There is some confusion over which Richard Aston was transported and where he was born. The first piece of research below was done by Jennings and Evelyn Fish and Gill Webb and posted on Ancestry. However, the second piece of research below carried out by Huw Blake and posted on Ancestry highlights some inconsistencies and challenges their conclusions.
John Hewlett was born in 1822 Newnham and worked as a farm labourer. On 24 July 1934, he was sentenced to two weeks in prison for absconding from his service for 6 weeks. On 10 March, he was sentenced to one month in prison for absconding from his service again. On 20 July 1840, he was sentenced to six months in prison for robbing potatoes from a garden. On 3 March 1841, he was sentenced to be transported for 10 years for burglary and stealing 3 loaves of bread and a watch from John Harris in St Briavels. After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to the Tortoise which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 28 Sept 1841 and arrived on 19 February 1842.
He obtained his ticket of leave on 25 August 1847 and his certificate of freedom on 8 March 1852. On 12 September 1852, he caught a ship to Melbourne. John Hewlett died on 7 February 1871.
Thomas Harris (Alias Thomas Nelmes) was born in 1815 and lived in St Briavels. On 28 March 1832, at the age of 16, he was sentenced to death commuted to life for the theft of two sheep with his brothers William and James the property of Jeremiah Smith. Thomas Harris had one previous conviction for the theft of a handkerchief resulting in whippings with 12 months in prison. On 1 May 1832, he was transferred to the hulk the Cumberland at Chatham and then he was transferred to the Surrey which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 5 November 1832 arriving 7 April 1933.
Amos Meek was born in 1787 and lived in Ruardean. He then moved to Monmouthshire where he worked as a shoemaker. On 17 Aug 1816, at the age of 29, he was sentenced to death commuted to transportation for life for the theft of a horse, the property of John Getten in the parish of Newland. After a spell on the Justitia at Woolwich, he was transferred to the Lord Eldon which set sail for New South Wales on 9 April 1917 and arrived on 30 September 1817.
James Hayman was born in Devon in 1804 and lived in Alyburton where he worked as a labourer and was married with children. On 7 April 1826, he stole half a sack of potatoes from William Parry of Sheepscombe and was sentenced to three months in prison. On 13 April 1831, he was sentenced to 3 months in prison for stealing 20 pounds of hay valued at 6d the property of William Till in Thornbury.
On January 1836, at the age of 32, he was sentenced to be transported for 7 years stealing 2 sacks of potatoes, value 7s in Thornbury the property of John Hodges. After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to Prince George which set sail for New South Wales on 20 December 1836 and arrived in Australia on 8 May 1837. He obtained his certificate of freedom on 30 January 1843.
He married Ellen Sullivan on 3 April 1848 at Castle Hill, Dooral, Dural, NSW and died on 24 May 1886.
Robert Jones was born in 1779 in Longhope in the Forest of Dean near the Herefordshire border where he worked as a butcher. He married Mary Munn (b1784) in Woolhope on 3 August 1807 and had 8 children: Ann (b1809), Thomas (b1811), Mary (b1813), John (b1814), Mary and Elizabeth (baptised 1816), Robert (b1819) and Jane (b1820).
On 3 June 1823, at the age of 44, Jones was sentenced to death which was then commuted to transportation for life for the theft of one steer and two heifers owned by Thomas Nelmes of Yarleton Farm, Longhope. After a spell on the hulk, Justitia, he was transferred to the Countess of Harcourt which set sail for New South Wales on 23 March 1824 arriving on 12 July 1824. The Gloucester penitentiary and onboard surgeon described his behaviour as orderly.
Jones was initially assigned to John Bingle, an explorer, general merchant, shipowner, farmer, magistrate and a member of the colonial elite. Jones was then assigned to work for a wool magnate, Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur, until he died in 1852. Hannibal Macarthur was the nephew of the famous John Macarthur, also a member of the colonial elite and father of Australia’s merino sheep industry.
Jones married Elizabeth Smith on 20 June 1831. Smith was born in 1782/83 in Caithness in Scotland. She was sentenced to be transported for seven years at the Lancashire Quarter Sessions on 2 February 1824. She departed England on the ship Midas in 1825. She obtained her Certificate of Freedom on February 1831.
Jones was given a ticket of leave on 11 March 1833 and a conditional pardon on 1 August 1839. He received a Royal Free Pardon on 16 January 1850. The latter enabled him, if he wished, to return to England. However, he remained in Australia working for Hawkins Macarthur.
The census of 1828 shows him living in the household of Hannibal Macarthur in Parramatta. The census of 1841 shows he is still in the Parramatta district with Elizabeth but no children.
Robert Jones died on 28 Sept 1852 in Parramatta, New South Wales. Elizabeth Smith died in 1861 and is buried in the same cemetery as her husband.
In 1835, Robert Jones’s son Thomas was transported for stealing 8s 6d from James Smith in his home village of Much Marcle in Herefordshire.
Thanks to Trish Pinder from Adelaide who provided much of this information. Trish is a direct descendant of Robert Jones and Mary Munn.
John Boucher was born in Chiselborough, Somerset in 1781. He married Ann Brown on 27 January 1805 and had one child. He moved to the Forest of Dean near Newnham and worked as a shepherd and as a house servant. On 14 July 1829, he was convicted of stealing three hurdles from Thomas Tovey a solicitor and member of the gentry from Newnham. He was sentenced to seven years transportation. Boucher spent about six weeks on the convict hulk Justitia at Woolwich before being dispatched to Tasmania on the Bussorah Merchant on 6 October 1829 which arrived on 18 January 1830.
On arrival in Hobart, he was assigned to work on Public Works under Captain Robson. There are no misdemeanours listed on his record and he received his Ticket of Leave 31 Dec 1835 and Freedom Certificate 15 Jul 1836. There is no further sighting of him in records after this.
However, it is possible that he returned to England as a John Boucher (aged 60) appears in the 1841 census living in the Alms House at East Coker, near Chiselborough. In 1851 he is living in Moor Green, Corsham, Wiltshire, working as an agricultural labourer with a wife Mary. In 1861, he is still living at Moor Green and working as an agricultural labourer but his wife had died and he now has a housekeeper. He died on 17 Dec 1862 and left a will with an estate under the value of £20.
William Cowmeadow was born in 1820. He lived in Ruardean and worked as a collier. On 9 November 1835, at the age of 14, he was sentenced to three months at Littledean House of Correction for stealing apples. On 16 October 1838, at the age of 17, he was sentenced to three weeks imprisonment and flogged (12 lashes) for stealing a bag, a dish and a cloth. On 27 July 1840, he was sentenced to one month in prison for stealing potatoes with his sister Hannah.
On 30 October 1840, at the age of 19, Cowmeadow was sentenced to 21 years transportation for stealing the hat of John Jones, a local farmer, in St Briavels with his brothers Cornelius (17) who was sentenced to two years in prison and Cater (13) who was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The boys stole the hat from Jones while he was walking down a road and so they were charged with highway robbery. After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to the Somerset and set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 20 December 1841 and arrived on 30 May 1842.
He received a conditional pardon on 26 Nov 1852. He married Ann Needham in January 1856 and went on to have four children and many grandchildren. Ann Needham, who was born in Wiltshire and moved to Middlesex, was also a convict who arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1856. Cowmeadow settled in Franklin and worked as a bushman, splitter and gardener. The couple moved to Hobart in 1885. William Cowmeadow died in 1906 at the age of 87.
William Harris (1) was born in 1801 and lived in English Bicknor where he worked as a labourer. On 3 August 1826, at the age of 25, he was sentenced to death commuted to transportation for life for the theft of one sheep. After a spell on the hulks, he was transferred to the Andromeda which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 14 October 1826 and arrived on 23rd February 1827. He was initially detailed to work on public works and then as an assistant to Mr Mackersey. He was granted a ticket of leave on 21 August 1835, recommended for a conditional pardon on 29 May 1839 and 19 November 1840 and finally granted a free pardon on 4 April 1844.