Henry Trigg (1791–1882) was the Superintendent of

Public Works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1839 to 1851 and founder of the

Congregational Church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Biography

Henry Trigg was born on 30 June 1791 in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, England, the son of Henry and Mary Trigg. In 1813 he married Amelia Ralph (b. 1791) and they had seven children, Eliza, Harriet, Emma, Jane, Amelia, Henry and William, prior to him leaving England. Trigg was a carpenter and a businessman but due to the economic depression in England following the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

he felt that his family would have a better chance in the colonies and decided to emigrate to the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

, leaving his family until he was set up and could afford their passage. At the age of 38, he emigrated to Western Australia, arriving on the in October 1829. His personal wealth (£200) allowed him to take up a land grant of in the colony. Trigg's grant encompasses what is now the suburb of Churchlands. In 1831, Amelia and their seven children emigrated, arriving in the colony in December that year. They had a further two children, Stephen (b. 1832) and Susannah (b. 1833). A further child, a son, was stillborn in 1837. Appointed Head Constable for Perth in December 1829, he then also became one of the first two constables appointed to the newly established Mounted Police Force in 1834 under the command of Captain T T Ellis which operated independently of the town constables. Then in 1838 he was appointed Clerk of Public Works, following which in December 1839 he was made Superintendent of Public Works, following the retirement of

Henry Willey Reveley Henry Willey Reveley (1788–1875) was a civil engineer responsible for the earliest public works at the Swan River Colony, the foundation of the state of Western Australia. Life Reveley was the son of Willey and Maria Reveley (later Gisborn ...

, a position in which he remained until his resignation in April 1851 to become a full-time Minister. In his role he supervised the construction of a number of jetties, bridges (including the Perth Causeway and

Canning Bridge Canning Bridge is a traffic bridge which is the most downstream crossing of the Canning River in the city of Perth, Western Australia. The bridge is a part of Canning Highway, and it connects the suburbs of Como and Applecross. The Canning Rive ...

) a number of buildings on

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...

(including the Rottnest Island Light Station), a number of gaols and lock ups in the newly developing towns of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

and Bunbury and the building of St George's Anglican church (the precursor to St George's Cathedral). Trigg initially attended the first Anglican Church, where he was a choirmaster. He later joined the Wesleyans, but from 1843 he held prayer meetings in the Congregational tradition in his own home. In 1846, a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was constructed in William Street, where for six years, Trigg conducted all the services until, 1852, when the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...

sent out the Reverend James Leonard to be the first ordained Congregational minister. Trigg’s firm conviction to Christianity stems from an incident in 1831, a story he related from the pulpit, he was recovering from a bout of rum drinking, which was quite common in Perth at the time, when an apparition appeared to him while he was on the precipitous roof of the unfinished commissariat building’s where the current Supreme Court now stands, it commanded him to "Throw down the bottle and never pick it up again" From that moment on he was a changed man. To him most of all, the founding of Congregationalism in Western Australia is due. His grandson was

Henry Stirling Trigg Henry Stirling Trigg (1860–4 November 1919), also known as Harry, was a prominent Western Australian architect. He was the grandson of Henry Trigg (Superintendent of Public Works in Western Australia from 1839 to 1851), and the first archi ...

(1860–1919) who was a leading architect in Western Australia. His wife, Amelia, died on 7 April 1873 at the age of 82, whilst Trigg died at the age of 91 on 15 February 1882 in

and is buried in the

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

section of the East Perth Cemetery. Trigg Beach and the surrounding suburb of Trigg, north of

, was named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trigg, Henry English emigrants to colonial Australia Settlers of Western Australia Public servants of Western Australia 1791 births 1882 deaths Burials at East Perth Cemeteries 19th-century Australian public servants Western Australia Police