Samuel Terry

Samuel Terry (c. 1776 – 22 February 1838) was an English man who was transported to Australia as a criminal, where he became a wealthy landowner, merchant and philanthropist. His extreme wealth made him by far the richest man in the colony with wealth comparable to the richer people in England. Terry left a personal estate valued at £250,000, an income of over £10,000 a year from Sydney rentals, and landed property that defies assessment. At his death in 1838 he was worth 3.39% of the colony's gross domestic product, which today would be equivalent to over $24 billion.

Early life The year and circumstances of Terry's birth are unknown. While working as a labourer in Manchester, England, on 22 January 1800 he was sentenced to transportation to the colony of Australia for the crime of stealing 400 pairs of stockings. He was taken to Sydney, Australia, where he served as a stone cutter. After working several jobs, he earned a farm in 1808.

On 27 March 1810 Terry married Rosetta (Rosata) Marsh or Madden, née Pracey, who had come freely to the colony in 1799 on the East India Company ship Hillsborough. She was a widow (possibly of convict Edward Madden, and later of Henry Marsh), and she had three children when she married. She was an innkeeper, and upon their marriage Terry took over her Pitt Street property.

Flour business In August 1820 Terry entered into a business partnership with Thomas White Melville Winder to mill grain into flour. The mills were built on a grant of land belonging to Terry in what is known today as Kensington. His burial was with Masonic honours. The personal estate he left was estimated at £250,000.

In 1967 Terry's biography, written by his great-granddaughter Gwyneth Dow, was included in The Australian Dictionary of Biography.