Prosper de Mestre
Encyclopedia
Prosper de Mestre was a prominent businessman in Sydney
from 1818 until near his death in 1844. He was French born, but also a "citizen of the world", who played an important role in the development of commerce and banking in the English Colony of New South Wales
. He became a successful merchant
and business leader in Sydney. In 1825 he became the second person to be naturalised in the Colony. In addition to being one of the early directors of the Bank of New South Wales (for periods between 1826 and 1842), he was also a founder of the local insurance industry, a member of the committee of the Agricultural
Society of New South Wales, and became involved in importing, shipping and whaling
. There are numerous references to his business activities in the Colonial Secretary's Papers of the day.
De Mestre was also the father of Etienne Livingstone de Mestre
(1832–1916), the trainer of Archer
the horse who won the first and second Melbourne Cup
s in 1861 and 1862, and the foremost Australia
n horse trainer of his era. His other descendants include: Sarah Melanie de Mestre (1877–1961) who distinguished herself as a nurse in France
and Flanders
in World War I
, and whose decorations included the Royal Red Cross
which was presented to her at Buckingham Palace
by King George V
on 3 June 1918 (the King's birthday); Roy de Maistre
(1894–1968), a successful Australia
n artist; Guboo Ted Thomas
(1909–2002) a prominent Aboriginal leader, and the last initiated tribal elder on the South Coast of New South Wales; Margaret Augusta de Mestre (1915–1942), a nurse who was killed in action on a hospital ship on 26 February 1942 in the bombing of Darwin
during World War II
; Neville de Mestre (c.1938- ), an eminent Australian mathematician
and author, Emeritus
Professor
of Maths at Bond University
, and who has held the titles of World Iron Man champion in the 60-64 age group, and Australian and World Masters surfing champion in the over-65 group for body surfing; and Lloyd Nolan Hornsby (1947- ), a prominent Aboriginal artist.
. This mistaken belief has become legend due to the incorrect assertion that Julie de St Laurent was the wife of Prosper's father André Charles de Mestre. It is true that André Charles lost his head and his life on the battle field at Martinique, and that Prince Edward was at Martinique at the time, but this death was of no significance to either Prince Edward or Julie de St Laurent.
The other incorrect assertion about Prosper's birth was made by Prosper himself in a letter dated 25 March 1830 and written to both the Collector and the Comptroller of Customs of the Colonial Government of New South Wales stating his claim to be a British
subject. In this letter he made a statement that claimed he had been born in 1793 while his parents had been fleeing the French Revolution
on a British ship bound for Martinique
. This statement was made to protect Prosper's commercial interests when he had applied to register a British ship, and the legality of his claim to hold a British-flagged ship was questioned. Chief Justice (Sir) Francis Forbes
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
, after various letters and evidence (including Prosper's letter to the Collector and Comptroller of Customs), ruled that because Prosper had been born on the high seas in a British ship he was a British subject, and therefore his application must succeed. However Prosper was not born on the high seas in a British ship, but was born on dry land in France
. Prosper's lie was not exposed in his life-time. Neither was it exposed by his many children & descendants in the intervening years, who had always believed that he had told the truth. It was exposed in 2008, nearly 180 years after the statement was made, by his great, great, great granddaughter Maree Amor (née Wade) when she was finally able to track down the record of his baptism. The correct details of Prosper's birth follow.
Prosper de Mestre, whose full name was Jean Charles Prosper de Mestre, was the son of Helene Thomasse Cottrel (1760–1851). He was born illegitimately on 15 August 1789 in Lorient
, in Brittany
in France
. His father, who wasn't present at his birth, is believed to be André Charles de Mestre (c.1756-1794). André Charles and his elder brother Jean, after whom it appears Jean Charles Prosper was named, were both soldiers in the French Army, and André Charles rose to the rank of Colonel. Proper's younger sister Melanie Caroline Jeanne Mestre was born 15 months later on 15 November 1790 in Lorient, and her father André Charles and her mother Helene claimed at the time that they had married in 1788 in Helene's home town of Rennes
. No record of a marriage has been found in 1788 at Rennes, or at any other time, or in any other place, and it is believed that they never did legalise their union. In March 1791 André Charles' regiment was transferred under the royalist new Governor-General Behague to the island of Martinique in the French Caribbean
, regarded politically as part of France. It was here 3 years later, in March 1794, that Prosper's father André Charles died. The republican General Rochambeau
, who had taken over in Martinique in February 1793, and who had promoted Prosper's father to the rank of Colonel of Artillery on 10 February 1793, recorded details of Prosper's father's death in his journal. In the journal entry dated 14 March 1794 is the record "The Colonel Mestre of the artillery had his head taken off by a cannon ball. I was covered in his blood and I had a slight bruise of the heel. This officer was of great merit and his loss is irreplaceable. He was day and night on the ramparts. His talents were known to me during the war in the countryside that had already happened in this country and I have myself to recognise them on this occasion. His activities were greater during the siege and his multiple assets were to be at the same time director of the artillery, captain of the gun markers and the bombardier. He leaves a wife and two children. The republic should take care of them and give them a pension because this brave man had no fortune at all except his talents, his courage and his qualities." There is another gruesome mention of Prosper's father's death further down in the journal entry where mention is made of André Charles' skull bones wounding the General's aide, Marlet, in the kidneys. A year later in March 1795, Prosper's mother Helene married an officer of the invading British Army, Captain James "Jean" Armstrong (1769-aft.1836) of the 6th (1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot.
The next record of Prosper de Mestre is not in Martinique, but in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, as his parents had moved; this is where he received his schooling. He was known at this time as Prosper Mestre. He was naturalised an American
citizen by the Court of Quarter Sessions in Philadelphia on 5 June 1811; at this point he was 21 being "of full age", which confirms that he was born before June 1790. In his naturalisation papers he stated that he had arrived in Philadelphia on 14 April 1802, when he would have been 12 years old. He was to state in his statement in 1830 that he was sent to Philadelphia in 1802 following the (British) evacuation of Martinique after the Treaty of Amiens
. Unlike much of the rest of his 1830 statement, the year of his arriving in Philadelphia appears to be true, as it agrees with his earlier statement in 1811. His given reason for leaving Martinique in his 1830 statement, however, was an embellishment. 12-year-old Prosper did not have any political reason to need to abandon Martinique, but was joining his mother who in 1795 had left the Caribbean for the United States where she gave birth to Prosper's younger brother Andrew Cottrel Armstrong, leaving Prosper, and possibly also his younger sister Melanie, behind in Martinique. In 1802, when Prosper joined her, Prosper's mother was living in Philadelphia as a single-mother and a widow, believing or asserting that her husband James Armstrong had died as a result of wounds sustained in the fighting in the Caribbean. Instead Prosper's British stepfather, who had indeed been invalided in the Caribbean, had been sent home to England, and had, knowingly or unknowingly, earlier remarried bigamously in England in late 1799 after having lost contact with Prosper's mother. Prosper's mother then, knowingly or unknowingly, remarried bigamously in Philadelphia in late 1803. She married Joseph Coulon (1763–1815), a Frenchman and naturalised American citizen (Philadelphia 1798), an import merchant, who had connections with France, with Pondicherry in India, with Mauritius
, and possibly also with the Caribbean.
According to Prosper's 1830 statement he left Philadelphia in 1812 and travelled to China
, and he also resided in Mauritius, India
and "other British Colonies". This part of Prosper's 1830 statement was largely correct. Prosper had left Philadelphia in 1812 working in the shipping industry for his stepfather, Joseph Coulon, as supercargo
. Then, no longer working for his stepfather who had died at the end of 1815 as the result of a shipwreck of the coast of New Jersey, the much travelled twenty-five-year-old arrived in Sydney on 4 April 1818 on board the Schooner
the "Magnet" which had sailed from Kolkata
via Mauritius to Sydney. (Coincidentally a ship that was later wrecked off the coast of a whaling station in New Zealand less than 2 weeks before Prosper died in September 1844.) After living in various countries and arriving in Sydney as supercargo on the “Magnet”, Prosper liked what he saw, and decided to stay. Prosper set himself up in business in Sydney as an import merchant. Using his overseas trade connections through fellow American citizens in China, he began to import goods, including tea
. He was able to import Chinese goods into Sydney because he was not a British subject but an American one. He was then able to undersell other Sydney merchants who, as British subjects, had to buy their tea and other Chinese goods from the British East India Company
which had been granted a monopoly
. (When he first arrived in Sydney Prosper never claimed to be a British citizen, as he later did in 1830, as it would not have served his then commercial interests. Even though the British East India Company retained its monopoly until 1833, and Prosper's claiming to be a British citizen in 1830 would hurt his trade in goods from China, he was no longer so dependent on this trade. He had branched out by that time into many other commercial dealings, of which obtaining the registration of his ship was the most important in 1830.)
Prosper's commercial trading advantage, from his importation of goods form China, was seen by other Sydney merchants as unfair and caused resentment. One of the disgruntled was Edward Eagar
, an emancipist
who had been disbarred from practicing law in New South Wales and had instead become a merchant. In 1820 Edward Eagar brought a qui tam
action against the American merchant Prosper de Mestre. This was a highly technical action under the antiquated Navigation Act which prohibited aliens from "trading in the King's plantations". Described by the court as a "gentleman convict
", Eagar's legal ploy was an attempt to ruin Prosper, and to benefit financially himself. If successful Prosper would have been bankrupted as his estates would have been forfeited: two-thirds going to the Crown (the King and Governor); and the remainder to the informer, Eagar. Prosper successfully defended the action on a legal technicality. He pleaded "that a convicted felon could not sue in a British Court of Justice". Although in 1818 Governor Lachlan Macquarie
had given Eager an absolute pardon, his name, like other former convicts, had not been inserted in any "General Pardon under the Great Seal". Therefore, under British Law, the colonial pardon was not recognised. Justice Barron Field
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales agreed with Prosper's argument, and Eagar's action failed. As a result Eagar, along with others of like mind, began to organize to protect the rights of emancipists and improve their doubtful status, advocating the cause of "equitable justice for all emancipists". One of those of like mind that Eagar collaborated with was the child of a convict
, and barrister, William Charles Wentworth
, who returned to Sydney from overseas in 1823.
On 1 March 1821 31-year-old Prosper married 19-year-old Mary Ann Black
(1801–1861) at St Philip's Church, Sydney. Mary Ann, not yet "of full age" and 12 years his junior, was the daughter of the privateer
(state-sanctioned pirate) and ship's captain John Black, and the former convict Mary Hyde
who in 1855 took the Commissioners of City of Sydney to the House of Lords
and won. Mary was also the stepdaughter of Simeon Lord
, an emancipist, and a pioneer merchant and magistrate in early Sydney. Mary Ann was a good catch for de Mestre, with her stepfather Simeon Lord's connections being invaluable to Prosper's business dealings. Over the next 20 years Prosper and Mary Ann had ten children. The youngest of their three sons was horse trainer Etienne Livingstone de Mestre (1832–1916) who after his father's death established a horse stud
, stable
and racecourse
on Prosper's former property of "Terara" near the mouth of the Shoalhaven River
, and won five Melbourne Cups winners, including the first two in 1861 and 1862.
William Charles Wentworth's collaboration with Eagar, following Eagar's unsuccessful action against Prosper in 1820, did not stop Wentworth from acting professionally for Prosper. In 1825 William Charles Wentworth, who Prosper had met through his stepfather Simeon Lord, acted for Prosper in successfully urged the New South Wales Legislative Council
for a special Act to naturalise de Mestre. The Act was passed on 30 August 1825, and published in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser by the Governor [Thomas Brisbane|Sir Thomas Brisbane] on 1 September. Under this Act of the First Legislative Council of New South Wales (6 Geo. IV, no. 17 Naturalization (Prosper de Mestre) Act. 30 August 1825) Prosper took the necessary oaths in September 1825, the second person, and second American citizen, to be naturalized in the Colony of New South Wales. This colonial naturalisation declared Prosper to be a "Natural-born Subject of Great Britain, and to be entitled to all the Rights, Privileges, and Advantages, which are conferred on Foreign Protestants".
The legality of the colonial naturalisation to make Prosper a British subject was questioned five years later in 1830. Wentworth, who for political and professional reasons would not have wanted the court to need to consider the legality of naturalisation act passed by the Legislative Council of New South Wales in 1825, again advised Prosper during the 1830 action. The court needed to be able to declare Prosper a British subject by other means. It is of no co-incidence that, in 1790 shortly before his parents arrived at the penal settlement of Norfolk Island
, Wentworth had been born at sea on a British ship. His place of birth ensured that Wentworth's legal status as a British subject was protected. If Prosper claimed to have been born at sea on a British ship, Prosper could establish that he was a British subject, and his application to register a British ship would succeed. As a supposed British subject by birth, Prosper's social and legal status in the colony would also be improved. A carefully crafted statement was drafted that mixed fact with fiction. Prosper had been born in France before his family had moved to Martinique, where his soldier father had been killed in action against the British in March 1794. If instead he said that he had been born at sea while his family had been escaping from the French Revolution on a British vessel, and, being careful not to mention which side his father had been fighting for, at a time before his father died; then Prosper could not only establish that he was a British subject, but also obtain a sympathetic hearing. He also needed to explain his known connection with America, and more sympathy would be given if he mentioned his residence in India and "other British Colonies", his mother's marriage to a British Officer, his own marriage to a British subject, and his then 5 children. No one doubted the word and signed statement of such a prominent businessman. Chief Justice (Sir) Francis Forbes
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales was impressed, and the court ruled (incorrectly) that Prosper was a British subject because he had been born on the high seas in a British ship.
Prosper's commercial interests in the Colony of New South Wales were mainly in shipping and whaling, but he also became active in wider commerce. In June 1823 he was elected a director of Sydney and Van Diemen's Land Packet Company. In June 1825 he was elected to the committee of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales. Prosper was a director of the Bank of New South Wales (1822–23, 1826–28, 1829–42), and in the 1830s he was a director of the Australian Marine Assurance Company. In 1840 he was a founder of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Sydney.
Prosper de Mestre was a benevolent man, who regularly donated to charities. These included the Benevolent Fund, and the Catholic Chapel Fund, which financed the building of St. Mary's Cathedral, the first Catholic Church in the community. He had been born a Roman Catholic
, but he also became active in church affairs of the Church of England
, the religion of his wife and children, and the official religion of the Colony. In 1836 as a supporter of the Church of England he joined the committee in opposition to the proposed National School System and in 1841 he became a trustee of Christ Church St. Laurence
.
Prosper was also involved in many real estate
dealings. His first property purchase was in 1821 in George Street, Sydney, an allotment that had been received by his brother-in-law John Henry Black as his dower, and that was next door to a portion of land that his wife Mary Ann had also received as her dower on her marriage, and had been held trust by her stepfather Simeon Lord from an original land lease given to her father Captain John Black. It was on the George Street properties that his wife had been born, and on the George Street properties that Prosper resided with his family, and also had his counting house
. The site is found today at a small lane named De Mestre Place. In addition to the George Street properties, Prosper applied for his first land grant, and on 7 September 1821 was granted 700 acres (2.8 km²) at West Bargo
, near Camden. The grant was on condition that he maintain and employed 7 convicts on the property. In 1831-32 he bought a section of land (the Helsarmel Estate) at Leichhardt
from a Captain Piper. In 1824 (prior to his 1825 naturalisation) Prosper De Mestre was first promised a land grant by Governor Thomas Brisbane. 1300 acres (5.3 km²) were authorised on the southern shore of the Shoalhaven River near present day Nowra
in 1829. However he did not receive the grant until 1836 from Governor Sir Richard Bourke
, and he named the property "Terara". The homestead Mill Bank House which still stands in Millbank Road, was probably erected at this time, and a village named Terara soon began to develop. He eventually owned several houses in Sydney, including his main house, 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) at Petersham, and many farm allotments. To consolidate some of his business investments, on 31 May 1837, at "the Premises lately occupied by Prosper De Mestre" at George Street he sold at auction
a number of properties, being: 3160 acres (12.8 km²) at Brisbane Water; 700 acres (2.8 km²) in the parish of Holdsworth; building allotments in Kent St, Sydney; four 25 acres (101,171.5 m²) farms at Lane Cove
; 640 acres (2.6 km²) at Camden
; and 3200 acres (12.9 km²) at Ellulang. He no longer needed to live in the George Street property as he had moved his residence to the corner of Liverpool and Elizabeth Streets, Sydney as he had purchased an "excellent mansion" overlooking and situated at the south end of Hyde Park
. Finally he also received another land grant of 1280 acres (5.2 km²) called Yerrigong on the Calymea Creek about six miles (10 km) west of Terara granted by Governor George Gipps
on 17 February 1841.
On 31 May 1837 he also sold 50 shares in the Australian Marine Assurance Company, the Hoffan's Cordials business, and a lithographic press. Then, due to the depression
of the early 1840s, and failing health, Prosper become insolvent
in 1844. Most of his land and property needed to be auctioned to pay his debts. As the George Street property had been her dower, his wife Mary Ann questioned whether it should be included in the sale. Her solution was that the more valuable George Street property could be included in the sale, if the Shoalhaven properties were not. In exchange she also asked for "the whole of the plate, horses etc., etc., on the establishment in Liverpool Street, the six cows, horse and cart at Helsarmel", and to be "permitted to occupy the thirty-two acres at Petersham until the house at Shoal Haven can be rendered fit for the residence of my family." His house in Liverpool St, and its "elegant Household Furniture", was sold by auction on 16 May 1844, and the family was moved to briefly to Petersham and then onto Terara, which Prosper had initially developed as a hobby farm.
A few months later, on 14 September 1844, after a short illness, Prosper died and was buried at "Terara".
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...
from 1818 until near his death in 1844. He was French born, but also a "citizen of the world", who played an important role in the development of commerce and banking in the English Colony of 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...
. He became a successful merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
and business leader in Sydney. In 1825 he became the second person to be naturalised in the Colony. In addition to being one of the early directors of the Bank of New South Wales (for periods between 1826 and 1842), he was also a founder of the local insurance industry, a member of the committee of the Agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
Society of New South Wales, and became involved in importing, shipping and whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
. There are numerous references to his business activities in the Colonial Secretary's Papers of the day.
De Mestre was also the father of Etienne Livingstone de Mestre
Etienne L. de Mestre
Etienne de Mestre , a 19th century trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses, was Australia's first outstanding racehorse trainer. In his 30 year career he experienced all the highs and the lows of the turf in a career which ended with him dependent on donations from racing friends.With the five wins de...
(1832–1916), the trainer of Archer
Archer (horse)
Archer was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first and the second Melbourne Cups in 1861 and 1862. He won both Cups easily, and is one of only five horses to win the Melbourne Cup twice or more; he is one of only four horses to win two successive Cups.-Breeding:Archer was sired by...
the horse who won the first and second Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
s in 1861 and 1862, and the foremost 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...
n horse trainer of his era. His other descendants include: Sarah Melanie de Mestre (1877–1961) who distinguished herself as a nurse in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and whose decorations included the Royal Red Cross
Royal Red Cross
The Royal Red Cross is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing.The award was established on 27 April 1883 by Queen Victoria, with a single class of Member...
which was presented to her at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
on 3 June 1918 (the King's birthday); Roy de Maistre
Roy De Maistre
Roy de Maistre CBE was an Australian artist of international fame. He is famous in Australian art for his early experimentation in "colour-music", and is recognised as the first Australian artist to use pure abstractionism. His later works were painted in a figurative style generally influenced by...
(1894–1968), a successful 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...
n artist; Guboo Ted Thomas
Guboo Ted Thomas
Guboo Ted Thomas of the Yuin people was a prominent Aboriginal elder , He lived a full life including touring Australia with a gumleaf orchestra during the Great Depression of the 1930s, playing rugby league and getting banned for fighting a referee, yet growing to become an Elder campaigning...
(1909–2002) a prominent Aboriginal leader, and the last initiated tribal elder on the South Coast of New South Wales; Margaret Augusta de Mestre (1915–1942), a nurse who was killed in action on a hospital ship on 26 February 1942 in the bombing of Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; Neville de Mestre (c.1938- ), an eminent Australian mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and author, Emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Maths at Bond University
Bond University
Bond University is a private university located in Robina, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is also the first private university established in Australia...
, and who has held the titles of World Iron Man champion in the 60-64 age group, and Australian and World Masters surfing champion in the over-65 group for body surfing; and Lloyd Nolan Hornsby (1947- ), a prominent Aboriginal artist.
Background
It is not true that Prosper, or his younger sister Melanie, are the children of Julie de St Laurent. It is therefore also not true that Prosper is the son of a liaison between Julie de St Laurent and Edward Duke of Kent, the father of Queen VictoriaVictoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. This mistaken belief has become legend due to the incorrect assertion that Julie de St Laurent was the wife of Prosper's father André Charles de Mestre. It is true that André Charles lost his head and his life on the battle field at Martinique, and that Prince Edward was at Martinique at the time, but this death was of no significance to either Prince Edward or Julie de St Laurent.
The other incorrect assertion about Prosper's birth was made by Prosper himself in a letter dated 25 March 1830 and written to both the Collector and the Comptroller of Customs of the Colonial Government of New South Wales stating his claim to be a British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
subject. In this letter he made a statement that claimed he had been born in 1793 while his parents had been fleeing the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
on a British ship bound for Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
. This statement was made to protect Prosper's commercial interests when he had applied to register a British ship, and the legality of his claim to hold a British-flagged ship was questioned. Chief Justice (Sir) Francis Forbes
Francis Forbes
Sir Francis Forbes was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland, and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.-Early life:...
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Supreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
, after various letters and evidence (including Prosper's letter to the Collector and Comptroller of Customs), ruled that because Prosper had been born on the high seas in a British ship he was a British subject, and therefore his application must succeed. However Prosper was not born on the high seas in a British ship, but was born on dry land in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Prosper's lie was not exposed in his life-time. Neither was it exposed by his many children & descendants in the intervening years, who had always believed that he had told the truth. It was exposed in 2008, nearly 180 years after the statement was made, by his great, great, great granddaughter Maree Amor (née Wade) when she was finally able to track down the record of his baptism. The correct details of Prosper's birth follow.
Prosper de Mestre, whose full name was Jean Charles Prosper de Mestre, was the son of Helene Thomasse Cottrel (1760–1851). He was born illegitimately on 15 August 1789 in Lorient
Lorient
Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...
, in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. His father, who wasn't present at his birth, is believed to be André Charles de Mestre (c.1756-1794). André Charles and his elder brother Jean, after whom it appears Jean Charles Prosper was named, were both soldiers in the French Army, and André Charles rose to the rank of Colonel. Proper's younger sister Melanie Caroline Jeanne Mestre was born 15 months later on 15 November 1790 in Lorient, and her father André Charles and her mother Helene claimed at the time that they had married in 1788 in Helene's home town of Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
. No record of a marriage has been found in 1788 at Rennes, or at any other time, or in any other place, and it is believed that they never did legalise their union. In March 1791 André Charles' regiment was transferred under the royalist new Governor-General Behague to the island of Martinique in the French Caribbean
French Caribbean
The term French Caribbean varies in meaning with its usage and frame of reference. This ambiguity makes it very different from the term French West Indies, which refers to the specific, formal French possessions in the Caribbean region...
, regarded politically as part of France. It was here 3 years later, in March 1794, that Prosper's father André Charles died. The republican General Rochambeau
Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau
Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau was a French soldier, the son of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau....
, who had taken over in Martinique in February 1793, and who had promoted Prosper's father to the rank of Colonel of Artillery on 10 February 1793, recorded details of Prosper's father's death in his journal. In the journal entry dated 14 March 1794 is the record "The Colonel Mestre of the artillery had his head taken off by a cannon ball. I was covered in his blood and I had a slight bruise of the heel. This officer was of great merit and his loss is irreplaceable. He was day and night on the ramparts. His talents were known to me during the war in the countryside that had already happened in this country and I have myself to recognise them on this occasion. His activities were greater during the siege and his multiple assets were to be at the same time director of the artillery, captain of the gun markers and the bombardier. He leaves a wife and two children. The republic should take care of them and give them a pension because this brave man had no fortune at all except his talents, his courage and his qualities." There is another gruesome mention of Prosper's father's death further down in the journal entry where mention is made of André Charles' skull bones wounding the General's aide, Marlet, in the kidneys. A year later in March 1795, Prosper's mother Helene married an officer of the invading British Army, Captain James "Jean" Armstrong (1769-aft.1836) of the 6th (1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot.
The next record of Prosper de Mestre is not in Martinique, but in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, as his parents had moved; this is where he received his schooling. He was known at this time as Prosper Mestre. He was naturalised an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
citizen by the Court of Quarter Sessions in Philadelphia on 5 June 1811; at this point he was 21 being "of full age", which confirms that he was born before June 1790. In his naturalisation papers he stated that he had arrived in Philadelphia on 14 April 1802, when he would have been 12 years old. He was to state in his statement in 1830 that he was sent to Philadelphia in 1802 following the (British) evacuation of Martinique after the Treaty of Amiens
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...
. Unlike much of the rest of his 1830 statement, the year of his arriving in Philadelphia appears to be true, as it agrees with his earlier statement in 1811. His given reason for leaving Martinique in his 1830 statement, however, was an embellishment. 12-year-old Prosper did not have any political reason to need to abandon Martinique, but was joining his mother who in 1795 had left the Caribbean for the United States where she gave birth to Prosper's younger brother Andrew Cottrel Armstrong, leaving Prosper, and possibly also his younger sister Melanie, behind in Martinique. In 1802, when Prosper joined her, Prosper's mother was living in Philadelphia as a single-mother and a widow, believing or asserting that her husband James Armstrong had died as a result of wounds sustained in the fighting in the Caribbean. Instead Prosper's British stepfather, who had indeed been invalided in the Caribbean, had been sent home to England, and had, knowingly or unknowingly, earlier remarried bigamously in England in late 1799 after having lost contact with Prosper's mother. Prosper's mother then, knowingly or unknowingly, remarried bigamously in Philadelphia in late 1803. She married Joseph Coulon (1763–1815), a Frenchman and naturalised American citizen (Philadelphia 1798), an import merchant, who had connections with France, with Pondicherry in India, with Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, and possibly also with the Caribbean.
According to Prosper's 1830 statement he left Philadelphia in 1812 and travelled to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and he also resided in Mauritius, 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...
and "other British Colonies". This part of Prosper's 1830 statement was largely correct. Prosper had left Philadelphia in 1812 working in the shipping industry for his stepfather, Joseph Coulon, as supercargo
Supercargo
Supercargo is a term in maritime law that refers to a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship...
. Then, no longer working for his stepfather who had died at the end of 1815 as the result of a shipwreck of the coast of New Jersey, the much travelled twenty-five-year-old arrived in Sydney on 4 April 1818 on board the Schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
the "Magnet" which had sailed from Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
via Mauritius to Sydney. (Coincidentally a ship that was later wrecked off the coast of a whaling station in New Zealand less than 2 weeks before Prosper died in September 1844.) After living in various countries and arriving in Sydney as supercargo on the “Magnet”, Prosper liked what he saw, and decided to stay. Prosper set himself up in business in Sydney as an import merchant. Using his overseas trade connections through fellow American citizens in China, he began to import goods, including tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
. He was able to import Chinese goods into Sydney because he was not a British subject but an American one. He was then able to undersell other Sydney merchants who, as British subjects, had to buy their tea and other Chinese goods from the British East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
which had been granted a monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
. (When he first arrived in Sydney Prosper never claimed to be a British citizen, as he later did in 1830, as it would not have served his then commercial interests. Even though the British East India Company retained its monopoly until 1833, and Prosper's claiming to be a British citizen in 1830 would hurt his trade in goods from China, he was no longer so dependent on this trade. He had branched out by that time into many other commercial dealings, of which obtaining the registration of his ship was the most important in 1830.)
Prosper's commercial trading advantage, from his importation of goods form China, was seen by other Sydney merchants as unfair and caused resentment. One of the disgruntled was Edward Eagar
Edward Eagar
-Early life:Eagar was born in Killarney, Ireland. His parents were landed gentry so he was well educated. He trained as a solicitor and became an attorney to His Majesty's Courts in Ireland. In 1809 he was charged with forging a bill of exchange, and he was convicted and sentenced to death...
, an emancipist
Emancipist
An emancipist was any of the convicts sentenced and transported under the convict system to Australia, who had been given conditional or absolute pardons...
who had been disbarred from practicing law in New South Wales and had instead become a merchant. In 1820 Edward Eagar brought a qui tam
Qui tam
In common law, a writ of qui tam is a writ whereby a private individual who assists a prosecution can receive all or part of any penalty imposed...
action against the American merchant Prosper de Mestre. This was a highly technical action under the antiquated Navigation Act which prohibited aliens from "trading in the King's plantations". Described by the court as a "gentleman convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
", Eagar's legal ploy was an attempt to ruin Prosper, and to benefit financially himself. If successful Prosper would have been bankrupted as his estates would have been forfeited: two-thirds going to the Crown (the King and Governor); and the remainder to the informer, Eagar. Prosper successfully defended the action on a legal technicality. He pleaded "that a convicted felon could not sue in a British Court of Justice". Although in 1818 Governor Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...
had given Eager an absolute pardon, his name, like other former convicts, had not been inserted in any "General Pardon under the Great Seal". Therefore, under British Law, the colonial pardon was not recognised. Justice Barron Field
Barron Field (author)
Barron Field was an English-born Australian judge and poet.-Early life:Field was the second son of Henry Field, a London surgeon and apothecary, and Esther, née Barron. Barron Field was educated as a barrister and was called to the Inner Temple on 25 June 1814...
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales agreed with Prosper's argument, and Eagar's action failed. As a result Eagar, along with others of like mind, began to organize to protect the rights of emancipists and improve their doubtful status, advocating the cause of "equitable justice for all emancipists". One of those of like mind that Eagar collaborated with was the child of a convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
, and barrister, William Charles Wentworth
William Wentworth
William Charles Wentworth was an Australian poet, explorer, journalist and politician, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales...
, who returned to Sydney from overseas in 1823.
On 1 March 1821 31-year-old Prosper married 19-year-old Mary Ann Black
Mary Ann Black
Mary Ann de Mestre née Black was the wife of Prosper de Mestre a prominent Sydney businessman in the early 19th century; and the mother of Etienne Livingstone de Mestre the trainer of the racehorse Archer who won the first and second Melbourne Cups in 1861 and 1862, and the foremost Australian...
(1801–1861) at St Philip's Church, Sydney. Mary Ann, not yet "of full age" and 12 years his junior, was the daughter of the privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
(state-sanctioned pirate) and ship's captain John Black, and the former convict Mary Hyde
Mary Hyde
Mary Lord nee Hyde in the period 1855 to 1859 sued the Commissioners of the City of Sydney and won compensation for the sum of over £15,600 for the inundation of her property at Botany.Hyde is noted for her pertinacity...
who in 1855 took the Commissioners of City of Sydney to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and won. Mary was also the stepdaughter of Simeon Lord
Simeon Lord
Simeon Lord was a pioneer merchant and a magistrate in Australia. He became a prominent trader in Sydney, buying and selling ship cargoes. Despite being an emancipist Lord was made a magistrate by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and he became a frequent guest at government house. His business...
, an emancipist, and a pioneer merchant and magistrate in early Sydney. Mary Ann was a good catch for de Mestre, with her stepfather Simeon Lord's connections being invaluable to Prosper's business dealings. Over the next 20 years Prosper and Mary Ann had ten children. The youngest of their three sons was horse trainer Etienne Livingstone de Mestre (1832–1916) who after his father's death established a horse stud
Stud farm
A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry, is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English stod meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding" Historically, documentation of the breedings that occur on a stud farm leads to the...
, stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
and racecourse
Race track
A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...
on Prosper's former property of "Terara" near the mouth of the Shoalhaven River
Shoalhaven River
The Shoalhaven River is a river rising from the Southern Tablelands and flowing into the ocean near Nowra on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia.- History :...
, and won five Melbourne Cups winners, including the first two in 1861 and 1862.
William Charles Wentworth's collaboration with Eagar, following Eagar's unsuccessful action against Prosper in 1820, did not stop Wentworth from acting professionally for Prosper. In 1825 William Charles Wentworth, who Prosper had met through his stepfather Simeon Lord, acted for Prosper in successfully urged the New South Wales Legislative Council
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
for a special Act to naturalise de Mestre. The Act was passed on 30 August 1825, and published in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser by the Governor [Thomas Brisbane|Sir Thomas Brisbane] on 1 September. Under this Act of the First Legislative Council of New South Wales (6 Geo. IV, no. 17 Naturalization (Prosper de Mestre) Act. 30 August 1825) Prosper took the necessary oaths in September 1825, the second person, and second American citizen, to be naturalized in the Colony of New South Wales. This colonial naturalisation declared Prosper to be a "Natural-born Subject of Great Britain, and to be entitled to all the Rights, Privileges, and Advantages, which are conferred on Foreign Protestants".
The legality of the colonial naturalisation to make Prosper a British subject was questioned five years later in 1830. Wentworth, who for political and professional reasons would not have wanted the court to need to consider the legality of naturalisation act passed by the Legislative Council of New South Wales in 1825, again advised Prosper during the 1830 action. The court needed to be able to declare Prosper a British subject by other means. It is of no co-incidence that, in 1790 shortly before his parents arrived at the penal settlement of Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
, Wentworth had been born at sea on a British ship. His place of birth ensured that Wentworth's legal status as a British subject was protected. If Prosper claimed to have been born at sea on a British ship, Prosper could establish that he was a British subject, and his application to register a British ship would succeed. As a supposed British subject by birth, Prosper's social and legal status in the colony would also be improved. A carefully crafted statement was drafted that mixed fact with fiction. Prosper had been born in France before his family had moved to Martinique, where his soldier father had been killed in action against the British in March 1794. If instead he said that he had been born at sea while his family had been escaping from the French Revolution on a British vessel, and, being careful not to mention which side his father had been fighting for, at a time before his father died; then Prosper could not only establish that he was a British subject, but also obtain a sympathetic hearing. He also needed to explain his known connection with America, and more sympathy would be given if he mentioned his residence in India and "other British Colonies", his mother's marriage to a British Officer, his own marriage to a British subject, and his then 5 children. No one doubted the word and signed statement of such a prominent businessman. Chief Justice (Sir) Francis Forbes
Francis Forbes
Sir Francis Forbes was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland, and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.-Early life:...
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales was impressed, and the court ruled (incorrectly) that Prosper was a British subject because he had been born on the high seas in a British ship.
Prosper's commercial interests in the Colony of New South Wales were mainly in shipping and whaling, but he also became active in wider commerce. In June 1823 he was elected a director of Sydney and Van Diemen's Land Packet Company. In June 1825 he was elected to the committee of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales. Prosper was a director of the Bank of New South Wales (1822–23, 1826–28, 1829–42), and in the 1830s he was a director of the Australian Marine Assurance Company. In 1840 he was a founder of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Sydney.
Prosper de Mestre was a benevolent man, who regularly donated to charities. These included the Benevolent Fund, and the Catholic Chapel Fund, which financed the building of St. Mary's Cathedral, the first Catholic Church in the community. He had been born a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, but he also became active in church affairs of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, the religion of his wife and children, and the official religion of the Colony. In 1836 as a supporter of the Church of England he joined the committee in opposition to the proposed National School System and in 1841 he became a trustee of Christ Church St. Laurence
Christ Church St. Laurence
Christ Church St Laurence is an Anglican church in the Diocese of Sydney, Australia. The church is located at Railway Square on George Street, Sydney, near Central Station.-History and description:...
.
Prosper was also involved in many real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
dealings. His first property purchase was in 1821 in George Street, Sydney, an allotment that had been received by his brother-in-law John Henry Black as his dower, and that was next door to a portion of land that his wife Mary Ann had also received as her dower on her marriage, and had been held trust by her stepfather Simeon Lord from an original land lease given to her father Captain John Black. It was on the George Street properties that his wife had been born, and on the George Street properties that Prosper resided with his family, and also had his counting house
Counting house
A counting house, or compting house, literally is the building, room, office or suite in which a business firm carries on operations, particularly accounting. By a synecdoche, it has come to mean the accounting operations of a firm, however housed...
. The site is found today at a small lane named De Mestre Place. In addition to the George Street properties, Prosper applied for his first land grant, and on 7 September 1821 was granted 700 acres (2.8 km²) at West Bargo
Bargo, New South Wales
Bargo is a small town of the Macarthur Region, New South Wales, Australia in the Wollondilly Shire. It is approximately 100 km south west of Sydney....
, near Camden. The grant was on condition that he maintain and employed 7 convicts on the property. In 1831-32 he bought a section of land (the Helsarmel Estate) at Leichhardt
Leichhardt, New South Wales
Leichhardt is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Leichhardt is located 5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt...
from a Captain Piper. In 1824 (prior to his 1825 naturalisation) Prosper De Mestre was first promised a land grant by Governor Thomas Brisbane. 1300 acres (5.3 km²) were authorised on the southern shore of the Shoalhaven River near present day Nowra
Nowra, New South Wales
Nowra is a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Located SSW and approximately by road south of the state capital of Sydney, it has an estimated population together with its twin-town of Bomaderry of 34,479. It is also the seat and commercial centre of the City of Shoalhaven...
in 1829. However he did not receive the grant until 1836 from Governor Sir Richard Bourke
Richard Bourke
General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB was Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Australia between 1831 and 1837.-Early life and career:...
, and he named the property "Terara". The homestead Mill Bank House which still stands in Millbank Road, was probably erected at this time, and a village named Terara soon began to develop. He eventually owned several houses in Sydney, including his main house, 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) at Petersham, and many farm allotments. To consolidate some of his business investments, on 31 May 1837, at "the Premises lately occupied by Prosper De Mestre" at George Street he sold at auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
a number of properties, being: 3160 acres (12.8 km²) at Brisbane Water; 700 acres (2.8 km²) in the parish of Holdsworth; building allotments in Kent St, Sydney; four 25 acres (101,171.5 m²) farms at Lane Cove
Lane Cove, New South Wales
Lane Cove is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. An affluent suburb, Lane Cove is located 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Lane...
; 640 acres (2.6 km²) at Camden
Camden, New South Wales
-Education:Camden is the location of research facilities for the veterinary and agricultural schools of the University of Sydney. The local government area has two public high schools, Camden High School and Elderslie High School, as well as eight Catholic and three Anglican schools.-Culture:The...
; and 3200 acres (12.9 km²) at Ellulang. He no longer needed to live in the George Street property as he had moved his residence to the corner of Liverpool and Elizabeth Streets, Sydney as he had purchased an "excellent mansion" overlooking and situated at the south end of Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Sydney
Hyde Park is a large park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Hyde Park is on the eastern side of the Sydney central business district. It is the southernmost of a chain of parkland that extends north to the shore of Port Jackson . It is approximately rectangular in shape, being squared at the...
. Finally he also received another land grant of 1280 acres (5.2 km²) called Yerrigong on the Calymea Creek about six miles (10 km) west of Terara granted by Governor George Gipps
George Gipps
Sir George Gipps was Governor of the colony of New South Wales, Australia, for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship was during a period of great change for New South Wales and Australia, as well as for New Zealand, which was administered as part of New South Wales for much of this...
on 17 February 1841.
On 31 May 1837 he also sold 50 shares in the Australian Marine Assurance Company, the Hoffan's Cordials business, and a lithographic press. Then, due to the depression
Depression (economics)
In economics, a depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is a more severe downturn than a recession, which is seen by some economists as part of the modern business cycle....
of the early 1840s, and failing health, Prosper become insolvent
Insolvency
Insolvency means the inability to pay one's debts as they fall due. Usually used to refer to a business, insolvency refers to the inability of a company to pay off its debts.Business insolvency is defined in two different ways:...
in 1844. Most of his land and property needed to be auctioned to pay his debts. As the George Street property had been her dower, his wife Mary Ann questioned whether it should be included in the sale. Her solution was that the more valuable George Street property could be included in the sale, if the Shoalhaven properties were not. In exchange she also asked for "the whole of the plate, horses etc., etc., on the establishment in Liverpool Street, the six cows, horse and cart at Helsarmel", and to be "permitted to occupy the thirty-two acres at Petersham until the house at Shoal Haven can be rendered fit for the residence of my family." His house in Liverpool St, and its "elegant Household Furniture", was sold by auction on 16 May 1844, and the family was moved to briefly to Petersham and then onto Terara, which Prosper had initially developed as a hobby farm.
A few months later, on 14 September 1844, after a short illness, Prosper died and was buried at "Terara".