Family background
William Pritchard was born in 1830 in Gloucestershire, son of Edward (d.1878) and Sophia Pritchard. About 1854 he married Emily Ann (d.1885, aged 52) and had a large family, with several that died in infancy. He died on 19 July 1903 at Annandale and was buried with his parents and family in the Independent section of Rookwood Cemetery. His brothers Edward (d.1908) and Samuel (d.1912) were also buried in the family grave. Note that some of these genealogical details are speculative and require further research for confirmation.
Occupation & interests
William Pritchard arrived in Sydney in 1839 as a 10 year old bounty immigrant on the Orestes from Kingswood, Gloucester, with his family. By 1859 William Prichard and John Williams were auctioneers and agents of 121 Sussex Street and Market Wharf. He was in business by himself as an auctioneer and produce merchant in 1863 with his private residence at Glebe Road.
In April 1865 William Pritchard, merchant of King Street, and his brothers Samuel Pritchard, contractor of Newtown, and Edward Pritchard of Newtown were granted a Sydney City Council contract for the supply of bricks for the High Level Reservoir at Paddington Water Works. In 1885, William Pritchard was advertising himself as an auctioneer, land and estate agent at 289 George Street, and was living at Junction Street, Leichhardt. He held freehold property at King Street and possibly also at Darling Street in Balmain.
On 15 February 1896 his substantial house at Linden near Springwood in the Blue Mountains was reduced to ruins by an accidental fire. From 1871 to 1876, a William Pritchard held the license for a Balmain hotel in Adolphus Street, formerly an unsavoury establishment called the Rob Roy and renamed the Oriental by Pritchard. He was declared insolvent from October 1874 to September 1882 and may also have survived an earlier bankruptcy in 1870.
Local government service
William Pritchard was Alderman for Brisbane Ward, 2 December 1867 to May 1869.
He was Alderman of Leichhardt Council from 1879 to 1883, and mayor of Leichhardt from 1882 to 1884. A William Pritchard was an alderman on Annandale Council in 1894.
References
Australian Men of Mark 1889, Charles F Maxwell, Sydney
Davidson, Bonnie & Nicholls, Debby & Hamey, Kath & Balmain Association 1991, Called to the bar: 150 years of pubs in Balmain & Rozelle, Balmain Association, Balmain
City of Sydney. Aldermen’s File; Archives Investigator
Nepean Times 15 February 1896
‘Family Notices’, Evening News, 18 July 1903, p. 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115856790