John Crichton Stuart McDouall and New Freugh Station
Orphan Profile: Mary Jane Sands from Banbridge, Co. Down – The Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee – Written By: Karen Semken with kind research assistance from Lynn Goll in Jan 2013.
Orphan Profile: Mary Jane Sands from Banbridge, Co. Down – The Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee – Written By: Karen Semken with kind research assistance from Lynn Goll in Jan 2013.
Terry Callahan complied on his history and genealogy website place names in the Singleton district and states: “New Freugh [was] a property approximately 3 km east of Singleton on the Hunter River. The original landholder was John Malcolm who received a grant of 2050 acres on the 15 April 1823. Property sold by John Stephen Ferriter RN in 1844 to J.S.C. McDouall who changed the name from Drayton to New Freugh after his clan home Freugh Scotland.” 1
John Crichton Stuart McDouall purchased the land on 19 April 1944, although originally owned by John Malcolm (Land Grant purchased April 1824) the ownerships had passed to Richard Jones ‘Merchant’ with his wife Mary Louisa Jones having an interest in the property. When ‘John Crichton Stuart McDouall of Trematon Park near Newcastle, Colony Squire’ took out an indenture as ‘an act giving relief to the Insolvent persons’ for the land on 19 April 1844 2 Richard Jones was an insolvent under voluntary sequestration. The Indenture states the full purchase price was £2000 of which Mary Louisa Jones was entitled to a dower in the premises and so ‘it hath been arranged with the said Trustees that One hundred and seventy five pounds a portion of the said purchase money shall be paid to her in consideration of her releasing’ with the ‘remaining one thousand eight hundred & twenty five pounds the residue of the said purchase money shall be paid to the said Trustees’.
As with any insolvency land sale the Indenture records can be more complex in this case it includes the Trustees names: ‘This Indenture made the nineteenth day of April in the Year of Our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty four Btween William Davis of the City of Sydney in the Colony of New South Wales Esquire, William Fanning of the same place Esquire and James Holt of the same place Esquire (Trustees of the Estate and effects of Richard Jones late of Sydney aforesaid Merchant an insolvent) of the first part. The said Richard Jones and Mary Louisa his wife of the second prt and John Crichton Stuart McDouall of Trematon Park near Newcastle in the said Colony, Esquire of the third part.’ The Indenture record can be found in the NSW Land Titles Book-Number 9-373.3
INSOLVENCY SALE OF LAND TO John Crichton Stuart McDOUALL from William Davies of the City of Sydney, William Fanning and James Holt – Trustees of the Estate and effects of RICHARD JONES ‘Merchant’ and his wife Mary Louisa.
The Trustees agreed to the absolute sale to JCS McDOUALL for £2000 with £175 Dower to Mary Louisa Jones.
As seen on the map below the land which formed New Freugh was along the main thoroughfare between Newcastle to Singleton and north to Scone. It was crossed not only by the main Northern Road but also the Railway Line. There are records where McDouall sold the accessway for the railway to the government.
‘McDouall, a pastoralist and chief magistrate for the Singleton area purchased the 1880 acre property … New Freugh appears to have been a large working estate with the Great Northern Road running through it and the Sydney to Brisbane railway line‘ 4
John Crichton Stuart McDouall was born on 5 Jul 1818 in Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, England arriving in New South Wales in 1841 where he married Ellen Maria Fitzgerald. A small biography is contained in the Digby, Everard (compiler). Australian Men of Mark, Vol 2, Sydney, Charles F. Maxwell, 1889 at ANU School of History, Digitised Biographies ‘M’Douall, J. C. S., J.P., was born in England in 1818, and came to New South Wales in 1841. He worked on a farm near Newcastle, and had on one occasion as his guest Leichhardt, the explorer. In 1844 he purchased the property where he now resides. He was appointed a magistrate in 1846, and has been returning-officer for the district of Patrick’s Plains since responsible government was instituted in the colony. He farms largely, and purchased thirty-five years ago the property of ” Castle Forbes.” Mr. M’Douall has had a family of eleven children, the eldest of whom died aged thirty-four, and the others are well engaged in professions. He is a cousin of the Marquis of Bute, the late marquis being his godfather.’ 5
John McDouall died on 30 January 1891 at his home ‘New Freugh’.
His obituary gives us some insight into John McDouall.
J C S McDouall, JP: ‘was a son of the Rev. W. M’Douall, one of the prebendaries of Peterborough Cathedral, and, it is stated, a first cousin to the late Marquis of But, and Earl of Dumfries.’ He emigrated on the ‘Eagle’ in 1841 living first at Stockton then taking up the land near Singleton he called ‘New Freugh’ in 1844 ; ‘From that time to the day of his death the deceased gentleman continued to reside at New Freugh, a charming home some eight miles from Singleton, and bearing traces in its surroundings of the home of an English country gentleman … Those who knew the late Mr M’Douall speak of him as a warm-hearted, benevolent man, doing good where he could in a quiet, unostentious manner. He was widely respected and esteemed, of a mild disposition, abhorring any thing that savoured of bustle, and had all the characteristics of a true English gentleman.’ 6
The photos below, taken in November 2024 are at the top of the hill on New Freugh Lane beyond which point there is no public access. The first photos are looking across west to Singleton then around to the east towards the road to Newcastle.
References
- Singleton & District Place Names Place Names of Singleton and Surrounding district Compiled by Terry Callaghan http://www.terrycallaghan.com/resources-3/singleton-patricks-plains/singleton-district-place-names/
- NSW Land Title register – Reference – Book 9 No 373 (9-373)
- NSW Land Title register – Reference – Book 9 No 373 (9-373)
- Orphan Profile: Mary Jane Sands from Banbridge, Co. Down – Written By: Karen Semken with kind research assistance from Lynn Goll in Jan 2013. https://irishfaminememorial.org/wp-content/uploads/participants-database/mary_jane_sands_earl_grey.pdf
- Digby, Everard (compiler). Australian Men of Mark, vol 2, Sydney, Charles F. Maxwell, 1889 at ANU School of History, Digitised Biographies ‘M’Douall, J. C. S., Appendix page 36
- Singleton Argus (NSW : 1880 – 1954), Saturday 31 January 1891, page 2 Obituary. DEATH OF MR J. C. S. M’DOUALL, J.P.
George Gray - Stonemason & Builder 