View source for Watkin Tench

{{Short description|Royal Marines officer (1758–1833)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Watkin Tench
|image= Watkin tench.jpg
|image_size= 
|alt= 
|caption= Portrait of Watkin Tench
|nickname= 
|birth_date= {{birth date|1758|10|6|df=y}}
|birth_place= [[Chester]], [[Cheshire]], England
|death_date= {{death date and age|1833|5|7|1758|10|6|df=y}}
|death_place= [[Devonport, Plymouth|Devonport]], England
|placeofburial= 
|allegiance= [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] (1776–1800)<br/>United Kingdom (1800–1827)
|branch= [[Royal Marines]]
|serviceyears= 1776–1815<br/>1819–1827
|rank= [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant general]]
|unit= 
|commands= 
|battles= [[American Revolutionary War]]<br/>[[French Revolutionary Wars]]<br/>[[Napoleonic Wars]]
|awards= 
|relations= 
|laterwork= Writer
}}
[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]] '''Watkin Tench''' (6 October 1758 – 7 May 1833) was a British military officer who is best known for publishing two books describing his experiences in the [[First Fleet]], which established the first European settlement in [[Australia]] in 1788. His two accounts, ''Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay'' and ''Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson'' provide an account of the arrival and first four years of the colony.<ref>Flannery, T. (ed.), ''1788 Watkin Tench'', The Text Publishing Co., 1996, {{ISBN|1-875847-27-8}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Tench was born on 6 October 1758 at [[Chester]] in the county of [[Cheshire]], England, a son of Fisher Tench, a dancing master who ran a boarding school in the town and Margaritta Tarleton of the Liverpool Tarletons.<ref>Parish Register of Saint Mary on the Hill, Chester.</ref> Watkin was a cousin to the politician [[Banastre Tarleton]]. His father appears to have named Watkin after a wealthy local landowner, Watkin Williams Wynn, whose family probably assisted in starting Tench's military career.

Tench joined [[His Majesty's Marine Forces]], Plymouth division, as a [[second lieutenant]] on 25 January 1776, aged 17. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 25 January 1778 at the age of 19 years and 3 months. He fought against the American forces in their [[American Revolutionary War|War of Independence]]. He was captured when {{HMS|Mermaid|1761|6}} was driven ashore on the Maryland coast at [[Assateague Island]] near the then extant Sinepuxent Inlet on the morning of 8 July 1778, by the French under [[Comte d'Estaing]]. Tench was in command of the Marine unit on board HMS ''Mermaid''. He and the other officers were transported to Philadelphia, imprisoned and exchanged in October 1778.

==Colonial career==
Little more is known of him until he sailed as part of the [[First Fleet]] in 1787, although he records in Chapter 13 of the ''Account'' that he had spent time in the [[West Indies]],<ref>https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3534 A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson by Watkin Tench.</ref> and his service record shows that he was promoted to [[captain lieutenant]] in September 1782 and went on half-pay in May 1786.

===Aboard the First Fleet===
The retirement did not last long, as in October 1786 the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] called for volunteers for a three-year tour with the newly forming [[New South Wales Marine Corps]] for service at [[Botany Bay]]. In December 1786, Tench's offer to re-enter the corps was accepted. In May 1787, he sailed on the transport ship {{ship||Charlotte|1784 ship|2}}.

===In the colony of New South Wales===
Before sailing with the fleet, Tench arranged with the London publishing firm of [[Debrett's]] to write a book, describing his experience of the journey and the first few months of the colony. In July 1788, his manuscript was taken back by [[John Shortland]] and published as the ''Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay'' by Debrett's in 1789. It ran to three editions and was quickly translated into [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]].<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3535 A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany-Bay by Watkin Tench]</ref>The Dutch translation was published in Amsterdam, by Martinus De Bruijn. Unlike the French and German translations, De Bruijn’s edition contained an extensive commentary on the colony from a Dutch perspective.[https://web.archive.org/web/20210817152840/http://www.australiaonthemap.org.au/#contact]

In October 1788, [[Robert Ross (British Marines officer)|Robert Ross]] made a list of marines who wanted to stay in Australia, either as soldiers or settlers. Tench headed the list as "a soldier for one tour more of three years." Among his achievements in the fledgling colony of [[New South Wales]] Tench was being the first European to encounter the [[Nepean River]]. Tench's accounts were influenced by the liberalism of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] and the idea of the [[noble savage]]. He ridicules Rousseau's notion of the noble savage and details the colonists' treatment of Aboriginal people.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/thomas-william-parr/biography/ |title=Parr, Thomas William |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Trove |publisher=Design and Art Australia Online |access-date=19 October 2019 }}</ref>

His writings include much information about the Aborigines of Sydney, the [[Gadigal]] and [[Cammeraygal]], whom he referred to as "Indians". He was friendly with [[Bennelong]], [[Barangaroo]] and several others. He stayed in Sydney until December 1791 when he sailed home on {{HMS|Gorgon|1791|6}}, arriving in Plymouth in July 1792. In 1791 he studied the progress of the colony as research for his second book, visiting, among others, the farm of the convict Thomas William Parr, whom he found to have made improvements as required by the terms of the grant, and was a hard worker, but not satisfied with farming work.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/thomas-william-parr/biography/ |title=Parr, Thomas William |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Trove |publisher=Design and Art Australia Online |access-date=19 October 2019 }}</ref>

==Later life==
===Back in England===
In October 1792, Tench married Anna Maria Sargent, who was the daughter of Robert Sargent, a [[Devonport, Devon|Devonport]] surgeon.<ref name="NCBANU">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Fitzhardinge|first=L. F|author-link=Laurie Fitzhardinge|title=Tench, Watkin (1758–1833)|id2=tench-watkin-2719|access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref>
In 1793, he published his ''Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson'', which was as well-received as his first book. He joined {{HMS|Alexander|1778|6}} as a [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Major (rank)|major]], serving under Admiral [[Richard Rodney Bligh]] in the Channel fleet's blockade of [[Brest, France|Brest]].

===Napoleonic Wars===
In November 1794, Bligh surrendered HMS ''Alexander'' after the [[action of 6 November 1794]], a hard-fought battle with three French ships. The crew were initially imprisoned on ships in [[Brest, France|Brest]] harbour. Later Tench and Bligh were moved to [[Quimper, Finistère|Quimper]] and imprisoned on parole. Bligh kept Tench close by because Tench was fluent in French. During this time, Tench wrote, but probably did not send, the letters that formed the basis of his third book, ''Letters written in France to a Friend in London''. He was exchanged in May 1795 after being held prisoner for six months.

After returning to service, Tench served four years on {{HMS|Polyphemus|1782|6}}, escorting convoy ships in the Atlantic and the Channel. In 1801, he rejoined the Channel blockade fleet on {{HMS|Princess Royal|1773|6}} and remained there until his career at sea ended in 1802. After this, he appears to have taken shore posts at [[Chatham, Medway|Chatham]], [[Plymouth]] and [[Woolwich]] until he retired with the rank of [[major general]] at the end of 1815.

===Later years and death===
In October 1819, Tench was reactivated as [[commandant]] in the Plymouth division at the age of 61. Although he and his wife had no children of their own, in 1821 they took responsibility for three nephews and a niece when the four children were orphaned. At the time, Watkin Tench was 63 and his wife was 56. Watkin Tench resided in Chapel Street, [[Penzance]], in the house constructed by Richard Oxnam's grandfather. He lived there from 1818 until 1828.

In July 1827, Tench retired with the rank of [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|lieutenant general]]. He died on 7 May 1833, in [[Devonport, Devon|Devonport]], near [[Plymouth]], [[Devon]], England, aged 74.<ref name="NCBANU"/>

==In popular culture==
*''[[The Watch on the Headland]]'' (1940) - radio play
* [[Eleanor Dark]], ''[[The Timeless Land]]'' (1941 novel)
* [[Kate Grenville]], ''The Lieutenant'' (novel) as Captain Silk
* [[Timberlake Wertenbaker]], ''[[Our Country's Good]]'' (1988 play). Tench is portrayed as an unsympathetic character who does not believe in any hope of redemption or rehabilitation for any of the transported English convicts of the First Fleet.

Tench Reserve in [[Penrith, New South Wales]], is named after him, as is Watkin Tench Parade in [[Pemulwuy, New South Wales]].

==See also==
* [[Journals of the First Fleet]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [[Laurie Fitzhardinge|Fitzhardinge, L. F.]], ''Editor's Introduction'' in ''Sydney's First Four Years'', Library of Australian History, 1979, {{ISBN|0-908120-24-9}}
* Edwards, G., ''Introduction'' in ''Letters from Revolutionary France'', UWP, 2001. {{ISBN|0-7083-1691-3}}
* Phillip, A., ''The Voyage to Botany Bay'' (facsimile edition), Hutchinson, 1982, {{ISBN|0-09-137880-X}}
* Tench, W., ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3535 A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany-Bay]'', (1788)
* Tench, W., ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3534 A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson]''
* {{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Watkin|Last=Tench|shortlink=0-dict-biogT-V.html#tench1}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=1222}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Watkin Tench}}
* {{Librivox author |id=810}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080825070614/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/t/tench/watkin/botany/complete.html A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080728133416/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/t/tench/watkin/settlement/complete.html A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PEH/is_60/ai_108114094/pg_2/ On the track of Watkin Tench]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tench, Watkin}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1833 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Marines lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:19th-century Royal Marines personnel]]
[[Category:18th-century Royal Marines personnel]]
[[Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia]]
[[Category:Explorers of Australia]]
[[Category:Australian Aboriginal culture]]
[[Category:First Fleet]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Chester]]