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Dr James Ross

By Robin Flannery

TFHS Inc. Member No. 5263

I am lucky to have a range of interesting ancestors to choose from, but not so fortunate when it comes to comparative studies as to which ancestor is the mostinteresting.

Either of four convict ancestors who were transported to New South Wales in the 18th century could have fitted the bill:

The four were sent to Norfolk Island and, with the exception of Goldsmith, made their way to Van Diemen's Land where they made positive contributions to society and raised large families.

To those I could add convict William Jackson; yes-the patriarch of the Jackson clan from Hamilton, Tasmania. Convicted of having forged notes in his possession, William arrived at Port Jackson on the Oceanin 1816 and it is surprising that he did not lay claim to the place being named after him! He operated a store at River Ouse from 1843 to the 1860s.

Also considered but disregarded was Francis Burgess who arrived at Hobart Town on the Asiaticin 1843 to take over from Captain Matthew Forster as Chief Police Magistrate.

All the above-mentioned were ancestors of my maternal grandfather, Arthur Gordon Jackson. His wife, Elsie, nee Brough, had two convicts in her family: James Brough (Equestrian2-1845) and Susan McArdle (Arabian - 184 7). They were transported direct to VDL where they married at Hobart Town in 1849.

However the choice of my most interesting ancestor is my great, great, great grandfather, Dr James Ross.

He saw himself as a man for whom independence of spirit was his motto, freedom was his watchword, the happines [sic] of his fellowmen his object, and the truth of his religion his buckler and his consolation.

The description of Dr James Ross above is by C. M. H. (Manning) Clark in A History of Australia II.This article relies heavily on that publication and the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 2 1788-1850, 1-Z, edited by Douglas Pike. Melbourne University Press publishes both.

James Ross was baptized on 4 January 1787 at Aberdeen, Scotland, the third son of Alexander Ross, writer to the signet and advocate, and his wife Catharine, nee Morrison. He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, taking a Master of Arts in 1803 and adding a Doctor of Laws in 1818. James conducted a school first at Sevenoaks, Kent, and then at Sunbury, Middlesex, where he married Susannah Smith, a Spaniard. Although he won great esteem as a teacher, schoolmaster and editor he was in financial difficulties and poor health by 1822.

For whatever reason, he decided to emigrate to Van Diemen's Land and make a home there for his rapidly growing family, to farm and teach a few pupils. Supported by a recommendation from Governor Macquarie (1810-1821) to Lieut-Govenor Sorell and with a capital of £1309, including books worth £100, James arrived at Hobart Town on the Regaliain December 1822.

In January 1823 he was granted one thousand acres on the River Shannon, not far from Bothwell; he named his property the 'Hermitage' but had not prospered like the more worldly getters and spenders in that rich valley. He discussed with Sorell in 1824 the possibility of establishing a school and for this purpose he sought a grant near Hobart, having become discouraged by losses caused by bushrangers and a fire at the 'Hermitage'.

As a young man Ross had gone to the West Indies to be superintendent on a plantation, where he had become an enthusiast for the abolition of slavery. In his private life he affected the piety of those who believed God's redeeming grace to be the only effectual deterrent to human depravity. At St David's, Hobart Town, he displayed all those outward and visible signs of the God­fearing man that newly appointed Lieut­Governor George Arthur admired. Arthur had been superintendent in Honduras for eight years from 1814 and whilst there he had come to believe he would one day enter into eternal life.

In 1825, James became the tutor of Arthur's children in addition to his own and in May was appointed, jointly with George Terry Howe, government printer and editor of the Hobart Town Gazette,at a salary of £300. Until then Howe was publisher of the Tasmanian and Port Dalrymple Gazette and was the second son of George Howe, owner of the Sydney Gazette.

Ross and Howe published the first issue of the Hobart Town Gazetteon 25 June and it was not until then that Arthur received any commendation in the press of Hobart Town.

Before that, Robert Murray, ex-soldier, journalist, reputedly the bastard son of an English peer and transported for bigamy in 1815, was editor of the Hobart Town Gazette.He attacked Arthur's policies under the name 'A Colonist' and was a close friend of Gellibrand, the Attorney General at the time. Not only did Gellibrand decline to sue for libel on behalf of the Crown, but he also assisted Murray with his editorials.

Andrew Bent, a colleague of Murray who had been sent out for burglary in 1810, was editor of the Colonial Timesand thought to be an unrestrained seditionist by Arthur. Henry Melville, who took over the Colonial Times from Bent in 1830, was the author of a book critical of Arthur's administration, 'History of the Island of Van Diemen's Land from the year 1824 to 1835'. Gilbert Robertson emerged as editor of The True Colonistafter falling foul of Arthur. They had been friends when Robertson was engaged as superintendent of a government farm and a district constable.

Despite his editorial assertions that his opinions at the Gazettewere free and uncontrolled, Ross became a stalwart supporter of the official policies. Strangely, in 'The Fatal Shore', Robert Hughes writes about Murray, Bent, Melville and Robertson as publishers and vehement adversaries of Lieut-Govenor Arthur, but makes no reference to James Ross for any of his achievements or failings.

In January 1827, the partnership of Howe & Ross was dissolved. Ross was appointed to sole charge of the government printing office in February and in March Howe began publishing the Tasmanianin Hobart. Under the new arrangement the Hobart Town Gazettewas an official weekly paper containing government announcements but no comment or discussion. The next year, instead of his salary, Ross was given a contract to print the Gazette for £5 a week with a monopoly of government printing.

Arthur's running battle with the press lasted throughout his administration. In 1827 he failed in his endeavour to quash the liberty of all printing in VDL through a Licensing Act. In retribution he sued his detractors for libel with methodical zeal that saw Murray, Bent, Melville and Robertson all spending time behind bars. Ross began to publish the Hobart Town Courier, an independent weekly newspaper, on 20 October 1827 and continued his support for official policies as zealously as the others had castigated them.

In January 1834, Ross wrote to the colonial secretary, John Montagu, charging Andrew Bent and Henry Melville with a conspiracy to take his work away from him. Melville, he said, had informed Ross' clerk that he would persevere in public attacks on the government and Ross until he had succeeded in removing him from office. Ross and R. L. Murray frequently attacked each other in the columns of their newspapers and in November 1836,

Ross was embroiled in controversy with Gilbert Robertson. Ross claimed that he made only a modest profit from his official publications and the auditor confirmed this. Earlier he had declared that his work had increased but not his emoluments; he had to teach his children himself and had been unable to afford to send any of them to Britain. With government approval, Ross disposed of his printing, bookbinding and stationery establishments in 1836 to G. W. Elliston for £12,000, and bound him to fulfill his engagements as government printer. He then retired to 'Carrington' in the Richmond district, although he had been granted three hundred and twelve acres, 'Paraclete', on Knocklofty in 1832.

Apart from his involvement in government printing and newspaper publishing, James began producing the annual 'Hobart Town Almanack' in 1829, and in February 1833 the short-lived Hobart Town Chronicle.In 1835 he edited and published four issues of the Van Diemen's Land Monthlymagazine, in which appeared verse, literary articles and articles on natural history.

After Ross retired Lieut-Governor Franklin, supporting his request for a grant of land, wrote

If I were called upon to name the person who had in the greatest degree contributed to the welfare of Van Diemen's Land in the last twelve years I should certainly name Ross. His knowledge is most various and extensive and he has the gift of conveying it in the most simple, pleasing and popular manner ...

But in doing good he overlooked his family. As an editor Ross had frequently quite embarrassed the Government by his support. Politics were evidently not his forte, and often on perusing his Paper might I have exclaimed 'Save me from my friends'.

Ross published 'An Essay on Prison Discipline' (2nd ed., Hobart, 1833). In the Penny Magazine(London), 31 March, 5 and 12 May 1832, he described his experiences in Van Diemen's Land under the heading 'An Emigrant's Struggles'. In 'For the Term of His Natural Life', Marcus Clark used some of his articles in the 'Hobart Town Almanack'.

The Saturday Mercuryas recently as 29 April, 2000, carried an article mentioning that Bashan Hill and Bashan Plains, near Ouse, take their name from a country that the ancient Israelites conquered, known for its fertile pastures and large forests. John Vile reported that

Dr. James Ross, an earlier settler, is believed to have named the area as he passed through in 1823.

James died at 'Carrington' on 1 August 1838 after suffering a stroke and was buried in St Luke's cemetery, Richmond. Susannah had accompanied her husband James to Van Diemen's Land in 1822. His death in 1838 left her with thirteen children. Emma, the fifth daughter, was born on 20 October 1827 at Hobart Town and baptised in that parish on 19 November by Wm Bedford. Emma provides my continuity in the ancestral trail from James and Susannah Ross. She married Murray, son of Francis and Amelia Burgess.

In 1839 Susannah announced that she would open a boarding school at 'Carrington' which sold for £2750 in 1842 and the school moved to 'Paraclete'. On 6 November 1847 the widow married a barrister, Robert Stewart, at the Church of the Holy Trinity, District of Buckingham. Robert died not long after at Hobart on 20 June 1849, at the age of 43.

Susannah died at the residence of her son-in-law (Edwin Midwood), Battery Point on 12 May 1871 from Disease of the Liver (Cirrhosis) and the death certificate records her birthplace as Spain. At St Luke's Anglican Church Cemetery, Richmond, the grave describes Susan [sic] as the relict of the late Robert Stewart, and widow of James Ross with whom she is buried along with several of the Midwood family.

 

This story was originally published in 2001 by the Tasmanian Family History Society Inc in My Most Interesting Ancestor.

The original introduction to this publication may be found here.

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