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Alexander Watt (b.1836) was the second son of Alexander Watt(d.1854) and his wife Hendrika Johanna Klingenberg (d.1857), of Copenhagen. His father and uncle who were born in Banffshire, Scotland, were East India merchants and shipowners in Copenhagen.
Alexander was sent to Scotland to be educated, and on his return to Denmark married his cousin Andrea Sophia Hoch. Shortly after his marriage, embracing the career of an East Indian merchant, they proceeded to India. The famous Mazawattee was named after the Watts,( Master Watt tea). Alexander and Andrea then decided to invest and trade in Singapore. and their first two children were born there.
In 1833 he chartered a vessel with Captain Hector in command and loaded her with a cargo of tea from Canton. .Alexander and his family then joined the Lady Hayes for the voyage to Sydney. The tea was sold and realised e2.000 profit.
After his arrival in Sydney, Alexander was offered land at Kirribilli, but decided instead to settle in Bathurst. Alexander purchased 323 acres of land which had been granted to James Blackett in 1830. This was said to be the first private land sale in Bathurst, from the grantee. He changed the name of the property to "Esrom" to commemorate his Danish home. The ground floor of "Esrom House" at All Saints College at Bathurst ,is the original "Esrom", occupied by Alexander and his family.
In 1835, he became a director of the Bathurst Bank which ceased trading after the slump in 1842. Altogether he purchased 2,000 acres near Bathurst, and 1,500 acres in the Wellington Valley. Most of the estate was sold about 1858, but he retained "Esrom House and 10 acres, plus "Esrom Cottage" and 30 acres.
Alexander and his wife, Andrea, then leased the houses, and moved to Sydney where they had purchased Judge Stephen's house in Crown Street Surrey Hills. They returned to Bathurst to live in 1869, and sold "Esrom House" in 1873, and "Esrom Cottage" in 1875. Alexander then purchased a property in Snails Bay, Balmain where he lived until his death in 1886. He was buried next to his wife in the old Balmain cemetery.
Shortly after their marriage, they departed for India where her husband, Alexander, a merchant, was establishing contacts for the Watt family business in Copenhagen. They then moved to and invested in Singapore, where her eldest son and daughter were born. Old letters allude to some unpleasantness in Singapore, and Andrea's health suffered, so her husband decided to invest in a cargo of tea in Canton, and in 1833 the family set sail for Sydney. Shortly after their arrival, Andrea travelled to Bathurst with her husband and children Robert aged 3 and Andrea aged 8 months. .The family was quite wealthy, but it is not known if any servants accompanied them on their travels. There is mention in Bathurst of Miss McIntosh (a sister of well known Bathurst Solicitor) being a companion to Andrea, and Alexander, who was one of the people advocating the importation of Indian coolies to work in the Colony. had several convicts working for him. One of these was Mary (Polly) Hopkins, who defended her mistress with a loaded shotgun, when in the absence of any men, convict bushrangers approached the house.
At Bathurst, four more sons and a daughter, Hannah, were born, and baptised in Holy Trinity Church at Kelso, where the Watts were among the first communicants. There is very little information on Andrea, but from old family letters from Denmark (now in the Mitchell Library), it appears that letters from loved ones often went astray, and Andrea's family in Denmark received no letters from her from 1833 to 1835, and between 1835 and 1837. Although Andrea spoke Danish and English, the family letters were
written in old German. As an old woman, she still wore her hair traditionally Danish. Andrea died in 1876 at their home, "Beuna Vista", at Snails Bay, Wharf Road, Balmain and was buried in the old Balmain cemetery.
Alexander Watt
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Esrom House 1833
Rear View
Esrom House 1833
Front ViewThis painting is in the possession of Ralph David Byles
There appears to be two copies of this painting.The original and a copy done by H Babette Beuzeville which, (in 1998) is in the possession of Bill Payne of Dalkeith WA. The original, painted in 1868, is inscribed "For Evie, with love from Wilfred, Christmas, 1948. I have yet to track down its current whereabouts. It appears in the 'Family History Book of the Huckel Family, page 86.
ANDREA SOPHIA HOCH 1805-1876
Andrea Sophia Hoch was born in Copenhagen, the second daughter of Danish born merchant, and later Lutheran Minister, Johan Fridrich Hoch, and his wife Norwegian born Andrea Sophia Klingenberg. In 1828 she married her cousin Alexander Watt, whose mother was Hendrika Johanna Klingenberg.Hannah Ann Watt
Hannah Ann Watt, my great grandmother, was born in 1849 at Bathurst and in 1877 married James Paroissien Beuzeville, my great grandfather.