A Tale of Two Toogoods. Part 1: William and Alfred.

William Toogood and his brother Alfred became well known in the Sydney during the middle years of the nineteenth century as publicans and wine and spirit merchants. 

William Toogood was an eighteen-year-old ribbon weaver when he was sentenced to transportation for life in 1822. He arrived in Sydney in March 1823, but little is known of his early years in the colony. Initially assigned briefly to Dr. William Cowper, in 1831 he was listed as one of a group of theatrical performers who were still at Emu Plains (the Government farm) awaiting reassignment. [1] In the event William was granted a ticket of leave in October 1831 and was thus able to work for himself in Sydney.[2] In 1832 he married Ellen O’Brien.[3]

The next encounter with William is at the Rose and Crown at the corner of King and Castlereagh Streets. In May 1835 he announces that he has opened ‘the large room adjoining Mr. Sandwell’s hotel’ as a ‘Saloon for dinners and refreshments, tea, coffee, etc’ where patrons can enjoy ‘soups and curries of every description, together with all kinds of Indian preparations in the best style and on the shortest notice’.[4] What William knew about providing dinners and refreshments is questionable. Perhaps he had worked for Sandwell, perhaps Ellen O’Brien provided some expertise, but there is nothing to suggest that William had any appropriate experience. All the more surprising then that in 1838 he should declare himself a restaurateur and open his own restaurant on the opposite corner to the Rose and Crown.[5] Here, at what subsequently became known as the Rainbow Tavern, William was assisted by both his wife and his brother, Alfred.[6]

 Alfred, ten years younger than William, had also been a ribbon weaver in Coventry. In March 1832, aged only 17, he stood trial with six others for ‘unlawfully and riotously assembling, and destroying the house of Josiah Beck’. He had been part of the ‘tumultuous mob’ opposed to the mechanisation of weaving who destroyed the machinery and steam engine which Beck had installed. The judge found him guilty but in consideration of Alfred having been led on by others, he recommended leniency and the final sentence was transportation for life.[7]

 Alfred was sent to Tasmania on board the Georgiana. Details of his assignment there are not known, but by 1837 he was in the service of Mr John Raine and was one of the survivors of the wreck of Raine’s schooner the Schah in December 1837. The ship left Hobart and foundered off what is now known as Shipwreck Beach near Malacoota, in Victoria. It was Alfred who travelled overland to bring the news of its fate and the fortunes of its passengers to Sydney in January 1838.[8]

Was this the first time William had had contact with his brother since 1822? Alfred was a boy of seven when William left Coventry – they must have had much to talk about, but the record is maddeningly silent on such matters.

Although still a convict, Alfred remained in Sydney. He had been assigned to Raine, who drowned in the wreck of the Schah, in Tasmania and did not receive a ticket of leave until 1841.[9] William was granted a conditional pardon in 1838 but this would not normally allow him to have his brother assigned to him.[10] Nonetheless, Alfred was ‘regularly transferred’ to his brother and continued to work with him.[11]

 In May 1840 rumours were circulating that William was intending to ‘build for himself a spacious Hotel in Castlereagh Street’ to the cost of some £4000.[12] In the event William announced at the end of 1840 that he was retiring from his business in the city and the license of the Rainbow Tavern was transferred to James Cunningham. Throughout 1841 William operated a hotel on the Parramatta Road, on the city side of Annandale, while towards, the end of the year, Alfred worked as an assistant to Mr. Cunningham.[13]

 The following year, 1842, was a momentous one for the Toogoods. In March William, at the solicitations of his former patrons, transferred his publicans license from the hotel on Parramatta Road to the ‘new spacious and commodious premises’ erected at the corner of Pitt and King Streets, an establishment he also christened the Rainbow Tavern where he established ‘a restaurant upon his old established principle’ assuring patrons they could enjoy ‘ a very superior and choice assortment of wines and spirits, imported from first rate mercantile houses.’[14] The Australian praised ‘the splendid manner’ in which William had fitted out and decorated his ‘new house’ calling it ‘a pledge of the spirit and zeal with which he means to cater for the good folks in Sydney Town’:

The situation Is excellent, and as far as appearance goes, it reminds us more of a London Tavern or Club-house, than anything yet attempted in the Colony.[15]

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser was similarly full of praise. Whether the building had in fact cost £4000, it was clear that Toogood had spared no expense, the bar they enthused was ‘fitted up in the first rate style’ with a gin palace fountain and gas fittings, all of local manufacture, and surely William would receive the patronage he deserved.[16] Obviously he was making a financial success of his business ventures. To cap off the year William was granted an absolute pardon in October and was finally free of any obligation for the crime he had committed in his youth.[17]

 It was a busy year for Alfred too. He married Ann Collins, received a conditional pardon and, presumably capitalising on his brother’s good name and using the experience he had gained working for William and James Cunningham, announced he was opening a ‘Chop and Coffee House’ in Pitt Street at the Shakespeare Tavern, Toogood’s Shakespeare Eating House.[18]This venture was short lived. After an initial flurry of advertising in July 1842 the newspapers are silent on its fate. In August 1843, the same month notice of his conditional pardon appeared in the Government Gazette, Alfred was announcing that he was now at the Rainbow Tavern. Here he hoped ‘to continue to receive a share of the public patronage’ thanks to ‘his long standing in society, and his great outlay in taking possession of his present extensive premises, and increasing and improving his stock-in-trade from the first London and Colonial houses’. [19]

 Following all the ins and outs of the Toogood’s fortunes is not easy. While they were consolidating their hotel business William was also using the proceeds to accumulate a property portfolio. As early as 1839 he had purchased a cottage in Kent Street.[20] In 1841 he purchased parcels of land in Dungog and Raymond Terrace.[21] Ploughing profits back into the business, through upgrades and refurbishment, and buying up land would continue to be the modus operandi in the coming years. After twenty and ten years respectively, William and Alfred must have established a web of friendships and associations, but neither arrived in the colony with skills which would automatically guarantee them success, there was little call for ribbon weaving in Sydney town.[22] Whatever education they had received as children they were quick to adapt, well attuned to the opportunities offered in the colonial setting and eager to exploit them. 

To trace what happens next it is simpler to follow each of the brothers individually.

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[1] Assigned to William Cowper, Museums of History NSW State Archives (MHNSW-St.Ac.) NRS 12194 [4/4521, p. 086], reel 586; Fiche 747–748, 5 July 1823 (listed as Togood); William came before the magistrates at Parramatta charged with robbery, sentenced to 25 lashes and returned to the government in October 1824. See MHNSW-St.Ac., Index to Col. Sec. Papers 1788­1825, [4/6671], p. 57, reel no 6023, 26 October 1824 (listed as Twogood). MHNSW-St.Ac., NRS-905-1- [4/2102] Index to Colonial Secretary Letters Received, 4/2102 letter number 31/2362, 1 April 1831, William Toogood on list of theatrical performers remaining on the establishment at Emu Plains, John Maxwell to Colonial Secretary. William had been there for four years, see The Australian, 10 February 1827, p. 3. ‘New South Wales No. IV’.

[2] MHNSW-St.Ac., Convicts Index 1791–1873, 4/4081, reel 916, entry no. 31/873. See also Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (hereafter Sydney Gazette), 15 October 1831, p. 3.

[3] MHNSW-St.Ac.. Convicts Application to Marry, NRS 12212 [4/4512 p. 062], reel 714, Fiche 791–794. 7 September 1832.

[4] Sydney Gazette, 23 May 1835, p. 3. Edward Sandwell ‘late of the most respected tavern in Hollowell [sic] Street, London “The Dog Tavern”’ took over the Rose and Crown from Arthur Hill in 1829 (Sydney Monitor, 30 May 1829, p. 7).

[5] Sydney Monitor, 23 July 1838, p. 2; 8 August 1838, p. 3; 24 September 1838, p. 2. 

[6] See Sydney Monitor, 24 September 1838, p. 2 for Mrs Toogood and Alfred at the restaurant. Also Commercial Journal and Advertiser, 17 October 1838, p. 4. William was granted a license for the Rainbow Tavern in 1839, Sydney Gazette, 30 April 1839, p. 2.

[7] Birmingham Gazette, 26 March 1832, p. 3; Morning Chronicle (London), 27 March 1832, p. 4; Leamington Spa Courier, 27 March 1832, p. 4.

[8] See The Sydney Herald, 15 January 1838, p. 2; Sydney Monitor, 15 January 1838, p. 2. For more on the Schah see http://www.environment.gov.au/shipwreck/public/wreck/wreck.do?key=6594. For John Raine see https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/raine-john-2569.

[9] See MHNSW-St.Ac., Convicts Index 1791-1873, [4/4150; reel 940] entry no. 41/946. Also, Sydney Herald, 26 April 1841, p. 2.

[10] William was granted a Conditional Pardon in February 1838. MHNSW-St.Ac., Convicts Index, 1791-1873, 4/4437, reel 777 p. 075, entry no. 39/288. See also NSW Government Gazette, 23 January 1839, p. 103. 

[11] Sydney Herald, 8 May 1840, p. 2, reporting on Alfred having been taken into custody on suspicion of being illegally on his brother’s premises.

[12] The Colonist, 16 May 1840, p. 2 and Australasian Chronicle, 19 May 1840, p. 2.

[13] MHNSW-St.Ac., Index to 1841 Census NSW; Monitor, 9 April 1841, p. 1. Sydney Gazette, 28 June 1841, has license for Rainbow Tavern in Parramatta Road; Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) 10 September 1841, Cunningham announces Alfred is now engaged by him.

[14] The Australian, 26 February 1842, p. 3 (describes Toogood as ‘well known as a first rate restaurateur’); transfer of license The Australian, 5 March 1842, p. 2; Sydney Herald, 8 April 1842, p. 2 (quote).

[15] The Australian, 9 April 1842, p. 2.

[16] Sydney Gazette, 12 April 1842, p. 2.

[17] MHNSW-St.Ac., 4/4488, reel 800, p. 022., dated 1 October 1842; also 4/4488 reel 800, p. 349–350, entry 43/037, 11 December 1843; NSW Government Gazette, 12 December 1843, p. 1632.

[18] For marriage see NSW Registry of Birth Deaths and Marriages (NSWBDM) index; MHNSW-St.Ac., Conditional Pardon [4/4442; reel 780, p. 275] no. 43/282, 1 July 1842, Government Gazette, 11 August 18443, p. 1022; Shakespeare Tavern Sydney Herald, 6 July 1842, p. 1.

[19] SMH, 26 August p. 1.

[20] The Colonist, 23 November 1839, p. 3.

[21] Sydney Herald, 2 January 1841, p. 4.

[22] William was an office bearer and active member of the Australian Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, see Australian, 28 September 1842, p. 3; Australian, 7 October 1842, p. 3. In 1848 William is ‘Grand Master of Ceremonies’, Sydney Daily Advertiser, 7 September 1848, p. 4.