Hughes

The story of Matthew Hughes (ggg grandfather of Noel Moore):

Mathew, Mary & Robert Hughes Grave Dedication

Given by Valerie Sansom: A Descendant On 13th March 1994



I would like to thank the Small Family executive for inviting me to give the eulogy at the dedication of the grave of my ancestors, Mathew and Mary Hughes. They were buried together with their son Robert, who predeceased them as a two year old in 1818.



I first learnt of the grave when my Mother Dulcie Bullock visited it with other relatives in the 1970’s. She had been aware of the Hughes connection with the Richmond area as early as the 1920’s when as a young schoolteacher who had been transferred from the north coast toa position at Sutherland, she visited her great uncle Henry Hughes, last surviving child of the fourteen born to Mathew and Mary. She had accompanied her mother Clara Jane Menyweather, daughter of James, 6^th child of Mathew and Mary and Elizabeth Hughes, and they were both distressed to find him living in a type of cave on the banks of the Hawkesbury River.... but this is getting ahead of the reason for which we are here today.



Most of you present would know that Mathew was born somewhere in Ireland,possibly near the town of Castlepollard about 1770 and that he had been convicted in County Down in August 1796 and given a life sentence in consequence of some people being killed by soldiers under his command in a skirmish in the village of Loughbrickland.



He arrived in the colony in May 1797 in the hell ship “Britania”. From the book “The Search for John Small” Molly Gillen gives the following description: “the convicts were kept below in wet and stinking berths, short of water, confined in irons and chained to the ship’s side during their minimal two-hour break on deck.”

How fortunate are we, Mathew’s descendants, for his survival.


In 1799 the settlers of Kissing Point made a request to Governor Hunter for a teacher and Mathew was given this position despite his lack of teaching experience. He had been recommended to Governor John Hunter by members of the London Missionary Society and was described as a worthy young man who wrote with a good hand and was quite early attracted to the teachings of Wesley, both in Ireland and later in the colony.

At this time Mathew’s future wife, Mary was very young, having been born in 1791, the second child of John Small and Mary Parker and of course she would have been one ofthe “charming children” receiving lessons from Mathew in his first teaching position at Kissing Point. At the time of their marriage she was 16 to Mathew’s 38 years and whilst they lived for some time at Kissing Point by 1810 they had moved to the Hawkesbury area where Mathew became the first Parish Clerk of the Hawkesbury Parish which was based at Windsor and his handwriting appears in the registers of the time.

From a painting of Old St Peter's Church School,built 1810-1813, as it appeared

in 1872. Matthew HUGHES (2+) was thefirst teacher in 1813.

After the completion of the new Church/School/Residence at Richmond the small family moved into the ground floor of the building where they were to remain almost all their lives. Mathew then the Parish Clerk for St Peters gave up his position at Windsor in favour of Joseph Harpur. Therefore Mathew held the position of Parish Clerk from 1810 when the Parish was a joint one and from 1814 until his death in 1845 for St Peters only.



Life must have been difficult for Mary and Mathew as many trials and tribulations confronted them. They were taken off stores which forced him to give up teaching for some time and to work in the fields so that he could support his family but eventually he combined the profession of teaching with the establishment of his own farming property.


They had fourteen children: Susannah 1810,Margaret 1812, Ann 1814, Robert 1816, Mary 1818, James 1820, Matthew Henry 1822, Thomas Hassall 1824, Elizabeth Rebecca 1828, Martha 1830, Charlotte 1832,William Charles 1837 and Henry Francis 1839. Except for the first child Susannah they were all born in the Richmond school residence.



We must presume that Mary would have supported Mathew in all his activities and we know that in 1828 she taught needle work to the school pupils for which an additional ten pounds was paid toher. Her daughter Ann took over this duty in 1831.



Yvonne Browning in her book on St Peter’s Richmond states that Mathew was a very active and generous citizen; he served on many committees and was described as a leading Wesleyan layman whilst being extremely involved with the C of E. He donated money to many appeals, one being towards the Gold Cup Farewell Gift to Governor Macquarie who had signed his Absolute Pardon in January 1818. He had already been given a Conditional Pardon by Governor King in June 1802. Governor Macquarie stated that Hughes’ character could “bear the strictest inquiry” and another quotation that he was “a dignified gentleman, who, when he met one of his scholars in the street, insisted on being greeted thus – “Good morning: Your servant, Sir.”



The old school and residence at Richmond. Built 1810.Mathew HUGHES (2+) was a teacher here from 1813 until he retired about 30 years later. The ground floor was the residence and the upper floor the school and also used for Church Services until St Peter's was built and ready for use in 1841.

NSW Government Heritage Item Details



A sentence from his will stated “I most earnestly request both of their mother and my Executors that my little children whose minds are young and tender shall have that instruction given them.....so that they may be early impressed with the importance of religious truth”. On Mathew’s death on Christmas Day 1845 Mary was left to rear the remainder of her children still living with her at Richmond with Martha 15, Charlotte 13,William Charles 8 and Henry Francis 6 being the youngest and it is this last child Henry, whom my Mother and her Mother visited in 1920.

My Mother felt an affinity with Mathew because of the fact that as far as she knew she was the only one of her family to follow in his footsteps as a teacher. She wanted to show her appreciation of the work being done by the Small Family in perpetuating the remarkable contribution it had made through its descendants to the making of Australia and she did this by restoring the family grave.

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