James Bentley

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Charles A. Doudiet, watercolour on paper, 1854, watercolour, on paper.
Courtesy Art Gallery of Ballarat, purchased by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery with the assistance of many donors, 1996.

Background

James Bentley was born in 1818 at Surrey, England. He arrived in Australia after being transported to Tasmania where he served a 10 year sentence, before being released in 1851. He migrated to Melbourne immediately after his release, where he worked as a confectioner and gold buyer in Melbourne. Eventually the lure of gold overcame him and he headed for the goldfields.[1]

James Bentley suicided by overdosing on laudanum at Carlton on 10 April 1873, Catherine stating at the inquest ‘My husband has never been of quite right mind since he lost his property at the Ballarat Riots. He has never recovered form the effects of it. Six years later, listed on the marriage certificate as Irene Ormsby Bentley, Catherine married Andrew Haines Mayo from America. They had no children. Catherine Bentley died in 1906, and It is not known what happened to her, although there is a record of an Andrew Mayo dying in 1912 at Warragul.[2]

S.T. Gill, Site of Bentley's Hotel - Eureka Ballaarat, 1855, lithograph, Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection, Purchased, 1977.

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

In Ballarat he was known as the builder and owner of Eureka Hotel, notorious for harbouring unsavoury types. The hotel opened on July 1854. Bentley also had a store with Mackay in 1853 situated near Main Rd, near the Commissioner's Camp.

The Eureka Hotel was burnt down on 17 October 1854, after the death of James Scobie. Bentley was accused of murdering the Scottish miner. [3]

On 18 November 1854, James Bentley, Thomas Farrell and William Hance were convicted of the manslaughter of James Scobie, a Scottish miner who had been found dead near James Bentley’s Eureka Hotel on 7 October 1854. Bentley, and his employees Farrell and Hance, had been tried and acquitted previously for this murder, but due to the outcry on the Ballarat Diggings, the insinuation of police corruption, and the subsequent riot and burning of the Eureka Hotel on 17 October 1854, there had been cause for a new trial. [4]

Post 1854 Experiences

In the News

Claims for Losses at the Eureka Hotel

The following is a list of the claims made to the Government for compensation in connection with the burning of Bentley's Hotel, on the 17th October, 1854. The total amount is £40,418 ls 2d, of which only £150 is recommended by the select committee to be paid, - viz., 30/ to Messrs D. & W. Wallace, and £120 to Mr Michael Walsh. A sum of £150 is also recommended to be given to Dr Carr, who is at present in the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum; but this amount is on account of a claim for professional services

to the wounded after the outbreak on the 3rd of December, and cannot properly be said to have come under the cognizance of the committee.

List of Claims for Compensation for Losses Sustained through the Ballarat Riot, on 7th October, 1854
George Waterson, clothing and working tools, £22 ; Augustus Miell, gold, bank notes, musical instruments and music books, goldrings, and two boxes of clothing, £87 ; D. and W. Wallace, tents and clothing, £30. Samuel Waldock, livery stable keeper, saddles, harness, carts, hay, corn, horses, &c. &c, £766; Henry Harris, merchandise stored in the yard of Bentley's Hotel, £45 ls.; E. F. West, clothing, musical instruments, and music books, £53 ; Chas. Smith, clothing and working tools, £20; Michael Walsh, tent, household goods, clothing of self and family, and injury sustained by his wife, £175 10s.; Chas. Dyte, merchandise stored in the building attached to the hotel, £416 ls; G. C. Smith, two boxes and their contents, which were stored in the hotel, stated value, £343 18s ; Isaac Rigby, chest of tools and clothing, £20 ; total, £1977 10s.
List of Creditors on Bentley's Estate
The Bank of New South Wales, overdrawn banking account, £2,000 : the Union Bank, dishonored, bills, £1,600 ; Thomas Bath, Ballarat, dishonored bill, £192 10s; F. B Beaver, Esq., M.L.A., goods sold and delivered, £2,492 8s 5d; Mark Folk and Isaac Lazarus, goods sold and delivered. £106 11s ; John Ettershank, Stephen Holgate, William Eaglestone, dishonored bills, £87 2s6d; John Rutherford, James Tingeman, goods sold and delivered, £516 16s 8d; John McGuinnes, goods sold and delivered, £96 2s 4d; Charles Morgan, goods sold and delivered, £26 3s 3d ; Patricias Wm Welch, goods sold and delivered, £506 7s ; Dr Carr, for professional services, £124. Total, £7,648 1s 2d.
Servants' Wages, and Moneys due on Building Contracts
Patrick Hanlon, carpenter's contract work, £95; Michael McDermott, do. £125; Donald Ross, do, £150; J. Donnelly, do, £98 ; Roderick Ross, do, £160; Charles Smith, baker, balance for wages, about £110; George Waterson, balance for wages, £22, and £92 10s; Isaac Rigby, money due on contract for building, £200. Total, £1,042 10s.
Bentley's Claim

"Claim by J. F. Bentley and wife, for the sum of £29,750, it being the ascertained value of the hotel, outbuildings, and stock in-trade, all of which were destroyed in the riot.[5]


The states that James Francis Bentley, pickle maker, of Little Bourke St., had attempted to commit suicide on the Steps of Parliament House. The report went on to say that this was the same Bentley who had been involved in the riots at Eureka.[6]


Mr Humffray also presented a Petition from James Francis Bentley, late of the Eureka Hotel, Ballaarat, and of Catherine Bentley, his wife, praying the Assembly to tale into its compassionate consideration the destitute condition to which the petitioners have been rendered through the destruction of property by lawless violence, and would cause inquiry to be made into the whole of the circumstances and determine as to what extent if restitution of property or compensation for its loss they are justly entitled.[7]

See also

Catherine Bentley

Eureka Hotel

Further Reading

Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.


Background

James Bentley was born in 1818 at Surrey, England. He arrived in Australia after being transported to Tasmania where he served a 10 year sentence, before being released in 1851. He migrated to Melbourne immediately after his release, where he worked as a confectioner and gold buyer in Melbourne. Eventually the lure of gold overcame him and he headed for the goldfields.[8]

James Bentley suicided by overdosing on laudanum at Carlton on 10 April 1873, Catherine stating at the inquest ‘My husband has never been of quite right mind since he lost his property at the Ballarat Riots. He has never recovered form the effects of it. Six years later, listed on the marriage certificate as Irene Ormsby Bentley, Catherine married Andrew Haines Mayo from America. They had no children. Catherine Bentley died in 1906, and It is not known what happened to her, although there is a record of an Andrew Mayo dying in 1912 at Warragul.[9]

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

In Ballarat he was known as the builder and owner of Eureka Hotel, notorious for harbouring unsavoury types. The hotel opened on July 1854. Bentley also had a store with Mackay in 1853 situated near Main Rd, near the Commissioner's Camp.

The Eureka Hotel was burnt down on 17 October 1854, after the death of James Scobie. Bentley was accused of murdering the Scottish miner. [10]

On 18 November 1854, James Bentley, Thomas Farrell and William Hance were convicted of the manslaughter of James Scobie, a Scottish miner who had been found dead near James Bentley’s Eureka Hotel on 7 October 1854. Bentley, and his employees Farrell and Hance, had been tried and acquitted previously for this murder, but due to the outcry on the Ballarat Diggings, the insinuation of police corruption, and the subsequent riot and burning of the Eureka Hotel on 17 October 1854, there had been cause for a new trial. [11]

Post 1854 Experiences

In the News

The states that James Francis Bentley, pickle maker, of Little Bourke St., had attempted to commit suicide on the Steps of Parliament House. The report went on to say that this was the same Bentley who had been involved in the riots at Eureka.[12]


Mr Humffray also presented a Petition from James Francis Bentley, late of the Eureka Hotel, Ballaarat, and of Catherine Bentley, his wife, praying the Assembly to tale into its compassionate consideration the destitute condition to which the petitioners have been rendered through the destruction of property by lawless violence, and would cause inquiry to be made into the whole of the circumstances and determine as to what extent if restitution of property or compensation for its loss they are justly entitled.[13]


See also

Catherine Bentley

Compensation Claim for the Burning of Bentley's Eureka Hotel

Eureka Hotel

Further Reading

Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.


References

  1. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  2. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  3. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  4. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  5. Ballarat Star, 09 June 1858
  6. Australasian. Feb 1871
  7. Victorian Votes & Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, 11 December 1856.
  8. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  9. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  10. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  11. Wickham, D., Gervasoni, C. & Phillipson, W., Eureka Research Directory, Ballarat Heritage Services, 1999.
  12. Australasian. Feb 1871
  13. Victorian Votes & Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, 11 December 1856.

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