Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes

Of the First Fleet

The First European Family in Australia

 

“In the long history of man, it has rarely been recorded, if ever, where the names of two people, a man and a woman, husband and wife are shown as being present at the birth of a nation, indeed race and so this evening must be a unique as we, their descendants, honour Henry and Susannah.”

This toast was proposed by their great, great, great grandson, Arthur Ingham Myers, at Georgian House, North Sydney, on the occasion of the First Kable Family Reunion 27th February, 1968.

Since then a number of reunions have taken place.( see more later).  A lot of research has been done by many and a great wealth of information on their story is now available to the world as well as the descendants.  

 Arthur Myers went on to give a story of the couple and their lifetime.

“The stories of the Americas have told us of the soldiers, priests and adventurers who went to those shores, together with those idealists in pursuit of happiness in this life and the next. Our nation had no such beginning –Henry and Susannah were not of this ilk—adventurous maybe, otherwise they may have not crossed the paths of the twisted justice of the eighteenth century.  So before recounting their achievements for both ill and good, let us look back into that century .They were products of  a land and  age that belonged to the privileged and their favourites of the moment, a society which had no heed of the less fortunate with bad poor laws and inhumanly low wages.

To the wrongdoer there was no secondary form of punishment with transportation the only alternative to death up till 1830 and so frequently imposed for even the most trivial offence.

Up till 1825 conviction was based more on reputation and hearsay. This was the society then, from which came Henry and Susannah and one thousand and thirty others. Also there was the reluctant governor, the Marines, the wives and children and the sentenced on an exercise which was expected to:-

Deter further crime and punishment to purify British society ( which I feel you will agree has  proved to be a lamentable failure) and in so doing, free from their haunts allow those convicted to serve out their time and regain their independence and self respect. Also of course there was the plan to thwart the ambitions of France and Spain."

 

Note – the man ultimately responsible for the First Fleet getting on its way was Lord Sydney after whom that great city was named. His name was Thomas Townshend and he was the Colonial Secretary. It is to Lord Sydney that we are ever indebted for allowing the Kables to ever become a family. It was with his blessing and provision of paperwork that the couple ever reunited and sailed to Australia .

For Lord Sydney’s story go to   

http://home.worldonline.co.za/~townshend/lordsydney_a.htm

  Continuing  Arthur’s speech----

“And so they came—Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes and this is their story. Henry Kable then( Keable, Cabell, Cable) previously charged with two others, of stealing on the 1st February 1783 at Aldborough, Suffolk, from the home of Mrs. Abigail Hambling a quantity of linen, etc – the sentence to be hanged – as the other two were, -- but Henry then nineteen – was reprieved because of his age and the sentence altered to fourteen years transportation to the American colonies.

However we can thank God and George Washington for a change in these plans or today we their descendants may well have been “all the way with LBJ.”

Susannah, also nineteen, was charged a short time later for stealing linen at Thurlton, Norfolk on the 13th November, 1783 from one Jabez Taylor. The sentence was the same, to be hanged but again reprieved and altered also to transportation. The place of both sentences was Thetford, ironically enough the birthplace of Thomas Paine, the author of “The Rights of Man” and he certainly had some good local material to influence him”.

See “the Transports” by Peter Bellamy an Opera Ballad about Henry and Susannah and describing their sentences, plight and voyage in music and song.  

 www.thetransports.com      

So went Henry and Susannah to Castle Hill Gaol Norwich

See the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery site on

http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=200.21 for position of castle and the museum.

http://www.aboutbritain.com/NorwichCastleMuseum.htm  .

   You can see where they began their relationship —Henry’s mannequin still stands in the museum dungeon as he stood there in the 1700s (for all tourists to see  these days). The the photo can be seen on the Home Page. Photo taken about 20 years ago. Probably attributed to Nick Arber.

 

Back to Arthur's tale

" This was a prison where sexes were not segregated, they met and fell in love. Permission to marry was refused and again refused. They were young people, they were in love and eventually Susannah was with child. An early record from those days described the young and strong Henry with others returning thank to a kind donor at Christmas time “for a hot dinner and a quart of ale.” The story of what transpired on their way to Plymouth is not mine to tell this evening and will be told later, so I move away to May, 1787 as the eleven ships ranging from between six hundred and two hundred and twenty tons, with Captain Arthur Phillip, two hundred Marines, 28 wives, medical  staff of five, five hundred and fifty eight men, one hundred and ninety two women and thirteen children set sail, together with sundry sheep, hogs, goats, puppies, turkeys, ducks, chickens, pigeons and cats. The rations for the voyage comprised biscuits, salt pork, beef, peas, oatmeal, and cheese". 

 

       (The report of the day is to be seen on the next page (“Norwich Gaol to First Fleet”)

 

 

        

“And so they came to Port Jackson. The story is told that Phillip, finding Botany Bay unsuitable, sailed up the coast in a whaleboat and as it came into the cove, it grounded on a sandbank. “The sturdy-shouldered Henry carried the Governor ashore, to claim to be  of the first of the First Fleet to set foot on Port Jackson’s shore.”

On the 10th February, Henry and Susannah were to be the first couple, with four other couples to wed in the colony, with the kindly Reverend Richard Johnston officiating.”

                                                                                                   Arthur Myers.  (speech part 1)