In rely to your letter of the 8th instant, I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to request that the prisoner named in the margin [Henry Cohen, Lloyds] may be forwarded to Port Macquarie by the Governor Phillip sailing tomorrow morning.
And so, on 11 January 1834, Henry was conveyed to Port Macquarie by the brig Governor Phillip.[1] The family, sans Joseph and Nancy Simmons, followed. [///docs?]
Port Macquarie was settled in March 1821 as a place of secondary punishment, but settlement expanded so rapidly that within a few years it became, as Brisbane said in May 1825, “almost useless as a penal settlement from the many facilities afforded to the escape of Prisoners by the extension of settlers along Hunter’s River”. This was the main reason for the settlement of Moreton Bay as an alternative penal station though by August 1826, when the shortage of labour was becoming acute, there were still about a thousand convicts at Port Macquarie. A searching inquiry into the state of the settlement was held in 1828 and in July 1830 the commandant was instructed in detail on the procedure for removing the convicts to Norfolk Island. The area was thrown open to private settlement by a proclamation of 30 July 1830.
Henry duly arrived at Port Macquarie, and on 17 January 1834 he was requested as an assigned servant by Major Archibald Clunes Innes:[2]
Having
requested as an assigned servant, the Crown Prisoner named in the margin [H.
Cohen, Ship Lloyds 1834 [sic]], the
Resident Magistrate states, that he cannot comply with my request without
permission from His Excellency The Governor, the prisoner applied for, being a
special.
I would
therefore request you will be pleased to obtain His Excellency’s sanction
to the assignment.
Archibald Innes had previously been the commandant of the Port Macquarie penal settlement and by then was a prominent landholder and magistrate.
The Resident Magistrate, Benjamin Sullivan, on 16 January, likewise requested approvals for the assignments of several “specials,” including Henry Cohen:[3]
I
have the honour to request that you will obtain His Excellency the
Governor’s permission for me to assign to private service the following
Specials in conformity to your letter No. 33/88 upon the condition that the
assignees do not allow them to quit this District without the previous
permission of His Excellency or without due legal authority, viz:
John Walsh
or Welsh per “Eliza”. To Benjamin Sullivan j.p. as Domestic Servant.
James
Jenkins per “Surry”. To his son John Sullivan as Farm Labourer.
Henry Cohen
“Lloyds”. To A. C. Innes Esq. as Domestic Servant.
The assignments were approved by the Governor and the Colonial Secretary’s Office advised the Board for the Assignment of Servants:[4]
I
do myself the honour to inform you that in Compliance with the recommendation
of the Resident Magistrate at Port Macquarie, His Excellency the Governor has
sanctioned the following assignments at that settlement, viz:
John Walsh
per “Eliza” to Benjamin Sullivan as Domestic Servant.
James
Jenkins per “Surry” to John Sullivan as Farm Labourer.
Henry Cohen
per “Lloyds” to A. C. Innes as Domestic Servant.
Henry apparently remained assigned to Archibald Innes until granted his Ticket of Leave on 14 February 1840.
