp 224-44; Australian, 3 Jan, 1 Mar 1827; Sydney Gazette, 21 May 1827. More on the resources

Author: Nancy Gray

Print Publication Details: Nancy Gray, 'Close, Edward Charles (1790 - 1866)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp 231-232.
Source References:
6. Type: Book, Abbr: Queanbeyan Register, Title: Biographical register of Canberra and Queanbeyan: from the district to the Australian Capital Territory 1820-1930, Auth: Peter Proctor, Publ: The Heraldry & Genealogical Society of Canberra, Date: 2001
- Reference = 51 (Name, Notes)

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