Letter from Henry Cawse Harvie to J. N. Madgett, 17 September 1841

MLMSS 11936

fonds

1841

9675387

0.01 metres of textual material (1 folder)

Henry Cawse Harvie (approximately 1810 - 1846) was born in Plymouth, England. He emigrated to Sydney and found employment as clerk in the Audit Office while also working for himself as stationer. In 1840, Harvie married Frances (Fanny) Madgett, an Irish bounty immigrant and needlewoman who had arrived in Sydney in 1839 on the ‘Roxburgh Castle’. In 1844, they had a son, Henry J. Harvie. Caught in the economic depression in the 1840s, Harvie was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1843. He died in 1846, ‘after a week’s illness’. Frances does not seem to have remarried and died in Kew, Victoria, in 1911.

References:

Compiled from the Library’s acquisition file

“Law Intelligence.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 October 1843. Accessed 10 July 2023. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12418695

The letter was formerly part of a private collection.

Letter from Henry Cawse Harvie to his father-in-law J.N. Madgett (County Clare, Ireland), dated ‘Sydney September 17th 1841’. Autograph letter, wove paper, three pages on bifolium with address panel on fourth page, 23 x 18.5 cm. Includes various postal stamps and removed wax seal (loss of paper where seal has been removed).

Henry Cawse Harvie, employed 'in a Government situation' as a clerk in the Audit Office but also working for himself, writes about the misfortune that befell him: ‘I unhappily fell into the hands of a scheming villian [sic] whom I mistook till too late for an honest man’. Expressing the hope that the hardships will only be short-lived, he adds that his wife Fanny offers much consolation: ‘I feel the blessing of being united to one so truly amiable, her kindness and sympathy soon ended every painful feeling - to remain long unhappy in her society is impossible, her cheerful smile is always ready to dispel regret’. Harvie also mentions that he is fortunate to have ‘a kind and good Father who can and will render me every assistance as soon as I can get free from the person just alluded to, which I think will not be long’, and that he is currently living at his brother’s place ‘free of rent’.

In his letter, Harvie also offers insight into the economic conditions that were prevailing in Sydney: ‘the aspect of Commercial affairs here are very lowering at present but the Colonists cheer themselves that brighter days are in store’, even though ‘the oldest tradesman does not remember such times as the present, it has been principally owing to large speculations undertaken by men of no capital, the banks formerly discounted their bills but now refuse to do so altogether, the result is that many who were thought to be quite stable are found to be insolvent’. Despite this, Harvie observes that labour is as much in demand as ever: ‘we have had a great influx of emigrants of late but they find no scarcity of employment, we are still a flourishing Colony tho’ a cloud hangs over us at present’.

Harvie mentions too that he expects Mr Mc Mahon, another son-in-law of Mr Madgett, to do well ‘as he intends going into the far interior as a squatter, that is a renter from Government of land not located, and thereby gets pastures of immense extent for £10 per annum, there you may remain undisturbed for years and when the Government offers the land for sale you have the chance of purchase. You may suffer some privations and loss of society by being a dweller in the wilderness but it leads to almost certain fortune.’

Harvie concludes the letter by saying that he would be most pleased to have his father-in-law or any member of the Madgett family visit Sydney: ‘I only hope when they do come I shall be so circumstanced as to be enabled to receive them as I would wish.’

Out of copyright: Author(s) died more than 70 years ago
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