Richard Williams
Grandfather of Cyrus Williams, married to Celia Williams, son-in-law of Esther Spencer
Nothing much is known about Richard Williams other than a few scattered and piecemeal records which lead to much speculation, but with more and more records from all sorts of sources becoming available online this may change. As of February 2015 there are two strands of information which apply to Richard Williams who married Celia Stubbs in India in 1825.
1. Richard was of Welsh ancestry and was born in Anglesey, south Wales, in 1790. Evidence to support this claim is slight.
2. Richard lived in Phillip Street, Sydney, and accompanied Celia Stubbs, a neighbour, to India on the Seaflower in 1820. Evidence for this statement is in the Land Titles Office records in Sydney, where the ownership of land by the Stubbs family, Joseph Bigge and a Richard Williams can all be found. Further evidence is in the transcript for passengers of the sailing of the Seaflower from Sydney to India in 1820.
There are also records in the archives of the East India Company archives which form part of the India Office records held by the British Library in Euston, London. These confirm the marriage of Celia Stubbs to a Richard Williams in 1825 and the baptisms of their six children, between 1815 (their first child was born out of wedlock) and 1835.
According to the marriage record Richard was an indigo planter.
“The primary use for indigo is as a dye for cotton yarn, which is mainly for the production of denim cloth for blue jeans. On average, a pair of blue jean trousers requires 3–12 g of indigo. Small amounts are used for dyeing wool and silk.”[1]
The role of the indigo planter was not an honourable one according to an article on Wikipedia:
“Indigo planting in Bengal dated back to 1777. Louis Bonard was probably the first indigo planter. With expansion of British power in the Nawabate of Bengal, indigo planting became more and more commercially profitable due to the demand for blue dye in Europe. The indigo planters left no stones unturned to make money. They mercilessly pursued the peasants to plant indigo instead of food crops. They provided loans, called dadon at a very high interest. Once a farmer took such loans he remained in debt for whole of his life before passing it to his successors. The price paid by the planters was meagre, only 2.5% of the market price. The farmers could make no profit growing indigo. The farmers were totally unprotected from the brutal indigo planters, who resorted to mortgages or destruction of their property if they were unwilling to obey them. Government rules favoured the planters. By an act in 1833, the planters were granted a free hand in oppression. Even the zamindars, money lenders and other influential persons sided with the planters. Out of the severe oppression unleashed on them the farmers resorted to revolt.”[2]
The indigo revolt was staged in 1859 when the farmers refused to plant indigo at all.
“The revolt started from Nadia where Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas first led the rebellion against the planters. It spread rapidly in Murshidabad, Birbhum, Burdwan, Pabna, Khulna, Narail, etc. Some indigo planters were given a public trial and executed. The indigo depots were burned down. Many planters fled to avoid being caught. The zamindars were also targets of the rebellious peasants.
The revolt was ruthlessly suppressed. Large forces of police and military, backed by the British Government and the zamindars, mercilessly slaughtered a number of peasants. In spite of this, the revolt was fairly popular, involving almost the whole of Bengal. The Biswas brothers of Nadia, Kader Molla of Pabna, Rafique Mondal of Malda were popular leaders. Even some of the zamindars supported the revolt, the most important of whom was Ramratan Mullick of Narail.”[3]
Although the marriage record for Richard and Celia Stubbs is indisputable, and clearly states that Richard's occupation was indigo planter, there is another possibility as to Richard Williams’ occupation. The marriage record for Richard’s son William in 1856 in New South Wales asserts that Richard Williams was a Captain in the HEIC – the Honourable East India Company. If this is so, he could have been a captain in the army, or a seafarer at the rank of Captain. If thlatter, Richard would have had to obtain professional qualifications and significant experience on ships of the HEIC fleet, over a period of some years.
In time (certainly by the late eighteenth century) there were formal requirements for professional qualification for officers. An important element of this was in time spent working/training in the Company. Candidates as mates and captains had to show time either on ‘regular’ ships (that is East Indiamen proper), or ‘extra’ ships (those taken up for particular charters). It should also be noted that considerable wealth was required to gain commands, as payment of sums up to £10,000 to the owners, past captain or his family was required (depending on the age of the vessel and the era). These requirements would have made it difficult for Richard Williams from Sydney to have qualified as a Captain in the HEIC marine fleet.
However, the indigo planter occupation may have been a sideline, though this too seems unlikely as he was able to father a child every two years between 1825 and 1835 which suggests that he was land-based and with his family throughout this period. Alternatively, if he were indeed a mariner his voyages brought him ashore on a regular basis.
There is little other evidence at this stage to verify whether or not Richard Williams was employed in the HEIC maritime arm. Records in the India Office Collection at the British Library may be accessed later in 2015, and this may corroborate the statement made by Richard’s son.
It is also claimed that Richard may have died in Liverpool in 1837, and been buried in Walton Cemetery. Liverpool was a major international port and ships would have been coming and going from India on a frequent basis, so deaths of seamen and their subsequent interment in a local cemetery would not have been unusual. It is though impossible to verify whether or not a Richard Williams buried in 1837 was the same Richard Williams who married Celia Stubbs in India, particularly as the name Richard Williams is not unusual. There is also some difference of opinion as to whether the date of death is 1837 or 1887, a difference of 50 years!
In support of the possibility that Richard Williams was a mariner is the activities of some of his offspring who became mariners themselves. For example, Robert Williams, Richard and Celia’s second son, who died in Sydney in 1906, was a Master Mariner. This is recorded on his death certificate, which also attests that his father (Richard) was in “military service with the HEIC.” There are also available online[4] two Master Mariner Certificates issued by the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade – in 1857 and 1859 – for Robert Bryce Russell Williams, which provide incontrovertible evidence as to his status and qualification as a mariner.
William Williams (Richard and Celia's grandson) also had a major interest in maritime matters, in time becoming Secretary to the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. In turn his son Cyrus became a keen amateur sailor and boat builder as well as in his professional life becoming a marine and water engineer of some repute in New Zealand.
There is no record of what happened to Richard Williams after 1835, when his last child with Celia was born in India. Whether he died, disappeared, or simply separated from Celia and went his own way independently is unknown. No evidence has yet been found to indicate when Celia and the children, or at least some of them, returned to Australia and took up residence in Sydney.
So, in conclusion, it is extremely difficult to describe or explain the life of Richard Williams. One or two facts are absolute but these do not constitute an adequate record of his life, and more research needs to be done.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_revolt
[3] ibid
[4] Via Ancestry.com, a pay-per-view or subscription genealogy website
Grandfather of Cyrus Williams, married to Celia Williams, son-in-law of Esther Spencer
Nothing much is known about Richard Williams other than a few scattered and piecemeal records which lead to much speculation, but with more and more records from all sorts of sources becoming available online this may change. As of February 2015 there are two strands of information which apply to Richard Williams who married Celia Stubbs in India in 1825.
1. Richard was of Welsh ancestry and was born in Anglesey, south Wales, in 1790. Evidence to support this claim is slight.
2. Richard lived in Phillip Street, Sydney, and accompanied Celia Stubbs, a neighbour, to India on the Seaflower in 1820. Evidence for this statement is in the Land Titles Office records in Sydney, where the ownership of land by the Stubbs family, Joseph Bigge and a Richard Williams can all be found. Further evidence is in the transcript for passengers of the sailing of the Seaflower from Sydney to India in 1820.
There are also records in the archives of the East India Company archives which form part of the India Office records held by the British Library in Euston, London. These confirm the marriage of Celia Stubbs to a Richard Williams in 1825 and the baptisms of their six children, between 1815 (their first child was born out of wedlock) and 1835.
According to the marriage record Richard was an indigo planter.
“The primary use for indigo is as a dye for cotton yarn, which is mainly for the production of denim cloth for blue jeans. On average, a pair of blue jean trousers requires 3–12 g of indigo. Small amounts are used for dyeing wool and silk.”[1]
The role of the indigo planter was not an honourable one according to an article on Wikipedia:
“Indigo planting in Bengal dated back to 1777. Louis Bonard was probably the first indigo planter. With expansion of British power in the Nawabate of Bengal, indigo planting became more and more commercially profitable due to the demand for blue dye in Europe. The indigo planters left no stones unturned to make money. They mercilessly pursued the peasants to plant indigo instead of food crops. They provided loans, called dadon at a very high interest. Once a farmer took such loans he remained in debt for whole of his life before passing it to his successors. The price paid by the planters was meagre, only 2.5% of the market price. The farmers could make no profit growing indigo. The farmers were totally unprotected from the brutal indigo planters, who resorted to mortgages or destruction of their property if they were unwilling to obey them. Government rules favoured the planters. By an act in 1833, the planters were granted a free hand in oppression. Even the zamindars, money lenders and other influential persons sided with the planters. Out of the severe oppression unleashed on them the farmers resorted to revolt.”[2]
The indigo revolt was staged in 1859 when the farmers refused to plant indigo at all.
“The revolt started from Nadia where Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas first led the rebellion against the planters. It spread rapidly in Murshidabad, Birbhum, Burdwan, Pabna, Khulna, Narail, etc. Some indigo planters were given a public trial and executed. The indigo depots were burned down. Many planters fled to avoid being caught. The zamindars were also targets of the rebellious peasants.
The revolt was ruthlessly suppressed. Large forces of police and military, backed by the British Government and the zamindars, mercilessly slaughtered a number of peasants. In spite of this, the revolt was fairly popular, involving almost the whole of Bengal. The Biswas brothers of Nadia, Kader Molla of Pabna, Rafique Mondal of Malda were popular leaders. Even some of the zamindars supported the revolt, the most important of whom was Ramratan Mullick of Narail.”[3]
Although the marriage record for Richard and Celia Stubbs is indisputable, and clearly states that Richard's occupation was indigo planter, there is another possibility as to Richard Williams’ occupation. The marriage record for Richard’s son William in 1856 in New South Wales asserts that Richard Williams was a Captain in the HEIC – the Honourable East India Company. If this is so, he could have been a captain in the army, or a seafarer at the rank of Captain. If thlatter, Richard would have had to obtain professional qualifications and significant experience on ships of the HEIC fleet, over a period of some years.
In time (certainly by the late eighteenth century) there were formal requirements for professional qualification for officers. An important element of this was in time spent working/training in the Company. Candidates as mates and captains had to show time either on ‘regular’ ships (that is East Indiamen proper), or ‘extra’ ships (those taken up for particular charters). It should also be noted that considerable wealth was required to gain commands, as payment of sums up to £10,000 to the owners, past captain or his family was required (depending on the age of the vessel and the era). These requirements would have made it difficult for Richard Williams from Sydney to have qualified as a Captain in the HEIC marine fleet.
However, the indigo planter occupation may have been a sideline, though this too seems unlikely as he was able to father a child every two years between 1825 and 1835 which suggests that he was land-based and with his family throughout this period. Alternatively, if he were indeed a mariner his voyages brought him ashore on a regular basis.
There is little other evidence at this stage to verify whether or not Richard Williams was employed in the HEIC maritime arm. Records in the India Office Collection at the British Library may be accessed later in 2015, and this may corroborate the statement made by Richard’s son.
It is also claimed that Richard may have died in Liverpool in 1837, and been buried in Walton Cemetery. Liverpool was a major international port and ships would have been coming and going from India on a frequent basis, so deaths of seamen and their subsequent interment in a local cemetery would not have been unusual. It is though impossible to verify whether or not a Richard Williams buried in 1837 was the same Richard Williams who married Celia Stubbs in India, particularly as the name Richard Williams is not unusual. There is also some difference of opinion as to whether the date of death is 1837 or 1887, a difference of 50 years!
In support of the possibility that Richard Williams was a mariner is the activities of some of his offspring who became mariners themselves. For example, Robert Williams, Richard and Celia’s second son, who died in Sydney in 1906, was a Master Mariner. This is recorded on his death certificate, which also attests that his father (Richard) was in “military service with the HEIC.” There are also available online[4] two Master Mariner Certificates issued by the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade – in 1857 and 1859 – for Robert Bryce Russell Williams, which provide incontrovertible evidence as to his status and qualification as a mariner.
William Williams (Richard and Celia's grandson) also had a major interest in maritime matters, in time becoming Secretary to the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. In turn his son Cyrus became a keen amateur sailor and boat builder as well as in his professional life becoming a marine and water engineer of some repute in New Zealand.
There is no record of what happened to Richard Williams after 1835, when his last child with Celia was born in India. Whether he died, disappeared, or simply separated from Celia and went his own way independently is unknown. No evidence has yet been found to indicate when Celia and the children, or at least some of them, returned to Australia and took up residence in Sydney.
So, in conclusion, it is extremely difficult to describe or explain the life of Richard Williams. One or two facts are absolute but these do not constitute an adequate record of his life, and more research needs to be done.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_revolt
[3] ibid
[4] Via Ancestry.com, a pay-per-view or subscription genealogy website