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Thomas Balden Cox
held the license for the Forbes Inn in 1843 -
' T.B. Cox in returning
thanks for the liberal support he has received since
his entering into business, begs to inform families
and the inhabitants of the Hunter river district
that he has completed his new Inn, which will enable
him to provided visitors with private sitting rooms
and airy bed rooms; and which, for comfort and
accommodation, will vie with any other in the
colony. He has also laid in a new and extensive
stock of wines and spirits and trusts, by a
constable attention to the comfort of those who may
favour him with their support, to receive a
considerable share of public patronage. Superior
stabling for forty horses and loose boxes for
racers. Book office for the Singleton and Maitland
Mail.
9
In October 1843
the Forbes was the venue for an amateur theatrical performance in
aid of the Singleton Benevolent Society. The first performance was the
Operative drama entitled 'The Padlock' after which a variety of songs
and the evening was to conclude with the laughable farce of 'The Happy
Man'. Tickets were 2/6- and 1/- for children.
10
Thomas Balden Cox was
granted a publican's license for the
Queen Victoria Inn
in Day Street East Maitland in 1847.11
He moved to
the
Bush Inn
at Black Creek in 1848.
12
Walter Rotton
had been in the Colony over
twenty years when he took over the Inn in the
1840's. He had arrived free on the Mariner in
1821 and soon found employment in the business house
of merchant
Vicars Jacob.
Walter was convicted of embezzlement soon after as
the following article relates: -
'Criminal Court -
On Thursday last Mr. Walter Rotton was placed at the
bar, and indicted for embezzling the goods of his
employer. From the outline of the evidence it was
apparent that the prisoner had arrived very lately
in this Colony in respectable and flattering
circumstances, and that he became introduced to the
responsible situation of confidential clerk in the
employ of Vicars Jacobs Esq. a Merchant recently
from India. Of a particularly valuable property this
young man, the prisoner, had the most absolute
control, with the exception of duly accounting to
his master in the ordinary course of business.
Losing sight of the high confidence reposed, the
prisoner had unfortunately suffered himself to
become entrapped in the horrible vortex of crime; he
had embezzled the property entrusted to him, and
sold the same on his own account; and also received
sundry sums of money, in the name of Mr. Jacobs,
which had never been accounted for. There could not
be a case develop itself more unhappily for the
prisoner than this. He was in the receipt of a
salary of 100 pounds per annum; and within three
months his kind master had obliged him with the
emergent loan of 30 pounds, and also allowed him to
take 50 pounds worth of goods to venture in
speculation; and yet, lamentable to say, the
prisoners a young man respected by all that were
acquainted with him, and possessing so many enviable
advantages, inconsiderately plunged into the
commission of that worst species of offence - a
breach of trust. Upon the clearest testimony the
prisoner was unhappily too satisfactorily proved,
and adjudged to by guilty, and was, in consequence
of that verdict, consigned to 7 years
transportation.'
Walter Rotton was
transported to Port Macquarie and by 1823 was
petitioning to be assigned to his b rother
John Rotton
who
had arrived on the Lusitania in 1821 and had
obtained land in Patrick Plains. A Ticket of Leave
was issued to Walter in
1828 and he began
re-building his life.
In 1832 he took
out the license for the
Freemasons' Arms Hotel
in
West Maitland
In 1847
Walter Rotton held
the license for the Forbes Hotel in Singleton and despite the bad weather and muddy street, on 26th
January 1847 he put on a 'splendid dinner' to
celebrate the anniversary of the colony. No expense
was spared in serving up a
first-rate dinner. Mr. J.J. Harpur was in the
chair and
David Stolworthy
officiated as vice president 13
In 1849, Walter
Rotton was refused a license for the Forbes Hotel
and he decided to try his luck on the Californian
gold fields. A dinner was held in his honour at the
Rose Inn and over fifty people attended to farewell
him. Dr. Stolworthy made a speech to Mr. Rotton whom
he had known for 8 years:
'Mr. Rotton had
invariably stood up to defend political rights which
he advocated openly and fearlessly. He had been a
most useful man in local affairs and had been mainly
instrumental in the formation of all their local
institutions such as the Benevolent Society. Patients had been given kind and
benevolent assistance for wine and comforts which
they would have been unable to procure otherwise. He
was a benevolent and generous man in his private
life as well and many persons had for weeks or
months found a refuge in his house when disabled by
sickness or accident.'
Dr. Stolworthy regretted much that such a man should be
obliged to leave them to seek fortune in a foreign
clime, and still more that that necessity had arisen
from an uncalled for and unjust refusal by the bench
to renew his license. He trusted that Mr. Rotton
would receive amends for this injustice in the
country to which he was shortly going and that
before any great time elapsed they should welcome
him back a fortunate and successful man. Mr. Rotton responded in tears
assuring the guests that it was at once the most painful, yet happiest
and proud day of his life. He assured those who may have suffered in a
pecuniary way that should he succeed in what he had undertaken he would
one day redeem his obligations. 41
In August 1849
Frederick William Thrum obtained a license for the Forbes Hotel
44.
He stated in October that he had outlayed a great deal to put the Hotel in good repair. The premises had
also been thoroughly cleaned. The hotel offered stables that could
accommodate forty horses and were the most spacious in the district. He
and his wife intended to give every attention to patrons and hoped that
the Forbes would be restored to the glory of former days.
In 1852 the
Singleton Steam Mill
owned by Mr. Kingston and situated next
door to the Forbes Inn burned down.
(9)MM 11 February 1843
(10)MM 14 October 1843
(11)MM 24
April 1847
(12)MM
19 April 1848
(13)MM 6 February 1847.
(41)
Maitland Mercury 7 July 1849
(44)
Maitland Mercury 8 August 1849
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