John Dengate

John Dengate, c.1860

KEY DATES:

Baptised: 18 October 1795, St John the Baptist Church, Wittersham, Kent

First Marriage: c.1822

Second Marriage: 4 January 1853, Ryde, New South Wales, Australia

Died: 25 November 1864, Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia

Buried: 29 November 1864, Wesleyan Cemetery, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

BIOGRAPHY:

John Dengate was baptised 18 October 1795 in St John the Baptist Church, Wittersham, son of David and Hannah Dengate.

St John the Baptist Church, Wittersham, Kent

John Dengate, like many of the Dengate family was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.  He married Sarah Smith, possibly in the Wesleyan Chapel, Rye, East Sussex around 1822, although official records so far cannot confirm this.  John and Sarah had six children, all of them baptised in the Wesleyan Chapel, Rye: Susannah, John, David, Cornelius, Jabez and Mahalie.

Rye Methodist Chapel, 2004

An Account of the Life of John Dengate

Written by John's great great great grandson Denis Ward

Just two years after the baptism of John and Sarah Dengate's last child, in March 1838, the family set sail for new prospects in Australia.  John's brother Edwin had already emigrated to New South Wales.  The family arrived three months later, landing in Sydney on 26 June 1838 onboard the ship 'Westminster'.  The lengthy journey was fraught with the possibility of sickness or even death, as the Sick Book and Surgeon's Journal attest:

Ten of the young children on the ship were also attacked with bronchitis and three of these children died.  Six cases of fever occurred amongst the adults, five mild and one severe; none fatal.  Three children died from inflammatory afflictions of the head, one boy of nine years of age of a visycrophulous habit of the body.  The rest of the emigrants landed in excellent health, with the exception of one woman who died a few days after arrival in Sydney of puerpiral peritonitis.

Upon arrival in Australia, John found employment as a fruit grower.

John's first wife Sarah Dengate died and he subsequently remarried Ann Mobbs on 4 January 1853, Ryde, New South Wales, Australia.

Having lived out a good life in Australia, John Dengate died aged 69 years on 25 November 1864 in Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia.  At an inquest into John's death held on 30 November, his cause of death was noted as asphyxia, having accidentally drowned.  John's great grandson Norman Dengate described John as a 'bit of a devil' who liked to have a go at the rum every now and then.  He used to ride his horse down to Parramatta for a drink.  One day his horse returned without him. A search located his body on Pennant Hills Road.  The story is that John was thrown from his horse into a puddle of water and drowned.

The following announcement appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, 'The friends of the late Mr John Dengate are respectfully requested to attend his funeral.  The Procession will move from his late residence at Pennant Hills at 12 o'clock on Tuesday the 29th instant.  Joseph Smith - Undertaker.'   He was buried 29 November 1864 in the Wesleyan Cemetery, Parramatta, New South Wales.

Norman Dengate said that when he was a boy (he was born 1908), his father used to point out a white sandstone monument about a metre high.  This was located where John Dengate's body was found.  Norman thought the monument was removed when Pennant Hills Road was widened around 1918.

Stone Marker at Pennant Hills

For some years a stone was lying by the roadside on the Pennant Hills Road close to the eastern boundary of the May Villa Public School grounds.  It bore the inscription 'Nov 25 1864' roughly carved into it.  The stone is 24 inches high, the inscription being confined to the top half.  On enquiry amongst old residents I discovered that the stone was originally set into the earth near the spot where it lies to mark the place where a man named Dengate was thrown from his horse and killed.  Mrs Dengate, the wife of the man who was killed was the eldest daughter of the first William Mobbs who settled in this district.  She was born in 1796 before her parents came out to this state, and died at Carlingford on 21 August 1867.  She was married three times, her husband's name was Lacy, the second Cox (an engineer on a Parramatta River steamer) who was killed by a boiler explosion, and the third Dengate.  On drawing the attention of Alderman John Neil, Mayor of Dundas to this stone he at once gave orders for it to be fixed in as near as possible to it's original position.  The stone was refixed in a stone socket by Arthur C. Marshall of Dundras son of the man who originally cut the stone and a grandson of Mr Dengate's brother - "Some Notes on the Early History of Dundas", H.J. Rumsey, The Australian Historical Society.

Ann Dengate died of paralysis and bronchitis on 21 August 1867, age 74 years.  She was buried 23 August in Dundras Cemetery.  The following appeared in the 22 August edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, 'On the 21st Instant at her residence, Pennant Hills, Ann Dengate, relict of the late John Dengate Esq. and daughter of William Mobbs, the elder, aged 74 years.  The deceased resided in this district upwards of 70 years and was much and deservedly respected by all who knew her.' 

Grateful thanks to Denis Ward for the biography information on John Dengate.

© Copyright N. Goodwin MMII