Category: Transported Convicts (1789-1826)

John Cutler was born in 1809 in Stanton Drew, Somerset. He moved to Lydney where he obtained work as a shepherd’s boy and then as a farm labourer and ploughman. At the age of 19, he was brought before the Gloucester Assizes for housebreaking and theft of a coat and shoes from the house of Henry Morse, a Yeoman of Lydney. 0n 2 April 1828, he was found guilty and sentenced to death which was later commuted to transportation for life.

He was transferred to a hulk and then to the Manlius which set sail on 18 July 1828 arriving in Van Dieman’s Land on 9 November 1828. He was employed as an assistant to Dr Garratt up to December 1835 and then on public works. He was given his ticket of leave on 11 Sept 1837 and conditional pardon on 9 December 1841 and 2 December 1842.

In October 1848, at the Cambell Town Agricultural Show, Cutler was awarded £2 for fourteen years of services as a general farm servant to Mr. Gibson of Pleasant Banks. In July 1854 he was awarded a similar prize £5 for the length of service and good conduct with Mr. Gibson.

Elizabeth Hale was born in Gloucestershire in 1785. She lived in Blakeney and had one child also called Elizabeth. In July 1818, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison for theft. On 3 March 1835, at the age of 50, she was sentenced to be transported for 7 years for counselling and aiding her daughter to steal 16s and 2 handkerchiefs from John Knight of St Briavels and receiving stolen goods. Her daughter was sentenced to six months in Littledean prison with the last month in solitary. After a spell on the hulks, Hale was transferred to the Mary which set sail for New South Wales on 13 April 1835 and arrived on 6 September 1835.

Christopher Edmunds was born in 1816 in Newent. His family moved to the Westbury-on-Severn area where he gained work as a collier. On 2 July 1839, he was sentenced to five months in prison for stealing boots and shoes.

At the age of 23, on 10 Feb 1840, he was sentenced to transportation for life for burglary and theft of a quantity of drapery and other goods. The Gloucestershire Chronicle 4 April 1840 reported:

Christopher Edmunds, aged 23 pleaded guilty to a charge burglariously breaking open the dwelling house of Roberts, shopkeeper, in the parish of Westbury-on-Severn. and stealing thereout large quantity of drapery and other goods, the night of the 13th Dec. last. Nancy Edmunds, aged 51, his mother, Jane Edmunds, aged I6, his sister, Charles Stanley, aged 28, and Joseph Baker, aged 22 were charged with receiving part of the property knowing it to be stolen. The evidence against the female prisoners rested on the testimony of another member of the family, a daughter of Nancy Edmunds; she gave her evidence with great deal trepidation, and the learned judge considered the case regarding the female prisoners incomplete. The case against Stanley and Baker, the latter of whom was apprehended with some of the property in his possession in Leatherbottle lane, in this city, by Edmund Estcourt, mayor’s officer, was rather more perfect, but the jury returned a general verdict of not guilty. There were two other indictments against Christopher Edmunds, for burglaries in the house of Thomas Morris, at Newnham, and of Sarah Burnett, at Westbury on-Severn; but he was not tried for them. Alter the acquittal of his companions, he wished to withdraw his plea of guilty, but was not allowed, and having been previously convicted of another offence, he was sentenced to transportation for life.

After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to the Lord Lyndoch which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 11 September 1840 and arrived on 5 February 1841.

In March 1842 it was recorded that: “his misconduct in tearing down the roof and plank of the cells for the purpose of absconding resulted in 30 lashes”.

On 17 October 1844, it was recorded that he showed: “meritorious conduct in pursuing and assisting in the capture of 5 runaways from Westbury Station”.

He was given a ticket of leave on 27 August 1950 and conditional pardon on 21 June 1853.

On 16 Jun 1851, Edmunds married Bridget Walsh in Hobart. Walsh had arrived in Australia under the assisted passage scheme on 13 April 1841. The couple went on to have at least one child.

Berrow Hawkins was born in 1764 in Blakeney where he worked as a labourer. He married Margaret Byrkin in August 1805 and had six children. On 31 March 1819, he was sentenced to death which was commuted to transportation for life for stealing one sheep from Thomas Packer of Newland who owned Yorkley Court farm. After a spell on a hulk, he was transferred to the Atlas which set sail for New South Wales on 10 June 1819 and arrived on 5 February 1820.

Edward Baldwyn was born in 1785 in Bream. He married Anne Williams in 1901 and had five children, one of whom died at the age of nine. He worked as a collier and a smith. At the age of 46, on 28 March 1832, he was sentenced to death for the theft of one sheep, the property of William Henry Peel who owned the 1000-acre Estate Ayesmoor near, St Briavels. Baldwyn had no previous convictions and the verdict was based on the suspicions of two witnesses. The sentence was commuted to transportation for life. On 1 May he was transferred to the prison hulk, the Cumberland moored at Chatham. He was later transferred to Mary 111 which set sail for New South Wales on 4 September 1832 and arrived at Sydney Cove on 6 January 1833.

Edward Baldwyn died on 19 February 1836 in the General Hospital, Sydney at the age of 52.