[Lane Cove]

Early lithographic map of Lane Cove in 1860 with landholders names for the investigation into the original land grant made by William Bligh to William Henry, an ex convict that wasn’t confirmed by Bligh.

William Henry (1777-1862) had been convicted on 7/3/1800 for entering the dwelling house of William Farley, in the Parish of St Paul and ‘with force and arms feloniously did steal, take and carry away money and property to the value of £12.16.8.Henry served as a Royal Marine and fought against Napoleon. He was sentenced to 7 years transportation in 1801 for stealing goods worth 12 pounds. He Rose to become superintendent under Governor William Bligh and granted 1,000 acres at Lane Cove by Bligh in 1806. He remained loyal to Bligh during the Rum Rebellion when Bligh was unlawfully arrested by John McArthur’s rebels. Henry occupied a total of 2,000 acres of Lane Cove from 1820 until forcibly ejected in 1850. He disputed the eviction and the granting of the land to him by Bligh for 35 years until Henry Parkes’s inquiry of 1860 recommended liberal compensation for wrongful dispossession of his grant. He died at age 85 before compensation was made. Part of his descendants’ house survives in Lane Cove Park on Jenkins Hill. Henry met Jane Carr also on the Earl Cornwallis. No record of their marriage found bu they had 3 children. William Henry is buried at St Anne’s Ryde.

Part of his original grant is now included in Lane Cove National Park.