George Whitfield
Gunsmith & Taxidermist
Sydney
+George Whitfield, early Sydney gunsmith and taxidermist : autograph letter,
signed, dated 1840
WHITFIELD George (1808-1864)
# 14023
Entire letter addressed to
Robert J. Pennent Esqr., Belfast, Ireland,
cancelled with oval PAID SHIP LETTER SYDNEY OC 9 1840 in red, and straight-line
SHIP LETTER in black; arrival marking BELFAST FE 17 1841; manuscript in ink
written in a neat hand on 3 sides of one folded folio sheet of gilt-edged
writing paper; address panel on the outer side; original folds; clean and
legible.
George Whitfiled, a native of Belfast,
arrived in Sydney
early in 1834. A skilful gunsmith, he first went into partnership with the
gunmaker John Samuel Lambard, but by 1839 had opened his own business, G.
Whitfield's Gun Manufactory and Repository of Stuffed Birds. Whitfield soon
became the largest firearms dealer in the colony; his shop was illustrated in
Fowles'
Sydney in 1848, and he
supplied the guns for Edmund Kennedy's ill-fated Cape York
expedition. An account of Whitfield's remarkable life and career in Sydney, which ended with
his being shot by a disgruntled employee, may be read in the
Australian
Dictionary of Biography.
George Whitfield's letter was carried on the ship
William Wise,
which sailed from Sydney on October 11 1840 and arrived at Gravesend on
February 13 1841; the letter was delivered in Belfast a mere four days later.
He writes to Robert Pennent concerning his own nephew, William John Whitfield,
for whom he is arranging a passage on a ship to Sydney. Whitfield has paid £30 to
Messrs. Martin and McDowell, which he hopes will enable his nephew to 'come
here in respectable stile'. Whitfield continues with news about his own
business in Sydney:
'I flatter myself that it will give you pleasure to know that my
circumstances are daily improving, so as to exceed my most sanguine
expectations, and I am at present Master of the Principal Gun Establishment and
Bird Preservatory in N.S. Wales, and from this circumstance I pledge myself
that from the arrival of William John Whitfield in this Colony it shall be my
most anxious endeavour to make him fit as a Mechanic for that Society in which
it will be his priviledge to move, without aspiring to any thing beyond an
upright Mechanic, which was his poor Mother's last request of me when dying.'
Whitfield then gives Pennent instructions regarding a sum of money he has
deposited into a Belfast bank account which is intended 'for the sole benefit
of the boy' and is not to be drawn until 'he, William John Whitfield is of age
(should it please Almighty God to spare him)'.
William John Whitfield (1823 - ?) did indeed help fulfil his mother's dying
wish. He came to Sydney
in the early 1840s and worked in his uncle's business for over two decades.
With George's murder in 1864 he took over the business and ran it until 1866.
William also inherited George Whitfield's personal estate.
$ 1,350.00 AUD
This letter should be read in conjuction with our blog of 23/9/2015.
The above item kindly forwarded by Douglas Stewart Fine Books Pty Ltd..
Photographs of the document are available via the attached links.
Our sincere thanks to Doug Stewart.
DOUGLAS STEWART FINE BOOKS Pty Ltd
720 High Street
Armadale
Victoria 3143
Australia
Opening Hours:
Monday – Friday 10am – 6pm
Saturday 11am - 4pm
Telephone: +61 (0) 3 9066 0200
[info@DouglasStewart.com.au]info@DouglasStewart.com.a
www.DouglasStewart.com.au
In addition, we would like to thank Mr Leslie Martin for bringing this item to our attention.
Dave Stroud. ramrodantiques.co.uk