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John Irving : The First Australian Emansipist

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On February 28th, 1790, just two years after the foundation of the settlement, Phillip issued a General order making public his decision to emancipate John Irving and appoint him assistant to the surgeon at Norfolk Island. Since this was the first occasion on which Phillip exercised the authority vested in him to emancipate convicts, it is reasonable to assume that the order became the immediate subject of general disussion. There does not appear to be any record of convict comment, but among the officers, Tench who reacted somewhat tersely to the view that the settlement was bound to be a sink of infany, noted the order in his Journal, and suggested that it was "tool pleasing a proof that universal depravity did not prevail among the convicts to be omitted." Ralph Calrk, who has just received his posting to Norfolk Island, likewise noted the order and remarked that he was "very glad" that "irven goes with us." This, it should be emphasized, was one of the rare occasions when Clark indicated that he was "very glad" about anything. Generally, he appeared to be serving an apprenticeship to martydom. Because Irving was the first convict in Australia to be emancipated, it is fitting that portion, at least, of his warrant be cited..

The warrent was not actually issued on February 28th, 1790. Phillip did not receive the Seal of the Territory until September 21st, 1791. On December 16th following, in accordance with instructions, he forwarded to Grenville dupicates of the Warrents he had issued to that date. These correspond with the Registers of Pardons, in which Irving has pride of place. Apart from the citation, the Warrent is of interest because it dates Irving's "original Sentence or order of Transportation" as 1785. Elsewhere we have noted that he was convicted on March 6th, 1784. Whether the remission of his sentence, then, amounted to one year or two, is a matter yet to be investigated
Early in 1790, to relieve the food situation, which daily was growing more alarming, Phillip decided to send a large detachment of convicts and marines to Norfolk Island on the Sirius and the Supply. Major Ross was detailed to supercede Lieutenant King as a passenger, on the first stage of his journey to England, to place the needs of the settelment squarely before the home authorities. On March 4th, 1790 according to Bradley, the embarkation, which had commenced on the previous day, was completed. John Irving, newly appointed assistant to surgeon Considered, boarded the Sirus that day. The vessels moved down the harbour on March 5, but contrary winds and heavey seas delayed their departure. On the following day, however, a fresh wind for the south emabled them to clear the Heads.

..By Virtue of the Power and Authority vested as a foresaid, I, Arthur Phillips.... taking into consideration the unremitting good Conduct and Meritorious Behaviour of John Irving and deeming him the said John Irving a proper object of the Royal Mercy do hereby absolutely remit the remainder of the Time or Term which is yet unexpired of the original sentence or order of Transportation passed on the said John Irving in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Eighty-five.

Prince of Wales

     And if, as the comparatively ordered settlement fell astern, Irving reviewed his two years of Sydney cover, vivid picture of the activities of the first few days no doubt flooded his mind _ "in one place" in Tench's words "a party cutting down the woods; a second setting up a blacksmith's forge; a third dragging along a load of stores or provisions; here an officer pitching his marquee, with a detachment of troops parading on one side of him, and a cook's fire blazing by on the other." It is not difficult to imagine Irving recalling very many incidents, which must have been deeply etched in his memory. And now, the first to receive absolute pardon of all those who had landed with him in bondage, he was outward bound, to take up an official posting under the Crown! The voyage, which lasted two weeks, ended in the tragic loss of the Sirus. Although Irving seems to have remained at Norfolk Island for the greater part of two years, the only specific reference to him, so far discovered, is in a note which Clark wrote on December 18th 1790, "Sam Bannier I found still absent, but on my return to town, Major Ross informed me that Mr.Irven on his return from seeing the sick at Charlotte Field had met with him on the road and brought him in." This note is significant, first, because it seems to dispose of any suggestions that Irving's duties were purely routine and did not involve him in clinical practice. When at and earlier date, Clark said that Irving was "the best surgeon amongs them", he could have meant merely that he was, for example, the most likeable. If, however he meant that he was the most skilful, it would have to be assumed that Irving had actually treated people at the hospital at Sydney Cove. The fact that he attended the sick as Charlotte Field makes this assumption more reasonable, while no particular significance need be attached to Clark's evaluatioin, his comment lends colour to the view that Irving actually practised as a surgeon while still a convict.
     The note is significant, secondly, because it seems to indicate that Irving accepted his responsibility as a member of the Civil Department. He met a convict who had absconded, and "brought him in." After the wreck of the Sirius, there were 507 people on Norfolk Island. In August 1790, another large detachment of convicts arrived from Port Jackson. When the crew of the Sirius and other left in Februay, 1791, the population was 627. Although it was small, and was concentrated in very limited area, a study of events in 1790 and 1791 makes it clear that the surgeons were not idle. Accidents occurred frequently during clearing operations, and sometimes, in dealing with them, major surgery was practised. Henry Palmer, for example, was badly inured late in November, 1790, by a falling tree at Charlotte Field. According to Clark, "the surgeon [probably Irving, who seems to have treated the sick at the settlement] ordered him to be brought in.... as the tree fell on his head they have Trepanded (sic) him and find that his brain is injured and that he could not live - he died in about an hour after the operation (sic)"There does not appear to be a connected medical record for these early years in Norfolk Island, but some slight picture of the varied work of the surgeons may be gained by listing a few of the case notes by Clark. On May 6th, 1790, "Chas McFarlain, a convict boy, in cutting a piece of work with an axe, the axe slipt (sic) in his hand and rebounded back from the hardness of the wood, against his forehead, and fractured his scull (sic) so much that there is a great chance if he will ever recover. and 1791 makes it clear that the surgeons were not idle.
     On may 24th 1790, "died Ann Farmer, a female convict, which is the first person that has died a natural death since the island has been first settled - she was better than half dead before the [y] sent for her from England - by all accounts she was a most wicked women.... but she is now gone where she will be rewared according to her merits." Towards the end of October, 1790, many of the convicts were sick, "supposed from the copper kettles in which they dress their meat in." On November 24, 1790, to mention just one other case - Elizabeth Colley "was brought to bed of a boy."

Norfolk Island early Settlement 1789

    Referring to deaths in September, 1795 Collins said that "of these, one was much regretted, as his loss would be severely felt; this was Mr.J.Irving, who, dieing (sic) before the Governor {i.e hunter] arrived, knew not that he had been appointed an assistant to the surgeons with a salary of fifty pounds per annum."
     In summary of building activities in July, 1792, Colllins reported that "at and near Parramatta, the chief business was erecting two houses on allotment of land which belonged to Mr Arndell the assistant surgeon and to John Irving - each of whom had been put in possession, the former of sixty and the later of thirty acres on a creek leading to Parramatta." At this time, Irving was Arndell's assistant. There does not appear to be any record of the date of his transfer from Norfolk Island, or of the reason why it was made. We do know that on April 15th, 1791, the medical establishment of Norfolk Island was increased by Mr Jamison's arrival. Further, it seems clear that towards the close of 1791 Arndell at Parramatta needed assistance. When Tench visited that settlement in December, he found that the new hosptal, which has been "talked of for the last two years," had not been built, and that although the "two long sheds" which served as a hospital were capable of holding two hundred patients," there were "382 names on the sick list." Moreover, he noted that Parramatta "less heathly than it used to be." that dysentry was prevalent, and that deaths in November numbered "twenty-five men and two children." At the time the population was 1.628, comprising 1.440 men, 149 women and 39 children. Taking these facts into account and bearing in mind Irving's decision "to remain in the country," the probable reason for his transfer from Norfolk Island seems clear. The fact that his grant was made on February 22th 1792, suggests that he was in Parramatta at the time. If Tench's impressions, not doubt conveyed to Phillip, had any bearing on his transfer, it rather seems that he returned to Sydney Cover early in 1792.
     His grant of thirty acres was located on the north side of the creek leading to Parramatta, between the grants made earlier to Phillip Schaffer and Robert Webb. Its boundaries on the modern map are Victoria Road on the north, Orpan School Lane on the east, and Pemberton Land on the west. Irving Street perpetuates his name. A return of lands in cultivation at October 16th 1792, clearly shows that Irving must have been active in farming his land. He had nine acres under maize and a further two acres cleared and ready for planting. On the other hand, no record of his professional work as assistant to Arndell had yet been discovered. Arndell himself was so interested in farming that, soon after he became established on his grant, he applied to be retired from the medical establishment. In 1793 his request was met, and he was awarded a pension of 50 Pounds per annum. Presumably Irving's duties increased after Arndell's reitrement. Hunter's despatch to Portland, dated October 25th 1795, seems to indicate that they were extensive. "I must also notice to you, " he wrote "that John Irving, who was assistant to the surgeon, died two days before my arrival; so the settlement suffers in that department considerable inconvenience." Although he must have known about Irving's work at Sydney Cove in 1788 and 1789, and at Norfolk Island in 1790, Hunter had no personal knowledge of his work at Parramatta. It is reasonable to suggest that the latter part of his statement was inspired by the Principal Surgeon. He would scarcely have said that Irving's death occasioned "considerable inconvenience" if this professional service had been insignificant. No details of the circumstances surrounding his death and burial have yet been discovered. In a table of vital statistics for 1795, here is the simple record of his death _ "John Irving, Civil Departement, 3 Sept"
     In August, 1796 Portland advised Hunter that "in consequence of your representation.... I flatter myself that I shall be able to send you, by the present conveyance as assistant surgeon in the room of Mr.J.Irving." Portland's plan, however, seems to have miscarried. Two years later, on August 1st 1798, Surgeon Balmain addressed Hunter on the subject of the medical establishment, "I hope it will be evident," he worte "that the number of medical men is by far too small, and that in addition to the assistant promised in the room of the late Mr Irwin, another assistant surgeon, together with and apothecary for the hospital, are indespensably necessary." On April 8th 1796, some seven months after his death Irvings's will was sworn by John Palmer before a Civil Court of Judicature at Sydney:- (Regrettably the autual Will was not annexed to this document)

While Irving was attending the sick at Norfolk Island, and apparently gaining a varied experience, Phillip was active on his behalf in the matter of salary. In a dispatch to Grenville, dated July 14th, 1790, he enclosed a list of persons "employed in the public service" and requested for eact : a suitable compensation if brought forward in my contingent account." He pointed out the "John Irving, a convict who was emancipated for his meritorious behaviour, has been sent to Norfolk Island to act under the surgeon. This man was bred to surgery, and will, I hope, be thought to merrit the moiety of and assistant surgeon's appointment from the time of his emancipation." In a further dispatch to Grenville, on November 5th 1791, Phillip suggested that since Irving was "inclined to remain in the country... some allowance will be necessary." In the fullness of time the British Government granted Phillips request, but Irving died two days before the news reached the settlement.

I, John Palmer, do make oath that the paper now produce by me, purporting to be the last Will and Testament of Mr.J.Irving, dated the {blank} Day of September in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand seven hundred and ninety five, signed with his hand and sealed with his seal and contained with one half sheet of paper is the last Will and Testament of the said
Mr. John Irging, deceased.

The little we know about John Irving, from the time of his embarkation in 1787 til his death in 1895, leads us fairly to the conclusion that he was certainly not of those "bad people" who, in Bonwick's words, "brought their bad ways from Britain." Phillip, Collins, Tench, Clark, Hunter and by reasonable implication, the members of the medical establishment, thought well of him and his work. When, as has been noticed, Collins said that his death "was much regretted" he probably expressed an opinion widely held. when further, he said that "his loss would be severely felt," doubtless he had in mind qualities dispalyed in his ministrations of the sick at Sydney Cover, Norfolk Ialand and Parramatta. Almost a century after the arrival at Sydney Cove of the convicts who were regarded in 1787 as "a forlorn hope," Rusden suggested that all the evils "which the prescient mind of Bacon foreboded" had been visited on the colony, "after generations," he said " reped the crop sown in 1788." Bacon's opinion, it was "a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people, and wicked condemned men, to be the people with whom you plant." such people, he said "will ever live like rogues, and not fall to work, but be lazy, and do mischief."
Unit all the surviving evidence about each of them has been examined, no just evaluation of the First Fleet convicts and their contribution to the fondatoin of our country will be possible. There were some, like James Bennett who, if not strictly criminal, were incorrigibly wayward. There were some, like James Daly, who did not willing "fall to work." There were some, like Ann Davies, eminently qualified to "do mischief." But the weight of evidence steadily being amassed makes it abundantly clear that, in no sense, were such people typical. As for John Irving, the little we know about him, as yet, seems to be well worth knowing. In Australia, he did not live like a rogue and "do mischief" On the contrary, we have Collins assurance that "in no instance whatever, since the commission of offence for which he was transported, had he given cause for complaint."
John Irving died on September 3rd 1795, he was unaware of the son born to him by Ann Marsh, on January 17th 1976.

Personal note: The Pictures were not included in the Journal. In the case of dollar signs it should read Pounds.