Charles Augustus Fitzroy Fitzsimons

Charles Augustus Fitzroy Fitzsimons (9 November 185019 July 1921) was a jeweller and engraver in Sydney, Australia. He was the illegitimate son of the Governor of NSW, Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy. Through his father, the Governor, Charles' family tree can be traced back nearly a thousand years in the patrilineal descent, as the Governor is descended from the Fitzroy's, the Dukes of Grafton, who in turn are descended from Charles II.
Family background
Charles was born in Berrima, a small town southwest of Sydney in the Mittagong area, the illegitimate son of Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, the Governor of NSW, and Mary Ann Chalker. His paternal grandfather was General Lord Charles FitzRoy and his paternal great-grandfather was Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, who was the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1768 to 1770.
Sir Charles Fitzroy, the Governor of New South Wales, Australia, from 1846 to 1855 was married to Lady Mary Lennox, who died from a carriage accident in Parramatta Park, outside Government House, in 1847. Within a year of her death, rumours were circulated in the colony of New South Wales about Fitzroy's 'womanising' ways. In 1850, Fitzroy made a visit to Berrima, to inspect the Fitzroy IronWorks. The Governor stayed at the Surveyor General Inn, operated by former boxing champion Edward "Ned" Chalker (sometimes Charker). Ned's step-daughter, Mary Ann Chalker, who was 18 at the time, worked there. Nine months later, she gave birth to a son, named Charles Augustus Fitzroy, after his father, the Governor.
“Among the servants at The Surveyor General Inn at Berrima was pretty young Miss Chalker, daughter of Ned Chalker, formerly a prize fighter much admired by the sporting fancy of Sydney. Some months later Ned Chalker came to Sydney to confer with solicitor William Thurlow. His daughter, he said, was about to become a mother - and the man responsible was His Excellency Sir Charles Fitzroy. Dr. Lang (The Rev John Dunmore Lang, prominent Presbyterian minister of the day) later wrote sardonically, ‘As other members of the Fitzroy household also stayed at Berrima, there might be some doubt as to which of the exemplary family the paternity might be assigned.’ Chalker insisted that the Governor himself was the girl’s lover, Thurlow visited Government House to discuss the delicate situation, and according to common report, came away with 200 pounds as consolation for the aggrieved father.”.
Early life
The young Charles Fitzroy was born into a working-class family in Berrima, a small town to Sydney's southwest. According to family rumour, he was about 5 or 6 years old when he was adopted (for as yet unknown reasons) by ex-convict John Joseph Fitzsimons and his wife Maria, who lived in Sydney. John Fitzsimons, originally from Dublin, had a jewellery shop on York Street, in Sydney. Charles now took the name of his adoptive family, and became known as Charles Augustus Fitzroy Fitzsimons. He followed in his adoptive father's footsteps and became, like him, an engraver and jeweller.
Marriage and family
On 21 May 1868 Charles married Margaret Connors (also in some documents O'Connor). Together they had 13 children:
- Joseph Herbert Fitzsimons (21 August 1869 - 8 January 1870)
- Eva Christine Fitzsimons (3 July 1871 - 10 July 1929)
- (male child)
- (female child)
- Charles Victor Fitzsimons (8 May 1875 - 3 January 1964)
- Hilda Marguerite Fitzsimons (17 May 1877 - 22 September 1969)
- Leopold Augustus Fitzsimons (2 May 1879 - 15 July 1953)
- Theodore Fitzroy Fitzsimons (3 November 1881 - 28 April 1961)
- Madeline Honora Fitzsimons (29 November 1884 - 18 April 1956)
- Julia Florence Fitzsimons (5 September 1886 - 29 September 1967)
- Thomas Rupert Fitzsimons (8 April 1889 - 3 June 1973)
- Courtney Claude Septimus Fitzsimons (22 March 1893 - 14 June 1979)
- Mabel Mildred Fitzsimons (20 May 1895 - ?)
Death
Charles Augustus Fitzroy Fitzsimons died in Sydney on 19 July 1921 at the age of 70. He is buried in the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park (formerly known as Botany Cemetery). With him in the plot are his wife, Margaret, his daughter Madeline, and his nephew Joseph (a son from one of his adoptive brothers).

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