Family History.
Recently the Murrell Family decided to trace the history of their ancestor and found that Daniel Murrell was one of Australia’s early convicts who was transported to Australia for “Stealing a Fowl!”
Daniel Murrell was born in Fordham Essex England in 1815; his parents were James Murrell (a labourer) and Martha.
Daniel Murrell was convicted on 22nd May 1832 in Chelmsford Essex on two counts:
- Stealing a Matlock (a tool)
- Stealing a Fowl
He received a 7 year sentence for each offence. When convicted in England Daniel Murrell’s occupation is listed as a Ploughman. Daniel was transported aboard the “York” convict ship which departed England on the 1st of September 1832 and arrived in Tasmania on the 29th December 1832.
When Daniel Murrell arrived in Tasmania we was employed on public works on the “Great Island” and then sent to the Hamilton District to work on a private farm. He received a Ticket of Leave on 1 January 1840. He then obtained a Conditional Pardon on 12th February 1842 and finally was granted a Certificate of Freedom on the 3rd of November 1847.
Eventually Daniel departed Tasmania and traveled to Geelong in Victoria and from there moved into the Western District of Victoria.
Daniel Murrell married Mary Higgins in Geelong on 16th February 1858.
Daniel’s occupation was a carrier living in Teasdale and Mary was a servant at Batesford. Mary at 22 years of age was 18 years younger than Daniel.
It is interesting to note that neither Daniel nor Mary could write. Daniel and Mary had a son James Murrell who was born in 1858. Sadly Daniel died two years later in 1860.
Little information is known about James Murrell except that he was a butcher and cattle dealer in Shelford and that he married Laura Hawes and that they had a son Harold Henry Murrell who was born in 1892.
Harold Henry Murrell was Gordon’s father and in 1916 he enlisted in the Australian Army, joined the 29th Battalion and went to the First World War. Harold was sent to the Western Front in France. As Harold had no trade he therefore witnessed the brutality of the fighting in the trenches, fighting in battles at Fromelles, Polygon Wood and Ypres. At the end of the Great War he traveled to Edinburgh and studied at the Royal Veterinary College before returning to Australia. Harold took up a Soldier Settlement lot in Foxhow and married Flora Urch and raised three children, Gordon who was born in 1925 being the eldest.
Gordon and Lorna (Dunn) both grew up in Foxhow and were married in Foxhow in 1950, they had three children Pamela, Lynette and Daryl. They operated a stock transport business in Foxhow before moving to Geelong in 1963.
The Murrell Group of Companies proudly displays on their letterhead the history of the Murrell family and their Company slogan boasts “From Transported to Transporting”.
