firstfleetfellowship.org.au/stories/marines/ Private Marine Daniel Stanfield Marine and settler, Daniel Stanfield was reputed to have come from an English naval family. He arrived with the First Fleet at Port Jackson as a private in the marines. Promoted to corporal, he married Alice, widow of Thomas Harmsworth, on the 15 October 1791 at St Phillip’s Church, Sydney. In less than a month he was on duty at Norfolk Island. In 1794 he was discharged from the marines and sworn in as constable and started to farm. He received two goats from Governor King, who described him as a deserving settler. In March Stanfield was robbed and petitioned, with other settlers, to Lieutenant Governor Gross for restoration of arms which they had both been deprived of by Government order. Stanfield talked of enlisting in the NSW corps and in November 1794 he sailed in the Daedalus for Port Jackson. The following October he returned to Norfolk Island in the Supply with his wife, four children, 30 sheep and 35 acres of his 120 acres under cultivation. When the evacuation of Norfolk Island was planned, Governor King requested Stanfield to remain and encouraged him by offering additional land. However, keen and determined, Stanfield did not find life easy, and he sailed with his family in the City of Edinburgh, arriving in Hobart Town in October 1808. View of the old Stanfield house at Green Point. The cross signifies the first paddock culvitated in Tasmania and was ploughed by a plough made on the premises Next month he took up land at Green Point near Bridgewater and built a weatherboard house, which he valued at more than £2,000 (pounds), which stood for over a century. There Stanfield’s industry and enthusiasm brought better results than at Norfolk Island. By February 1825 he had been granted 1200 acres in widely separated areas, he had purchased 890 acres more and claimed to have 1,000 cattle, 800 sheep, 10 horses, a flour mill and other capital. His only grievances were that Michael Howe had raided his stockyard and other bushrangers had plundered his properties, though he was sometimes compensated by more land. In 1826 he was summoned to give evidence against receivers of good stolen from him, but he died suddenly on 4th February, leaving a very numerous and opulent family. His eldest son, Daniel, was baptised 25 April 1790 at St Phillips church. He inherited in full measure his father’s energy and acquisitiveness and a great deal of property. But he was not entirely reliant on his father – by 1825 he could claim 450 cattle, 600 sheep, 7 horses and other cattle. His land grants included 450 acres from Governor Macquarie, 300 from Governor Brisbane and 300 from Governor Arthur he bought 850 acres of Green Lagoon. His brothers also had land and stock, and in 1827 the land commission reported that the Stanfields, a large clan altogether, have had immense herds of wild cattle roaming all over this quarter of the Island and finding themselves limited, have driven hundreds to the sea coast. Stanfield improved his properties and became a well-known stock breeder. In 1828 he was one of the first in Van Diemens Land to export apples to Britain – 1 specimen was one foot in diameter, but the shipment did not carry well. Like his father he had trouble with the bushrangers, and by 1825 he had been twice in Sydney to give evidence at trials. In Hobart, January 1808, he married Maria Kimberley the daughter of a transported First Fleet convict Edward Kimberley. They had a large family. Daniel Stanfield jnr died 28 March 1856. Herbert STANFIELD
Posted on: Sat, 08 Feb 2014 04:50:52 +0000
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