The LEAR Family in Tasmania

Only one branch of the Lear family is known to continue the name in Tasmania - a family thought to have originated in Devon and initially established in South Australia. Separate research is being conducted on this family.

A Lear family from Bitton in the UK initially established itself in Tasmania but later largely moved to Victoria and the name from that branch no longer carries in Tasmania. Their story follows:

A LEAR Family From Bitton to Tasmania

The written family history, recorded in what is known as “the Petrol Book” from the Peterson branch of the family and via a letter to the family by Mollie LEAR has this branch of the LEAR family arriving in Tasmania as free settlers – there were certainly no convicts in our family! 

The following are the LEARs from Bitton UK who arrived in Tasmania by various means before the majority of the family moved to Victoria. The LEARs currently resident in Tasmania are NOT from the Bitton family - they are descendants of another LEAR family from Gloucestershire and are not known to be connected.

Although both the Petrol Book and the letter have proven to be surprisingly accurate in a lot of respects, some of the written history seems to correct events and delete criminal activity and criminal relatives from the family history. This revision of history, which is not uncommon in Australian families initially resulted in a few problems tracing particular ancestors.

A John LEAR Born 1776 and a Jane WARD Born 1777 were Married at St Marys Church, Bitton on 5 February 1797 (Bristol Marriage Records). This union is the origin of the LEAR ancestors identified in this study. The weight of evidence certainly supports this. See the separate story on John & Jane LEAR .....here

With the entire town of Bitton reported to be associated with the Cock Road Gang around 1800 the LEAR family had close ties to families involved in Cock Road Gang activities. These include FRY, CAINES, BRITTON, BRYANT, LUTON, BAKER and BRAIN – all interrelated, often with illegitimate ½ siblings and being families continuing a connection with the LEARs in Australia.

In any event a John & Jane LEAR had 9 Children in Bitton, Gloucestershire UK - 7 are noted in the Petrol Book:

• Robert born 1796  Died 1796
• William born 25 November 1797 Died Eaglehawk Victoria.
• Stephen born 24 December 1798 Executed Tasmania 26 February 1825
• Thomas born 12 August 1801 Died 1813 Coal Mining accident at Bitton?
• Samuel born 11 December 1803 Died Victoria on 10 October 1851 ??
• Nancy born 1805  Died 1808 at Bitton?
• James born 10 February 1807 Died Hobart 15 September 1894
• Isaac born 5 April 1809 Died Hobart 1 January 1868
• Margaret born 1811  Died Hobart Tasmania 1895 - unmarried

A John LEAR was killed in a mining accident at Mr. Samuel Whittuck’s Pit in 1811. There was an inquest held into the matter at the hotel at Oldland on 30 October 1811. It seems highly likely that this is the John LEAR married to our Jane. (Coal Mining Deaths Records UK). Future events detailed below add weight to this theory.

An 11yo Thomas LEAR was killed in a pit belonging to Samuel Whittuck when water broke in from an old coal works in 1813.  An Inquest was held at the hotel in Oldland 8 April 1813 (Coal Mining Deaths Records UK). 

This is likely to be Thomas LEAR born 1801 to John & Jane LEAR as no other suitable records relating to the death of a Thomas LEAR have been found and the connections to Bitton, LEAR, Whittucks Pit etc give good weight to the argument. 

There are indications in family records that Thomas and Nancy who both appear to have died in infancy remained in Bitton when the family moved to Australia - this may simply be a misinterpretation of the facts.

In 1814 Jane LEAR married a James BAKER in Bristol and at least one of her children Isaac LEAR/BAKER also took the BAKER name. It is likely other children may have taken the BAKER name - Margaret is a likely candidate due to her young age. 

A further possible connection may be the birth of a Robert BAKER to a James & Jane BAKER in Bristol in 1817 - Jane would have been 40 at the time.

In 1817 William LEAR was arrested with a William BRIANT for stealing clothing and bedding. William was tried at the Gloucester Lent Assizes on 2 April 1817 and sentenced to transportation but was “Discharged by Proclamation”– a pardon – the same day. (LA1817.153)

On 14 July 1818 William LEAR was arrested in the company of a 24yo James BAKER for stealing slaughtered sheep from a Bitton butcher. Both persons were sentenced at Gloucester Summer Assizes on 31 August 1818 to 7 years transportation to Van Diemens Land. (PRO HO 27/15 & LA1818.72).

William LEAR arrived in Tasmania 10 January 1820 as one of 347 convicts on the Dromedary. There is no known record of James BAKER being transported to Australia.

Gloucester County Council records show a Jane BAKER from Bitton sentenced to death on 21 August 1819 (GCC Q/Gc5/2). The sentence was commuted to transportation which appears to have been a reasonably common occurrence.

NSW Archive Records show a Jane BAKER from Bitton, sharing the birth date of Jane LEAR arriving in Sydney on 30 September 1820 as a convict on the ship Morley V3. She was accompanied on the trip by her son who travelled as Isaac BAKER.

A Samuel LEAR also travelled as a free man on the Morley (V3) which landed him at Hobart Town in May 1820 before the Morley went on to Sydney to discharge convicts including his mother and young brother. He is listed as arriving on the Morley in the 1822 VDL Muster of Free Men (HO 10/18, reel 65 pp. 2-31)

The Ships Surgeon on the Morley V3 authored a book relating to his journeys “Two Voyages to VDL and NSW” providing some insight into the voyage but no detail on the LEAR family. It contains no list of convicts or passengers.

On arrival in Sydney Jane BAKER was assigned to her “Uncle” Thomas CANES (CAINES). CAINES is thought to be the Thomas CAINES ex Cock Road Gang Member transported on the Neptune in 1818. This assignment and the assignment of son Isaac LEAR to his “Uncle” George CAINES on arrival in Sydney gives further support to the relationship by Jane WARD to the CAINES family and therefore the Cock Road Gang.

A Stephen LEAR stood trial on 27 March 1820 and was condemned to death, reprieved and subsequently sentenced to life transportation - Gloucester Lent Assizes 1820/21. He sailed on the Maria departing Bristol on 28 July 1820 arriving Hobart Town to discharge convicts on 1 December 1820.

Stephen LEAR is listed as having an occupation of Cordwainer (Cobbler). Conduct Reports in Tasmania indicate Stephen’s Father in Law (stepfather BAKER?) brother and Mother were also transported around 1820.

By 1823 William LEAR had a Ticket of Leave ( VDL Census 1823). In 1825 William married Mary Ann CONNOR a convict sentenced to 7 years transportation as a pickpocket in Leeds UK. (Tas Archives Convict permissions to Marry) She arrived in Hobart on the Mary on 5 October 1823. Mary CONNOR is mentioned in the book “Notorious Strumpets and other Dangerous Girls” by Tardif.

Stephen LEAR was executed at Hobart Gaol in Murray Street on 26 February 1825 for breaking into a Government Building. (Microfilm 0952232 LDS Conduct Registers, V.D.L).

When Mary CONNOR died on 25 December 1840 William LEAR married Mary PEARSALL (nee HOLMES) on 23 July 1842 in Trinity Church, Hobart Town, Tasmania. She was the daughter of Theophillus HOLMES and Mary RICKETTS. She was born 1802 in Chappel House, Chippingnorton, Oxfordshire, England, and died 22 May 1875 in Eaglehawk, Victoria, Australia (IGI . Batch # M310462 & C020162)

William LEAR and Mary HOLMES appear to have had no children.

A Samuel LEAR is listed in Tasmanian Arrival and Departure records as a passenger on the Elizabeth traveling on 21 May 1825 from Hobart to Port Jackson (CSO63/1 p141). It is possible he went to Sydney to assist his mother move to Hobart as she first appears in Tasmanian records in 1826.  Samuel was back in Tasmania in 1831 when he applied for permission to marry - an event that seems not to have taken place.

Both Jane & Isaac BAKER appear in NSW victualing records from 1820 - 1825. Isaac is also listed as an apprentice bricklayer. Jane applied for a mitigation of sentence in 1825 and was granted sentence mitigation and permission to travel to the Derwent, Tasmania to join other family members (NSW Archives).

Jane BAKER and Isaac BAKER appear in no known records in Australia after 1825. However, Tasmanian records in 1826 show a Jane LEAR along with her son Isaac LEAR. (Tas Archives)

That is the first reference known to exist of any Jane & Isaac LEAR in Australia and based on the weight of evidence it is reasonable to assume they are one and the same with Jane & Isaac LEAR/BAKER.

Isaac BAKER departed Hobart as a crewman on the Alice bound for London via Launceston on 14 September 1829 (CUS33/1 p143). Isaac LEAR then departed Launceston as a crewman on the Alice (same voyage) bound for London i(Index to Arriving/Departing Passengers & Crew Launceston Papers, 1829 -32). It is reasonable to assume they are one and the same person.

As a seaman, a trip to London would not be unusual although this is the only record found of him travelling outside the colonies. No records have been found of either his arrival in London or his return to Australia. One theory is that he returned to London to assist his siblings James & Margaret to travel to Hobart.

Isaac LEAR was back in Tasmania by November 1832 when an application was lodged in Hobart to marry Margaret MAITLAND. (CON45/1 - RGD36/2 1833/2077) Margaret MAITLAND arrived in VDL from London on the Mary V3 on 12 June 1831 – was Isaac a crewman returning to Tasmania on the Mary during this voyage? Sister in Law Mary CONNOR also travelled to VDL as a convict on an earlier voyage of the Mary (presumed to be the same vessel).

Margaret Christiana LEAR travelled to Tasmania sometime during this period but how and when is unknown.

A Mr LEAR, possibly James LEAR but also possibly Isaac LEAR arrived Hobart (Launceston?) on the Arab 17 Feb 1832 from London (Index to Arriving/Departing Passengers Launceston Papers, 1829 -32).

A James LEAR is reported to have been the licensee of the Albion Hotel, Elizabeth St. Hobart Town by the Colonist Newspaper on 10 December 1833 indicating the time frame for an arrival on the ARAB is consistent. No other records have been found indicating James LEAR was resident in Tasmania prior to 1833.

Tasmanian Archives Office General Records Cards exist for James, Samuel, William and Isaac LEAR including petitions for Town Allotments, death notices etc. William is listed as the licensee of the Good Woman Inn - 1838, 1839, 1841, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846. The family is also known to have been associated with the Albion Hotel in Elizabeth St Hobart.

As various Tasmanian Archive documents show common lodgings and ownership of business ventures etc, AND almost the entire clan subsequently moved to Victoria, it is reasonable to assume that William, Samuel, Stephen, James and Isaac LEAR were siblings and the children of Jane WARD/LEAR/BAKER.

Jane LEAR died in Hobart in 1842 and is buried at Cornelian Bay Cemetery. More on Jane LEAR can be found here.....

Stephen LEAR was executed on 26 February 1825 at the Murray Street Hobart Gaol. He had no recorded wife or children. More on Stephen LEAR can be found here.........

William LEAR appears to have left Tasmania for Victoria around 1848. This is supported by the marriage of his daughter Nancy in Victoria in 1849. He purchased an interest in Parkins Reef Gold Mine around 1859 (Maldon Index - Lear, William RB488). He died of old age at Eaglehawk Victoria which is now a suburb of Bendigo. He raised his own family with Mary Connor along with several children from Mary Pearsals first marriage. More on the William LEAR story can be found here........ 

Samuel LEAR died of apoplexy in the Parkins Reef Mine on 10 October 1851. He is not known to have left any children. More on Samuel LEAR can be found here.........

James LEAR died of old age in Hobart on 15 September 1894. he was married to Mary JOHNSON and raised an Australian Family. More on James LEAR and his family can be found here...........

Isaac LEAR died in Hobart in 1868. He was married to Margaret MAITLAND. More on the family of Isaac LEAR can be found here.........

Margaret LEAR died of old age in Hobart on 7 August 1895 and is buried at Cornelian Bay Cemetery. She was unmarried and is not know to have had any children.