Receipt issued to Edward Dean for payment of passage on ROXBURGH CASTLE

Date1852

Object number00055177

NameReceipt

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 202 × 126 × 1 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Patrick St George

Terms

DescriptionThis receipt was issued to British migrant Edward Dean for payment of his passage on ROXBURGH CASTLE in 1852. The receipt is addressed to the Captain of the ROXBURGH CASTLE informing him of the passage of traveller Dean [Deane]. The cost of the voyage, from London to Sydney, was £7.10. This debt has been paid as the bottom two lines of the central text have been crossed out. These lines read as follows; "the balance £7.10 silver pounds to be paid before the ship leaves London".HistoryEdward Dean (1828-1905) was born on 29 December 1828 and baptised on 1 March 1829 at St Mary’s at Dover in Kent, England. He had seven siblings (two brothers and five sisters). One of his sisters, Rebacker married and migrated to Tasmania with her husband. Some of their descendants are living in Sydney. Edward was in the tallow trade in London before arriving in Sydney in 1852. He paid for his own passage in steerage class on the newly-built ROXBURGH CASTLE. In 1859 he was working in a Sydney timber yard. Later in life he was a caretaker at Sydney Town Hall. Edward married Catherine Crowley on 5 March 1855 at St Andrew’s Cathedral. Catherine was one of the Irish famine orphans who were sent to Sydney on the JOHN KNOX in 1849. Edward and Catherine had four children. At the time of his death on 13 September 1905 his address was listed as 48 Station Street, Newtown. He must have done reasonably well during his time in Australia as he owned three houses around Darlington.SignificanceThe receipt is a rare personal document relating to British free settlement and passenger travel in the mid-19th century.