The Albert Inn
Aberdeen
Samuel Caldwell arrived in Australia as a member of the Military Guard of the 17th regiment on the convict ship Lord Melville in 1830.
In New South Wales, he joined the mounted police. By 1841 he was Chief Constable at Muswellbrook.
He took over the Albert Hotel in Aberdeen in 1846 and in September advertised for a 'steady sober man as cook and waiter at his country Inn'.
In 1849 he travelled to Maitland to attend the Maitland Circuit Court where he was a witness in the trial of George Waters Ward who was charged with murdering Richard Connelly. Ward and Connolly had dined at Caldwell's Albert Inn on their way to Maitland.
In December 1849 Caldwell transferred the publican's licence to the Fitzroy Hotel in Singleton.
Edward Richardson then took over the Albert Inn and a few months later advertised to employ a married couple to work there. The Albert was probably well placed to benefit from the hundreds of diggers heading north to the Hanging Rock Gold Diggings in 1852. In April Richardson placed an advertisement thanking inhabitants of Aberdeen as well as travellers on the Great Northern Road for their patronage. He could provide wines, spirits, English ales and porters such as but few houses on the road could compete with and offered good accommodation for all classes. A plentiful supply of good hay and corn for horses and stables if they required them were available at the Albert Inn.
Notes and Links
In 1853 Samuel Caldwell took out a licence for an Inn at Walcha. In 1856 he was granted a licence for the Morpeth Inn owned by Mrs. Hillier.[1]Edward Richardson later took out a licence for the Tradesmans' Arms at Muswellbrook.
References
[1] State Archives NSW; Series: 14401; Item: [4/76-77]; Reel: 5059.. Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Certificates for Publicans' licences, 1830-1849, 1853-1860↑