William Holt, was the husband of Mary Ann Holt (nee Peters), and the father of  Frederick Adolphus Holt (who assumed the surname Grant).  He arrived in Van Diemen’s Land as a free man aboard the ship Royal Admiral on 2nd April 1832. He had been employed by Mr Philip Thomas Smith to care for his valuable horses on the voyage to Van Diemen’s Land. He is mentioned a number of times in the dairy that Smith kept. [See Below: "Diary of Philip Thomas Smith on board the Royal Admiral en route for Tasmania. 12 Dec 1831 – 8 April 1832 " Transcribed by Richard Fotheringham. See Also: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-philip-thomas-2672] This diary gives a detailed account of the journey, and it records how all the horses were lost in the stormy weather. Two of the diary entries in particular give significant insights about William Holt: “I must look after him too for his ups & downs in life have been very singular”, and “I sent the fool to bed to repent on aches and pains for he can’t stand liquor”.

On 19th June 1832, just months after his arrival, he married Mary Ann Peters. Five years later, on 31st May 1837, he was declared insolvent. The records show that at this time he was working as a farming overseer at Bagdad. A son, Frederick Adolphus Holt, is recorded in the Green Ponds Baptismal Register as being born on 28th January 1838. [Frederick gave his birth date as being 28 December 1837]. At this time William Holt is renting land at Bagdad from his wife’s brother-in-law, George Armytage.

The Green Ponds Baptismal Register shows that on 5th March 1840, a daughter, Sophia Matilda Holt, and her brother Frederick were both baptised by Rev George Otter, the new Chaplain of Green Ponds.  Sophia died the following year, on 5 Apr 1841. The Holt’s third child, Randolph Henry Holt was born on 26 November 1841. The 1842 census records show that in December 1841 the Holt family were living at Bagdad in a mud hut that they did not own. The following year they are recorded as owning and living in a wooden dwelling at Bagdad.

There were several men named William Holt in Van Diemen’s land during the first decade that my 3rd great grandfather was living there. For this reason I always filed material about ’my’ William under the name ‘William Holt of Bagdad’. There are numerous newspaper records of  a person/persons named William Holt being arrested for  drunkenness. It is very likely that at least some of these events referred to ‘William Holt of Bagdad’ but there are insufficient details given to be sure. The lack of evidence of identity also applies to the account of a suicide attempt by a William Holt in the Liverpool Street watch house in December 1832. The last Tasmanian record for ‘William Holt of Bagdad’ that I have been able to trace is the 1843 census.