John Edye Manning, court registrar, was the second son of Rev James Manning of Exeter, England, and his second wife, Lydia, née Edye. He married Matilda Jordan Cooke and about that time began practising law. In 1811 he became insolvent and executed a deed of assignment of his property for the benefit of his creditors. Between 1814 and 1823 Manning lived on the Continent; he returned to England in 1823 under the protection of the Insolvent Debtors` Relief Act and in 1824 sold his property. Manning was appointed registrar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in August 1828 on a salary of £800, and next May arrived in Sydney in the Lord Melville with his wife and five of his children. Manning was also appointed curator of intestate estates by the judges of the Supreme Court, and despite his objections was obliged to lodge a security of £2000 to protect the public from loss. Manning again objected when the judges of the Supreme Court made new rules for the deposit of intestate money in the Savings Bank and for the quarterly audit of the registrar`s accounts. Manning felt that these rules were inconsistent with the understanding on which he had accepted his position. He claimed that his official income had proved to be less than half the £2000 a year which he had been promised as the practical value of his office, and that, unless he could derive an indirect income through the custody of intestate estates, he would have to use his own salary to pay the cost of their administration, with consequent losses to the beneficiaries. Late in 1841 he became a victim of the depression, for his property and stock were heavily mortgaged and his shares worthless. Manning told the judges of the Supreme Court that his financial difficulties prevented him from lodging the intestate estates money in the Savings Bank. Members of Manning`s family in the colony offered to pay compensation for their father`s default; their proposal was apparently disregarded, for in 1849 the Legislative Council passed an Act to provide for the payment of claims on the late registrar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in respect of the Intestates` Estates Act. Meanwhile Manning had returned to England, and again spent some time on the Continent. He appears to have received an annual remittance from the family of Lord Brougham, who had been instrumental in advancing the Manning family in New South Wales. John Edye Manning died in Bristol, England, on 16 January 1870; of his five sons and three daughters who survived infancy, Edye was a merchant in Sydney, and William Montagu had a distinguished legal career. (Source: http://www.manning.ch/genealogy/f822.htm#P2642)