Sentenced to Transportation - Twice!

[This is a corrected and slightly expanded version of an essay submitted for a Diploma of Family History Unit]

Richard Davey was baptized in Laughton, Sussex, on 25th July 1802, the second last child of James Davey and Sarah née French and brother of John Davey my 4xgreat-grandfather.^1,2 He grew up in a changing society. The “Inclosure Act 1773” facilitated the removal of “Common Right” making smallholders vulnerable and the country population dependent upon waged employment for subsistence.^3,4 The effects had been masked by high demand for men and supplies during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars but after 1815 a severe agricultural depression hit England with the southern counties suffering mass unemployment leading to the “Swing Riots” of 1830.^5,4,6 Tasmanian settler Samuel Guy wrote in 1823 that “I was losing my property” and “every thing I possessed would undoubtedly have been lost”.⁶

All Saints, Laughton⁷

Richard’s childhood was probably secure as his father was employed by Lord Chichester for thirty-two years.⁸ But by 1816 James required parish relief.⁹ Richard had no difficulty finding employment, however. By 1826 he had worked for at least thirteen different farmers.⁸ He needed the work having married Naomi Fowler on 26th April 1821, their first child being baptised on 2nd December.^10,11 He was possibly supporting his parents after they were “removed” from Lewes to Laughton on 25th June 1822.¹²

On 12th January 1826 Richard was tried for stealing beehives, one of them from Thomas Legg at Patcham. He was found guilty and sentenced to seven years’ transportation.^13,14 On 7th February he was received on the hulk Leviathan in Portsmouth harbour.¹⁵ Richard was fortunate that his father was well respected. On 26th July fourteen local farmers, including Thomas Legg, wrote a petition to have his sentence “mitigated”.⁸ It seems clemency was granted and Richard spent the next three years and seven months on the Leviathan, being declared free by servitude on 5th August 1830.¹⁵ During this time he would have performed hard labour in Portsmouth dockyards, but could also receive intimate visits from his wife and conceiving children.^16-18

Prison Hulk, Portsmouth²⁰

Richard was released during the height of the Swing Riots when agricultural work was in short supply. Naomi was living in Brighton and Richard presumably joined her there.^19,21 It appears Richard left Naomi in Brighton and became an itinerant labourer.¹³ On 23rd June 1834 the Assistant Overseer of Laughton Parish advertised a £2 reward for the apprehension of Richard, Naomi having become chargeable to Laughton Parish.¹³ She continued living in Brighton.²¹

On 26th September 1840 Richard “French”, George Arnold and Rachel Harris were arrested and charged with stealing a lamb at Mayfield in north Sussex.¹³ Richard later claimed that he was away from his wife harvesting.²² Why Richard was using his mother’s maiden name is unknown, perhaps to evade the Laughton Overseers, but the authorities soon recognised it as an alias. Probably realising there would be no clemency this time, he arranged to settle his property on Naomi and their children on 17th October.¹² On 19th October he was tried at Lewes, pleaded guilty and sentenced to transportation for life.^13,14

On 4th November 1840 Richard was transferred to the hulk York at Gosport and on 6th April 1841 to the Asia for transportation to Van Diemen’s Land.¹⁵ On 12th April Asia left Portsmouth, arriving at Hobart on 21st August.^23,24 During the voyage he was well behaved and served as a hospital attendant.²⁵ On arrival he was described as 5’4 ¼”, sandy haired and freckled. He had a ring on the middle finger of his left hand.²⁶ By this time the newly introduced Probation System was in operation with compulsory probation periods.^27-29 He was assigned to the Convict Station at Brown’s River for his three years of first stage probation.³⁰

The western side of the Derwent Estuary and D’Entrecasteaux Channel was first occupied by settlers evicted from Norfolk Island in 1808.^31,32 It was not until 1830-5 however that a track was driven through the bush to Hobart.³² Whaling, fishing and timber-getting were the early industries, with farms developing as the trees were cleared.³¹ Timber was extensively cut around North West Bay and Peppermint Bay, the latter being named for the predominant tree felled in the area.³³ By the late 1830s the settlers were pressing for access to convict labour with settler Daniel O’Connor drawing up plans for a station and offering to lease land to the government for it.^34,35 The plans were accepted but not the site, and in July 1841 a party of convicts was assigned to another site purchased on Bonnet Hill to build themselves a Probation Station.³⁴

Richard arrived at Brown’s River on 7th December 1841 and within three weeks he was in trouble, being absent from his hut on the night of the 27th. The punishment was an extra six months first stage probation. This must have shocked Richard because after this he was generally well behaved.²⁵ During probation he worked as a timber sawyer, possibly cutting the timber to rebuild the prisoner barracks which had burnt down in November 1841.^25,34

Brown’s River Station by Thomas Chapman³⁴

Richard finished his first stage probation on 26th February 1845 and on 19th March was employed by Robert Fox of Brown’s River. This was followed by work with George Miles at Peppermint Bay.²⁵ By 1846 there were only eighty-five convicts based at Brown’s River and a decision was made to close the station.^29,34 When Richard finished working for George Miles in February 1848, he returned to the Prisoner Barracks in Hobart.²⁵ With only one exception his employers remained settlers in Brown’s River and southwards, and his ticket of leave was issued for North West Bay starting 16th April 1850. He remained in Kingborough and Coningham parishes until granted a Conditional Pardon on 14th August 1855.²⁵ At this point he disappears from the public record until his death at the age of 80 in the New Town Pauper Establishment on 2nd March 1883.³⁶ With his timber cutting experience, he probably continued to work around North West Bay until age caught up with him.^25,35 We won’t know when that occurred as no records were kept for non-convict invalids until 1901.³⁷

Work locations for Richard French^25,35,38

Richard was thirty-nine when he arrived in Hobart and fifty-three when he was pardoned. Neither successful nor a criminal failure and leaving no descendants in Australia, he is probably typical of a large subset of unstudied convicts, working quietly through their sentences and then forming the backbone of Tasmania’s workforce until too old and frail to continue. By the 1870s, attitudes to elderly pauper invalids were starting to change and he may have been well looked after in his final years.³⁹

Sources

1. All Saints Church Parish Register, Laughton, Sussex, England, FHL microfilm 1067216 Item 3.
2. St Michael & All Angels Church Parish Register, South Malling, Sussex, England, East Sussex Record Office Ref: PAR 419/1/1/2.
3. The Parliament of Great Britain, 'Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain', 1773 c. 81 (Regnal. 13_Geo_3), Inclosure Act 1773.
4. Neeson, J. M., Commoners: Common Right, Enclosure and Social Change in England, 1700-1820, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
5. Hammond, J. I. and Hammond, Barbara, The Village Labourer 1760-1832, London, UK: Longmans, Green and Co., 1913.
6. Morgan, Sharon, Land Settlement in Early Tasmania : Creating an Antipodean England, Cambridge, England ; Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 1992.
7. Law, Susan Hilary, photographed 13th July 2016.
8. MS Crime and the Criminal Justice System: Records from The U.K. National Archives: HO 17 Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies, Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I HO 17/92/138. The National Archives (Kew, United Kingdom).
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30. Appropriation Lists of Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office CON27/1/9 p10.
31. Hurst, William Nevin, A Short History of Land Settlement in Tasmania, H.H. Pimblett, Government Printer, 1938, https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/264710625.
32. Internet Archive Wayback Machine, 'Kingborough > Early Settlement', https://web.archive.org/web/20130325082629/http://www.kingborough.tas.gov.au/page.aspx?u=502#, Accessed 28th March 2020.
33. MacFie, Peter, 'Government Sawing Establishments of Van Diemen’s Land, 1817-1832', Australia's Ever-changing Forests V: Proceedings of the Fifth National Conference on Australian Forest History, Hobart, Tas, Feb 2002, Edited by John Dargavel, Denise Gaughwin and Brenda Libbis, 2002, p. 105-131.
34. Taroona Historical Group, Taroona 1808-1986: Farm Lands to a Garden Suburb, Taroona, Australia: Taroona Historical Group, 1988, https://taroona.tas.au/the-taroona-book/taroona-book-digitised/, Accessed 3rd April 2020.
35. Lands and Surveys Department, Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office.
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37. Records of the New Town Charitable institution, TA888, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
38. Householders' Census Returns for Various Districts, Arranged by Parishes, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
39. Piper, Andrew Kenneth Shaw, ‘Beyond the Convict System: the Aged Poor and Institutionalisation in Colonial Tasmania’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Tasmania, 2003.