Henry Price was another of the early Gold Commissioners and Police Magistrates who had been difficult to identify because of a relatively common name, the short length of his Victorian Civil Service career, and the lack of newspaper references.

Note: Dates are the Victoria Government Gazette dates, unless otherwise noted. They are not necessarily the date the person took up the role or arrived in the appropriate town.

Henry Price was appointed an Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Fields on 8 November 1853, replacing Edward Dickson Le Couteur, who had resigned after only six months in the job [01] [02]. James Daly was appointed the same day, similarly replacing William Wilberforce, who had resigned after only four months in the job. Price, Daly, and James Johnston (who had also been appointed an Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Fields) were appointed Magistrates for the Colony of Victoria (Justices of the Peace) on 8 December 1853 [03]. This gave them additional judicial powers to support their roles as Gold Commissioners. Heyward St Leger Atkins was also appointed a Magistrate that day. Atkins was the Police Magistrate at Albury (NSW) at the time and had been given the responsibilities of Police Magistrate at Belvoir (later Wodonga) by the Victorian Government. The appointment as JP gave him the legal powers to act in Victoria.

Less than two months later, on 31 December 1853, Price was appointed a Police Magistrate at Ballarat [04]. Eight other men were named in that same Gazette notice: James Blair (County of Bourke), John Le Marchant Carey (Alberton), John Dewes (Barrow’s Inn), Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh (Buckland), George Harriott (Castlemaine), Andrew Murison McCrae (Warrnambool), Matthew Price (Portland), and Charles Corrie Weston (Beechworth) [05]. Blair, Dewes, Harriott, and McCrae were existing Police Magistrates and were being reassigned. Carey, Fetherstonhaugh, the two Prices (Henry and Matthew), and Weston were new appointments. Dewes had been the Police Magistrate at Ballarat and was transferred to Barrow’s Inn. Henry Price was assigned to Ballarat in his place.

As the Police Magistrates were in a different government department, Henry Price had to resign his position as gold commissioner. The Blue Book 1854 notes that he was “removed to another department 17th January (1854)” [06]. He was replaced by Graham Webster on 25 January 1854.

It is interesting to consider the qualifications of the five new men. Police Magistrate was a far more consequential role than Gold Commissioner at this time. The required standards were higher and a suitable background more important. Carey and Matthew Price were former Captains in the British and HEIC Madras [07] armies, respectively. At 50, Fetherstonhaugh was by far the eldest and had been the High Sheriff of County Westmeath in Ireland in 1841 and almost certainly at least a Justice of the Peace there. Weston was a barrister. So what qualified Henry Price for this job? We will have to come back to that point later.

After being surveyed, the town of Maldon (based on the Government Camp at Mount Tarrengower) [08] and the establishment of a Court of Petty Sessions there were gazetted on 4 February 1854 [09] [10].

Henry Price was now assigned to Maldon, though not until 29 March 1854 [11]. Dewes was returned from Barrow’s Inn to Ballarat to take the place of Henry Price on 11 February 1854 [12]. This is a bit confusing with Dewes replacing Henry Price in February, though Price was not gazetted as being assigned to Maldon until March. It is possible that Price had been assigned to Maldon in February, but not gazetted until March. Such things have happened before and since.

Things get a little more confusing here. John Spencer Smith had been appointed Police Magistrate at Amherst in 8 February 1854 [13]. On 9 March 1854, Smith was reassigned to Maldon [14]. He was later replaced by Charles Prendergast Hackett on 28 October 1854 [15] [16]. The latter Gazette notice specifically mentions “John Spencer Smith, Esquire, resigned.”

Hackett had been an Assistant Gold Commissioner until his appointment as a Police Magistrate on 1 May 1854.

Stranger still, the Mount Alexander Mail reported in June 1854 that: “Our new police magistrate, C W Eyre, Esq, has arrived amongst us, and commenced his judicial duties. Now, with his experience as a police magistrate, I look forward to the duties of the court being carried on to the satisfaction of all parties” [17]. This C W Eyre is mentioned in a couple of other June 1854 articles, including when sitting on the bench with Gorges Macdonald Lowther and James Daly, both gold commissioners and JPs. I have no idea who this C W Eyre is, as there is no mention of him in the Victoria Government Gazette or the Blue Book. It seems most likely that he was actually Alfred John Eyre, who was the Police Magistrate at Buninyong in 1853 and 1854. I suspect that he was assigned to act temporarily in Maldon, whilst still being stationed in Buninyong and also sitting at Ballarat. There is at least one report in the Mount Alexander Mail of A J Eyre sitting at the Tarrangower Police Court (presumably Maldon). He is also reported by the same newspaper as “A M Eyre” and “A W Eyre,” so the newspaper just couldn’t get his name right! Eyre was still sitting there as late as September 1854.

To summarise the Maldon situation in 1854… It would seem that John Spencer Smith was the first Police Magistrate at Maldon. By June, Alfred John Eyre was acting Police Magistrate at Maldon whilst being based at Buninyong. In October, Charles Prendergast Hackett officially replaced Smith whilst being based at Castlemaine. Smith resigned some time between March and October (and possibly May or June), though Eyre’s presence in June suggests that Smith had been absent. Eyre left at some point in 1854, certainly no later than when Hackett took up the Maldon role.

So, what of the assignment of Henry Price to Maldon on 29 March 1854 if Smith had been assigned there? Even stranger, he was appointed a Magistrate of the Colony of Victoria and its Dependencies on 22 March 1854 [18]. The situation of Henry Price after Ballarat in 1854 is still an open question.

Unfortunately, the Blue Book 1854 is unhelpful. It lists Henry Price as an Assistant Gold Commissioner, appointed on 11 November 1853. A note states that he was “Removed to another department 17th January [1854].” Graham Webster is listed as replacing Price as Assistant Gold Commissioner on 4 February 1854. So far, so good. As we know that Price was transferred to the Petty Sessions department as a Police Magistrate [19], one would expect him to appear in the Petty Sessions part of the Blue Book. But there is no mention of him. Dewes is listed as Stipendiary Magistrate at Ballarat, having been appointed on 8 August 1853. This would have been his original assignment to Ballarat before going to Barrow’s Inn. At Maldon, we have John Spencer Smith appointed 9 March 1854 and replaced by Hackett on 28 October 1854. Smith’s assignment to Amherst is also missing from this Blue Book.

The Blue Books from this period did not necessarily include all assignments and transfers that took place during the year, especially if the person was not still in the civil service at the end of the calendar year. It is most likely that the Gold Commissioner’s Department had provided the information about Price to the Registrar-General’s Office for the year’s Blue Book and the Petty Sessions Department did not.

This has brought us no closer to Henry Price’s background and his qualifications for the jobs of Assistant Gold Commissioner and – especially – Police Magistrate. The Victoria Government Gazette notices announcing his appointments to these positions call him “Henry Price, Esquire“, so he was considered a gentleman. Otherwise, he would have been just “Mr Henry Price.”

There are five Henry Prices in the Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria (BDM) database who died before 1910 and would have been old enough in 1854, without considering men with a middle name. Which one? And, of course, there is no guarantee that our Henry Price died in Victoria.

A more detailed search of Trove retrieved an article in the Adelaide Times, reporting the appointment of Henry Price, “late of Port Lincoln,” as Resident Magistrate at Ballarat (meaning Police Magistrate) [20].

Next is to look for a Henry Price, late of Port Lincoln, with an appropriate background.