Dadswell Family History

Generation 7
Thomas Ovenden Dadswell (1802-1880) and Sarah Broadfield, Mary Ann Broadfield

On this page:
Ancestors of Thomas Ovenden Dadswell
Thomas Ovenden Dadswell's story
Key family dates
Further information

Ancestors of Thomas Ovenden Dadswell

Robert Doudeswell 1560 > Robert Doudeswell 1606 > Edward Dodswell 1659 > Edward Dodswell 1679 > Robert Dadswell 1711 > Robert Dadswell 1773 > Thomas Ovenden Dadswell 1802

Thomas Ovenden Dadswell's story

Thomas Ovenden Dadswell was the 4th of the 12 children of Robert and Mary (Finch) Dadswell. He was baptised at Rotherfield, Sussex on 3 September 1802.

Although born in Sussex, he was in Birmingham, Warwickshire when he married Sarah Broadfield, daughter of boat builder Thomas James Broadfield and his wife Sarah (Smith) Broadfield. The marriage took place at St Martin's Church, Birmingham on 17 November 1829.

The couple was living at Tipton, northwest of Birmingham in 1845 when the grocery, tea and provisions business partnership of Thomas and Charles Dadswell (presumably Thomas' younger brother) was dissolved, and Thomas became the sole owner.

Thomas and Sarah Dadswell did not stay in England but arrived in Moreton Bay, Queensland, aboard the sailing ship Fortitude in 1849 and the following year they were living in Sydney.

Thomas again went into business, this time manufacturing boots and shoes, and he built a prosperous business. He was to be joined by his brother Charles and Charles' son Charles Frederick Dadswell, but Charles senior died on his 1852 voyage to Australia. The orphan Charles Frederick Dadswell was taken in by Thomas and Sarah when the ship arrived in Australia late that year.

The couple was living in King Street, Sydney, in 1850 and 1851 and by 1867 they had moved to Wellington Street, Newtown, to live in a cottage named 'Rotherfield'. In the following year, Sands Directory listed Thomas as having a boot manufacturing and grindery store at 27, 29 and 34 King Street while their principal residence was in Wellington Street.

Sarah died from oedema (dropsy) in 1862 when she was aged 64. By this time, their nephew Charles Frederick Dadswell was 15 and he joined his uncle's manufacturing business.

In 1865, Thomas married a second time, to Mary Ann Broadfield, a younger sister of Sarah and a sister of Elizabeth Broadfield who earlier had married Thomas's brother Charles. Mary Ann was born in Birmingham but it is unclear when she migrated to Australia.

The couple continued to live at Newtown, Sydney, until their deaths in 1880. Mary Ann died in February of that year, Thomas in October. No children appear to have been born from either of Thomas' marriages.

This 7-generation Family Chart shows the development of this Dadswell family (PDF file).

Picture above: The sailing ship Fortitude, of 608 tons and which sailed from Gravesend, England on 14 September 1848, arriving at Moreton Bay on 20 January 1849. She carried 256 immigrants including Thomas and Sarah Dadswell. This picture is held by the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

Picture below: Thomas Dadswell's boot manufacturing premises in King Street, Sydney with what are believed to be staff outside. It is unclear if Thomas Dadswell or his nephew Charles Dadswell is among them. According to notes on the back of the photograph, the picture was taken by Beaufoy Merlin of the American and Australasian Photographic Co., presumably in the early 1870s.

Key family dates

Further information

Robert and Mary Dadswell, parents of Thomas Ovenden Dadswell
Charles Frederick Dadswell, nephew of Thomas Ovenden Dadswell