Jesse was born in the village of Mountfield in East Sussex and was baptised in the local parish church of All Saints on 22 April 1787. The church of All Saints was built in the 12th Century with the tower being added in 1200. 15th Century drawings of the church show that it has been almost unchanged in the last 500 years.
Photographed (very poorly) in Oct 2000 by me.
Jesse’s father was John Dunk, and the Dunk family can be reliably traced back to 1630, but in Kent not in Sussex. It is over 35 miles from Meopham, Kent to Mountfield Sussex and that’s a long trip in the 18th Century, but that where John married Sarah Blunden in 1767 (and paid Land Redemption Tax 1780) and it is where Jesse and his six siblings were born.
Jesse Dunk was a foot soldier. He served in the 3rd Regiment of Foot. Now known as the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) the 3rd Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and was one of the oldest regiments in the British Army, being third in order of precedence (ranked as the 3rd Regiment of the line). The regiment provided distinguished service over a period of almost four hundred years accumulating one hundred and sixteen battle honours.
The regiment embarked for Portugal in August 1808 for service in the Peninsular War. The grenadier company of the regiment served under Sir John Moore at the Battle of Corunna in January 1809 before being evacuated to England later that month. The rest of the regiment remained on the Peninsula and fought at the Battle of Talavera in July 1809 and the Battle of Bussaco in September 1810 before falling back to the Lines of Torres Vedras. Next it saw action at the Battle of Albuera in May 1811 and the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813. It then pursued the French Army into France and fought at the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813, the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813 and the Battle of the Nive in December 1813 as well as the Battle of Orthez in February 1814 and the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. It became part of the Army of Occupation of France in 1816 before returning home in autumn 1818. If you look carefully at the campaign bars on Jesse’s medal you can see that he fought in Bussaco, Albuera, Vittoria, Pyrenees and Toulouse, and you can see the record of his awards below. The medal was in the possession of Rob Dunk of Tahmoor in 1997.
(Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men)
On his return from France in 1818, Jesse married local girl Charlotte Martha Sellen. Jesse was 31 by this time, but Charlotte was only 14 years old! She had her first child the following year and her seventh, our 3xgreat grandmother Elizabeth in 1832. I expect the poor lass was completely worn out when she died in 1835, aged only 31!
Jesse and Charlotte’s children were:
- John 1819-1868
- William Henry 1821-1901
- Jesse 1823-1896
- Sarah Ann 1825-1877
- Martha 1827-1877
- Thomas Benjamin 1829-1896
- Elizabeth 1832-1886
Jesse wasn’t on his own for long. With seven children under 12 years, I guess we can understand that. He married a woman from Mountfield called Susanna Silvaris. Unfortunately, we don’t know too much about Susanna. In fact the only record of her, other than her death in 1853, is when she and Jesse arrived in the Colony on 26 Oct 1839 along with 201 other “government emigrants, in a very healthy state”2. The Assisted Immigrant Passenger List lists Jesse and Susanna under the surname Donk3 and tells us that he is 49 years old, a Protestant and in very good health and that Susanna can read. Jesse was, in fact, 52 but was certainly not alone if reducing his age in order to qualify for the bounty of £20 per year that was to be paid to him by his employer, Mr Manning.
Jesse married a third time in March 1858. The marriage register records Jesse’s age at the time as 54, but he was actually 70. He married Sarah Hilder who was 19 years old. Sarah was the cousin of his son-in-law, John Hilder, who had married his youngest child Elizabeth. John and Elizabeth are our 3xgreat grandparents.
Jesse died in June 1860 and is buried in the churchyard of St. John’s Anglican Church, in Camden4. The spelling of his name is incorrect as is the date of birth on the headstone, as we know from the records that 22nd April is actually the date of his baptism.
As yet I have not been able to find out who “Shirley” is but I think it is safe to assume that we are related.
Postscript: In March 1862, the estate of Jesse Dunk of Camden, farmer, was placed under sequestration with liabilities of £318 5s. 10d and assets of £10 10s5. It is unknown if this someone claiming against Jesse’s deceased estate or a claim against his son.
SOURCES
- War Office: Campaign Medal and Award Rolls 1793-1949 (General Series). The National Archives microfilm publication WO 100. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England. Retrieved December 6, 2023, from https://www.ancestry.com.au ↩︎
- Ship News. (1839, October 29). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842), p. 3. Retrieved December 6, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2536048 ↩︎
- New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896 for Jesse Donk. Retrieved December 6, 2023, from https://www.ancestry.com.au ↩︎
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155885414/jesse-dunk: accessed 06 December 2023), memorial page for Jesse Dunk Sr. (22 Apr 1787–15 Jun 1860), Find a Grave Memorial ID 155885414, citing Saint John Anglican Churchyard Cemetery, Camden, Camden Council, New South Wales, Australia. ↩︎
- SUMMARY OF INSOLVENTS. (1862, March 21). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1875), p. 3. Retrieved December 7, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60507805 ↩︎
Our Family's History 
Leave a comment