Obituary
Mr. Charles Hampden Barton, of Nanima Station, Wellington, N.S.W., died suddenly in Sydney last month, and his death will leave a big gap in the town and district of Wellington, after having lived there and made himself universally liked and respected during nearly sixty-five years. The late Mr. Barton’s father, Mr. Robert Johnston Barton, took up Boree Nyrang, near Molong, in the early thirties, accompanied by Messrs. Docker, father of Judge Docker, of Sydney, and John Bayly Darvall, barrister, of Sydney. Before he came out to Australia he was Lieutenant-Commander in the Honourable East India Company. The late Mr. Charles Barton was born at Boree in 1848, being the third son, and after spending his boyhood on the station, went to Carcoar to school. Later on he became a pupil at the late Rev. Mr. Garnsey’s well-known school at Windsor, and in 1868 joined the staff of the Commercial Bank at Sydney. He had a successful banking career, and the fact that by the time he was twenty-eight years of age he had been appointed to open branches at Tambaroora at the time of the gold rush, and at Parkes and Wellington, speaks volumes for his ability. The business of opening a branch bank in those days was no sinecure, and Mr. Barton arrived in Wellington with the requisite coin in a handbag, opening business in a room secured in a private residence. There was no safe, so it was an appointment full of responsibility and anxiety. He took a keen interest in the sporting life of Wellington, and strongly supported the volunteer movement. In 1884 Mr. Barton took a trip to England, retiring from the bank in 1900, after a long and honourable career, and going to live on a portion of the old Nanima Estate. At the general election for the State Parliament in 1908 he was selected as the Liberal candidate for the Macquarie, and was returned.

But it was the late Mr. Barton’s enterprise in agricultural pursuits which conferred the most lasting benefit on the district in which he lived. By example and demonstration he proved to farmers that they could grow successfully much larger areas of wheat than they were then doing, and it was really under his guidance that the production of wheat increased so enormously in the district—an increase which had a great bearing on the growth and prosperity of Wellington.

The late Mr. Barton was one of five brothers, only two of whom are now living—Mr. Robert Darvall Barton, of Sydney, who until recently owned Biddenham Station, Queensland, and Mr. Augustus Stirling Barton, of Polly Brewan, N.S.W. He leaves a widow and a family of eight children.

[Pastoralists’ Review 15 July 1912]

Will
By his will the late Mr. Charles Hampden Barton, of Nanima, near Wellington, grazier, who died at Sydney on June 21 last, appointed his wife. Annie Barton; his son, Robert Charles Bertram Barton, grazier of Wellington; and Arthur Stirling Barton, grazier, of Rydalmere, as executors and trustees of his estate. The testator bequeathed to his wife the whole of his plate, pictures, books, household furniture and effects, motor cars, carriages, and certain horses she might select, absolutely; an annuity of £400, and the use of three properties, including the residence at Nanima, during her life; after her death the properties to be held in trust for his four sons, upon payment by them of £4,000 to his four daughters in equal shares. He bequeathed £250 to the Anglican Bishop of Bathurst, to be devoted to such purposes as the churchwardens and parochial council of St. John’s, Wellington, might determine, and a similar sum to the Wellington Hospital. He devised to his son, Robert Charles B. Barton, an improvement lease of 8580 acres at Murrungundy, free and discharged from all debt; a lease of 4570 acres at Murrungundy free from any debt to his son, Brian Templer Barton; a sum not exceeding £7000 to his son, Nathaniel Dunbar Barton, so that certain land recently transferred to him by his brother, R. C. B. Barton, might pass to him free from any debt; and certain properties in the parish of Nanima to his son, Denis Hampden Barton. He also bequeathed to his four sons all the stock at Nanima and Murrungundy, and £5000 to each of his four daughters; £5 to each of his nieces, nephews, and grandchildren; £300 to John Clement Wren, of Towri station, in consideration of faithful services, and £5 to each of his employees of six months’ standing. He directed that the portrait of his late mother, and the painting by Dr. Docker, of a certain fleet entering Sydney Heads, should remain at Nanima House, so long as it was occupied by any member of his family. In the event of the homestead passing into other hands, the portrait to become the property of his eldest son, and the painting to belong to his son, Brian Templer. He bequeathed the residuary, real, and personal estate to his trustees upon trust for all his children in equal shares, the trustees being empowered to postpone the sale and conversion of the estate until such time as they thought fit.

The net value of the estate was sworn at £66,294 18s 11d, of which £34,821 14s 5d represented real estate.

[SMH https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15347983]