Charles Tompson’s wife, Hannah, sat for a watercolour portrait painted by William Nicholas in 1839 when she was aged 36. In it, she holds a small blue book in her right hand, and the black ribbon around her neck may suspend a pair of ‘pince-nez’ style reading glasses. I wonder what she was reading? You can see the portrait here. [1]
Charles Tompson was an Australian public servant, and it is claimed he was the first published Australian-born poet.
Tompson was born in 1807 in Sydney, the eldest child of Charles Tompson (Senior), a convict, and his wife, Elizabeth. Tompson Snr had arrived in Sydney in May 1804 after transportation, and his story is interesting in itself – scroll down to read it here.
In 1826, young Charles Tompson Jnr, just twenty years of age, etched his name into Australian literary history with the publication of Wild Notes from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel. This slim volume of verse holds the distinction of being the first book of poetry by an Australian-born writer to be published on Australian soil. Garnering 212 subscriptions prior to its release, the work—though now regarded largely as juvenilia—nevertheless possesses moments of genuine merit. Its true significance, however, lies in its pioneering status as the early stirring of a distinctly Australian literary voice.
Four years later, in April 1830, Tompson married Hannah Morris, and the couple settled in Kent Street, Sydney. There, Tompson took up a post as a clerk in the Colonial Secretary’s Office, a position he held until 1836. From there, his career took him west to Penrith, where he served as Clerk of Petty Sessions, before later relocating to Camden. His administrative skills ultimately saw him appointed Clerk of Parliaments for both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales. Colleagues in these roles spoke warmly of his unfailing courtesy and obliging nature, qualities that made him a much-respected figure within government circles.
While Tompson continued to pen verse and prose throughout his life, none of his later works were ever gathered into a single volume. On 31 January 1869, he retired on a pension, concluding a long and dignified career in public service. He passed away at the age of 75 in Sydney on 5 January 1883 and was laid to rest in the tranquil surrounds of Waverley Cemetery, overlooking the ocean—a fitting resting place for a man whose literary aspirations had once sought to give voice to the wild beauty of his native land.
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Image- Wild Notes from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel by Tompson Jnr., Charles, https://badgerbooks.com.au/book/51597-wild-notes-from-the-lyre-of-a-native-minstrel, & Charles Tompson by http://acrossthebluemountains.com.au/article-castlereagh2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61286286
[1] Fact- https://www.portraitdetective.com.au/1839-hannah-tompson/
Charles Tompson (Senior)
What follows is the fascinating account of the life of Charles Tompson (Senior) and the father of Charles (Junior) whom this entry is about. It appears that Charles Snr was not especially renowned for anything of a literary nature, except for the theft of 2 books – which is where I’ll start his story.
Charles Tompson Snr (1784?-1871), was convicted to 7 years transportation for stealing 2 library books belonging to a Mr Bingham in Warwick, England in March 1802. He arrived in the colony of NSW aboard the ship, ‘Coromandel’, in May 1804.
On arrival in Sydney, as he was described as a well educated young man who could read and write, and he spent 4 years in the office of Commissioner John Palmer.
By 1810 he was working as a shopkeeper ‘of Bell Row’ in Pitt and Hunter Streets, Sydney selling bread, meat etc., to convict ships needing supplies for their return journey to England. He even had his own book shop and held a spirits licence. His ticket of emancipation was granted on 16 February 1811, and in 1814 he was known as a merchant.
Tompson was the first convict man to marry a free-born woman in the colony. He and Elizabeth Boggis married on 8 June 1806 at St Phillips Church, Sydney. (Elizabeth Boggis was the daughter of 1st fleet convict, William Boggis, and his wife Elizabeth, a 2nd fleet convict, and she was born in the notorious penal settlement on Norfolk Island on 3 February 1792. She was just 14 when she married Tompson and had been living in the Sydney Orphan School in St Philip’s Church.) The couple went on to have 7 children, Charles Jnr being the eldest.
Tompson received a 50-acre land grant on the Nepean River at Penrith NSW which he called “Birmingham”. His holding was surrounded by property owned by a Mr Jamison, so Tompson sold his land to Jamison, and in 1819 he purchased 700 acres (283 ha) near Marsden Park, close to Windsor, west of Sydney. He named it “Clydesdale.”
Elizabeth Tompson died in March 1822, and in September of the same year, Charles married Jane Armytage, the widow of his business partner. The Rev. Samuel Marsden conducted the ceremony at St John’s Church, Parramatta. Charles had 6 surviving children and Jane had 3.
Charles abandoned shopkeeping for full-time farming and was very successful. He purchased 865 acres in the Bathurst district which he also named “Clydesdale”, erected a splendid two-storey stone house, and created beautifully landscaped gardens. A further eight children were born there. Purchases and leases resulted in extensive landholdings throughout the colony which were managed by his sons.
With the depression of the 1840s, however, Tompson lost Clydesdale and his other holdings. He and Jane and their three unmarried daughters moved to Sydney early in 1850 and spent the rest of their lives in modest houses in Church Street, Surry Hills.
Charles Tompson died of “debility from old age” aged about 87, on 10 January 1871 at his home. He was buried in the family vault in Sydney’s Devonshire Street Cemetery. In 1901, when this cemetery was resumed to allow for the development of Central Railway Station in Sydney, his remains were transferred to the Church of England section of Rookwood Cemetery in Lidcombe, Sydney.
Another of Charles Tompson’s sons, Frederick Anslow Tompson settled in the Wagga Wagga area in 1832 and became a successful pastoralist. He was to become known as the “Father of Wagga Wagga”, being instrumental in establishing the town.
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