Edward Lord was born in Wales in 1781, so was a year younger than Maria Riseley. He was from the usual well- born, well-to-do, well-connected circles which provided most of the officers in early Australia. Edward's uncle was a baronet, a fact the lad never forgot, and his brother John inherited the title.
Like Collins, Lord became an officer in the Royal Marines, and in 1803 joined Collins' expedition to Port Phillip. Able, energetic and enterprising, Lord was a favourite of Collins. When the expedition moved to the River Derwent it took shelter from a storm in Frederick Henry Bay, and Lord and the mineralogist, Humphrey, volunteered to go overland to tell Bowen of their arrival.
The surf was high, but they struggled ashore, and, wet through, began their trek. By nightfall they reached Ralph 's Bay, and the next day pushed on towards Risdon Cove. It was February, there was no fresh water to be found, and all they had to eat was salt pork. 'I had never suffered so much from want of drink and was almost unable to walk', wrote Humphrey. Fortunately they saw a boat from Risdon, but learnt that Bowen was not there, so all their efforts were wasted.
Once Collins established the new settlement at Sullivan's Cove, Lord was very industrious in advancing his own career. Although officers were not meant to indulge in private trade, Collins encouraged Lord to do this. Lord and Humphrey bought five dogs to catch kangaroo which they sold to the Commissariat; owned fowls, goats, pigs and geese; bought stock and flour from visiting ships and sold it for a profit. Collins himself bought a large quantity of rum and sold it at a pound a gallon to his officers. They resold it, supposedly at a guinea a gallon, 'but we can make four times that of it', wrote Humphrey. Whether they had much time for their official duties is not clear, but in 1804 Collins praised Lord for 'his attention and vigilance at all times'.
In the same year Lord and Humphrey built a four-roomed house, the first in Hobart. It was welcome, for life in a tent in winter had its drawbacks. Humphrey said there was often six inches of water under his bed in the tent.
Early in 1805 Lord fell out with Collins. He met Collins walking arm-in-arm with Hannah Power, and refused to bow. When Collins asked why Lord would not bow to his superior officer, Lord replied it was because Collins had his 'leman' on his arm. Collins put Lord under arrest, but a few months later Lord was free -and, says Fawkner, 'then went; and sank himself, if possible, lower than the Governor he had upbraided'.
One problem for these young men was the absence of women. Early in 1805 the Sophia arrived from Sydney with thirty female convicts, but even then there were only 35 females to 274 male convicts, and apparently no available women among the free settlers. Lord and Humphrey decided to return to Sydney in the Sophia to choose women for themselves. They arrived in Apri1 1805.
Edward and Maria remained in Sydney. Maria's daughter Caroline was born in June 1805 and was passed off as Edward's daughter. She was called Caroline Lord, except on her wedding day when for the official record she made a brief appearance as Caroline Riseley.
Her mother Maria was, according to Fawkner, 'a worldly wise woman, set herself to make a house, and to provide means for herself, her children and her master. She foresaw that much money was to be made, and how: she, by the credit of her master, and her own tact, and shrewdness, obtained a quantity of goods, and proceeded, with these under her control, to Hobart Town'. Edward, Maria and baby Caroline arrived in Hobart Town in November 1805, and Maria Riseley opened a shop with the goods she had brought from Sydney. It was almost the first shop in the two-year-old colony, and as Maria Riseley was an able businesswoman she did very well.
Fawkner has stories of her shrewdness. One of the items she brought to Hobart Town was some maize, which she sold cheaply at first, at a penny a pint. Maize and wheat had to be ground through a rough mill, and the bread was heavy and unpleasantly sweet, but it had to be eaten as there was little else. In June 1806 news arrived that floods had ruined the crops in New South Wales, and Maria Riseley raised her prices from a penny a pint to half a guinea (or 126 pennies). There were plenty of anxious purchasers ready to buy, though some of the maize was mouldy. Even more outrageous was the price Maria Riseley charged for her last pound of tea, sold to a man whose wife was having a baby: six guineas! Even today $12.60 would be exorbitant for 450 grams of tea.
Maria Riseley generally dealt in spirits, however. In 1807 when famine was at its peak, a ship arrived in Hobart Town with cattle, rice and rum on board. Maria Riseley and three male merchants boarded the vessel and bought all the rum they could for 2/6 a gallon. This they sold for 5/- a gallon at first, though the price soon rose to 10/-. Despite this, scarcely a sober man could be seen for nearly six weeks, said Fawkner, and Maria Riseley and the three men made large profits. The women of the colony, added Fawkner, drank far less than the men.
Maria Riseley's success came despite several obstacles. One was Edward Lord, who, according to Fawkner, spent his time rambling about and fooling away the money she made for the family. 'They would have become rich but for his gambling and other base propensities.' Another disruptive factor was successive pregnancies. In August 1806 a daughter Elizabeth was born, only to die within a few days, and the following year a second daughter Elizabeth made her appearance. (It was quite usual to call a baby after a deceased sibling). Though Elizabeth was illegitimate she was baptised, and nine days later Knopwood visited Maria Riseley and went through the ceremony of churching her. This form of purification after child- birth was seldom performed in Hobart Town, so perhaps either Maria or Edward hankered after old traditions and/ or respectability. Knopwood refers rather coyly to their relationship in his diary: 'Lt. Lord drank tea with me and his friend'.
Meanwhile, Edward was also busy with business. In 1806 he became the largest stockholder in Van Diemen's Land - admittedly against little competition. He was granted 100 acres and seems to have bought out Humphrey, who was having trouble with dishonoured bills. (Humphrey did not have Lord's success with women, either. He fell in love with a girl and abducted her, but her father appealed to Governor King and Humphrey was directed to take the girl back. After six years he married her).
Rumours abounded concerning Edward Lord's business activities: that he traded in Maria's name, contrary to regulations, and that he engaged in smuggling. In 1807 Knopwood noted that 'at daylight, Lieut. Lord took his boat and went down the river' to a brig sailing to Hobart. More specifically, he later stated that 'Lt Lord landed a cask of spirits from H.M. ship “Porpus” without any permit. His men came past my house with it in a barrow'.
In 1807 the Lord household moved to a new and larger dwelling; Lord, now twenty-six, was doing well. By now he was second-in-command to Collins, and he and Maria Riseley were established leaders in the small business world of Hobart Town.
The following year, after the deposition of Governor Bligh by his officers, Edward Lord was in Sydney from May to September, possibly sent there by Collins to see what was going on. Lord quickly sized up the situation, sided with the rebels, and from them obtained an appointment as a magistrate, a grant for 500 acres, and a free pardon for Maria Riseley (who had, in fact, served six of her seven years' sentence). On his return he at once married her, by special licence, not even waiting three weeks for the banns to be read. Presumably he felt that a man in his position could not marry a convict; but a free woman was quite another matter. Again, someone wanted respectability, an unusual desire in Hobart at the time. It was rare for officers to marry their convict, or even ex-convict mistresses.
Some months later, when Bligh arrived at the Derwent to seek help from Collins, he was appalled to see that Lord and another officer kept a shop, contrary to regulations, and monopolised 'the advantages of Trade to the great Injury of the Settlement'. Whether he was referring to Maria Lord's shop is not clear; perhaps he assumed that any shop supposedly run by a woman would in fact be managed by her husband. When Bligh expressed a wish to see the country, Collins gave him Lord as a guide. They only made one excursion together. Bligh was furious with Lord for siding with the rebels, and pointed out to the British Government that Maria Lord, 'a convict woman of infamous character', was really still a convict, as her pardon was not valid.
During the year one of Bligh's supporters in Hobart Town was arrested for assisting him, and was tried by magistrates Knopwood and Lord. Lord's manner, said the accused, was 'turbulent and prejudiced', and he upbraided the defendant with having once been a convict, 'which Sarcasm rebounded on himself'. Doubtless the fact that the arrogant and ambitious Lord had an ex-convict wife was known by all.
Early in 1810 the Lords had a son, called John Owen after his uncle, the Baronet. Strangely, he was born in Sydney: what Maria Lord was doing there is unknown.26 Her husband was in Hobart Town, for when Collins died in March, Lord took over and was Acting Lieutenant- Governor until July that year. Most contemporary writers disliked Lord, but one admirer says that Lord's brief administration was the only time the settlers received a fair deal. Lord gave some poor families bedding, clothes and convict servants, enforced law and order, and insisted on fair trials, so Hobart Town 'began to have the appearance of a civil Govt instead of a martial one'.
The new Governor in Sydney, Lachlan Macquarie, strongly disapproved of Lord, and replaced him, telling him that 'in consequence of what you have stated in regard to the impaired state of your health', he had permission to go to England, 'preferably direct from Hobart'. Lord, however, went to Sydney, where he argued with Macquarie, writing him 'some very petulant and impertinent letters'. '1 said nothing in case this prevented his return to England', wrote Macquarie. Lord finally left in 1811.
Lord did not take his family, for his and Maria's second son, Edward Robert, was born in Sydney in March 1812. What Maria Lord was doing in Sydney during these years is not entirely clear; it seems strange that she left her business interests in Hobart, but she was not idle in Sydney. Lord bought a considerable number of cattle before he left, and Maria Lord was in charge of them, adroitly sending them to graze on Crown Land first and asking permission afterwards.
By now the family was reasonably wealthy, and Maria Lord and the four children (Caroline, Elizabeth, John and Edward Robert) probably lived in comfort. It is easy to see why the family did not accompany Lord to England: an ex- convict wife and two daughters born before the wedding would have been hard to explain to the Baronet.
In March 1813 Lord returned to Sydney, armed with an order for a land grant of3,000 acres. Later that year the family sailed to Hobart Town, where Edward and Maria took up their business interests. In March 1814 Knopwood passed a party going to Port Dalrymple with 'a quantity of goods of Mrs. Lords', and in April Maria Lord herself went there. Was she establishing a shop? Her husband was busy making his grand estate of 'Orielton' into a showpiece, building a 35-room mansion, running a large amount of stock, and selling meat, far more than anyone else in the colony. As well, he had sailed from Sydney in his own brig, laden with goods worth £30,000, which he sold at a profit, possibly in his wife's shop. He made several more such trading trips and owned at least one other ship. In Hobart Town he owned the mansion 'Ingle Hall'; for years it was the best house in town. It still stands in Macquarie Street.
As one of the most important families in the colony, the Lords enjoyed making a splash socially. Over the years they gave many dinners and balls to their presumably admiring fellow colonists. In October 1814 they held a ball, for which Knopwood sent them ninety-two heads. of grass, probably as decorations. Knopwood left the ball early at 9 p.m., but most of the guests stayed very late. 'The greatest dinner given in the colony', he commented. It followed, and dwarfed, a ball given by the Lieutenant- Governor. In May 1816 the Lords gave a 'splendid and most hospitable entertainment of a Dinner, Ball and Supper' to all the ladies and gentlemen and officers of Hobart. Later that year they delighted the 'gentlemen and settlers' with races at 'Orielton', a 'beautiful and picturesque scene'.
As well as balls there were frequent dinners, and important visitors were often asked to dine with the Lords. After 1816, however, the balls seem to have stopped.
As before, this never-ending round of business and entertaining was complicated for Maria Lord by a string of pregnancies. During these years she gave birth to three children; Corbetta ( called after Edward's mother) in May 1815, William in July 1817, and Emma in September 1819, making a total of eight children. By now she had dispensed with churching. The Lords' wealth and leading position probably meant that there was no further need for a show of respectability. Pregnancies did not seem to worry Maria Lord, and she made the long, rough trip to Port Dalrymple in late 1814, when she was four months pregnant.
In 1816 the eldest boy, six-year-old John, was sent to England to be educated. It seems a brutal act to send such a young child so far awav from home. but it fits in with Edward's desire to do the conventional thing, and at this stage there were no schools in Hobart Town good enough for young John Lord. Later Edward Robert was also sent to school in England, and with him went his sister Eliza.
Once in England the children were cared for by their Lord relations and friends. Their parents tried to equip them suitably to meet the Baronet, and Maria Lord wrote to England asking about the state of their equipment on landing, 'a very large Sum having been expended to fit them for the voyage, in provisions and for their appearing before Mr Lord's friends'. Further money was sent to England each year for the children's needs. Maria Lord also offered to pay for her mother and sister to come to Van Diemen's Land.
In 1821 Eliza Lord, aged fourteen, wrote to a Mr Hassall, remembering his kindness to 'me and dear Edward' on the long voyage to England; she hoped the 'good instructions you used so frequently to give us, will never be forgotten'. She had recently seen 'dear Papa', who had now returned to the colony with her sister Caroline; she was to spend the Easter holidays with dear Grandmamma, and then, on her father's next trip to England, join him to go back to Hobart Town. 'What joy shall I have in again seeing my dearest relations from whom I have been so long separated!'.
Edward and John were at school in Hertfordshire, she wrote, and she herself seems to have been at a school in Pembroke. She enclosed a letter to Caroline for Mr Hassall to forward. She continued:
I have many relations here who are very kind to me, and I trust when placed at a distance from them I shall at all times remember their goodness to me, and when I return to my beloved Papa and Mamma I hope to prove, that during my absence I have not been unmindful of the parental advice they so lavishly bestowed on me, when I left them. ..I hope to make it the study of my life, to promote their comfort and happiness, as a trifling return for what they daily do for me.
Someone was certainly bringing Eliza up well. She was even able to offer sympathy to Hassall on the death of his father: 'No doubt Sir, you know how to bear with pious resignation so great a trial, for it is what we must all endure sometime'.
Back in Hobart Town, Edward Lord had arrived, and he and Maria Lord renewed their friendship with Knopwood, who was a frequent visitor. He often sent them fruit in summer -Maria Lord made raspberry jelly for him -and dined with them. When he was ill various Lords called on him, and once Edward Lord brought the latest English newspapers, only six months old. This kindness was repaid in 1819 when Knopwood refused to issue a warrant against Lord, who was 'so unwell he could not speak'. Lord suffered from asthma, and took several sea trips to recover. When he was away Knopwood, an experienced consoler of grass-widows, often dined with Maria Lord. He also saw the children, and in December 1816 eleven-year- old Caroline brought '2 little ones' to visit him and eat fruit. This was a favourite pastime among Hobart children.
The following year Maria Lord planned to visit England, and advertised to this effect in the Hobart Town Gazette, calling in her debts. Was it a business trip, or a holiday to see her parents and son? She did not go in the end, possibly because she was four months pregnant. In 1818 Edward attempted the trip. He sailed in March with sixty- one cattle for export, but was forced back, as bad weather lengthened the trip and the fodder ran out. During his two months' absence Maria Lord acted as his agent, employing labourers, administering a deceased estate, calling in debts and supplying the Commissariat with meat.
From this it can be seen that the Lords were trying new economic ventures. At this time the Van Diemen's Land economy was virtually stagnant, for the island was seen mainly as a gaol, and free settlers were not encouraged. There was no real export, apart from some grain to New South Wales, and most settlers lived by selling meat or wheat to the Government. Those few, like the Lords, who imported goods, could make a good profit, but the settlement was so small that even this was limited. Lord also tried less legal means of trading, and in 1817 was suspected of smuggling and was officially criticised, though not punished.
In July 1819 Lord made another attempt to go to London. This time he was successful. Caroline went with him, and he left Maria Lord, seven months pregnant, in charge of all their concerns -the retail business, properties, and two hotels and various houses Lord owned in Hobart. 'Orielton' was managed by Maria Lord's brother John Riseley, who arrived in the colony in March 1819.
The 1819 Muster shows the extent of the Lords' property, in the name of 'Mrs Maria Lord for E. Lord'. They owned 6,974 acres, some in crops but most supporting their 3,400 cattle and 4,500 sheep. They owned 41 horses, and employed 50 convict servants and 25 free workers. Maria Lord had three children with her at the time, Corbetta, William and baby Emma, born in September that year. From the properties Maria kept up the huge supply of meat which the Lords had for years provided for the Commissariat. Hull, the Commissary, told Commissioner Bigge in the 1820 enquiry into the state of the colony, that Mrs Lord had been supplying over 30,000 pounds of meat a quarter to meet her own tenders and those of others who had failed to provide meat. The total meat bought was 130,000 pounds, so Maria Lord supplied nearly a quarter. She ran into trouble in 1820 when a batch of meat slaughtered on the estate was putrid on arrival at the store. Hull decided that cattle must be killed at the store.
Maria Lord was clearly a thorn in Hull's side: he wrote that her 'right and influence extends over one third of the local resources of the Colony' .In 1820 it appeared that the price of wheat and meat would rise in Sydney, and that there would be a shortage of wheat in Hobart Town. Maria Lord refused to sign the tenders to provide meat and wheat to the Commissariat. She wrote that in future the price would have to be raised, especially with the increased cost of bringing 'Cattle comparatively Wild' to be slaughtered in Hobart Town. Hull was convinced that she was trying to gain a monopoly! The difficulty blew over and by 1821 the Lords were supplying the Commissariat with even more meat, but the incident shows Maria Lord's practical ability and shrewdness. Like her husband, she was not afraid to try new ventures, and when some prized merino rams were imported she and her brother bought ten, far more than anyone else. As well as wheat and meat, Hull bought large quantities of rum from Maria Lord and another merchant, who between them had cornered the market. She also sold goods to the Government, administered deceased estates, dealt with debtors, and sold passenger tickets to Sydney. Her account with Knopwood shows that she supplied him with various household goods, such as sugar, salt, mutton and candles, and more particularly rum -three gallons every couple of weeks.
Her letter book shows her an extremely capable businesswoman, quick to pick up and demand recompense for any imperfections in goods ordered, and quite able to write a stiff letter to the Lieutenant- Governor if necessary. Sometimes her husband was not so business-like: 'Mr Lord having omitted to send an account of his sales or disposal of the Goods which accompanied him to Sydney', she wrote in 1819. 'The People here go on much as usual, the Town improving fast and the settlement likely to be of consequence' was her comment the following year.
As well as her business activity, Maria Lord kept up her social life. Knopwood frequently dined with her, often in the company of six or so guests, mostly men, and sometimes on family occasions such as little Emma's first birthday. When Commissioner Bigge arrived in 1820 he stayed at the Lords' house, 'Ingle Hall', as it was the most imposing in Hobart. When church pews were allocated in 1820, Maria Lord, ex-convict, was in pew number one, with her brother John and 'other occupiers or purchasers of Mr Lord's houses'.
At the end of 1821 Edward Lord and Caroline arrived back in Hobart Town on board his new ship, Caroline, with a large cargo of merchandise and an order for a further land grant of 3,000 acres. They also brought a Mrs Riseley and a Mrs Taylor, probably Maria Lord's mother and sister. The Lords organised a new store to sell the cargo, which consisted largely of spirits, but also included tea, sugar, cheese and cloth. Lord exchanged some land in Hobart Town for 7,000 acres on the Clyde River, and with his grant this land formed his new property, 'Lawrenny'. He was now said to be the richest man in Van Diemen's Land, owning three ships, warehouses, 6,000 cattle, 7,000 sheep, and 35,000 acres.51 Much of this was, of course, due to the activity of Maria Lord: the increase in the number of sheep and cattle since the last count in early 1820 is quite marked. It was she who remained on the spot and can take credit for a large part of the growth in the family fortunes.
During Edward's stay in Hobart Town in 1822, relations between him and Maria may not have been as cordial as before. There was, for a change, no child of the reunion, and Knopwood seldom mentions Edward and Maria together. He visited Maria and Caroline at 'Orielton', and ate a quantity of currants in the garden; when he saw Edward Lord it was at dinners in town, several times in the company of a young immigrant called Charles Rowcroft. Knopwood also dined with Maria Lord and Rowcroft.
Lord was in trouble again in 1822, accused of trying to bribe the head of the Commissariat, but before the matter could be investigated he was off to England. In another new enterprise he tried exporting wool, and chartered the Royal George to take 40,000 pounds to England. He took two of the children with him, Corbetta, now seven, and William, five. Left in the colony with their mother were the eldest and youngest children, seventeen-year-old Caroline and Emma, aged three. Maria Lord herself was now forty- two.
In November 1822 news came to Hobart Town of the disastrous wreck of the Royal George off the Cape of Good Hope. At first Maria Lord did not know if her husband and children were drowned; later news came that they were safe, but the cargo was lost. This was a serious blow, and at once Maria Lord started selling some family property, bullocks, cows, sheep, silver and a house. She also urgently called on debtors to pay up. Edward and the children continued on to London.
While all this drama was going on, Maria Lord kept up her busy social life. In June she gave a grand dinner, tea, ball and supper to celebrate Caroline's eighteenth birthday. The next month she sent her youngest daughter Emma, aged three, to boarding school with Knopwood's ward Betsy Mack and Eliza Collins, at the Speeds , school at Clarence Plains. This seems a surprising action, but possibly she wanted Emma out of the way, for by now she had a new interest in life: Charles Rowcroft.
Rowcroft, born in 1798, and thus eighteen years younger than Maria Lord, was educated at Eton, and arrived in Hobart Town in 1821 to take up a 2,000 acre grant hear 'Lawrenny'. Knopwood notes that he and Maria Lord were often together from March 1822 onwards. In August they went to Port Dalrymple together and were away for some time; by November they were back in the swing of the Hobart dining scene. When the school term ended Rowcroft, Maria Lord and other parents picked up the children and they all went to Hobart Town in Maria Lord's boat and had dinner together.
There is no actual evidence of an affair at this stage, and Knopwood certainly condoned whatever was going on; but then, he was never known as a moralist. Rowcroft seemed to be accepted as part of the Lord family, and in January 1823 Knopwood wrote, 'In the eve E. Mack and self went to the river garden; met Mrs. & Miss. Lord, Mr. Rowcroft by the church; they went with us into the garden and eat fruit, currents, raspberries, and apples'. Innocent enough, though Rowcroft was always at the Lords' when Knopwood went there for dinner, and he and Maria Lord went to 'Orielton' several times.
In May Caroline married Frederick Dawes, a solicitor. Maria Lord obtained a licence for the occasion, in Caroline's legal name of Riseley. Rowcroft was a witness to the ceremony, which was performed at 8.30 a.m., and afterwards the guests returned to Mrs Lord's for breakfast, which extended on to dinner. Knopwood dined with the newlyweds two days later; in fact over the next three weeks he rather thoughtlessly dined with them seven times. He also dined with Maria Lord and Rowcroft; Maria Lord looked after Betsy when she was ill; all seemed very friendly.
Then suddenly it all stopped. After July 1823 Knopwood barely mentions Rowcroft or Maria Lord. The day before the last mention of Rowcroft, Dr Samuel Hood arrived from London to take over Edward Lord's affairs as his agent.
Had this been planned? Had Maria Lord said she would only act as agent until her husband could send out an alternative? Had Lord decided she was not a good enough agent? Or had he heard of the Rowcroft affair (he had plenty of time to do so) and sent Hood out? Given his enthusiasm for outward respectability this is easily believable.
Hood met Maria Lord -at dinner with Knopwood, needless to say -and for a month they were associated agents. In August and October Hood advertised that the powers granted to Mrs Lord were withdrawn.
In August Maria Lord herself advertised that she was retiring from business, and a month later that she was going to England; but this did not eventuate, and the following month she left her house in Hobart Town and went to live at New Plains, near Longford, in the north of the island. What Rowcroft did is not known. 'Ingle Hall' in Hobart Town was vacant, and Governor Sorell lived there for a time in May 1824.
Rowcroft quarrelled at some stage with Maria Lord's brother John Riseley over the ownership of some cows.
The result of this quarrel was not recorded, but 1824 was a quiet year with no public outbursts, except that in July, Hood advertised that he would not pay Mrs Maria Lord's debts, 'as she is provided with a proper separate Allowance out of the Estate'. Then, in October, thunder struck: Edward Lord, 'vindictive and implacable', returned.
He had one aim, to take Rowcroft to court, and this he did, charging him with the crime of criminal conversation with Maria Lord. Lord asked for £1,000 damages. The case, avidly followed by the public, opened on 6 December and lasted twelve days. Knopwood was called to give evidence, and Lord's servant was in the box from 9.30 a.m. unti12.30 a.m. the next morning, with only an hour off for refreshment. The verdict of the case -of which the records are lost -was in favour of Lord, though as Rowcroft was a pauper only £100 damages were awarded.
Eleven days later Lord left for England, taking with him five-year- old Emma. Only Caroline was now left in the colony with her mother. From now on Lord made his home permanently in England, giving out that the climate of Van Diemen's Land did not agree with his health. Apart from the two eldest boys, the children never saw their mother again. It must have been a strange experience for them, all whisked away at an early age from home and a mother in disgrace, exchanging the hurly-burly of Van Diemen's Land with its convicts, bushrangers and tigers for the respectability and placid life of a mansion in the rolling downs of Kent. Eliza 's earlier letter hints at the homesickness she felt, but perhaps her excellent upbringing had given her enough pious resignation to cope with remaining permanently in England and never seeing' dear Mamma' again.
Meanwhile, back in Van Diemen's Land the Government had bought some land from Edward Lord, and the question came up as to whether Maria Lord could claim part of the price as her dower. 'No' was the answer. Having been found guilty of adultery, she had no claim on Lord's property.
There was talk of a divorce, on which the Baronet and several other friends had set their hearts 'and to effect which no interest or expense will be spared', but it did not eventuate. 'I heartily hope', added the writer, R.L. Murray, 'that he [Lord] may yet enjoy the society of an honourable and Virtuous woman, who may know how to appreciate his value and be deserving of his affection'.
Unappreciative Maria Lord returned to Hobart Town, thanked the public for their support in her endeavours to obtain future support for her and her children, and opened a shop on the corner of Elizabeth and Liverpool Streets. She also opened a butcher's shop, so people could pay her with meat, and said she would sell goods on commission. 'She trusts that the experience of the whole Colony, of her integrity and assiduity in Business, for the last sixteen years, will be sufficient guarantee for her future Exertions.' It seemed to be, for her shop was known as the best in Hobart Town. (The mention of sixteen years is curious, since the evidence shows that Maria Lord opened a shop on her arrival in Hobart in 1805, but sixteen years earlier from 1825 was 1809. Perhaps, uncharacteristically, she made an arithmetical mistake, or perhaps she was counting, loosely, from the date of her marriage.)
In the same issue of the Gazette used by Maria Lord for advertising, Charles Rowcroft announced that he was leaving the colony. Charles was broke, his health was poor, but on the way to England he met his future wife, a widow with nine children. The shipboard romance must have been quite something, given the cramped conditions on vessels and the inhibiting presence of the children. The couple ran a boarding school in London, and in 1843 Rowcroft published The Adventures of an Emigrant, one of the first Australian novels, based on his Van Diemen's Land experiences.
Maria Lord continued to live in Hobart Town, running her shop, and in 1827 her husband visited the colony once more. She tried to retire from business at this time, but circumstances, unclarified, prevented her and she merely moved to a new shop. In the early 1830s she also ran a boarding-house for several years!
In February 1828 Knopwood noted that Edward Lord was 'very ill at Maria Lords'. Relations must have been reasonably unstrained, and in any case Edward Lord could not be too moralistic. Because of his bad asthma he found it necessary to employ a woman attendant, in this case a convict, Ann Fry. In February 1828 Lord asked the Government for her term with him to be extended, describing her as honest, sober and a good nurse. The official's comment was that Ann Fry was a very improper person to be returned to Lord's service; hardly surprising, as on 5 May 1828 she gave birth to a son, Edward, and named Edward Lord as the father. As well as this, Lord was having a prolonged' criminal conversation' in England with his children's nurse, whom he installed in the Kent mansion and by whom he had five children. He returned to her later in 1828, sailing a fortnight before Ann Fry's child was born.
From then on Knopwood resumed his friendship with Maria Lord, after a break of five years. The dinners he attended seemed to consist of him, Maria Lord and a Captain Taylor. On one occasion he noted that it was Corbetta's birthday, the only indication that Maria Lord missed her children.
In 1829, however, her two eldest sons, John and Edward Robert, arrived in Hobart Town. John, aged nineteen, kept a diary of the voyage out. After he left 'Britain's glorious Isle' he killed a porpoise -'what a glorious achievement' - and his brother Edward Robert was involved in a fight. He was struck by the beauty of the scenery as the ship sailed up the Derwent, perhaps unsurprisingly as it was months since he had seen any scenery at all.
Tragedy now struck, for only three months later John was drowned while swimming in the river at 'Lawrenny'. .Knopwood, not noticeably moved, went to New Norfolk for the funeral. ' A most delightful morn....an excellent dinner. ..immense quantity of fruit ripe…’.
From that time onwards Maria Lord led a quiet life in Hobart Town. She frequently saw Knopwood, Caroline and her children lived nearby and Edward Robert presumably worked on the Lord properties. Financially Edward Lord was not doing well, and this fact supports Fawkner's suggestion that it was Maria Lord's ability which had led to the couple's prosperity. Lord had to sell most of his property and by the time he died owned only 'Lawrenny', and it was heavily mortgaged. He visited Van Diemen's Land in 1838, and the next year took Caroline and Edward Robert to England; Edward Robert later returned. So did his father in 1846, aged sixty-five, on his seventh voyage to the colony. He applied to lease 30,000 acres of grazing land in the south-west between Frenchman's Cap and Port Davey. Whatever would he have done with it? Luckily for him the requisite survey was never completed.
At some stage Maria Lord moved to Bothwell, where she ran a shop and lived in 'The Priory', a fine stone house bought for her by her son Edward Robert. The house had a good garden and a lovely view, though it proved rather large, or expensive, and Maria Lord, a businesswoman to the last, rented part of it out, keeping three rooms for herself. Edward Robert lived on his property at Richmond and was said to be devoted to his mother, refusing to receive valuables left to him by his father.
Edward Lord died in 1859. His will was a lengthy, involved document in which he tried to divide his diminished estate between his first illegitimate family, his legal children, and his English illegitimate offspring. He kindly left his wife an annuity, but she died, aged seventy-nine, two months after he did.