Fresh start

John ENGLAND, my great great grandfather was one of my convict ancestors who I felt deserved being sent to Van Diemens Land.

Why you might ask?  Let me tell you his story.

John was born at Rotherham, Yorkshire in 1828.  By age 19 he was 5 feet 6 and 3/4 inches with fair complexion, oval head, sandy hair, no whiskers, brown eyebrows, hazel eyes and large nose. He was an iron moulder in the Rotherham area. His father was William and he had a brother named Thomas and sisters Elizabeth, Mary and Ann (or maybe Mary Ann)

Image from page 178 of "Foundry practice; a treatise on molding and casting in their various details" (1909)

But on 15 March 1846, his life was to take a big turn around. He was about to leave his safe home life and set off for a fresh start in another country thousands of miles away from England.

The indictment

On March 19, 1846 a warrant was set out by John Fullerton Esquire (JP) to John Bland (Constable of Rotherham) or to John Timms (deputy) and to the Governor of the Castle of York to convey John England, Samuel Myers, Joseph Barras and Richard Hague to the Castle of York and to deliver them to the Governor with the warrant.

John England, a labourer, on 15 March 1846 did with force and arms upon Maria Kaufman violently and feloniously make an assault and violently and feloniously did ravish and carnally know her. The other four with force and arms were present aiding, abetting and assisting John England.

Witnesses were John Bland, Maria Kaufman, Philippina(Caroline) Kaufman, Emma Harrison and William Hudson.

Friends help before the trial

Whilst awaiting trial, friends of John England did the following.

On June 9, 1846 George Aizlewood, Joseph Hague, Michael and Hannah Bradshaw, being evil disposed persons, unlawfully and wickedly with force and arms did conspire, combine, confederate and agree together to persuade Maria and Philippina Kaufman from attending to give evidence as witnesses.

They did this by paying and defraying the fare and expenses of the journey by railroad from Rotherham to London. Hannah paid 20 shillings for steam boat for parts beyond the seas. On 20 June 1846 she purchased and paid for diverse wearing apparel for Maria and Philippina. They tried to induce Maria and Philippina severally to suppress the evidence they knew and to withdraw and conceal themselves.

Whilst travelling in England in September 2005, I visited National Archives at Kew and found the actual indictment papers. I took photos with my ipad of the document which, when unrolled, was about 10 metres long. Here is an example of one of the 15 images I have. I still have to transcribe the document.

The trial

John was tried on 9 July 1846 at the York Assizes and was transported for life. It was his first conviction and it was rape in companion with Joseph Barras, William Thompson, William Aizlewood and Samuel Myers. John and Samuel arrived on board the same boat.

Awaiting transport

John and his companions in crime were in Millbank Prison before setting sail to VDL. (PCOM2)

Millbank Thomas Hosmer Shepherd pub 1829.jpg
Public Domain, Link

Heading to Van Diemens Land

John England then embarked on the convict ship Pestonjee Bomanjee (2) from London on 25 October 1846 and arrived 17 February 1847. According to the Home Office (HO 27/80) he had no degree of instruction.  He was a protestant who could read but the surgeon report said John was a negligent scholar. He had many marks on his arms – boys/men blowing horn, birds and bush, ship and 2 fishes, bust of woman, sailor with flag etc.

His conduct while under sentence

Maria Island - settlement of Darlington - view from hill (c1924)

John was stationed at Darlington, Maria Island, 28 February 1847 until late 1849.
14 August 1847 insolence
5 August 1848 idleness
7 December 1848 misconduct fighting on the works – 14 days solitary
3 June 1851 Hobart – misconduct being out after hours

Freedoms

On 8 August 1854 he received his ticket of leave meaning he could now get a job and earn his own wages.

His marriage to Rebecca Jackson (another convict) was approved on 20 September 1854.
16 August 55 Hobart resisting a constable fined 1 pound

His final freedom, a conditional pardon, was given on 22 July 1856 just 10 years after his conviction back in England.

So did John make a fresh start once his sentence was completed?

He raised a family of 8 children, worked as a moulder with John Swaine in Collins Street, Hobart, then Crosby and Robinson in Campbell Street and again with John Swaine.

At the marriage of his eldest daughter Elizabeth, the marriage notice mentioned Sheffield papers to copy, so maybe John was still in touch with family back in Yorkshire.

John led a good life here in Van Diemens Land later known as Tasmania and died in February 1905 at the age of 77.

 

Readers: Which ancestor of yours had to make a fresh start or on their own decided to make a fresh start? Do you know the reason why?

Congress day 1

UTAS DipFamHist at Congress 2018

Long day starting with a 20 minute walk to breakfast at a fast food place. All this walking to and from Congress is going to keep me fit.

Picked up my bag of goodies, including the important program. Planned my day using the booklet rather than fiddling around with the ipad. Headed to Cockle Bay Room where all the sessions I wanted to attend were going to be held.

A great day of family history also included our photo session on the steps of the International Conference Centre for the UTAS contingent, Sorry a few missed out but Lis is going to photoshop them in at a later date.

Sessions I attended today

Tarting up my blog with Jill Ball @geniaus

I felt my family history blog was doing quite well except I don’t have a header relating to my blog title.  It can be very difficult to find headers that are creative commons relating to the purpose of my blog. Might need to do a bit more research on this – would love to find one with old time ships from the early 1800s sailing across the oceans.

My navigation bar helps with things that wont change such as how to comment, reason for the blog and a bit about me. The sources from the Diploma of  Family History may be added to by either me or through comments from my readers.

My readers can use the tags or categories or archives to find posts relating to their interests but maybe I need to include a basic search widget. I have also needed to add one of these to my student blogging challenge blog.

My audience for my blog are mainly family or those students who have taken part in the UTAS Diploma of Family History. I advertise the new posts in the relevant Facebook groups for DipFamHist but rarely use Twitter or Pinterest, so I haven’t included any social media links on the blog.

Thanks Jill for a great session

Searching at the NAA with Judith Paterson, Rachel Cullen and Paivi Lindsay

I am so used to just doing a record search or passenger search that I may have missed other records held at the National Archives Australia. We learnt about how records were categorized and how knowing an agency or government department where your records might be, can help you find those unusual resources. Using advanced search and then searching by agency, series and items rather than a general name search. Might need to see if I can find more about my step grandfather Mikolaj Hrydziuszko other than his naturalization certificate.

Loved the way they used an example of one person and showed how they found documents as well as audio visuals and images relating to their research person.

Traversing TROVE with Cheney Brew

This was interesting in that I usually only use the newspapers in Trove but there are so many other records held at the National Library of Australia that can be accessed through Trove. Might need to check out some of their other sources. The other UTAS students sitting near me when we saw the video made about one of the research people, said it was like the annotated maps we did for the Diploma.

Convict records in VDL, NSW and WA with Dianne Snowden

Dianne did  a great job summarising all the convict records in these three states. As a convict researcher, you need to know the name of your convict, ship he came on and when and where he was sent to as there are differing records in each of the three states. One person in the audience was lucky enough to have a convict from each state –  Jacqui Brock from our UTAS group.

Many convict records are now appearing on Ancestry and FamilySearch but remember to check the National Library of Australia where they have links to convict records around Australia.

 

John Boyd

John Boyd is another of my convict ancestors. He was tried in the Central Criminal Court in London on 21st September 1835. He was given seven years transportation for larceny. John stated it was stealing fowls.

John had a swarthy complexion with a long head and visage. His hair was dark brown, his eyebrows light brown and he had dark hazel eyes. His forehead was high and he had a long nose, medium width mouth and narrow chin. He was 5 feet 5 inches in height. He was aged 22/25 when sentenced. CON 18/9

According to his appropriation papers he was born in Plymouth, Devon. His trade was as a carpenter and joiner, including doors and windows. He was well behaved whilst on the hulk according to his report. MM 33/6

He was sent to Van Diemens Land (VDL) on the ship Henry Porcher arriving Hobart Town via Norfolk Island on 15 November 1836. According to the surgeon on board, he was of very good behaviour.

Whilst in VDL he only committed two offences: December 15,1838 while under control of his master Dumaresque, he was drunk and making use of obscene language while having wine and rum in his possession. For this he was given 24 lashes. On June 4, 1839 while under control of his master Russell, he was convicted of misconduct but was only admonished for this.

He was given his ticket of leave on February 1, 1841: conditional pardon no 192 on February 12, 1842 and finally his free certificate no 700 on September 26, 1842.

On 6 September, 1842 at St Johns, Ross, Tasmania he married Martha Vico (Virco) nee Hearn, another person convicted of larceny at the central criminal court also.

He worked as a carpenter in Launceston for 3/4 years and worked at ‘Logan’ Evandale until his death from pneumonia.

HO 26/41 According to the Home Office, he could read and write at age 22, was tried at central criminal court and given 7 years transportation for larceny.

I have tried to find a John Boyd being born in the Plymouth area of Devon around 1815 but so far have not been lucky. There is a possibility of one being born in Maker, Cornwall which is across the river from Plymouth.