| [Index] |
| Thomas (REIBY) (RABY) REIBEY (1775 - 1811) |
| Children | Self + Spouses | Parents | Grandparents | Greatgrandparents |
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Celia REIBEY (1802 - 1823) Eliza REIBY (1805 - ) |
Thomas (REIBY) (RABY) REIBEY (1775 - 1811) + Mary HAYDOCK (1777 - 1855) |
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Pic P1. Ancestry - Pastoralists, Politicians & Professionals Reibey family gravestone photographed at the Devonshire Street Cemetery prior to its removal to Bunnerong Cemetery in 1901. Source: 'Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901', K. Johnson & M. Sainty (2001)Source: 'Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901', K. Johnson & M. Sainty (2001) Pic S1. Held in the State Library of NSW Pic 1. Ancestry - Pastoralists, Politicians & Professionals Pic 2. Ancestry - Pastoralists, Politicians & Professionals |
| b. abt 1775 |
| m. 07 Sep 1794 Mary HAYDOCK (1777 - 1855) at Camden, NSW, Australia |
| d. 05 May 1811 at Sydney, NSW, Australia aged 36 |
| Near Relatives of Thomas (REIBY) (RABY) REIBEY (1775 - 1811) | ||||||
| Relationship | Person | Born | Birth Place | Died | Death Place | Age |
| Self | Thomas (REIBY) (RABY) REIBEY | abt 1775 | 05 May 1811 | Sydney, NSW, Australia | 36 | |
| Wife | Mary HAYDOCK | 12 May 1777 | Bury, Lancashire, England | 30 May 1855 | Newtown, Sydney, NSW, Australia | 78 |
| Daughter | Celia REIBEY | 1802 | Camden, NSW, Australia | 28 Sep 1823 | NSW, Australia | 21 |
| Daughter | Eliza REIBY | 1805 | Camden, NSW, Australia | |||
| Son in Law | Thomas WILLS | 05 Aug 1800 | Sydney, NSW, Australia | 29 Jul 1872 | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | 71 |
| Granddaughter | Alice WILLS | 06 May 1823 | Camden, NSW, Australia | 14 Apr 1824 | NSW, Australia | 0 |
| Events in Thomas (REIBY) (RABY) REIBEY (1775 - 1811)'s life | |||||
| Date | Age | Event | Place | Notes | Src |
| abt 1775 | Thomas (REIBY) (RABY) REIBEY was born | Note 1 | |||
| 07 Sep 1794 | 19 | Married Mary HAYDOCK (aged 17) | Camden, NSW, Australia | Note 2 | 52 |
| 1802 | 27 | Birth of daughter Celia REIBEY | Camden, NSW, Australia | Note 3 | 52, 55 |
| 1805 | 30 | Birth of daughter Eliza REIBY | Camden, NSW, Australia | Note 4 | 52 |
| 1809 | 34 | Occupation | Port Jackson, NSW, Australia | Note 5 | |
| 05 May 1811 | 36 | Thomas (REIBY) (RABY) REIBEY died | Sydney, NSW, Australia | Note 6 | 52 |
| Personal Notes: |
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The Brisbane Courier 26 August 1933
Mary Reibey : Australia's First Business Woman. By ARTHUR JOSE. A REMARKABLE characteristic of Thomas Reibey (don't worry. Mary is coming soon) is the uncertainty that haunts him. We do not know for a certainty how he spelt his name; until recently there was a doubt as to his wife's name, the date of his death differs in three authoritative statements. Perhaps the most irrefragable thing about him is that his biography in Burke's "Colonial Gentry" is a tissue of misinformation Introduced in this fashion, he may in- terest you, as his wife assuredly will. Thomas Reibey, or Raby (or Rabey, on his wedding certificate), or Reiby in all early official documents, was an officer of the East India Company's trading ship, Royal Admiral, which, in 1792, brought a consignment of convicts to Port Jackson, proceeding thence to Calcutta to pick up cargo The company's officers were allowed to do a little trading on their own, and Thomas had with him a parcel of goods which he hoped to sell profitably in Calcutta. But among the women prisoners in the Royal Admiral was a girl of 15, Mary Haydock, of Bury, in Lancashire, who, by some astounding miscarriage of justice, had been sentenced to seven years' transportation for taking a "joyride" on a neighbour's pony. (One would like to know a great deal more about the magistrates who were responsible for that sentence on a girl of 15 for so trivial an offence.) Thomas and Mary fell so thoroughly in love that the young officer left the ship at Sydney, started a small business with his goods, looked after Mary's welfare until she was of an age to marry, and married her on September 1, 1794. This fact, by-the-by, disposes once and for all of the fable-believed to this day by many otherwise sensible people-that Reibey's wife was the famous Margaret Catchpole. Margaret did not reach Sydney till 1801, by which time the Reibeys had acquired a family of several children. From Poverty to Wealth. MARRIED life began for the Reibeys with a small farm on the Hawkesbury but farming was not the work to suit either of them. After a couple of years they migrated to Sydney, where Thomas opened a general store on The Rocks. Mary looked after it, and her husband applied himself chiefly to selling timber and to running a coastal trade with two sloops. By 1807 the pair were able to leave the rather disreputable Rocks, and build a fine house in what was soon to be Macquarie Place. The house stood till a few years ago, and its site is still bounded by Reiby Lane. One of Mary's strong points was her ability lo keep on good terms with all the Governors, each of whom had a good word for her, she even avoided friction during the Bligh mutiny, and in 1809 eased Thomas of his much voyaging by persuading Colonel Paterson to make him an ofiicial Port Jackson pilot. But he was a restless soul. He used his freedom from South Sea trips to make the much-longer trip to Calcutta, was stricken there with a sunstroke, and died of its effects on his return to Sydney in the autumn of 1811. As I have already mentioned, the exact date of his death is doubtful; the "Sydney Gazette" gives it as March 31; his widow as April 5; and his tombstone as May 5. It really doesn't matter, of course, but the existence of three contemporary clashing records intrigues one. Mary took over full control. There is evidence, indeed, to show that she had controlled the Sydney end of the business for many years, and it was certainly she who tried to dispose of the Macquarie Place house long before Thomas's death. She failed, by-the by, and in a few years was glad of it, for Macquarie created the Place out of a huddle of small buildings (it was the first site in the colony to bear his name), and so hugely increased the value of the Reibey property. She bought land in George Street, where she ran an excellent public-house she was one of the very few people Macquarie allowed to retail spirits; at the other house she traded in salted pork and flour. She soon became in every sense a prominent citizen. Macquarie liked her so well that he asked her for advice "on the advantages of early colonial manufactures"-a vague phrase, but obviously indicating her value as a business woman. By 1810 she owned, besides the inn and the house she lived in, a third house on the shores of Darling Harbour, seven farms on the Hawkesbury, and a grant of good farmland at Airds, near Appin, and was said to be worth £20,000; further, her son Thomas, after a spell of work in the family's flotilla, migrated to Tasmania, got from Macquarie a 4000-acre grant, and (for the family penchant for trading was strong in him) became "the pioneer universal provider" of Hobart, Here, I ,think, comes in the problem of the family's real name. Undoubtedly the original Thomas was a Raby (Rabey is a natural error for those illiterate days). In Sydney he was always known at Reiby; not only the lane already mentioned, but a house at Newtown where his widow lived during her later years preserves that spelling. But for some reason the family did not like that; the Tasmanian branch from the first adopted "Reibey," and as far as can be gathered they had bullied the old man into humouring them before he died, for the signature to his will - the only ' one now available for our inspection -has the two "e's"; that is why I have adopted it here. And, while we are talking about names, note that the family had a great attachment to names recalling its beginnings; the hotel which was long afterwards housed in the Macquarie Place building was called "The Royal Admiral," and the younger Thomas's Tasmanian estate was named Entally House, after the elder Thomas's favourite suburb of Calcutta. Triumphal Return to England. WELL, by 1816 Mary was growing tired of perpetual business. The next year she let the old house to the Bank of New South Wales, which started its operations there with sentries to protect its deposits supplied from the Governor's guardroom just up the hill. But it took time to put all her multifarious interests under safe control, and it was not till 1820 that she was able to sail for England, taking with her two daughters, whom she proposed to enter at some good girls' boarding-school. Elizabeth may have been so disposed of, for we hear no more of her until, in 1830, she married Joseph Long Innes, lieutenant of the 39th Regiment, and thereafter became the mother of George Long Innes, in the end a judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court. But poor Celia got no schooling; she fell in love on the voyage, was married almost at once, and within a year or so she and her infant child were dead. The actual visit to England, however, was pleasant enough, as Mary's diary of it (now in the Mitchell Library) shows; among other entries she notes that she went to her old home at Bury, and in the church there found the record of her birth-"for the first time I actually knew exactly how old I was." Rarely, I think, could a girl transported as a felon have been so cordially welcomed back to her native town; there must have been something mischievously wrong about that trial and sentence. Genius in Trade. OF the rest of Mary's life we know little, mainly, I imagine, because there is little of outside interest to know. She had won the right to a quiet and easy-going enjoyment of the prosperity her hard work had deserved and procured. Not that she altogether rested on her laurels; in 1834 she built a fine row of three-story houses in George Street, and she never entirely abandoned her grip on her businesses. Trading is not in itself an interesting occupation to outsiders, and Mary's story lacks the thrills that enliven any narrative of inventions and adventures. But she was the first notable woman trader, ac- cepted as their equal not only by rival men traders but by officials and Governors; she had a philosophy of trading, evinced in her recommendations to Macquarie that all businesses should be licensed and that traders should be legally prevented from charging unreasonable prices for the, necessaries of life; she was a notable pioneer in an industry indispensable to the Commonwealth. Quite apart from her romantic history she deserves thanks and remembrance. ************** Windsor and Richmond Gazette 11 Dec 1897 True story of Margaret Catchpole. MARY REIBY'S husband died of sunstroke. A journey to India, which he had, no doubt, looked forward to for many years, as a crowning pleasure of his adventurous life, proved a fatal one to Reibey. He never fully recovered from the effects of the sunstroke ; and, after a lingering illness of some six months, he died at his house in Macquarie Place, in April, 1811. The death, of course, dissolved his partnership with Wills, and Mrs Reibey was then left to carry on the business. No will had been made, but letters of administration were taken out by her. Shortly afterwards she removed from the old stone house in Macquarie Place, and established herself in " No 12 George street."-Lower George-street, we call it, There as she informed her friends and the public in general by an advertisement, she had " laid in a variety of articles recently imported in the Provi dence," to which she invited their attention. The determination to sell at reasonable prices was the introduction of a very radical reform in the retail trade, which probably took the wind out of her competitors' sails, and made her store popular with all classes. Unfortunately, we have no means of knowing what the reasonable prices were just then. Only four years before, Margaret Catchpole had to pay " fifteen shillings for a pair of Black Spanish shoes, and the same for a pair of Cotton Stockenes while tea was selling at six shillings an ounce, sugar at 4s per lb, butter at 6s per lb, tobacco at 24s per lb, coarse white calico at 5s a yard. In 1812 Margaret reported that " this places is a Gitten very plentiful But every thing very deear Butter five shillens par pound," In 1812, when she was in the first year of her widowhood, she made her first and only application for a grant of land-a privilege to which all free settlers were entitled, in proportion to their means of cultivating land. In those happy times, Governments had far more teats than pigs, and the great difficulty was to find the proper kind of pigs. There was no such trouble then as there is now, when there are too many pigs for the teats, and every Government is at its wits' end to feed the pigs. There was land, for instance, in such abundance, that no Governor knew what to do with it, even under the most liberal system of alienation ever invented. In the interview .which took place with Governor Macquarie, the good-looking widow of 35 had very little difficulty in substantiating her claim for a a grant of agricultural land at Airds, one of the new farming districts near Camden. It was a modest one, too, since she asked for 200 acres, when she might have asked for 2000. One reason why she did not apply for the larger area was that she did not propose to go into farming or grazing speculations on a large scale, and mere land jobbing was not then in vogue; Macquarie having put a stop to it by an order to the effect that no grant should be sold within five years from its date. No one dreamed of getting up a land boom in Sydney and subdividing his magnificent estate of heavily-timbered back country in lots to suit purchasers. The best suburban sites were hardly worth a holey dollar per annum, because there was nothing but rock and scrub on them, and land outside the town was valued strictly according to its capacity for raising crops and fattening live stock. Palmer, the commissary, was the only man who had thought it worth while to take up a hundred acres at Woolloomoolloo and that was be cause he wanted to have a fine house and grounds, like Ultimo, where be could live in the style be coming a commissary. Two or three choice spots on the harbour had been occupied for similar reasons. ' Colonel O'Connell, for instance, had a country residence at Vaucluse, and Captain Piper another at Eliza Point, afterwards Point Piper. Up the river, at Kissing Point, and other places, there were some small settlers, who cultivated their lots; and there were a few grandees who did not. But all the rest of the suburban lands, excepting Redfern and a few others, were virtually left in the hands of nature. Another reason for her moderation was that she already had several farms on the Hawkesbury some of the best there-which she had let to good tenants-that is, tenants who paid a good rent Most of them had fallen into her husband's hands, as mortgagee, but one had been granted to him ' Reibey's Farm," it was called-which served as their country residence during his lifetime. Their eldest son was born there in 1796 But after her husband's death she had no liking for the place, and finally left the river. Talking of grants reminds me that Alexander Riley, one of the merchants of that day, had an " estate," as they called it, of 2000 acres near Camden, to which he gave the name " Raby"-in honor of his old friend and captain. At the rear of his homestead lies buried a favorite merino ram ; one of the early importations planted willowtrees over the grave, and enclosed it with a neat picket fence. The ram deserved these honors for he died regretted by his owner and a large circle of ewes. Twas said at the time that he was quite used up, with what work I know not The grave is still, I believe, in good order, having been carefully tended by successive generations ; at any rate, it is in a much better condition than that of Admiral Phillip. ***************** Milne Family Tree - Ancestry Thomas signed his wedding certificate as Rabey. There is no evidence of his family, education or origins except he arrived in NSW in 1792, on board the "Britannia" as Junior Officer to Capt. Raven. Reibey's first start was made through the East India Company, which enabled their officers to speculate in the markets of the various ports they visited. A captain for instance was allowed to carry goods on his own account, free of freight, to the extent of 50 tons and 25 pounds per ton. This privilege was worth 1,750 pounds to him on one trip. The "Britannia" was chartered by officers of the NSW Corps to make speculative purchases. Tom made trips to the Cape for cattle and horses, to the Indies where they were attacked by pirates. He applied for a grant of land & received 30 acres at Mulgrave Place (Hawkesbury River) on 19 Nov 1794. He had a vessel built for him a sloop, the "Raven" (named after Captain Raven of the Britannia) to transport provisions to settlers on the Hawkesbury and to take their produce to Sydney. Reibey had a weatherboard house at "the rocks" in Sydney. In 1804 he received a grant of land (Block 70) on the harbour's edge, on the eastern bank of the Tank Stream and a further grant of 100 acres in 1803 on the Hawkesbury, to be called "Raby Farm", (at Freeman's Reach).He built a substantial combined warehouse and residence near the Tank Stream in Macquarie Place which he called "Entally", after a place near Calcutta, he knew of. His business thrived and with a partner owned the vessels "Raven", "Edwin", "James", "Providence"and "Mercury"Thomas sailed as master on many trips after whales and seals and brought coal down from Newcastle. The "Sydney Gazette" of 26 Mar, 1809 reported that Capt. Reibey was made pilot at Port Jackson. Mary through Lt Gov. Paterson arranged this position to try and keep her husband at home, but to no avail.On a trip on the "Mary & Sally" from China he noted the "Straits of Sumatra were filled with a swarm of privateers". He arrived home with sunstroke and died Friday 5 Apr 1811 at his home in Macquarie Place, Sydney.His gravestone stands in the Pioneer Memorial Garden at Sydney General Cemetery. "Thomas Reibey, departed this life on 6th May, 1811, aged 36 years." (sic the wrong date and age) *********************** Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Reibey Early life Reibey, baptised Molly Haydock, was born on 12 May 1777 in Bury, Lancashire, England. She was a businesswoman and trader. Following the death of her parents, she was reared by a grandmother and sent into service. She ran away, and was arrested for stealing a horse in August 1791.[1] At the time, she was disguised as a boy and was going under the name of James Burrow.[2] Sentenced to seven years' transportation, she arrived in Sydney, Australia, on the Royal Admiral in October 1792. Life and career in Australia On 7 September 1794, 17-year-old Mary married Thomas Reibey, after he had proposed to her several times; she finally agreed to marry the junior officer on the store ship Britannia. Reibey also used the surnames Raiby, Reiby and Reibey interchangeably, but the family adopted the spelling Reibey in later years. Thomas Reibey was granted land on the Hawkesbury River, where he and Mary lived and farmed following their marriage. They built a farmhouse called Reibycroft, which is now listed on the Register of the National Estate.[4] Thomas Reibey (1769-1811) commenced a cargo business along the Hawkesbury River to Sydney, and later moved to Sydney. Thomas Reibey's business undertakings prospered, enabling him in 1804 to build a substantial stone residence on a further grant of land near Macquarie Place. He acquired several farms on the Hawkesbury River, and traded in coal, cedar, furs and skins. He entered into a partnership with Edward Wills, and trading activities were extended to Bass Strait, the Pacific Islands and, from 1809, to China and India.[2] When Thomas Reibey died on 5 April 1811, Mary assumed sole responsibility for the care of seven children and the control of numerous business enterprises. She was no stranger to this task, having managed her husband's affairs during his frequent absences from Sydney. Now a woman of considerable wealth by her husband's businesses, Reibey continued to expand her business interests. In 1812 she opened a new warehouse in George Street and in 1817 extended her shipping operations with the purchase of further vessels. In the same year, the Bank of New South Wales was founded in her house in Macquarie Place. By 1828, when she gradually retired from active involvement in commerce, she had acquired extensive property holdings in the city. Like many others, however, she was on occasions somewhat economical with the truth. In March 1820 she had returned to England with her daughters to visit her native village, and came back to Sydney the next year.[2] So in the 1828 census, when asked to describe her condition, she declared that she "came free in 1821". In the emancipist society of New South Wales, she gained respect for her charitable works and her interest in the church and education. She was appointed one of the Governors of the Free Grammar School in 1825. Reibey built a cottage in the suburb of Hunters Hill circa 1836, where she lived for some time. The cottage, situated on the shores of the Lane Cove River, was later acquired by the Joubert brothers, who enlarged it. It is now known as Fig Tree House and is listed on the Register of the National Estate.[5] On her retirement, she built a house at Newtown, Sydney, where she lived until her death on 30 May 1855 from pneumonia. Five of her seven children had predeceased her. An enterprising and determined person of strong personality, during her lifetime Reibey earned a reputation as an astute and successful business woman in the colony of New South Wales. She is featured on the obverse of Australian twenty-dollar notes printed since 1994.[6] Novels At least two novels have been written based on her life. The novel Sara Dane by Catherine Gaskin, which has sold over 2 million copies, is only loosely factually accurate. It was made into a television mini-series in 1982.[7] More accurate is the novel Mary Reibey by Kathleen Pullen.[8] See also List of convicts transported to Australia Bibliography Irvine, N, Mary Reibey: Molly Incognito, Library of Australian History, 1982. Irvine, N (ed), Dear Cousin: The Reibey Letters, Hale & Iremonger, 1995. Pike, D (ed), Australian References Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2009, p.37 Reibey, Mary (1777-1855), Australian Dictionary of Biography Online "Penelope Hope - letter received from her niece Molly Haydock (Mary Reibey), Sydney, 8 October 1792". ACMS. State Library NSW. Retrieved 15 March 2013. The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, p.2/22 The Heritage of Australia, p.2/28 "The Australian $20 Banknote". Reserve Bank of Australia. Retrieved 4 February 2012. Gaskin, Catherine (1954). Sara Dane. London & Sydney: Collins. Pullen, Kathleen J. (2011). Mary Reibey: The Women on the $20 Note. Sydney: New Holland. originally published by Ure Smith in 1975. |
| Source References: |
| 52. Type: Australia Birth Marriage Death Index 1787 - 1985 Record |
| - Reference = (Marriage) |
| - Reference = (Death) |
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