Between 1808 and 1813 four children were born in the colony and given John Worthington’s surname. Their mother was a convict named Catherine Malone(y). James, Thomas, William and John were variously listed in the official records as Warrington, Warington, Worrington and Warrenton by their illiterate mother.

Thomas had resumed the spelling Worthington by 1832. James curiously resumed the Worthington spelling around 1839, after having used ‘Warrington’ in his petitions for land, at the time of his marriage, and after his first two children were registered as ‘Warrington’. To me, this is an indication that the father, who always used the correct spelling, was still around and about up to this time. John retained Warrington and William used ‘Warrington Fry’ – adding the surname of his adopted family.

James

c1808? Born.

1825 Muster entry: Employed by Moses Brennan, Appin (listed in this entry as John Warrington, but probably is James, as John is shown attending the Orphan School at Liverpool in the same muster)

31/05/1823 Colonial Secretary’s Papers index: James Warrington – born in the colony; son of John Warrington; employed by Moses Brennan; memorial

1824 Windsor Population Book: Jas Warrington

21/08/1824 Colonial Secretary’s Papers index: James Warrington – born in the colony; employed by Moses Brennan of the district of Appin; memorial

1823-25 Muster entry: James Warrington – born in the colony; employed by M. Brennan, Appin

1824 Petition for Land: (Part shown above) ‘Colonial youth aged 19 years, oldest son of John Warrington of Sydney, but lived with Moses Brennan of the District of Appin upwards of 7 years’, (since before 1817 according to this account, though Catherine is still listed as having four children in the Return of Orphans dated July 1818.

1828 Census: James Worthington – born in the colony; aged 23; labourer; to Moses Brennan. [This census entry also records James as having been transported aboard Archduke Charles in 1812 with a 7-year sentence, and this appears to have been an error. Others in Moses Brennan’s household had been transported aboard that ship.]

18/02/1830 Land record: James Warrington – resident of East Bargo, NSW; application for land, purchased 50 acres in NSW

More about Moses Brennan

'North Farm', comprised [sic] 94 acres granted in 1816 to the brothers Michael and 
Moses Brennan. They arrived as political prisoners from Wexford, Ireland on the Anne 
in 1801. After reaching Sydney Moses was employed as an overseer in the Dockyard under 
Superintendent Thomas Moore (later of Moorebank). In addition to wheat farming, Moses 
Brennan was chief constable and poundkeeper of Appin in 1821. Moses died in 1842, and 
the farm was continued by his brother Michael who had married the daughter of his 
neighbour William Crowe. (Appin: the story of a Macquarie Town)

More about James’ marriage and family >>

Thomas

1809? Born.

07/1818 Colonial Secretary’s Papers index: Thomas Warrington – aged 8 years – Son of John Warrenton and Catherine Malone – in care of David Nowland of Airds – recommended for new orphan school.

1819 NSW Orphans Index entry: Thomas Warrington – aged 10 years – David Knowland, farmer of Airds

12/04/1819 Colonial Secretary’s Papers index: Thomas Warrington – admitted to the Male Orphan School; David Nowland his guardian.

1822 Parramatta (Baulkham Hill) Population Book – Thomas Warrington; aged 14 years

1822 Muster entry: Thomas Warrington – Thomas; aged 13 years – BC – Orphan School Sydney.

22/08/1822 Colonial Secretary’s Papers index: Thomas Warrington – complaint of ill-usage at Male Orphan Institution – ordered to land boats and take boats to Kissing Point.

22/08/1822 Muster entry: Thomas Warrington; BC; Orphan School Liverpool.

1824 Liverpool Population Book: Thos Warrington; BC 1809; Orphan school

1825 Muster entry: Thomas Warrington – BC; Orphan School Liverpool.

26/12/1826 Orphan School: Thomas Warrington – Permitted to leave; parent David Knowland, farmer, Airds.

1828 Census entry: Thomas Warrington – aged 18 years; BC; Carpenter to Rev R. Cartwright, Cabramatta. (Note: from 1810-1819 Cartwright was stationed in the Hawkesbury region, with St Matthew’s, Windsor being at the centre – the same church where Edward Neale and Catherine Maloney’s marriage and burial services were held.)

17/04/1832 NSW Quarter Sessions index: Thomas Worthington convicted with his friend, James Moore, of assaulting a police constable at Campbelltown. Worthington and Moore are recorded as being labourers residing at Campbelltown.

21/05/1838 Report in the Sydney Monitor: A man named Cornelius Macarthy was convicted and sentenced to death for stabbing Thomas Worthington at a public-house in Campbelltown on 24/07/1837.

29/05/1839 Thomas Worthington & Mary Ann Howard (both residents of Stonequarry) were married at St John’s RC Church Campbelltown by J.F.A. Goold and the witnesses were Laurence and Mary Ann Ryan of Stonequarry.

William

08/06/1810 Born at Windsor, NSW

09/1825 Muster: William Worrington – aged 13 – born in the colony – employed by Samuel Fry, Illawarra.

c1835 Married Louisa (‘Lucy’) KNOWLAND (b. c1808 NSW; parents David KNOWLAND (Thomas’ guardian – see above) & Mary SMITH; previously married James Jackson 1826 at St Phillip’s C of E Sydney, NSW). William and Lucy had 9 children.

23/03/1894 William died at Braidwood NSW, and was buried at Windellama Anglican Cemetery.

William retained the surname Warrington, though his name is sometimes recorded as ‘Warrington Fry’. His third child was registered under the name Fry, and his first child used the name Fry.

The 1823 muster entry above shows William working for Samuel Fry, who was transported aboard the ship Royal Admiral in 1800. From 1803 to 1808, Fry was assigned to work for John Palmer of Woolloomooloo (who was also assigned convicts who were shipmates of John Worthington aboard the Fortune). Samuel Fry later appears to have been a poultry dealer, and he died in 1859. Fry’s wife was Mary Ann Jones, who was transported to Australia aboard the Alexander in 1806 (the same ship William’s mother claimed to have come to Australia aboard).

I’ve seen it suggested that Samuel Fry was William’s father, but I haven’t found any evidence to support this claim. Samuel Fry and Mary Ann Jones were married at St John’s Church of England, Parramatta, in 1807. As far as the documentary evidence is concerned, they lived together until their deaths without any hint of trouble or separation.

Additionally, Catherine gave all the boys John Worthington’s surname and to me this is her declaration that he was the father of all four boys. I think that William later added Fry to show that Samuel and Mary Ann Fry became his custodians.

John

1812? Born.

12/07/1820 Colonial Secretary’s index: John Warrington – to be admitted to Male Orphan Institution; Catherine Malowny his parent.
The petition of Sarah Smith on behalf of John Warrington: Resolved that John Warrington be admitted and that a remuneration of five shillings per week be paid the memorialist for her attention to the boy, during the time he has been under her care.

12/07/1820 NSW Orphans index: John Warrington – aged 8; mother Catherine Maloney, a washerwoman of Liverpool. Assigned to Messrs Berry and Wollstoncraft.

Berry and Wollstonecraft was an Australian business partnership established in 1819 
between Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstoncraft. The main focus of the business was 
on a land grant of 10,000 acres (40 km2), growing to 40,000 acres (162 km2) in the
Shoalhaven River area, where native cedar was felled for export, and other crops such 
as tobacco were grown both for sale in the colony of New South Wales and for export. 
Berry and Wollstonecraft's business relied heavily on convict labour. (Wikipedia)

1822 Parramatta (Baulkham Hill) Population Book – John Warrington; aged 11 years

1822 Colonial Secretary’s Papers index: John Warrington – aged 10 years; BC; Orphan School, Sydney

1823-25 Muster: John Worrington – aged 12; born in the colony; Orphan School, Liverpool

1824 Liverpool Population Book: John Warington – BC 1812; Orphan School

1826/12/26 Orphan School: John Warrington left the Orphan School.

1842/03/16 NSW Criminal Court: John Warrington – appeared in court charged with an assault at Windsor on 15 Jan; witnesses John and Bridget Clifford (his two co-accused), Thomas Robinson and John Redman. Bail sureties provided by Edward Neal (farmer, Cornwallis) (John’s stepfather) and Denis Gibney (householder, Windsor); settled on application to the court by consent;  ‘upon their promising to keep the peace, and pay expenses, they were discharged’.

John’s mother, Catherine Neale, was a witness at the 1834 marriage of John Clifford and Bridget (nee Hennegan) at St Matthew’s Church, Windsor.

1848/01/25 NSW Criminal Court: John Warrington appeared on a charge of drunkenness and incurred a small fine.

1849 John Warrington married Esther Nash at St Matthew’s, Windsor. Esther was born at Castlereagh in 1831, the daughter of George Nash and Mary, nee Lees.

1850/05/23 John and Esther Warrington’s son George was born at South Creek.

1899/08/26 Death certificate: John Warrington died from senile decay at Rookwood Asylum and was buried in the Catholic Section at Rookwood Cemetery, NSW. The Rookwood Asylum, from 1893 to 1913, was a home for the aged and infirm. The informant on the death certificate was the Chief Superintendent, and he stated that the information about parents, marriage, spouse and children was all unknown. However, the certificate states that Warrington was 86 years of age (ie born c1813), and that he was born in Sydney, and this information indicates that he was the youngest child of John Worthington and Catherine Malone(y). His occupation was listed as a labourer.

The death certificate lists no family, and for a long time it was unclear whether our John Warrington was the man who married Esther Nash and fathered George. However, I have DNA matches with four descendants of George Warrington (via his daughters Elsie May and Ruby Warrington).