Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Final part of Chapter 12 of Battle Against the Odds

 "THE BARRACKS", MACQUARIE STREET, SYDNEY

Information board showing the following:

CRIMES PUNISHABLE BY DEATH

About 160 crimes punishable by death many of which were commuted to transportation. Some of these are:

Shoplifting above 5 shillings

Stealing above 40 shillings in any house

Stealing horses, cattle or sheep

Highway robbery

Forgery of deeds, bonds, bills, notes and bank clerks embezzling notes

Arson or maliciously burning a house, barns with corn etc.

Destroying ships or setting on fire 

Setting fire to coalmines

Destroying turnpikes or bridges, weighing engines, locks or sluices

Destroying machines that manufacture textiles

Some crimes punished by transportation - could also be punished by whipping, imprisonment, pillory or hard labour.

Petty larceny or theft under 1 shilling

Grand larceny or theft above 1 shilling

Receiving or buying stolen goods

Stealing letters or destroying mail

Assault with intent to rob

Aliens returning after being ordered out of the country

Stealing fish from a pond or river or buying stolen fish

Stealing trees, or plants to value of 5 shillings or destroying them

Bigamy

Counterfeiting coins

Marriage - solemnising clandestinely

Manslaughter or killing another without malice

Cutting or stealing timber trees

Watermen carrying too many passengers on the Thames if any drown

Entering a park and killing or wounding deer

Hunting deer in forest

Deserting from army or navy

Burglary

Escaping from house of correction

Setting fire to barns or stacks of hay

Stealing children with their apparel

Practicing as a lawyer after a conviction for perjury

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The foregoing information seen on the top floor of Barracks, Macquarie Street, room opposite the room containing the hammocks. 1986.

This is the end of the transcription of Battle Against the Odds, Chapter 12.


Sunday, February 13, 2022

A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 11

 My transcription of the NSW family history book A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 11.

This part deals with the trial of John Smith (1795-1866). Old Bailey Fourth Sessions 1816.
Today the Old Bailey trials have been digistised. John Smith's trial  in April 1816 is here.
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Fourth Sessions 1816

 
291. JOHN SMITH was indicted for burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Edmund Simkins , at about the hour of seven in the night of the 17th of February , with intent to steal, and for burglariously stealing therein, one lookingglass, value 4l. the property of the aforesaid Edmund Simkins .
EDMUND SIMKINS. On the 17th of February last, in the evening, at about a quarter past seven o'clock, I was sitting in my kitchen with my family, at my house, No. 24, Greenfield-street, Commercial-road, at the parish of St. Dunsten Stebonheath , and I was alarmed by something over me, as if something had dropped; some one of the family exclaimed, there is some one in the parlour; that was the room above. I immediately ran up stairs, and discovered the prisoner with a glass, resting on the ledge of the window; it was a looking-glass; the window was open; the shutters had been put to; the sash was thrown completely up. I was in the room not ten minutes before; it was then down. I have not a doubt but that the prisoner at the bar, who was in the room, had opened the window; the sash is fastened down by a catch, or a window drop. I found this catch forced from the window, and lying on the floor. This is part of the catch; that had been entire, and fastened to the window, and I found this knife also in the room; it was not there ten minutes before. I found the prisoner at the bar getting out at the window, with the looking-glass resting on the ledge; the glass was removed from its place. There is a little wooden railing outside, that he might have rested his foot on in getting out; he might have got out without breaking the glass or damaging himself. When I saw him getting out, I gave the alarm of stop thief; he had got one foot on the chair, and the other on the table. The watch was not set. I gave the alarm of stop thief, and a young man was passing, and saw him coming from the window, and threw him down into the kinnel, and I found him in his custody, when I secured him; this was about a quarter after seven o'clock, it was dark. When I went up, I had not a candle with me, but I knew the prisoner was the same man when I went round, because I have a lamp just opposite to me, and another by me. The prisoner is the same man whom I saw in the room. He begged very hard for mercy, and hoped I would let him go. I am sure the window was down when I went up about ten minutes before. No person could get in at the window, or force it up, without forceing this catch off.


WILLIAM ALTHORNS. I was passing by before the alarm was given, and seeing the prisoner coming out of the window, I thought proper to seize him; I threw him off the rail into the kinnel; the rail is under the window. I held him down a minute or two, when there was a cry of stop thief, and the last witness, Simkins, came out; I did not let go of him until I put him into the hands of Simkins. The prisoner said he had done nothing, he had done nothing, let him go, let him go.


Simkins, Re-examined. I took the prisoner to Lambeth-street office, and delivered him into the custody of Ebenezar Dalton. The glass was not taken out of the house, because I had put it back again; he had moved it from its place.


EBENEZAR DALTON. On the 17th, I was standing in the office, between seven and eight o'clock in the evening, and I heard a bustie in the street, and went out; I saw Mr. Simkins and two or three more bringing this man to the office, and it was with great difficulty we got him in; I took him in, and searched him; but there was nothing on him. The next morning I went to the house that had been broken open, and there I received this knife and catch. The knife agreed with the mark on the window; there was an appearance of force on the window, where it had been broken open.


Prisoner's Defence. On the day in the indictment, I was very much intoxicated, and was returning home through Greenfield-street; I had come from Ratcliffe Highway; a person stopped me, and charged me with a robbery, and I knew myself to be innocent, and I made no resistance. It is impossible to break open a house without any instrument; and it is well known that that knife, (even if it was proved to be mine,) could not break open this window; they searched me, and found nothing on me.


Simkins. Re-examined. The looking-glass had been fixed to the wall. I have not the least doubt that that is the man,(pointing to the prisoner,) who was getting out of the window when I went up stairs; he was dressed nearly as he is now.
Prisoner. Q. Did you see my face - A. I did.


JURY. We should suppose that the power of that brass would cesist the power of that knife.
Simkins, Re-examined. Q. Your window is in a frame - A. Yes, it slides up.
Q. Do you see that knife, it does not seem very strong; how do you suppose it could break that brass - A. I don't know how it could be broken off, but I found it broken off, and the window open. He could not open the window without breaking the catch; the glass of the window was not broken at all.


Ebenezar Dalton, Re-examined. I saw where the knife had made an impression; there was the mark of the knife on the sash.


THE COURT, in summing up the evidence for the consideration of the Jury, told them that if the prisoner lifted the sash after it was dark, without forcing the catch, that would constitute the crime with which he was charged.


GUILTY - DEATH , aged 19

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Transcription of  A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, to be continued...

Thursday, February 3, 2022

A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 10

 My transcription of the NSW family history book A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 10.

This part deals with some additional information on John and Mary Smith.

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John and Mary Smith, additional data

Quite a deal of additional material is available concerning John and Mary Smith and it seems worthwhile to include some of it in the book. Hilda and Eric have given a good account of them and other writers have given good coverages of their children. The eldest of their family, Margaret does not have a chapter especially devoted to her but she is detailed in the chapter entitled "William Mason (Jnr.) and Margaret Smith".

Data established by the late Mary Gwyther in 1981 from the Archives Office of N.S.W., gives a character reference for John in his application for a "Ticket of Leave". This was subsequently granted on 24.3.1825 – see Hilda and Eric Lukeman's story.

ARCHIVES OF NEW SOUTH WALES 4/3/81 (Mary Gwyther)

JOHN SMITH - Servant age 21, height 5/7 1/2, complexion sallow, hair black, eyes black, arrived by ship "Sir William Bensley" 10th March 1817. Servant of Samuel Terry of "Chain of Ponds" (later and now "Box Hill" on Windsor Road opposite turn off to Riverstone) attests to his character for A.T. of A.

1825/No 158 of 1632 - 4/1716 .2.

Court House, WINDSOR -CERTIFICATE OF CONDUCT 19th March, 1825.

WE, certify that John Smith who came by ship "Sir William Bensley" which arrived in the year 1817, has not been convicted of any crime or misdemeanour in this Colony, but is to our certain belief, an honest, sober, and industrious character, having served faithfully, Mr. R. Fitzgerald residing in Windsor from March 1817 to March 1820, and Mr. Samuel Terry on his farm in the district of the "Chain of Ponds" from March 1820 to March 19th 1825.

MIDDLESEX JAIL 3rd April 1816-Life

Wm.Cox - Magistrate.

John Cross - Chaplain

Masters R. Fitzgerald - (3 years) present

Samuel Terry - (5 years) attested.

Mr. F. Sullivan

Colonial Secretary

Blk Book

exd J.W. Horne

C.C. LONDON

 

The next few pages give details of John's indictment, details re crimes and punishments, and John and Mary's (Tully) marriage certificate. 

Greenfield Road and Commercial Road London E1 is not far from the Tower of London. In this street in 1816 the young John Smith in a moment of inebriated indiscretion took the action which almost caused his execution. He was reprieved and sent to Sydney Town instead. He arrived here in 1817.

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Transcription of the NSW family history book A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12.

To be continued...

 

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 9

 My transcription of the NSW family history book A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 9. 

This part deals with the location of John and Mary Smith and children in the NSW 1828 Census.

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Bathurst the Less

 
The 1828 Census was taken at a time when the Smith family was living at Bathurst (less). This was located to the west of the present Marsden Park and to the east of South Creek and lies between Richmond and Windsor Roads. It was originally names after Lord Bathurst but after the crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813 and the naming of the present city of Bathurst, the earlier place was relegated to "less". The old name is no longer used. To this day it is a flood prone area and is used primarily for grazing.
The Smith family do not appear to have lived there for many years, because of the frequent flooding and they seem to have moved to Nelson. It is thought that they were living near the intersection of Boundary and Old Pitt Town roads, Nelson, Well before their deaths, John 19.7.1866 and Mary on 15.6.1868.

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My transcription of A Battle against the odds is to be continued ...

Monday, January 17, 2022

A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 8

A transcription of the NSW family history book A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 8
This part deals with what we know of the final years of former convicts, John and Mary Smith in NSW

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1828 Census

 
As well as identifying that John and Mary are indeed the ones who arrived on "Sir Wm Bensley" and "Elizabeth" respectively, the Census lists the five children and the fact that they owned "five head of cattle". Children born up to 1828 were:
Margaret 9, John 6, mary 5, Henry 3, and James 2.
Obituary Notice – Sydney Morning Herald 18th June 1868
"On Monday, the 15th instant at her residence, Box Hill, Windsor Road, Mary relict of the late John Smith, aged 69 years."


Postscript

 
Banished from their native lands John and Mary found each other in this new Colony 12,000 miles from the country that had disowned them.
Surely the spark of life they passed on to their descendants burns more strongly today as we pay tribute to their memory.

By Hilda and Eric Lukeman
Currumbin, Queensland, 1986.


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This is the end of the main section about John and Mary written by Hilda and Eric Lukeman in 1986. However more is to follow from other sources regarding the trial of John Smith at the Old Bailey in 1816.

To be continued...

 

Saturday, January 15, 2022

A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 7

 A transcription of the NSW family history book A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 7
This part deals with the subject of children on the Sydney-bound convict ship, Elizabeth I in 1818, and the distribution of the convicts on arrival. My GG Grandmother was on board, having been convicted in Dublin, Ireland.
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Children on the Ship

 
A feature of this voyage (and no doubt others as well) was the number of small children who accompanied their mothers. There is no mention in the shipping records of this but it is revealed when lists were drawn up in Sydney for the distribution of the arrivals. We quote a sample only to illustrate:
"Mary Carroll and 2 girls
Elizabeth Maher and 2 girls
Mary Coulter and i boy
Martha McElroy and 1 boy."
For a child to be left behind to endure the appalling conditions prevailing in Britain and Ireland then, is almost too dreadful to think about. One wonders how many family historians are unable to locate an ancestor who may have arrived as "and 1 boy"?


Distribution

 
A list dated 25th November, 1818 just six days after "Elizabeth" arrived, was sent by Secretary Campbell to H. McArthur Esq. J.P. Parramatta. It contained the names of "51 female convicts landed from the transport ship Elizabeth (2nd)". Five were assigned to individuals as follows:

Honora O'Hearne           for Mr. Moore, Liverpool
Ann Daly.......................for Capn. Brabyn
Ann McLoughlin...........for N. Bayly Esq.
Mary Bergin............ for N. Bayly Esq.
Ann Armstrong........for Mr. Williamson.

These five were unencumbered by children. The other 46 were "for teh Factory at Parramatta". All were "sent forward to Parramatta by water". Mary (no children) was listed No. 27 and her name appears as "Mary Tully".


So, exactly 20 months after John Smith was sent up the Parramatta River to the Rev. Samuel Marsden J.P. his future wife was sent the same way to the same town, this time to H. McArthur Esq. J.P.

Later she is recorded as "Maria Ellis" and in 1820 as "Mary Ellis" - "Govt. Factory". Surprisingly she appears in the Govt. Factory in 1821 even though she and John were married the year before. For her marriage on 4th September, 1820 Mary was shown as Mary Ennis. Her abode was recorded as Pitt Town. We can assume that she still had four years to serve before her sentence terminated; (Tickets of Leave were not issued to women) her name would have to appear on an official list even though she was not physically at that place.


Mary became "Free of Servitude" in September, 1824 exactly seven years after she was sentenced.
A feature of Mary's career up to her marriage is that time after time one is led to think the person researched is not our Mary, or that there are two or three different people being confused as one. But, every lead meets at the vital points and there is just no way other than one person only is involved.

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 Transcription of A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12 to be continued...

Sunday, January 9, 2022

A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 6

A transcription of the now out of print family history book, A Battle against the odds, Chapter 12, part 6. This section concerns the Irish convict, Mary Tully Smith (1799-1868), my GG Grandmother.

In this section Irish convict Mary Tully sails from Cork, Ireland on the convict ship, Elizabeth I. Their destination is Sydney, in the colony of New South Wales.
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At 5 pm the same day 28 female convicts from Cork Prison came aboard "repeatedly cheering as they came alongside" (wrote Surgeon Wm. Hamilton). A few days later three more from Cork arrived on board making the total of 101. Anticipating possible rivalry between Dublin and Cork groups Surgeon Hamilton immediately divided the 101 convicts into small sections and issued them with identical supplies of food and clothing. He also made it clear that each section was responsible for its own welfare, cleanliness and adherence to his orders designed to get them to their destination 12,000 miles away in good health and condition.
The wisdom of these measures is confirmed by the records which show that all 101 female convicts sailed from Cork on 26th July 1818 and they were all landed safe and sound in Sydney on 19th May 1818. There were no deaths and very little illness on the ship which sailed "direct" to Sydney in only 116 days. The ship was 482 tons, built at Chepstow 1809 Master Wm Ostler, Surgeon Wm. Hamilton.


Surgeon's Journal
 

The copy of this journal can be seen at the NSW Public Library. There is nothing spectacular about it and it contains repetitions of the day to day routine set from the start in Cork Harbour. The good thing about the operation is that he succeeded in his intention to maintain cleanliness, harmony and good health. In 1986 we may well give thanks to Wm. Hamilton. Governor Lachlan Macquarie was pleased to endorse the Journal on 15th January 1819 as follows:


    "Having perused the forgoing Medical Journal and Diary, I have every reason to express my entire         approbation of Surgeon and Superintendent Mt. William Hamilton's conduct."
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My note. I have transcribed this section directly from the book, A Battle against the odds. However, the original author has made an error in stating the convict ship left Cork, Ireland in July 1818 and arrived in Sydney on 19th May 1818. The date of arrival should read 19th November 1818.

Transcription to be continued...