Edward Riley (pastoralist)
Encyclopedia
Edward Riley was a merchant and early pastoralist in Sydney
, New South Wales
. Born in London to George Riley Snr, a well-educated bookseller, and Margaret Raby, he was the younger brother of Alexander Riley
and the first person in his family to be interested by colonial life, moving to Calcutta and trading between Canton
and Australia
. William Rubinstein listed Edward Riley as being Australia's ninth richest man ever in Australian history in terms of current GDP Value.
Riley began his career as a merchant shipping rum, clothing and food from Calcutta, India to his brother, Alexander and Richard Jones in New South Wales
.
. Their first son, Edward, was born in Calcutta in 1806 and a second son, George Riley by 1810. Ann Riley (née Moran) died in Calcutta on 13 May 1810. Riley remarried in 1813 to Ann Wilkinson, the daughter of a Colonel in Calcutta. Edward and Ann left India
on the brig Guide to settle in New South Wales
, arriving in Sydney in May 1816 on the Lynx, after first spending a couple of months in Hobart Town where Edward's sister, Elizabeth Fenn Kemp (née Riley) lived with her husband, Anthony Fenn Kemp
, and family.
Edward and Ann (née Wilkinson) had five children, Anna Sophia, Alexander William, James John (born 1821), Charles and Frances Elizabeth (born 1824).
Edward and his family were living at Ultimo
House, once the home of Surgeon John Harris and regarded as one of the finest houses in the colony, when son, James John, and daughter, Frances Elizabeth, were born in 1821 and 1824 respectively.
An article in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser of 1 July 1824 entitled "The Fashionable World" reported that at Ultimo House that evening "the present occupant of Ultimo, EDWARD RILEY, Esq. gives a magnificent entertainment to a very large Assembly. Mr. RILEY is on the eve of removing to his charming and picturesque retreat of Wooloomooloo."
"Death. At his residence in Wooloomooloo, on Monday last, Edward Riley, Esq, a Justice of the Peace for the Territory of New South Wales, and the senior Partner in the Firm of Riley and Walker. This Gentlemen has long been an inhabitant ot this Colony, in which he was not only an active Magistrate, but also one of the most honorable and indefatigable Merchants. For these last two or three months, Mr. Riley laboured under severe indisposition, attended with hypochondriac symptoms, that induced mental derangement; in one of which ... unfortunate Gentleman destroyed himself, by means of a pistol, about 10 minutes prior to eleven o'clock on Monday forenoon : the ball is said to have entered beneath the chin, and found its way through the back part of the head, causing instant death. An Inquest was convened the same day on the melancholy occasion, and a Verdict returned of Insanity. Mrs. RILEY, an amiable and afflicted widow, is left with a large family, to deplore the sudden deprivation of a fond husband, and an excellent father. The deceased was interred on Tuesday, in the Church-yard of Parramatta."
Riley's widow, Ann (née Wilkinson) died in May 1830.
Anna Sophia Riley married Robert Campbell (1804–1859), second son of Robert Campbell (1769–1846), New South Wales merchant, pastoralist, politician and philanthropist, and his wife Sophia, née Palmer.
James John Riley (1821–1882) married Christiana Blomfield, daughter of Captain Thomas Valentine Blomfield and his wife, Christiana Brooks; and granddaughter of Captain Richard Brooks. James John Riley was the first Mayor of Penrith
, New South Wales
.
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. Born in London to George Riley Snr, a well-educated bookseller, and Margaret Raby, he was the younger brother of Alexander Riley
Alexander Riley
Alexander Riley was a merchant and one of the most important early pastoralists in Sydney and in New South Wales. Born in London to George Riley Snr, a well-educated bookseller, and Margaret Raby, he was the older brother of Edward Riley, also a merchant and pastoralist in Sydney...
and the first person in his family to be interested by colonial life, moving to Calcutta and trading between Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. William Rubinstein listed Edward Riley as being Australia's ninth richest man ever in Australian history in terms of current GDP Value.
Riley began his career as a merchant shipping rum, clothing and food from Calcutta, India to his brother, Alexander and Richard Jones in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
Marriage and Family
Riley married Ann Moran in 1805 in Calcutta, IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Their first son, Edward, was born in Calcutta in 1806 and a second son, George Riley by 1810. Ann Riley (née Moran) died in Calcutta on 13 May 1810. Riley remarried in 1813 to Ann Wilkinson, the daughter of a Colonel in Calcutta. Edward and Ann left India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
on the brig Guide to settle in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, arriving in Sydney in May 1816 on the Lynx, after first spending a couple of months in Hobart Town where Edward's sister, Elizabeth Fenn Kemp (née Riley) lived with her husband, Anthony Fenn Kemp
Anthony Fenn Kemp
Anthony Fenn Kemp was a soldier, merchant and a deputy judge advocate of the colony of New South Wales . He was one of the key participants in the "Rum Rebellion" that removed William Bligh, the appointed governor of the colony, and established an interim military government...
, and family.
Edward and Ann (née Wilkinson) had five children, Anna Sophia, Alexander William, James John (born 1821), Charles and Frances Elizabeth (born 1824).
New South Wales
In August 1817, Riley was appointed to be a member of the Governor's Court. In February 1818, he was elected as a Director of the Bank of New South Wales, resigning this position in January 1819. In February 1821, Riley was appointed as a Magistrate for the Territory of New South Wales.Edward and his family were living at Ultimo
Ultimo, New South Wales
Ultimo is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ultimo is located 2 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney....
House, once the home of Surgeon John Harris and regarded as one of the finest houses in the colony, when son, James John, and daughter, Frances Elizabeth, were born in 1821 and 1824 respectively.
An article in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser of 1 July 1824 entitled "The Fashionable World" reported that at Ultimo House that evening "the present occupant of Ultimo, EDWARD RILEY, Esq. gives a magnificent entertainment to a very large Assembly. Mr. RILEY is on the eve of removing to his charming and picturesque retreat of Wooloomooloo."
Death
On 21 February 1825, Riley committed suicide. His death was reported in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser of Thursday, 24 February 1825 as follows:"Death. At his residence in Wooloomooloo, on Monday last, Edward Riley, Esq, a Justice of the Peace for the Territory of New South Wales, and the senior Partner in the Firm of Riley and Walker. This Gentlemen has long been an inhabitant ot this Colony, in which he was not only an active Magistrate, but also one of the most honorable and indefatigable Merchants. For these last two or three months, Mr. Riley laboured under severe indisposition, attended with hypochondriac symptoms, that induced mental derangement; in one of which ... unfortunate Gentleman destroyed himself, by means of a pistol, about 10 minutes prior to eleven o'clock on Monday forenoon : the ball is said to have entered beneath the chin, and found its way through the back part of the head, causing instant death. An Inquest was convened the same day on the melancholy occasion, and a Verdict returned of Insanity. Mrs. RILEY, an amiable and afflicted widow, is left with a large family, to deplore the sudden deprivation of a fond husband, and an excellent father. The deceased was interred on Tuesday, in the Church-yard of Parramatta."
Riley's widow, Ann (née Wilkinson) died in May 1830.
Estate
Following the death of Riley's eldest son, George Riley (1806–1840) in June 1840, Edward Riley's estate was the subject of an 1841 Supreme Court of New South Wales judgement in which the extent of Edward Riley's estate was described: "The estates in question appear to consist first of about a quarter of an acre of land at the corner of Hunter and George-street, one hundred acres with a capital mansion and offices erected thereon, at Woolloomooloo, five acres, with a mill erected thereon, at the Surry Hills, six other acres in the same place, a farm of two hundred acres in the District of Minto, with a house and offices erected thereon, three thousand and thirty acres at Mittagong, and five hundred acres at the same place."Descendents
Edward Riley (1806–1840)Anna Sophia Riley married Robert Campbell (1804–1859), second son of Robert Campbell (1769–1846), New South Wales merchant, pastoralist, politician and philanthropist, and his wife Sophia, née Palmer.
James John Riley (1821–1882) married Christiana Blomfield, daughter of Captain Thomas Valentine Blomfield and his wife, Christiana Brooks; and granddaughter of Captain Richard Brooks. James John Riley was the first Mayor of Penrith
Penrith, New South Wales
Penrith is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Penrith is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Penrith...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
External links
- http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=144095&View=LRG National Gallery of Australia - View of the seat of Ultimo, near Sydney, in New South Wales. 1813
- http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/exhibitions/paradise_early_ultimo.asp History of Ultimo House
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2176569?searchTerm=edward+riley#pstart492996 The Sydney Gazette ... 2 March 1816
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2176669?searchTerm=edward+riley The Sydney Gazette ... 25 May 1816
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2177406?searchTerm=edward+riley The Sydney Gazette ... 23 August 1817 - appointment as Member of the Governor's Court
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2177733?searchTerm=edward+riley The Sydney Gazette ... 7 February 1818 - appointment as a Director of the Bank of New South Wales
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2178477?searchTerm=edward+riley#pstart494072 The Sydney Gazette ... 16 January 1819 - Bank of New South Wales
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2180066?searchTerm=edward+riley The Sydney Gazette ... 3 February 1821 - appointment as magistrate
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2180488?searchTerm=%22edward+riley%22 The Sydney Gazette ... 22 September 1821 - birth notice of Riley's son, James John Riley
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2182831?searchTerm=%22edward+riley%22+AND+%28birth+OR+death+OR+marriage%29 The Sydney Gazette of 22 April 1824 - birth notice of Riley's youngest daughter, Frances Riley
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2183020?searchTerm=richard+brooks+AND+%22edward+riley%22#pstart494878 The Sydney Gazette of 1 July 1824
- http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=34515&PICTAUS=TRUE National Gallery of Australia - The residence of Edward Riley Esq., Woolloomooloo, near Sydney, N.S.W. 1825
- http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2183761?searchTerm=%22edward+riley%22 The Sydney Gazette of 24 February 1825
- http://www.law.mq.edu.au/scnsw/cases1840-41/cases1841/Riley%20v%20Riley,%201841.htm Riley v. Riley, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Dowling C.J., June 1841, Source: Sydney Herald, 21 June 1841
- http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020336b.htm Entry for Edward Riley in Australian Dictionary of Biography
- http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=1743 James John Riley, First Mayor of PenrithPenrith, New South WalesPenrith is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Penrith is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Penrith...
, New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... - http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=3521 James John Riley, Penrith Council