Lot 5298

Description

Bank of New South Wales, share certificate for one hundred pounds issued to Samuel Teryy, 31st May 1832, signed by the President and two directors. Printed by W. Moffitt. Transferred on the back to John Malcolm in 1838. Signatories included Rosetta Terry. Printed on vellum and in excellent preservation. Rare and interesting association item with Samuel Terry. Nearly extremely fine.

Samuel Terry was sentenced to transportation for seven years for stealing 400 pairs of stockings. He arrived in Sydney in 1801 and in 1810 he was granted one of the twenty liquor licences awarded. He married Rosett Marsh or Madden, also an innkeeper, in the same year and the Terrys prospered from hence forth. Their rapid rise to riches fuelled a great deal of gossip and Terry brought at least 28 actions in the Supreme Court by 1821. In 1820 it was estimated that his 19,000 acres were nearly half the total land holdings of former convicts. He was elected to the board of the Bank of New South Wales in 1822 and again in 1828. He was one of the largest shareholders at the time. His land included the area now occupied by Martin Place and the G.P.O., SYdny. He died in 1838 at the age of about sixty. lwaving a personal estate of 250,000 pounds and in an annual income from his Sydney rentals in excess of 10,000 pounds. Rosetta survived him by twenty years. The Terrys, Samuel and Rosetta, can be seen to be early colonists who agains great adversity, suceeded in a country where countless numbers had failed.