England, Essex, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971

England, Essex, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971 · FamilySearch

For “Born” 17 NOV 1814 of Benjamin Saville

Benjamin Savell | England, Essex, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971 | Baptism 23 July 1815 | Birth 17 November 1814 | Parents Rebecca Savell, John Savell

The register states a birth date, not merely a baptism date, which is common in non-conformist registers and is what makes 17 November 1814 a recorded fact rather than a compiled tradition. It confirms the birth date already on this record. Note the tension it does not resolve: his convict indent gives his age as 19 in March 1833 and the pardon register 34 in 1848, both implying 1813-14 — a convict overstating his age by a year is ordinary, and the register is preferred.

England, Essex, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971 · FamilySearch

For “Baptised” 23 JUL 1815 of Benjamin Saville

Benjamin Savell | England, Essex, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971 | Baptism 23 July 1815 | Birth 17 November 1814 | Parents Rebecca Savell, John Savell

FamilySearch index entry, fields as the collection labels them, read in a signed-in browser 2026-09-07. This is the record the whole identification turns on: it gives a birth date, a baptism date and both parents' names. The birth date is 17 November 1814, exactly what Find a Grave and WikiTree carry for the Benjamin Saville who died at Lansdowne; the parents are John and Rebecca, exactly what the Lansdowne cemetery transcription records; and the county is Essex, exactly what his convict indent gives as his native place. See the citation on his parents' family for the full identity argument and its one weakness.

England, Essex, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971 · FamilySearch

For John Savell & Rebecca Peacock

Benjamin Savell | England, Essex, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971 | Baptism 23 July 1815 | Birth 17 November 1814 | Parents Rebecca Savell, John Savell

THE PARENT LINK, and the argument for it, since this connects an English register to an Australian convict. FOR: (a) Benjamin Saville's convict indent gives his native place as Essex, and this register is Essex; (b) the Australian cemetery transcription of his Lansdowne grave names his parents 'John & Rebecca', independently of any English record, and this register gives exactly John and Rebecca; (c) the register's stated birth date, 17 November 1814, is the date carried for him by Find a Grave, WikiTree and the family; (d) Hatfield Heath adjoins Matching, the birthplace on the Ancestry member tree; (e) the rival candidates have been checked and excluded — the Benjamin Saville baptised Saffron Walden 1813 to William and Mary was living at Hackney in 1881 and died 1884, and the Benjamin Savell alias Savall of Takeley in the 1841, 1861 and 1871 censuses died at Epping in 1889, whereas ours died at Taree in 1896. AGAINST, stated plainly: (c) may not be independent evidence at all, because a Find a Grave or WikiTree contributor could have taken 17 November 1814 from this very record; the identification therefore rests on (a), (b) and (e), which do not depend on it. That is a county, a matching pair of parents' given names from an Australian source, and two eliminated alternatives — enough for the link, and the reasoning is recorded here so a later researcher can reopen it.