27 May 1844 205 Wellington Street Launceston Tasmania Australia Elizabeth (Bessie) Dodd George Newton, Amy Ruth & Myra Bessie

George Hewlett Sargent was born on 27 May 1844 at Eythorne, Kent, England, to George Eliel Sargent (1809-1883), writer and editor, and his wife Emma Hewlett (1814-1890). George Hewlett was the fourth of nine children. He married Elizabeth (Bessie) Dodd on 20 Dec 1873 at St Margaret's Church in her home village of Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, the day after her 24th birthday. George was a brewer's clerk in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, where the three children were born: George Newton on 2 Jan 1875; Amy Ruth on 25 Mar 1877; and Myra Bessie on 3 Feb 1878. The family moved to Enfield for a brief time before George accepted a position as an accountant at Cadbury's, Birmingham.

The Sargents arrived in Australia on the Sorata in June 1886. They tried orcharding at Glengarry before moving to Rosevears, then Launceston for 20 years, Flowerdale and finally Wynyard. George had a varied career as an orchardist, pickle manufacturer, grocer and clerk. He was a Justice of the Peace, on the Table Cape Licensing Bench and church warden at the Wynyard Baptist Church. He enjoyed writing, painting, drawing, singing and playing the organ. He died at St Margaret's Hospital, Launceston, on 22 Oct 1914. Bessie died 10 years later on 3 Mar 1924. They were buried together in the Old Wynyard Cemetery. GH Sargent's son Newton and his future wife's family, the Dodgshuns, are also in the Launceston Family Album. See The Examiner 17 Dec 2005, p. 35.

Marion Sargent Sep 2005