Henry Rotton (16 August 1814 – 11 October 1881) was an English-born Australian businessman and politician.
Rotton settled in the Bathurst district from 1839, establishing himself as a publican and mail-coach operator. He settled at the 'Blackdown' property near Kelso and was a successful breeder of horses, cattle and sheep. He also invested in other pastoral properties in the colony. Rotton was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, initially in the electorate of Western Boroughs from January 1858 to April 1859, and for two terms as the member for Hartley from June 1859 to November 1864. Rotton made several unsuccessful attempts at contesting parliamentary seats from the mid-1860s to the mid-1870s.
Henry Rotton had an involvement in a well-known incident of the bushranging era when a gang besieged the homestead of Rotton's daughter and son-in-law, Catherine and Henry Keightley.
Biography
Early life
Henry Rotton was born on 16 August 1814 at Frome Selwood, county Somerset in England, the only son of Gilbert Rotton and Mary Caroline (née Humphries). His father was a solicitor.Family records, Ancestry.com.E. J. Lea-Scarlett (1976), Henry Rotton (1814–1881), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biology, Australian National University; accessed 28 November 2025.
Young Henry received his early education at a school in Frome and afterwards at the nearby city of Wells (west of Frome).Everard Digby (editor) (1889), Australian Men of Mark, Vol. I, Sydney: Charles F. Maxwell, pages 121-124; the following article has identical content: Men of the Past: Some Early Recollections: Mr. Henry Rotton, Bathurst Times, 31 January 1914, page 2.
Henry Rotton developed a strong desire to enter the Royal Navy. His father consulted his nephew, naval captain Fairfax Moresby (later an admiral), in the hope of entering his son in the naval service, but he was advised it was not possible. Henry's father then allowed his son "to take a trial trip in a merchant vessel". However, the ship was wrecked in the West Indies. Rotton then joined a vessel bound for the African coast, but he was abandoned by the captain in the British colony of Gold Coast "without friends or resources" and suffering from yellow fever. Rotton recovered from the disease after being cared for by "some negroes" and afterwards became a guest of the Governor of Gold Coast, George Maclean.
Sydney
From the Gold Coast in West Africa Rotton took a passage on a ship bound for Australia and arrived at Sydney, possibly in November 1833. He found a position as a clerk working for Mr. James, a businessman based at Parramatta, in which position he remained until early 1839.Henry Rotton, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 16 May 1906, page 1273.
Solitary Creek
Early in 1839 Rotton went to live at Solitary Creek (later named Rydal) in the Central West region of New South Wales, its location described as a "purling stream, in a grassy vale".New South Wales Directory, &c., of the Post Master General of the Colony, 1835, page 188. From about February 1839 he leased the Queen Victoria Inn on the Bathurst Road near Solitary Creek, and was granted a license for the public-house. The inn provided accommodation for travellers, with four sitting rooms and five bedrooms, and included stables, paddocks and stockyards.Notice, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 26 February 1839, page 3. The premises had been opened in July 1838 and was initially leased by Dennis Kenny, who by November 1838 had abandoned the property with rent in arrears.Queen Victoria Inn, The Australian (Sydney), 4 May 1838, page 3.
Henry Rotton and Lorn Jane Macpherson were married in 1839. The couple had two children, born in 1840 and 1841. Lorn Rotton died on 11 September 1842 at Solitary Creek, aged 25.
Bathurst district
Rotton and his children moved to Bathurst in July 1843. From July 1843 to 1848 Rotton held the publicans' license of the Queen Victoria Inn on the corner of George and Piper streets in Bathurst, named after his previous public-house at Solitary Creek.Notice of Removal, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 July 1843, page 1.
Henry Rotton and Mary Ann Ford were married on 18 March 1844 at Kelso (across the Macquarie River opposite Bathurst). The couple had eleven children born from 1846 to 1871.Marriages, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 March 1844, page 3.
In 1848 Rotton became a contractor for the conveyance of post office mails. His tender for the amount of £1,200 was accepted in January 1848 for the next twelve months. The contract was for the following routes: between Penrith and Bathurst, via Hartley, "by two or more horse coaches, three times a week, performing the journey in the day"; to and from Bathurst, Molong and Wellington (once a week) and Bathurst and Carcoar (three times a week), by two horse mail cart; to and from Bathurst and O'Connell, twice a week, by one horse mail cart.Conveyance of Post Office Mails, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 28 January 1848 (Issue No. 12), page 132.
By the early 1850s he was operating coaches on seven routes from Bathurst to the district townships of Orange, Wellington, Hartley, Rockley, Ophir, Sofala and Carcoar. In 1854 the Rockley, Ophir, Sofala and Carcoar routes were taken over by other contractors, but Rotton continued to operate the other coachlines until 1857.
Rotton was described as "a man of indomitable pluck and perseverence". In October 1851 James Sutherland and a man named McCann arrived at Bathurst with other passengers on one of Rotton's coaches from the Turon diggings. McCann left thirty pounds in the possession of Mrs. Rotton for safe-keeping "until he left town". On the following night Mary Rotton handed the money to her husband, less one pound for McCann's account, and informed Sutherland of the arrangement (who Mrs. Rotton mistook for McCann as the two closely resembled each other). Sutherland then booked himself on the mailcoach to Sydney for the following morning and requested the money from Rotton, which he received. The following morning, after the coach had departed, McCann approached Rotton and requested his money, at which time the error was discovered. Rotton then started on horseback "in pursuit of the mail" and reached Hartley shortly after its arrival there. He found Sutherland at an accommodation house and demanded the money, but received an evasive answer. Rotton then searched Sutherland and found a total of £22, hidden in the toe of his boot and in his hat. Sutherland was tried at the Bathurst Quarter Sessions in January 1852, indicted "for surreptitiously obtaining the sum of £29 from Mrs. Rotton". The jury returned a verdict of guilty against the prisoner, who was sentenced to "two years' hard labour upon the roads". McCann had left the district after the transaction, leading Rotton to conclude "that the whole affair was a plot" between McCann and Sutherland "to defraud him".Bathurst Quarter Sessions: Obtaining Money Under False Pretences, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 28 January 1852, page 2.
In 1853 Rotton purchased the 'Blackdown' pastoral property, north of Kelso, where he resided with his family. He also became part owner of several stations on the Lachlan and Macquarie rivers, including 'Gungalman' in the Lachlan District. Rotton was a successful breeder of horses, cattle and sheep at 'Blackdown', often winning prizes for his livestock at agricultural shows in the local district and in Sydney.
By the late 1850s Rotton was a justice of the peace and occasionally acted in the role of police magistrate for the district.Bathurst Police Court, Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 13 July 1858, page 2.
Political career
At the general election held in January and February 1858 Rotton was elected to represent the electoral district of Western Boroughs in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, an electorate that included Blayney, Carcoar and Rockley. Rotton ran against the sitting candidate, Arthur Holroyd, and was elected with a margin of six votes, polling 230 votes (or 50.7 percent) against Holroyd's 224 votes.Western Boroughs – 1858, 'New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007', Parliament of New South Wales website; accessed 28 November 2025. At the declaration of the poll on 30 January Rotton declared that "he was no party man", describing the present state of politics in the colony as "one ill defined heterogeneous mass". He described the predominant political faction under Charles Cowper as a liberal one and he himself "would be liberal likewise, if they would consent to enact laws conferring social and religious freedom on all classes of men... such as would promote progress and rational reform, not continuing to tinker up laws which did not require it, but eradicating bad laws wherever they existed".Western Boroughs, Bathurst Free Press and mining Journal, 3 February 1858, page 2.
During his first term in parliament Rotton openly supported aspects of the liberal agenda of John Robertson and Charles Cowper, including the abolition of state aid to religion. He maintained that all the Christian denominations should be treated alike and opposed grants to the Anglican and Catholic churches.
The Legislative Assembly was dissolved on 11 April 1859 and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. At the general election held in June and July 1859 Rotton decided to contest the rural electorate of Bathurst (County). Rotton and the pastoralist John Clements contested the seat, with Clements taking the conservative position of opposing the abolition of state aid to religion. At the election held on 9 June 1859 Rotton was defeated, attracting only 278 votes (44.4 percent).Bathurst – 1859, 'New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007', Parliament of New South Wales website; accessed 28 November 2025. Rotton then decided to nominate for the electorate of Hartley, a district where he owned property and was known to electors. Nominations for the seat were held on 20 June 1859. The only other candidate was the solicitor John Ryan Brenan, who had previously held the rural seat of Cumberland (South Riding) on Sydney's urban fringe. At the election held five days later Rotton was successfully elected for the seat of Hartley, receiving 281 votes (57.8 percent).Hartley – 1859, 'New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007', Parliament of New South Wales website; accessed 28 November 2025.
Rotton opposed free selection before survey as proposed in the Land Acts introduced into parliament in 1860 by the Robertson ministry.