William CRAMPTON

b. 17 Sept 1828  ch. 22 Mar 1829

Bourne, Lincolnshire, England

Mary Anne CRAMPTON

ch. 21 Feb 1830

Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, England

Perhaps the best way to start is with William’s obituary:

ANOTHER OLD RESIDENT GONE

'Lachlander' Friday, September 5, 1902

Quite a gloom was cast over the district, on Monday, when it was known that Mr William Crampton, one of the best known and esteemed residents of the Lachlan, had breathed his last at about 10am, after a brief illness.

ED.NOTE: Secondary senile decay, primary congestion of lung..Dr W.H.Bracewell  of Bidgemia

It was only a few days previous that the deceased gentleman had been in town transacting his business as of yore; in fact had returned from Forbes and Parkes Shows with one of his valuable blood horses after spending a particularly pleasant time with many of his old friends from far and near.

The deceased leaves a wife and grown up family of five, his mortal remains were conveyed from 'Newlands' to the Condobolin Railway Station on Tuesday morning where they were entrained to Forbes and interned in the Church of England portion of the Forbes Cemetery next day.

The mournful cortege was followed from the deceased's residence to the Condobolin bridge by a long cavalcade of vehicles filled with mourners and friends bent on paying their last tribute of respect to the departed. At the bridge the funeral was joined by members of the local Masonic Lodge - of which he was a venerable member - who took possession of the body and marched at the head of the solemn procession to the station. The coffin was a beautiful piece of cabinet work of polished cedar with heavy silver mounts , the work of Mr F W Martin who was entrusted with funeral arrangements at this end and Mr Thompson of Forbes completing the duty of the internment.

 The late Mr W Crampton was a native of Lincolnshire, England, where he was born in the year of 1829. As a young man he worked on the railway from England to Scotland, but lured by the glowing reports of the new Eldorado in the southern seas, he decided to leave the homeland to try his fortunes elsewhere.

After visiting Canada he, in 1857 migrated with his wife and young family to Australia.

ED.NOTE William arrived in Victoria 10 June 1857 aboard ‘Castillian’ with Jane born onboard.  'Castillian' was a full  rigged ship, built in 1856 at New Brunswick, USA, her owners were Miller & Co,  her Master was Harrington,  her tonnage was 1064 tons, and she was registered at London. She sailed from Albert Dock, Liverpool on 11th March 1857.

The listing of the ‘Castilian’ passengers shows:-

Family Religion – Church of England …….Came on their own account

The 'Castilian' is forever imbedded in literature; featuring in Chapter One of Jules Verne's 'Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea'

http://jv.gilead.org.il/butcher/20TL/chapter1.html

An explanatory note confirms the sighting as noted by Jules Verne.

Captain Harrington: ................ what Captain Harrington and 20 others saw in 1857 was recorded in a formal report to the Admiralty. About 10 miles from St Helena he had seen a creature swimming towards the land: it was about 200 feet long, with a head shaped like a barrel and crowned with a wrinkled crest. It resembled a serpent ‘of a dark colour about the head, and was covered with several white spots.’ PC (p. 281) notes that George Henry Harrington's observation on 12 December 1857 was reported in The Times of 16 February 1858 and the Zoologist of 1858 (p. 5989).

After leaving the ship they went to Emerald Hill- the part of South Melbourne , famous as immigrants’ tent city in 1850’s, and called Canvastown; boundaries were Pickles Street, City Road, Grant Street, Clarendon Street, Albert Street, Kerford Road.

Thanks to Pat Stevenson - Costello limb of GWA Crampton branch & Peter Eury who supplied info from a Gazetter p.92 )

A Sarah was born at Black Forest ( area between Woodend & Gisborne) in 1859 and died there on 2nd May 1859 at the age of five months, from Marasmus - progressive wasting. She was buried at Gisborne Cemetery. Another Sarah was born at Beechworth in 1860 and Elizabeth A was born at 'railway near Kyneton' on 17th Jan 1862.(her obituary states 16^th Jan 1863).

William was registered as 'labourer'on both Sarah's death certificate and Elizabeth's birth certificate. The birthplace of 'Railway near Kyneton' is the first verification of William's involvement with rail construction.

Birth registrations show numerous Cramptons were at Beechworth/Stanley area when William and Mary Ann visited there in 1860; and it is assumed there were relatives in the area and this was the reason for their visit, as well as the development of Beechworth with the gaol, hospital and Powder Magazine all being built around this time. The names of the children were widespread in Lincolnshire Cramptons and Annie is listed as being born in Lincolnshire

The Cramptons at Beechworth included included:-

Annie Crampton, from Lincolnshire  m. Henry Wells 1972

Mary Crampton gave birth to Thomas 1869, John William 1871 d.1872

Jane Crampton gave birth to Joseph John

John Crampton & Sarah Dougherty(evidently married before reaching Victoria) had 10 children; only 4 reaching past childhood.

William & Mary Ann returned to the Black Forest/Kyneton area where Elizabeth A. was born .

This timetable fits in with William’s occupation being noted as ‘surveyor’ and the timetable for the opening of the Melbourne to Bendigo railway.

-Melbourne to Sunbury 10.02.1859

-Sunbury to Woodend    08.07.1861

-Woodend to Kyneton    25.04.1862

-Kyneton to Bendigo     21.10.1862

On arriving in N.S.W. he found ample scope for the exercise of his calling and was not long in the country before he was actively engaged contracting at railway construction, and to his credit be it said that many a weary mile of the main trunk line over the Blue Mountains were cut and laid under his supervision.

ED NOTE: Information(Cecil Boulton’s notes- held by Ruth Flett) suggests William was a partner in ‘CRAMPTON & FALKINGHAM’ and they constructed the Zig Zag Rail at Lithgow’ , the Condobolin to Bogan Gate line and others.

There have been reported sightings of a plaque, on tree in Blue Mountains commemorating the work of a CRAMPTON on the rail. To this date it has not been confirmed.

Despite investigations through the Aust Hist Rail Soc. there is no proof of William's building of such railways however it is definite that he was a railway sub-contractor, listed in a court case at Goulburn 1866 and John Falkingham was the constructor of the Bogan Gate to Condobolin line. William has been listed as a survyor and it is likely that this was his involvement.

Mary Ann(snr)’s  death certificate states she was in Victoria for 9 years however this is not possible as she was at Mary Ann’s wedding at Sutton Forest NSW in 1864.

Later on he took up the more secluded life of farming, selecting 'Richlands', near Goulburn

ED NOTE: This would have been an unhappy time for William & Mary Ann as their eldest child, Mary Ann married at the age of 15years 9 months , in 1864 at Sutton Forest  and the death of Sarah in 1867 at the age of 7 years.

William must have spent considerable money in defending and appealing the 'sly-grogging' charge brought against him in Goulburn and one can only assume he had an intention to become a publican, something which a conviction for 'sly-grogging' would preclude.

William's grandson , Richard B. Wigfull, was born at 'Richlands'(birth certificate) and his father, Joshua Wigfull was shown as 'farmer'.

'Richlands' at Taralga was owned by the McArthur-Onslows and unless William had another property of the same name, they were likely employed on the property.

The following snippett appeared in the Goulburn Herald 16 Oct 1867:-

'Mr Crampton of Richlands, on Friday while out on horseback was thrown and sustained a severe injury to his shoulder joint. He was attended by Dr Hanford'

He is listed in the Goulburn Post 1871 as shooting 280 ducks in the Taralga area

Later on he was attracted, together with several neighbours - Mr Mooney being one of them - to try his fortunes on the rich lands that comprise the Lachlan Valley and in 1873, on Borambil being made available for selection he acquired his late home, 'Newlands', where he has resided ever since.

ED NOTE: William is reported to have written to friends encouraging them to come to come to ‘these new lands’ which were the finest he had seen. Whilst he may have written in this vein it is important to note the following( as provided by Rex Needle of Bourne, England):-

'When the fenland was being enclosed for agriculture with the 13th century, a charter of 1270 granted 10 acres of land in "Neulond" near Bourne, to Spalding Priory. This "Neulond" is now within the farm known as Newland Farm near the Bourne end of Meadow Drove There is also a record that this land passed to the Earl of Exeter, then Lord of the Manor, about 1761 and so its history is extremely ancient.'

As one of the pioneers of the district, Mr Crampton has proved himself a reliable, honourable and progressive man and one whose example will live long for good.

The late Mr Crampton was possessed of a decided sporting instinct which exhibited itself during the whole period of his residence in the district. In the comparatively old times of 25 years ago he purchased a thoroughbred stallion called "Lottery" (by 'Sir Hercules') with which he won many prizes in the show rings at Forbes and Parkes and later at Condobolin. He was a valuable sire and enriched the working horse stock of this and the surrounding districts in a marked degree. Later on he purchased " The Broker" which had been one of the most promising two-year-olds in the colony.

ED NOTE. For the racing minded,THE  BROKER(Aus) 1881 by Goldsbrough (Aus) 1870, from Melody(Aus) 1875. Lineage back to Darley Arabian(GB) 1700. Won 1884 VRC Sires Produce StakesWon 1885 SAJC South Australian St Leger Stakes

The deceased furthermore took a pride in having something of his own breeding in training to run at the surrounding local race meetings, and when he struck anything of merit was not afraid to go further afield to both Sydney and Melbourne. "Brokerage" (by his old favourite 'The Broker') who is in Sydney in training, is the last example and supposedly the best horse over sticks he ever bred,, he having won the steeplechase at the last Autumn Meeting of the A.J.C., beating a good field and backed by the stable for a good stake. Later on 'Brokerage' was sent to Melbourne for the Grand National Steeplechase with a supposedly good chance of winning but having struck his leg in the Hunting Flat Race was placed 'hors de combat' for the Steeple.

ED NOTE:…… BROKERAGE owned by W. Crampton

Won :Tatts Club Steeplechase Jan 1 1902 ,11.7 P.Regan (jockey)112pounds

Won: AJC First Steeplechase March 31 1902. 12.10 P Regan (jockey) 287pounds

Mr Crampton was always a good supporter of the pastoral and agricultural shows of this and the surrounding districts and always had something in the way of horse stock worth looking over. He was fairly successful in the prize ring and his list of winnings must have been a long one and his well known figure will be missed at all similar functions in future.

THE CHILDREN OF WILLIAM & MARY ANN