William Henry Williams was born in 1807 and lived in Woolaston where he worked as a papermaker. On 2 April 1828, he was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing two geese. On 7 April 1830, at the age of 23, he was transported for 7 years for the theft of potatoes from Philip Davies of Woolaston. After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to the Burrell which set sail for New South Wales on 27 July 1830.
Author: ian wright
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Richard Williams
Richard Williams was born in 1805 in Newland where he worked as a labourer. On 28 June 1831, at the age of 26, he was sentenced to 7 years for the theft of one cotton gown valued at 4s. After a spell on the hulk the Justitia, he was transferred to the Isabella which set sail for New South Wales on 22 Nov 1831 and arrived on 15 March 1832.
He was given his certificate of freedom on 22 August 1840. On 3 March 1854, he was sentenced to 6 weeks in Goulburn prison.
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Charles Williams
Charles Williams was born in 1807 in Chepstow and lived in St Briavels where he worked as an agricultural labourer and ploughman. On 10 August 1833, at the age of 26, he was sentenced to be transported for life for the theft of a horse belonging to James Evans from a field belonging to Bearse farm. After a spell on the hulk, the Justitia, he was transferred to the Moffatt which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 7 January 1834 and arrived on 9 May 1834.
He was initially detailed to work on public works. He obtained his ticket of leave on 3 November 1842 and conditional pardon on 2 December 1845 and 23 November 1846. He died on 30 October 1884.
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John Webb
John Webb was born in 1806 and lived in Woolaston where he worked as a clock and watchmaker. On 11 Aug 1832, he was sentenced to be transported for life for burglary and the theft of clothes. After a spell on the hulk, the Justitia, he was transferred to the Jupiter which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 31 January 1832 and arrived on 28 May 1833.
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Charles Vaughan
Charles Vaughan was born in 1809 and lived in Tidenham where he worked as a labourer.
On 27 August 1834, at the age of 26, he was sentenced to be transported for life for the theft of sheep. After a spell on the hulk, the Fortitude at Chatham, he was transferred to the Marquis of Huntley which set sail for New South Wales on 7 March 1835 and arrived in on 5 July 1835.
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William Selwyn
William Selwyn was born in 1810 and lived in Westbury-on-Severn where he worked as a labourer. On 26 September 1829, he was sentenced to six months in prison for the theft of onions from a garden in Westbury. In June 1835, at the age of 24, he was sentenced to be transported for life for the theft of one sheep, the property of James Clifford, of Newnham; one sheep, the property of James Hill, of Westbury; one sheep, the property of Joseph Lloyd, of Abinghall; one pig, the property of the Rev. H. Borkin, of the Forest of Dean; one lamb, the property of John Scudimore, of Flaxley; eight fowls and seven ducks, the property of Robert Smith, of Newnham; and one drake and four ducks, the property of John Palmer, of Flaxley. After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to the Asia which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 8 November 1835 and arrived on 21 February 1836.
Selwyn obtained his ticket of leave on 20 March 1844 and conditional pardon on 15 July 1847. He married Mary Ann Boutler on 7 May 1850 in Launceston and had two children born in 1859 and 1843. At some stage, during this period he started to work on his own farm. He died on 26 September 1880 of bronchitis in Sidmouth.
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Sophia Robins
Sophia Robins was born in 1794 and lived in Lydney. On 11 March 1813, at the age of 20, she was sentenced to three months in prison for the theft of clothing from John Morgan. On 15 October 1814, at the age of 21, she was arrested but acquitted for the theft of plumbs with a basket and cloth. On 3 April 1816, at the age of 22, she was sentenced to be transported for 7 years for the theft of two gold guineas, two half guineas, two gold rings, a silver coin and other articles from the Lydney house of Sarah Bethel After a spell on a hulk, she was transferred to the Lord Melville which set sail on 15 September 1816 and arrived in New South Wales on 24 February 1817.
Between 1850 and 1856 Sophia Robins regularly appeared in front of the courts in Sydney charged with drunkenness, vagrancy, using obscene language, prostitution, etc. During this period she was sent to Darlinghurst prison on about 20 occasions.
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George Reeks
George Reeks was born in 1798 in Woolaston where he worked as a labourer. On 13 August 1828, at the age of 30, he was sentenced to death commuted to life for the theft of one sheep from John Gwatkin Powles. The Morning Chronicle 16 August 1828 reported the case:
“CHARLES WILLIAMS and GEORGE REEKS were indicted for stealing, at Woolastone, in this county, a wether sheep, value two guineas, the property of John Gwatkin Powles. Mr RICHARDS was for the prosecution and Mr JUSTICE for the defence.
From the evidence, it appeared that the prisoners were traced to their cottage, which is upwards of two miles from the field in which the sheep were penned, by the peculiar manner in which the nails were fixed in their shoes. The carcase of the sheep was found in the bedroom, the only one in the cottages and in which the prisoners slept with their wives and families. The skin of the sheep had been left in the field, but on comparing certain marks of awkward butchering exhibited on the mutton with certain other awkward marks upon the skin, there could be no doubt that the skin belonged to the carcase found in the prisoners’ house. This fact, together with the marks made by the shoes, also found in the house, satisfied the Jury that the prisoners were guilty, and The LEARNED JUDGE, although he permitted sentence of Death to be recorded, gave the prisoners hope of having their lives spared, but they should quit the country forever. Sheep-stealing was, he observed, a very bad offence, of very frequent occurrence, and the prisoners might consider their lives to have been spared, merely because they were not known as old offenders.”
After a spell on a hulk, the Justitia, he was transferred to the America which set sail for New South Wales on 8 April 1829 and arrived 18 August 1829. In 1846 he was recommended for a conditional pardon which was granted on 30 July 1847.
George Reeks died in Balmain, New South Wales in 1869
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Francis Reeks
Francis Reeks was born in 1806 in Woolaston where he worked as a labourer. On 30 January 1831, at the age of 14, he was imprisoned for one month for misdemeanors and failure to attend his service with John Wade. On 9 April 1927, he was sentenced to one year in prison for the theft of a number of harnesses. On 28 March 1833, at the age of 27, he was sentenced to be transported for life for the theft of money. After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to the Lloyds which set sail for New South Wales on 19 August 1833 and arrived on 18 December 1833.
He was given a ticket of leave on 14 May 1844 and a conditional pardon on 20 December 1848.
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Thomas Prosser
Nearly all the following information in this article was kindly provided to me by Caroline Prosser-Lodge who is a decedent of Thomas Prosser-Lodge (2 x great grandfather). Some of the information has already appeared in an article by Caroline called The Search for Thomas Prosser, Convict published by the Gloucestershire Family History Society. The rest of the information has been discovered as a result of more recent research by Caroline.
Thomas Prosser was born in 1797 in Alvington, the son of James and Elizabeth. He worked as an agricultural labourer. He married Ann Powell in 1817 and had four children, James, William, John and George. Ann died in 1834.
There are several references to Prosser appearing in court on various charges in the period after the death of Ann. On 30 January 1837, he faced a charge of stealing a hay knife in Woolaston the property of J Davis but was found not guilty. However, just months later Prosser faced two charges of assault, both times in Alvington.
In April 1837, he was found guilty of assaulting William Ellway on 26 March 1837. He was fined 5 shillings, with 10 shillings costs, or a 14-day stint in Littledean House of Correction. He was judged on this occasion by Charles Bathurst and Rev. C.H. Morgan.
In September 1837, Prosser was once again found guilty of assault, this time against Joseph Evans. The magistrates G. Ormerod and Rev C.H. Morgan set his fine at 20 shillings plus 7 shillings and 6 pence costs. The alternative was a full month in Littledean prison. On neither occasion do the available records clarify if Prosser paid the fine, or went to Littledean, although given his circumstances the latter is perhaps the more likely outcome.
On 17 October 1838, at the age of 41 and 27 months after the death of his wife, he was sentenced to be transported for ten years for stealing two sheep belonging to Mr Willetts of High Wollaston.
The court report reveals that two sheep had gone missing on 19 September 1838. Their owner, William Willetts, identified them, despite their bearing different/altered marks, amongst a number of sheep brought for sale at the tack room in Lydney. In his defence at his trial in November 1838, one of the sons of Prosser, a boy of twelve or thirteen years of age, stated that he had seen his father purchase the sheep some days earlier in Chepstow. The lad claimed to have seen his father pay 25s each for them and had assisted him in driving them home. Neither father nor son’s testimony was believed and so Prosser was found guilty and subsequently being sentenced to transportation.
After a spell on a Ganymede Hulk at Woolwich, Prosser was transferred to the Layton which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 13 July 1839 arriving 7 December 1839.
The records show that Prosser went absent without leave in 1840 and consequently served 3 months of hard labour in a road gang at Brown’s River. In 1840 he was found in possession of alcohol and in 1842 he was sentenced to hard labour in chains for disobedience of orders and insolence. Other offences include misconduct and obtaining goods under false pretences. He received a ticket of leave on 1 January 1845 and a certificate of freedom on 4 November 1848.
After Prosser’s arrest and transportation his twelve-year-old son George went to live with his grandmother, Elizabeth (his grandfather James had died in 1834). George married Ann Williams in 1846 and went on to have five children.
Prosser’s sixteen-year-old son John went to live with the Peters family in Lydney and then the James family who ran a pub and a butcher’s business in Wollaston. John married Ellen Winston in 1856 and went on to have four children. It is unknown what happened to the other two children James and William.
It appears that after receiving his certificate of freedom Prosser moved from Tasmania to Victoria perhaps hoping to seek his fortune as part of the gold rush.
On 5 June 1858, The Argus (Melbourne, Victoria), cited the death of Thomas Prosser, a hawker /general dealer of Wabdullah. He was 61 years old. A subsequent entry in the same publication, dated 10 Feb 1859, summarises the decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria, regarding the disposition of the ‘goods, chattels, credits and effects of the above-named gentleman’ to solicitors acting on behalf of his sons, in England. These are detailed as John Prosser, of Woollastone in the county of Gloucester and George Prosser gamekeeper, the sons and next of kin of the deceased. It would also appear from the second newspaper entry that there may have been some degree of contact between father and sons over the intervening years.
Thomas Prosser was buried in an unmarked grave in the Eastern Cemetery in Geelong.