James Bloodsworth was a convict

Convict

A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...

 sentenced for the theft of one game cock and two hens at Esher

Esher

Esher is a town in the Surrey borough of Elmbridge in South East England near the River Mole. It is a very prosperous part of the Greater London Urban Area, largely suburban in character, and is situated 14.1 miles south west of Charing Cross....

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

. James was a master bricklayer and builder responsible for the construction of most of the colony's buildings between 1788 and 1800. James Bloodsworth was living at Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and been tried at Kingston on Thames Quarter Sessions on the 3 October 1785, when sentenced to seven years transportation

Penal transportation

Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...

.

Convict years

In 1788 Bloodsworth was sent to New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

) in the First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

 in the Charlotte

Charlotte (ship)

The Charlotte was a First Fleet transport ship of 335 tons, built on the River Thames in 1787. She was a light sailer, and had to be towed down the English Channel for the first few days of the voyage...

 and was immediately appointed master bricklayer in the settlement at Sydney Cove

Sydney Cove

Sydney Cove is a small bay on the southern shore of Port Jackson , on the coast of the state of New South Wales, Australia....

. In March of 1788 brick-making began at Long Cove (this site was later named Cockle Bay

Cockle Bay (Sydney)

Cockle Bay is a small bay in inner-city Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the western edge of the Sydney central business district....

, and, still later, Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour, New South Wales

Darling Harbour is a locality of the city centre of Sydney, Australia. It is a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street...

) under his instruction. The site was to become known as the Brickfield. The approximate area is at the lower end of George Street, now known as Haymarket. In addition to bricks, at the same plant burned clay roof tiles, which gave greatly improved water tightness, durability and dignity to the burgeoning public buildings.
Since there were no architects in the fleet he was largely responsible for the design and the erection of Australia's first buildings, although the army and navy officers in the settlement had some knowledge of architecture. Bloodsworth was placed in charge of a gang of labourers who were responsible for the erection of the first brick huts built by May 1788.

Besides designing many private houses, Bloodsworth can be credited with the first Government House

Government House, Sydney

Government House is located in Sydney, Australia alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking Sydney Harbour, just south of the Sydney Opera House...

 (located on what is now the south-west corner of Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney.), which lasted from 1788 to 1845, and in 1790 the storehouse at King's Wharf on the shore of Sydney Cove.
On 4 June 1789, just sixteen months after the first landing at Sydney Cove, the early settlers gathered to celebrate the birthday of King George III and the grand opening of Government House.
Governor Arthur Phillip

Arthur Phillip

Admiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...

 praised 'the pains he had taken to teach others the business of a bricklayer', and his conduct was exemplary at a time when most convicts were noted for indolence or rebelliousness. Bloodsworth worked under difficulties; although there were competent bricklayers among the convicts, they had no proper mortar to bind the bricks together. For the walls of Government House some lime mortar was obtained by burning oyster shells, but elsewhere mud-mortar had to be used. This was far from satisfactory, but by adapting his construction methods to these crude conditions he produced serviceable buildings, which also were by no means unseemly, because he was working within the long-established rules of Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

.

Post convict years

Bloodsworth was pardoned in 1790 and on 1 September 1791 was appointed superintendent over all the brickmakers and bricklayers. Next year he was offered rehabilitation to England, but he refused. In 1803 when offered a choice of employment at Port Phillip

Port Phillip

Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...

 or the Derwent

Derwent River (Tasmania)

The Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. It was named after the River Derwent, Cumbria by British Commodore John Hayes who explored it in 1793. The name is Brythonic Celtic for "valley thick with oaks"....

 he again refused, preferring to remain in Sydney. In 1802 he had become a sergeant in the Sydney Loyal Association, a great mark of respect to a former convict. At that time he was farming his grant of fifty acres (20 ha) at Petersham

Petersham, New South Wales

Petersham is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Petersham is located 6 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Marrickville Council...

; later he increased his holdings to 245 acres (99 ha).

Death

Although Bloodsworth had the asset of his farm and his government salary of £50, he was insolvent when he died from pneumonia on 21 March 1804 at his house on South Row, Sydney. Because of the high regard the settlers had for him, Governor Philip Gidley King

Philip Gidley King

Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...

 ordered that he be given the nearest the young colony could provide to a state funeral. The Sydney Loyal Association escorted the cortège with muffled drums, and the body was laid in the old Sydney burial ground on 23 March, with military honours. He was survived by two sons and two daughters.

From the Sydney Gazette 25 March 1804 No.56

DEATHS

On Wednesday last died, generally lamented, Mr. James Bloodsworth, for many years Superintendent of Builders in the Employ of Government. He came to the Colony among its first inhabitants in the year 1788, and obtained the Appointment, from his exemplary conduct, shortly after his arrival; the first house in this part of the Southern Hemisphere was by him erected, and most of the Public Buildings since have been under his direction. To lament his loss he has left a widow and five children, the youngest an infant now only one week old; and the complaint which terminated in his dissolution was supposed to proceed from a severe cold contracted about two months ago. Died 21 January 1804 Buried Old Sydney Burial Ground 23 January 1804


J.E. BRAY.

The Attention and concern which prevailed at the interment of the deceased was sufficient testimonies of the respect with which he filled and the integrity with which he uninterruptedly discharged the duties of a Public Trust during so long a period........


His Excellency was pleased to order that "THE FUNERAL SHOULD BE PROVIDED AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE" and to shew other marks of attention to so ??????? a Servant of the Crown.
Four in the afternoon of Friday being at the wish of the widow appointed for the Funeral, the Relics of the deceased were at that hour removed from his house in South Street, and conveyed to the place of interment attended by a great number of friends, amoug whom were most of the Sydney Loyal Association, in which he had been appointed Sergeant.

Opposite to his old residence a Procession was formed, which moved in the following order:-

• 12 of the Loyal Association, arms reversed
• Sergeant of the Association
• Drum muffled & Fife
• THE BIER
• Two sons, chief Mourners followed by an infant daughter
• Fourteen Female Mourners
• Twenty-four male Mourners
• A number of respectable inhabitants in Rank
• The Non Commissioned Officers of the N.S.W. Corps
  New South Wales Corps
  The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment to relieve the marines who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. The regiment, led by Major Francis Grose, consisted of three companies...
  
  
• And a Crowd of spectators

When near the burial ground the Association were obliged to file off, for the accommodation of the friends of the deceased, and the populace, who were become very numerous; and when the remains were deposited approached the grave and performed Military Honors.