Colour Sergeant William James Leviston (.1781....1857..)

Back To . . The New South Wales Corps. ( Rum Corps. ) "Renamed 102nd Regiment & 100th  Regiment

Descendants

This information was kindly supplied by Neil Gill e-mail address neil.gill@statetrustees.com.au

Web Site Address http://home.primus.com.au/bonzaideas/MyFamilytree/MyFamilyTree.html

 

Area Settled :

Nicholas Street, Chilwell, Geelong

Children :

William James Leviston & Ann Gibbs

1 . William Leviston (born)1st Oct 1804, Sydney, NSW (bapt)30 Dec 1804 St. Philip's, Sydney (died)

2 . Elizabeth Leviston (born)25 Jan 1807 (bapt)22 Nov 1807 St. Philip's, Sydney (died)

3 . Joseph Leviston (born)6th Feb 1809 (bapt)19th Feb 1809 St. Philip's, Sydney (died)

William James Leviston & Jane Champion

1 . Mary Ann Leviston (born circa 1812 possibly Guernsey, Channel Islands or Bermuda and she (died)10th June 1857 Geelong Hospital, Victoria (45yrs) (bur)12th June 1857 Geelong Cemetery

2 . John Leviston (born) circa 1815

3 . Henry Pounder Glory Leviston (born)7th July 1818 at sea on board the 'Glory' (bapt)20th Sept 1818 (died)16th Oct 1896 Victoria (bur)19th Oct 1896 Buninyong Cemetery (yrs)

4 . Joseph Daniel Samuel Hallery Leviston (born)25th May 1820 Hobart, VDL (bapt)5th June 1820 Hobart C of E (died)1822 VDL (16mths)

5 . Margaret Leviston (born)9th April 1821 Hobart, VDL (bapt)8th May 1821 Glenorchy, VDL (died)26th Aug 1913 VDL (yrs)

6 . Maria Leviston (born)27th Sept1823 Hobart, VDL (bapt)13th Jan 1824 Hobart C of E (died)23rd Feb 1883 Preston Hill, Carngham, Victoria (bur) Feb 1883 Smythesdale Cemetery (59yrs)

7 . Ann Elizabeth Leviston
(born)30th Sept 1825 Hobart, VDL (bapt)23rd Oct 1825 Glenorchy, VDL (died) March 1828 VDL (bur) March 1828 VDL (yrs)

8 . Thomas Leviston (born)1827 VDL (bapt)1827 Glenorchy, VDL (died) Oct 1851 Chilwell, Geelong, Victoria (bur) Geelong Cemetery (service) Christ Church, Geelong (24yrs)

9 . David Leslie Leviston(born)22nd Jan 1830 Hobart, VDL (bapt)17th Feb 1830 St. David's Cof E Hobart, VDL (died)9th April 1908 Ballarat, Vic. (bur)April 1908 Ballarat Cemetery (78yrs) (cause:'')

10 . James Leviston (born)12th May 1832 Glenorchy, VDL (bapt) 6th June 1832 St. David's  C of E, Hobart, VDL (died) (bur) (yrs)
11 . Eleanor Leviston (born)22nd Dec 1833 Glenorchy, VDL (bapt)29th Jan 1834 St. David's C of E, Hobart, VDL (died) (bur) (yrs)

History & Achievements :

Our William James LEVISTON is another most interesting character, he was born in 1781 in St.James' Parish, Dublin, Ireland, the son of, it seems, William LEVINSTON & Margaret LESLIE who were married at the same Parish on the 17th of december 1780.  This was a Military Parish and we know that William James' father was in the 73rd and 102nd Regiments. They must have been posted elsewhere as we next see some children being born in Lancashire, England.   1798, William James', his mother & siblings, but it seems not his father, came to Australia aboard the 'Barwell' which came to Sydney specifically with an entire Company of recruits for the NSW Corps (AKA '100th Regiment').  

After an eventful trip to the Australian Colonies, we see William James enlist for the NSW Corps later in 1798 under the age of '18 years'. William served in the colonies at first as a Private and eventually becoming a 'Color Sergeant' and 'Band Master' for the Corps.  He must have participated in the 'Castle Hill Uprising' and at some stage did his turn at 'Norfolk Island' and was around the place when Governor BLIGH was overthrown by the NSW Corp (AKA 'The Rum Corps') before returning to England when the Regiment was re-defined as the '102nd Regiment of Foot'. Prior to him returning, William had married a woman called Anne GIBBS and they had '3' children together.  

They all returned to Horsham Barracks with William, all except the youngest child who had died in Sydney.  This, however, was to be a sad move, as a 'Measles Epidemic' swept through the Barracks at Horsham and wiped out a large majority of the women and children of the soldiers from Australia who hadn't developed any immunity for measles, and unfortunately, William's wife and two remaining children were among the victims. It was here in Horsham, Sussex, where William James met and married his second wife, Jane CHAMPION, on the 15th of April 1811.  She was a daughter of a fellow soldier and after being stationed at Guernsey then Bermuda and serving in the 'American War of 1812-1814' where the British burnt down Washington DC, William was discharged from the Military and returned to the Australian Colonies where his mother and siblings had established themselves.

William, Jane and their '2 children' that had been born whilst William had been serving overseas, arrived back in Australia aboard the 'Glory' in 1818.  Their third child was in fact born aboard the ship in Sydney Harbour and was named after the ship and her Master.  He was called Henry Pounder Glory LEVISTON, POUNDER was the Master of the ship. They then came to Hobart where they took up a Land Grant at Glenorchy and added to their family having a total of '11 children', add to this William's '3 children' from his first marriage and you get a grand total of '14 children' to William James himself. Around the mid 1840s, William James and family came to Victoria settling in Nicholas Street, Chilwell, Geelong where in 1857 William James died at the age of 75 years.  

His wife Jane lived longer and died in 1878 at Geelong 1878 aged 80 years. It appears that William James Leviston came to Sydney in 1798 with his mother and siblings. He then enlisted in the NSW Corps in Sydney and in 1810, he returned to England. Whilst residing in the Horsham Barracks in Sussex, he lost his wife and two children to a Measles Epidemic. He then married Jane Champion (a daughter of a fellow army colleague) and served i for the British Army in the American War of circa 1812-1814, before being pensioned out in 1818. He then returned soon afterwards to Australia and settled in Hobart where he raised his family. In the mid 1840s he moved to Victoria and settled in Geelong where he died in 1857