Laurence Hynes Halloran (29 December
1765
Events January–March
* January 23 – Prince Joseph of Austria marries Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria in Vienna.
* January 29 – One week before his death, Mir Jafar, who had been enthroned as the Nawab of Bengal and ru ...
– 8 March 1831) was a poet, unordained clergyman and felon who became a pioneer
schoolteacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. wh ...
, journalist, and
bigamist
In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...
in Australia, founder of the
Sydney Public Free Grammar School.
Early life
Halloran was born in
County Meath
County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...
, Ireland and was orphaned while young. He was placed in the care of an uncle, Judge William Gregory, and educated at Christ's Hospital. He entered the navy in 1781 but was gaoled two years later for stabbing and killing a fellow
midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...
. He came into notice by the publication of two volumes of verse, ''Odes, Poems and Translations'' (1790), and ''Poems on Various Occasions'' (1791), and probably about this period became master of Alphington Academy near Exeter; one of his pupils was
Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford
Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (24 February 1779 – 4 September 1826), was a British lawyer, judge and politician.
Gifford was born in Exeter, and entered the Middle Temple in 1800. He was Call ...
(born 1779). Claiming falsely to have been ordained by
Thomas O'Beirne,
Bishop of Ossory
The Bishop of Ossory () is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Provinces of Ireland, Province of Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remain ...
,
Halloran afterwards became a chaplain in the navy, and in 1805 was on the ''Britannia'' at the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
. The following year, he was posing as a clergyman in
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
[ In 1807 he was at the ]Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
as a chaplain to the forces. In 1811, now also holding a school principal's position, he interfered in a duel between two officers and was removed to Simon's Town. He then resigned his position as chaplain and published a satire ''Cap-abilities or South African Characteristics''. Proceedings were taken against him and he was sentenced to be banished from the colony. It was subsequently necessary for the governor of the colony to declare valid those marriages conducted by Halloran during his time there.[ Returning to England in 1811, he resumed his pose as a clergyman under half a dozen aliases in a variety of English parishes, also teaching and writing poetry.][ In November 1818 he was charged with forging a tenpenny frank, was found guilty, and was sentenced to seven years ]penal transportation
Penal transportation or transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their ...
to Australia.
Transported to Australia
Halloran arrived in Sydney in June 1819, was immediately given a ticket of leave by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Halloran, with help from Simeon Lord
Simeon Lord ( – 29 January 1840) was a pioneer merchant and a magistrate in Australia. He became a prominent trader in Sydney, buying and selling ship cargoes. Despite being an emancipist Lord was made a magistrate by Governor Lachlan Macq ...
and John Macarthur John MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to:
*J. Roderick MacArthur (1920–1984), American businessman
*John MacArthur (American pastor) (born 1939), American evangelical minister, televangelist, and author
* John Macarthur (priest), 20th-century pro ...
, established a school for "Classical, Mathematical and Commercial Education" (also known as Sydney Grammar School). When news of this reached London obstacles were put in his way by the English authorities, but Lachlan Macquarie and Thomas Brisbane
Major General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet, (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was a British Army officer, administrator, and astronomer. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he had served, he was appoint ...
successively supported him, and he established a high reputation as a teacher. In February 1827 he applied for a grant of land for a free grammar school which he proposed to establish at Sydney. Governor Darling was, however, less sympathetic, and Halloran had great difficulty in providing for his family of nine children. He founded a weekly paper, the ''Gleaner'', of which the first number appeared on 5 April 1827. However, in September, an action against the paper for libel was successful, and its last number came out on 29 September 1827. In 1828 Darling for the sake of his children gave him the office of coroner but he did not keep the position long, and in the same year was in trouble with Archdeacon Scott, who objected to Halloran's prefacing some public lectures he was giving with part of the Anglican church service. In 1830 he established a "Memorial Office" the intention being that he should draw up statements for people desiring to bring their grievances before the government.
Halloran died at Sydney on 7 March 1831. In addition to the works mentioned Halloran, before leaving England, published four volumes of poems and a play, which are listed in Percival Serle
Percival Serle (18 July 1871 – 16 December 1951) was an Australian biographer and bibliography, bibliographer.
Early life
Serle was born in Elsternwick, Victoria, Elsternwick, Victoria (Australia), Victoria to English parents who had migrated ...
's ''Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Verse''.
Private life
Halloran was born a Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, but became an Anglican in 1792.[ While living in Exeter he married Mary ("Polly") Boutcher, a Catholic lady ten years older than him, by whom he had six children. His sister's illegitimate daughter Anna (12 years younger than him) also posed as his wife, and they had twelve children together. The year after her death in Australia in 1823, Halloran bigamously married 16-year-old Elizabeth Forrester Turnbull by whom he had four more children.][
]
Legacy
Halloran was a good schoolmaster who honestly endeavoured to re-establish his reputation in Sydney. It was hard on him that his past sins were never allowed to rest. Unfortunately, he was of a quarrelsome nature and owed much of his misfortune to this throughout his life. The statement that he had forged his clerical orders is attested to in a private letter from Henry Hobhouse Henry Hobhouse may refer to:
* Henry Hobhouse (archivist) (1776–1854), English archivist
* Henry Hobhouse (East Somerset MP)
Henry Hobhouse (1 March 1854 – 25 June 1937) was an English landowner and Liberal, and from 1886 Liberal Unionis ...
, under-secretary of state, to Earl Bathurst
Earl Bathurst, of Bathurst in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain.
The medieval English word was Botehurst, thought to date at least from the 13th century. Bote is the origination of Battle, although the family ma ...
, and there is ample evidence from his dismissals from clerical office in England that the Anglican authorities there held that he had never been properly ordained.[ His son, ]Henry Halloran
Henry Ferdinand Halloran (9 August 1869 – 22 October 1953) was a major property owner and developer in New South Wales in the early part of the twentieth century.
Halloran was born in Sydney, his father was a bank clerk and architect named Edw ...
, born in 1811, became a leading public servant at Sydney and was created C.M.G. in 1878. He was the author of much verse which like his father's was of only mediocre quality. He was well known in the literary circles of his day, and was a good friend to Henry Kendall.
See also
*List of convicts transported to Australia
Penal transportation to Australia began with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and ended in 1868. Overall, approximately 165,000 convicts were transported to Australia.
Convicts
A
* Esther Abrahams (c. 1767–1846), English wife of ...
*Henry Halloran
Henry Ferdinand Halloran (9 August 1869 – 22 October 1953) was a major property owner and developer in New South Wales in the early part of the twentieth century.
Halloran was born in Sydney, his father was a bank clerk and architect named Edw ...
(son)
* Henry Halloran (great grandson)
References
*A. G. Austin, 'Halloran, Laurence Hynes (1765–1831)', Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
, Volume 1, MUP, 1966, pp 506–507. Retrieved 20 January 2009
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halloran, Laurence Hynes
1765 births
1831 deaths
Australian educators
Convicts transported to Australia
Australian people of Irish descent
People from County Meath