The People’s Flag: Catherine Meagher, first wife of Thomas Meagher, died giving birth

Catherine Meagher

Thomas Frances Meagher was a legendary figure in colonial history. His exile to Van Diemen’s Land and subsequent escape to the United States, are as much a part of his mythos as his participation in the American Civil Ware and death in the Missouri River.

However, little is known about his first wife Catherine Bennett. The pair met at Ross after Mr. Meagher helped repair a carriage Ms. Bennett, a governess, was travelling in.

They married and moved to a cabin at Lake Sorell, Tasmania, until Thomas fled in the colony. Ms. Bennett remained in Van Diemen’s Land and gave birth to the couple’s first child, Henry who died in infancy.

Ms. Bennett eventually left Van Diemen’s Land, following her husband to America but stopping in his home town of Waterford along the way. She was reportedly treated like royalty on arrival due to her husband’s status.

After reuniting with Thomas Meagher – who later remarried – briefly in America and falling pregnant, Ms. Bennett returned to Waterford.

Living with her father-in-law, she died of typhus shortly after giving birth to Mr. Meagher’s only surviving child, Thomas Bennett Meagher.

The couple and their fist son are memorialised at St. John’s Catholic Church in Richmond, Virginia.

*By Joe Colbrook, first published in the Australian Examiner.