Pathways to Respectability and and Upward Social Mobility: … · Pathways to Respectability and...

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Pathways to Respectability and Upward Social Mobility: Twelve White-Collar Convicts in the Swan River Colony By Sandra Lynn Potter Teachers Certificate, 1962, Claremont Teachers College, Graduate Diploma, Teacher Librarianship, 1987, Western Australian College of Advanced Education, Bachelor of Arts, 1989, University of Western Australia. This Thesis is presented for the degree of Master of Arts of the University of Western Australia. Discipline of History. School of Humanities 2009

Transcript of Pathways to Respectability and and Upward Social Mobility: … · Pathways to Respectability and...

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Pathways to Respectability and Upward Social Mobility:

Twelve White-Collar Convicts in the Swan River Colony

By

Sandra Lynn Potter

Teachers Certificate, 1962, Claremont Teachers College, Graduate Diploma, Teacher Librarianship, 1987,

Western Australian College of Advanced Education, Bachelor of Arts, 1989, University of Western Australia.

This Thesis is presented for the degree of Master of Arts

of the University of Western Australia.

Discipline of History.

School of Humanities

2009

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ABSTRACT

There has been little research carried out into the lives of white-collar convicts in

Western Australia, or indeed Australia. These men came from middle-class

backgrounds, were well educated and were sentenced to transportation to the Swan

River Colony after being found guilty of the crimes of fraud, forgery or embezzlement

in England.

To date, research into white-collar convicts in Western Australia has concluded that

they were always conscious of having worn the convict brand on their coat and that they

suffered socially because of their convict past. The aim of this thesis is to assess

whether it was possible for some white-collar convicts in the Swan River Colony to

regain respectability and gain social acceptance amongst free settlers, by examining the

lives of a sample group of twelve white-collar expirees who were transported between

1850 and 1868.

To contextualize their experiences, the origins and escalation of white-collar crime in

Britain is discussed, an historical overview of the transportation of white-collar convicts

to North America, the West Indies and then to New South Wales is provided, and

changing penal philosophy and its impact on conditions for white-collar convicts is

outlined. The reasons for the introduction of convicts to the Swan River Colony and the

types of skills required are then discussed, before an examination of the experience of

these white-collar convicts on their voyages of transportation to the colony. The

chapters that follow, focus on their lives in the colony to assess whether they were able

to regain respectability in the eyes of free settlers.

The monetary extent of their crimes ranged from £25 to £6000 and all, except one,

were first offenders. Their age upon conviction was between sixteen and forty-seven

years, and their sentences were between seven and twenty years. Their conduct in

English penitentiaries and then during their transport to the colony, ranged from ‘First

Class, Good’ to ‘First Class, Excellent.’ Their careers in the colony included clerical

work, accountancy, storekeeping, contracting, teaching, mining, medicine, farming,

journalism and land and property development. Four had bankruptcy problems during

economic recessions, but two of them recovered. The wives of four convicts immigrated

to the colony, one married the daughter of another white-collar convict, but most

married immigrant lasses or the daughters of free settlers. With the exception of three

who were childless, most of their children married the sons or daughters of free settlers,

with two marrying the children of Anglican clergymen. All died in the colony.

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The thesis concludes that white-collar convicts were able to regain respectability,

gain social acceptance by free settlers in the Swan River Colony, and that their convict

past did not prevent a number of them becoming leading citizens in the colony.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. v

ILLUSTRATIONS ..................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... x

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1

The Transportation of White-Collar Convicts ............................................................ 4 Research into White-Collar Convicts in Australia ..................................................... 6 Primary Sources relating to White-Collar Convicts ................................................. 10

CHAPTER 1. Origins of White-Collar Crimes, Transportation to North America between 1597 and 1776, to Australia’s Eastern Colonies from 1788 to 1856, and their Perpetrators’ Experiences in British Penitentiaries. ..................................................... 15

Transportation to North America and the West Indies. ............................................ 15 Transportation to New South Wales. ....................................................................... 18 Changes in Prison Philosophy. ................................................................................ 25 Prison Experiences in Britain. ................................................................................. 27

CHAPTER 2. Swan River Colony Settlers For and Against Convict Arrivals and Some Experiences of Sample Group Members on their Transports. ...................................... 35

The Decision to Introduce Convicts......................................................................... 35 Alfred Daniel Letch on the Hashemy in 1850. ......................................................... 42 John Acton Wroth on the Mermaid during 1851. ..................................................... 43 Stephen Montague Stout on the Lord Raglan in 1858. ............................................. 47 Miall Malachi Meagher on the Sultana in 1859. ...................................................... 47 James Elphinstone Roe on York II in 1862. ............................................................ 50 Lionel Holdsworth on the Hougoumont during 1867/8, ........................................... 52 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 55

CHAPTER 3. Swan River Colony by 1850 and the Lives of Alfred Daniel Letch, John Acton Wroth, Joseph Lucas Horrocks and Thomas Matthew Palmer, who arrived between 1850 and 1854. .............................................................................................. 57

Alfred Daniel Letch. ............................................................................................... 61 John Acton Wroth ................................................................................................... 75 Joseph Lucas Horrocks............................................................................................ 86 Thomas Matthew Palmer......................................................................................... 92 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 97

CHAPTER 4. The State of the Colony from 1855 to 1859 and the Lives of Dr John Sampson, Stephen Montague Stout and Miall Reidy Meagher. ................................... 99

Dr John Sampson .................................................................................................. 100 Stephen Montague Stout ....................................................................................... 105 Miall/Malachi Reidy Meagher ............................................................................... 113 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 121

CHAPTER 5. Swan River Colony between 1861 and 1868 and the Lives of Herman Joseph Moll, James Elphinstone Roe, James Coates Fleming, James Murgatroyde Hubbard and Lionel Holdsworth. .............................................................................. 124

Herman Joseph Moll ............................................................................................. 126

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James Elphinstone Roe .......................................................................................... 129 James Coates Fleming ........................................................................................... 141 James Murgatroyde Hubbard. ................................................................................ 145 Lionel Holdsworth ................................................................................................ 153 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 159

FINAL CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 161

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 174

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure Description

Page

Figure 1 John Wroth’s sketch of the sailing vessel, Mermaid.

44

Figure 2 Painting of the Hougoumont.

53

Figure 3 Edward and Mary Letch’s ‘Mill Cottage,’ in Finchingfield, Essex.

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Figure 4 De Leech’s Grocery and Drapery Store in St Georges Terrace, Perth.

65

Figure 5 Amelia Letch, née French, dressed in middle class attire with fashionable jewellery.

66

Figure 6 Alfred Letch admits changing his surname from Letch to DeLeech in a notice in the Inquirer Newspaper.

68

Figure 7 Alfred and George Letch, after George’s arrival in the Swan River Colony in 1872.

69

Figure 8 The City of Perth Councillors Honour Board. .

70

Figure 9 A. D. Letch moves his shop from St Georges Terrace to Hay Street.

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Figure 10 The Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot.

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Figure 11

Photograph of John Wroth, taken 1867-1877. .

82

Figure 12 The Toodyay Honour Board with John Wroth’s name as Secretary from 1871 - 1876.

83

Figure 13 The commemorative plaque honouring the Wroth family is on the side of the public bench seat, near the old Courthouse in Toodyay.

85

Figure 14 Map of Horrock’s Model Village at the Gwalla Estate, Northampton.

88

Figure 15 Horrock’s Church, built in 1864 in his model village at Gwalla,

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Figure 16 Map of Horrocks Road, linking Horrocks town to Northampton.

92

Figure 17 Map showing the location of Horrocks Town.

92

Figure 18 Photograph of Horrocks Beach.

92

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Figure 19 Copy of Thomas Palmer's Will. 95

Figure 20 Copy of Palmer's Estate and Effects for Probate. 96

Figure 21 Sophia Sampson's Personal Estate shown on an affidavit for Probate.

103

Figure 22 A Statement of Sophia Sampson's Assets and Liabilities. 104

Figure 23 Stout’s photograph of the Convict Establishment at Fremantle, after completion in 1859.

107

Figure 24 Middle-aged Stout, fashionably dressed, probably photographed while he was teaching at the Pensioner Barracks between 1873 and 1877. .

109

Figure 25

Photograph of Inquirer’s office in Perth, on the left.

112

Figure 26 Photograph of Stout with his white bell-topper hat and cane, on the way to work at the Inquirer Newspaper Office.

112

Figure 27 A portrait of Malachi Meagher’s wife, Caroline, dressed in the fashion of the day.

114

Figure 28 A portrait of Malachi Reidy Meagher circa the 1870s.

116

Figure 29 The Guildford Hotel, where Meagher was the proprietor from 1869- 1872 and also operated twice weekly transport to and from Perth.

116

Figure 30 Guildford Municipal Council Honour Board, with Meagher as Chairman in 1876.

117

Figure 31 Herman Moll's Court Case reported in the Times, 10 July 1861.

127

Figure 32 Inside the classroom at Central Greenough where the Roe's taught.

134

Figure 33 Their Central Greenough schoolhouse.

134

Figure 34 Photographs of James Roe, teacher and journalist, and his wife, Susannah Roe, schoolmistress.

134

Figure 35 The first heliograph, tried successfully between Rottnest Island and Fremantle by Fleming, while he was the Superintendent of Telegraphs.

143

Figure 36 Fleming on a camel, while working on the Albany to Eucla telegraph line.

144

Figure 37 Map of Fleming's telegraph route from Perth to Eucla. 144

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Figure 38 A section of the Guildford Town Council Honour Board

showing Hubbard as Town Clerk from 1887 to 1896.

148

Figure 39 A list of Hubbard's Unsecured Creditors' Names and Amounts.

149

Figure 40 An advertisement for the Auction of Hubbard's valuable properties.

150

Figure 41 ‘Braeside,’ Holdsworth’s home, fronting Stirling and Ord Streets in Fremantle which was completed in 1889.

156

Figure 42 Map showing location of Braeside near the old Fremantle Prison, and the street named after Holdsworth.

157

Figure 43 Minutes of Scotch College’s first meeting of the School Council, showing Holdsworth and the other Councillors.

158

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

While writing this thesis I received much support from Battye Librarians, the

University of Western Australia Library and local librarians, for which I am very

grateful. My academic advisor, Professor Jenny Gregory, couldn't have done more to

assist my efforts and pleasantly advised many changes in my thesis, which must have

taken much of her time and a lot of effort. I could not have achieved the completion of

this thesis without my husband, Terry, who spent many long hours checking details,

managing my computer and helping with all the graphics, especially during the final

stages prior to its submission.

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INTRODUCTION

My father rarely spoke about his family’s past. But as I was curious about my

ancestors, I decided to embark on some genealogical research. So I went into the J.S.

Battye Library of Western Australian History and asked a librarian for assistance. I was

surprised when she asked whether my great-grandfather was a free settler or a convict,

then astonished when I discovered that he was a convict. Before long I had found the

records of his court case, that he had been convicted of larceny and embezzlement and

arrived as a convict to Western Australia in 1850. On my way home from the library I

dropped in to talk to my father about his grandfather, Alfred Daniel Letch being a

convict and found him alone in his garden. He was not amused, and as he had remarried

after my mother’s death, I was firmly advised that, ‘There’s no need to worry Denise

(his new wife) or your brother (divorced and lately remarried)’, about my findings. Dad

appeared to be quite agitated, but by now I was really intrigued and all the more

determined to find out more about the dark secrets of the Letch family.

As my great-grandfather Alfred Letch was a ‘white-collar convict’ I decided to

research the lives of his and other white-collar convicts who had been transported to the

Swan River Colony for this thesis. Approximately four per cent of the convicts

transported to Western Australia - some four hundred - were literate and apparently

respectable white-collar offenders from British middle-class society. Their non-violent

crimes were usually connected with illegal documentation, usually written by them in

the course of their occupation. However most had left few traces of their past. I

researched more than forty court cases dating from 1848 to 1867 of that category of

convicts but, even where details could be found, the evidence about most was scant.

Hence I selected twelve white-collar convicts about whom a considerable amount of

evidence remained, for detailed examination in this thesis. They all had middle-class

origins, were well educated and had been found guilty of white-collar crimes, the

monetary value of which ranged between £25 to £6000. Their court cases were fairly

evenly spaced between 1848 and 1867 and their ages upon sentencing, ranged from

sixteen to forty-six years. They were sentenced for between seven and twenty years.

Prior to being transported, five of these convicts were single, one had a girlfriend, and

the other six were married. Of the married convicts; the wife of one stayed in England,

but the others came to the colony. Two were childless, but the children of the other three

came to live in the colony. All these convict expirees and their wives were buried in the

Swan River Colony.

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There were mixed feelings in the colony about the general reputation of the convicts.

Police Superintendent Smith reported to the Colonial Secretary in 1884 that:

To judge from the criminal statistics, to speak generally, they (convict expirees) are not of good moral character. At the same time, I am happy to say that there are a certain number of noteworthy exceptions of the (bond) class, who have raised themselves to positions of competency and respectability.1

Smith was well qualified to judge who was, or was not regarded as ‘competent’ and

‘respectable’ in the colony, but it is how and the extent to which these noteworthy

exceptions of the bond class became socially acceptable among the free settlers, which

is debatable.

2

These white-collar convicts all appear to have come from British middle-middle

class or lower-middle class, as defined by François Bèdarida.

The main aim of this thesis is to inquire into the degree of competency,

respectability and social acceptance achieved by these twelve white-collar convicts,

who were transported to the Swan River Colony between 1850 and 1868, by examining

their lives before and after they became expirees.

3

1 Police Superintendent Smith, ‘Report to the Colonial Secretary,’ 31 July 1884, in the Convict Census 1884, A.N. 24, Perth 2, ACC 1172, File 10/1884, SROWA.

Middle-middle male

occupations included solicitors, barristers, doctors, civil engineers, university

professors, public schoolmasters, literary men, merchants, managers in commerce,

accountants and senior clerks from central or local governmental services. Generally

their income ranged from £800 to £300 a year. Those in the lower-middle classes

included small employers, shopkeepers, bank clerks, office workers, minor civil

servants and schoolmasters, whose average annual income varied from under £300

down to £60. Ideally both classes aspired to be law abiding, worked hard, had pride in

their business prowess, exhibited good morals and ethics in business, believed in free

trade and feared bankruptcy or business failure. They displayed gentlemanly conduct

and many enjoyed a comfortable standard of living and were devoutly religious. Most

tended to be married, ensured their children were well behaved and educated, and they

were well aware of their standing within their community. They aspired for inclusion in

2. Smith, Matthew Skinner, Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, pre 1829-1888, vol. IV, R-Z, p. 2872. Matthew Skinner Smith was a British General’s son, who had been Captain of the 44th Regiment in the Crimea, China and the East Indies for thirteen years and placed in charge of Bombay Public Works from 1864 to 1865, prior to his arrival in the Swan River colony in 1868. He was employed as the 2nd Clerk in the National Bank that year, became the Superintendent of Police and a Justice of the Peace in 1871, was elected onto the Weld Club committee in 1875 and was Sheriff of the Colony during 1876 and 1877. After he was appointed Acting Colonial Secretary in December 1884, he set up the Royal Mail Coach Service from Perth to Bunbury, before returning to his position as Superintendent of Police in 1887. 3 François Bèdarida, A Social History of England, 1851-1990, trans. A. S. Forter & J. Hodgekinson, London ,Routledge, 1991, pp. 38, 39, 48- 54.

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the governing strata from the parish vestry upwards and placed themselves in the public

arena, through belonging to various societies devoted to religion, philanthropy,

education, science and cultural activities. Many were charity minded, practiced private

philanthropy, were members of various educational and scientific societies, were

interested in community affairs, taught in Sunday schools and supported church

activities.

They also encouraged their children to participate in cultural activities such as music

and reading uplifting moral stories. Some employed one or more live-in servants or a

daily help. When they imbibed alcoholic beverages, it was in a temperate way. They did

not have gambling debts, their appearance was neat and their houses were clean. They

followed a middle-class lifestyle, were self-disciplined, morally excellent and public

spirited. These were the ideals to which they aspired. As far as the income required to

sustain a middle-class lifestyle, Rob Sindall quoted a letter from The Times in June

1858, which queried whether it was possible for middle-class men, ‘to be happily

married on an income of £300 per annum.’4

The twelve white-collar convicts discussed in this thesis had middle-class origins and

a good education, but had committed the crimes of fraud, forgery and/or embezzlement.

My approach in the thesis was to divide them into three groups to determine whether

changes in government, trends in penal philosophy or changes in the colonial convict

system affected their lives in any way.

Those in the lower middle class income

bracket with a large family would clearly have had some difficulty in keeping up

appearances.

The first group arrived between 1850 and 1854 while Charles Fitzgerald governed

the colony. It comprised Alfred Daniel Letch, who was a former grocery and drapery

store manager, John Acton Wroth, a printer’s apprentice, Joseph Lucas Horrocks, the

owner of a merchandising business and Thomas Matthew Palmer, a clerk who had

worked for an agent connected with the Earl of Lichfield’s trustees.

The second group stepped ashore during Arthur Kennedy’s government between

1855 and 1859. It included Dr John Sampson, a qualified surgeon, Stephen Montague

Stout, a land agent and surveyor and Malachi Reidy Meagher, a civil engineer.

The third group, transported between 1862 and 1868 during John Hampton’s

government, includes Joseph Herman Moll who was the Belgian Consul’s clerk in

Britain, Reverend James Elphinstone Roe, an Anglican clergyman, James Coates

4 Rob Sindall, ‘Middle Class Crime in Nineteenth Century England’, Criminal Justice History: An International Annual, vol. 4, 1983, p. 35.

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Fleming, a merchant and shipbroker, James Murgatroyd Hubbard, a clerk who worked

in his father’s small brewery and Lionel Holdsworth, a ship and insurance broker. All

these men were likely to have featured among Police Superintendent Smith’s

‘competent’ convicts and would have appeared to be ‘respectable’ in the eyes of many

settlers, by the time they received their Certificates of Freedom and became expirees.

Many questions have been addressed in this thesis to assess their level of social

acceptance in the Swan River Colony. Were they all first time offenders? Were there

any obvious motives other than greed, to explain why they committed their white-collar

crimes? How many of them pleaded guilty either before or early during their court

cases? At what stage did they start showing signs of character reformation? How were

they employed before and after gaining their Tickets-of-Leave in the colony and what

salaries did they receive? Was there any support or interaction between them and other

convicts or expirees? What careers did they pursue? Whose wives joined them in the

colony, who married immigrant lasses or expirees’ wives or daughters and whose

children married the progeny of free settlers? To what extent did their criminal

backgrounds appear to impede their careers, marriages or marital prospects, or impact

on their children’s careers and marital prospects? How many were involved in property

transactions? But as well, it is necessary to ask, how did they cope with negative factors

such as drought or economic recession? Could they fulfil middle-class ideals by gaining

election onto the Perth or other local Councils, Road Boards, Education Boards,

Agricultural Societies, Church or school committees, or work as secretaries in some of

those areas? Is there anything left behind, to remind us of their community service?

Initially in this introduction, it is necessary to contextualise the experience of white-

collar convicts by briefly discussing the history of convict transportation from Britain,

including white-collar convicts' transportation to other countries. A discussion of the

existing historical research on white-collar convicts arriving in the eastern states of

Australia, and the conclusions that have already been drawn about the fate of the white-

collar convicts in Western Australia follows. Other primary and secondary sources

which have been utilised in this thesis are then detailed, and lastly an outline of the

structure of this thesis is provided.

The Transportation of White-Collar Convicts

Numerous historians have studied the 50,000 or so British convicts, who were

transported from Britain to the North American colonies and the West Indies, after

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Britain’s Transportation Act of 1718 until America gained her Independence in 1776.

As is discussed further in Chapter 2, A. Roger Ekirch’s study of British convict

transportation to the colonies, describes their life-threatening conditions in small ships

where they were chained and crowded together below deck in semi-darkness, in damp

and cold conditions, with little fresh air and barely enough provisions or water, which

was frequently contaminated. Seasickness, goal fever, smallpox and dysentery caused

many deaths and disobedient prisoners were sometimes keelhauled. Between 1719 and

1736, there was a 10.7 per cent average mortality rate of convicts over thirty-eight

voyages of six to eight weeks duration, from London to North America. However

conditions on transports improved between 1770 and 1775, and the mortality rate from

Bristol to North America was reduced to 2.3 per cent over twelve voyages.5

After America gained her Independence in 1776, the British Parliament passed the

Hulks Act as a temporary measure to relieve the problem of old, overcrowded

penitentiaries. British prisoners were also housed in cramped, disease-ridden quarters in

old warships, moored alongside the Thames River and at Plymouth and Portsmouth at

night, where they constructed new dockyards and raised ballast for ships during daylight

hours. By 1780, when those hulks were overflowing due to a crime epidemic, there was

a greater reliance on capital punishment.

6 When the British penal authorities’ plans to

transport their criminals to West Africa failed, the exploration of the east coast of

Australia by Captain Cook in 1770, followed by the recommendations of Sir Joseph

Banks in 1779, resulted in the British Government’s decision to transport their criminals

to Botany Bay.7

Many white-collar convicts had been transported to North America and the West

Indies between 1749 and 1771. Ekirck’s research revealed that, although 74.7 per cent

of British forgers who were tried in Britain’s Old Bailey were executed, the others

received transportation pardons to North American colonies. He found some interesting

practices occurring among wealthy and ‘well-to-do’ convicts including, nepotism or

undue favours for convicted men by relatives, evasion of attaint (preventing forfeiture

of their land and savings upon conviction), by handing them over to family members

until their sentences were completed. Some even arrived by hackney coach to their

transports. Evidently many ‘wealthier’ and ‘well-to-do’ convicts paid for private cabins

on the deck rather than below, took a large chest of clothes and food provisions on

5 A. Roger Ekirck, Bound For America: The Transportation of British Convicts to the Colonies, 1718-1775, Oxford, England, Clarendon Press,1987, pp. 27 & 98-105. 6 Ibid., pp. 230 & 231. 7 Ibid., pp. 236 & 237.

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board and purchased their liberty on arrival in the colonies. Ekirch’s white-collar

convicts were mainly employed in the Colonies as servants, physicians or schoolmasters

and he discussed their treatment by employers, family support from Britain and the

stigma they suffered upon returning to Britain.8

There have been several studies of the impact of the British penal system on white-

collar convicts. Lion Radzinowicz and Roger Hood’s research provides a sound base for

an understanding of the changing philosophies underpinning the British convict system

as prescribed by Sir Joshua Jebb from 1844 to 1863, Sir Edmund Henderson from 1863

to 1869, followed by those of Sir Edmund Du Cane from 1869 to 1895.

9 Philip

Priestley’s collection of English prisoner biographies, written between 1830 and 1914,

are indispensable for gaining a sense of how various educated convicts felt during the

lead up to their court cases, during separate confinement and in public works prisons

during that period.10 Rob Sindall decided that by 1870, the number of British middle-

class citizens had grown significantly, and that the criminality of that class was ‘far

more extensive than those of other social classes,’ but ‘went largely unnoticed by

society.’11 After researching white-collar fraud, embezzlement and business morality in

Britain between 1845 and 1929, George Robb concluded that white-collar convicts

‘took a heavy toll on the economy,’ and that nation was ‘painfully slow’ in addressing

those problems.12

Research into White-Collar Convicts in Australia

There has been a limited amount of research into the actual physical transportation

by ship of white-collar convicts to Australia. Charles Bateson found there were many

improvements in convict transports arriving there between 1788 and 1868 and reported

the experiences of some white-collar convicts while on board.13

8 Ibid., pp. 35, 36, 119, 102, 144, 145 & 147-149.

Alan Brooke and David

Brandon produced evidence of the appalling conditions on the early transports to

Australia’s eastern colonies, which had radically improved by the time transportation to

9 Sir Leon Radzinowicz and Roger Hood, ‘Erecting a Convict System,’ Part 6, The New System; Its Hopes and Conflicts,’ pp. 490-521 and ‘Turning the Screw of Repression,’ pp. 526-567 in A History of English Criminal Law and its Administration from 1750 , Vol. 5, London, Steven & Sons, 1986. 10 Philip Priestley, Victorian Prison Lives: English Prison Biography 1830-1914, London and New York, Methuen, 1985. 11 Rob Sindall, op. cit., p. 38. 12 George Robb, ‘Final Considerations’, White-Collar Crime in Modern England: Financial fraud and Business Morality, 1845-1929, Cambridge, U.K.., Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 189 & 191. 13 Charles Bateson, The Convict Ships, Sydney, Australia, A. H. & A. W. Reed, 1974.

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the Swan River colony was initiated.14 A.G. Evan’s research on John Boyle O’Reilly,

describes better conditions and entertainment on board the Hougoumont for the Fenians

and other convicts including Lionel Holdsworth, prior to their arrival in the Swan River

Colony in January 1868.15

Generally, however, historians have commented on the white-collar convicts who

were transported to Australia in passing. A.G.L. Shaw maintained that educated

convicts contributed to colonial life in Botany Bay, where many became successful

farmers and a handful rose to significant positions. White-collar convict Richard

Fitzgerald, for example, was employed as the Superintendent of Public Agriculture,

George Howe became the first editor of the Sydney Gazette, William Redfern became a

successful medical practitioner and George Crossley was noted as the one of the eastern

colony’s greatest entrepreneurs.

16 J.J. Auchmuty reported that Governors believed that

white-collar convicts transported for forgery were in a special class and they were often

appointed to work in minor governmental clerical positions. Others were employed by

wealthier settlers as schoolmasters, a few were employed by merchants who required

their educational qualifications and some even became associated with the legal system.

Francis Greenway, who was convicted for forgery, was appointed as the colony’s Civil

Architect and Assistant Engineer, under Governors Macquarie and Brisbane. He was

responsible for designing and building a lighthouse at South Head, Sydney Harbour, the

Queen’s Square Courts and three churches at Windsor and Liverpool, including his

masterpiece, St James in central Sydney.17

A few historians have focussed specifically on white-collar convicts in Australia.

David Robert examined an experiment involving forty well-educated convicts, who

were sent to a remote penal station in the Wellington Valley in New South Wales from

1827 to 1830. Rather than working in the usual clerical or supervisory capacities, they

were punished by being put to work on demeaning manual labour tasks, such as

building wheat stacks and hoeing hayfields, to reinforce their punishment.

18

14 Alan Brooke and David Brandon, 'The Convict Classroom,' Bound for Botany Bay: British Convict Voyages to Australia, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond Surrey, U. K. 2005, p. 19.

Sandra

Blair focused on the educated convicts’ middle-class origins in the eastern colonies and

the need for their skills as pressmen, compositors and engravers, as well as their

15 A. G. Evans, Fanatic Heart: A Life of John Boyle O, Reilly, 1844-1890, Nedlands, UWA Press, 1997, Chapter 7, pp.54-63. 16 A.G.L. Shaw, ‘1788- 1810', A New History of Australia, Frank Crowley (ed.), Melbourne, Australia, William Heinemann, 1974, p. 22. 17 J. J. Auchmuty, ‘1810-1830,’ ibid., pp. 59 & 64, 18 David Roberts, ‘The Valley of the Swells: ‘Special’ or Educated Convicts on the Wellington Valley Settlement, 1827-1830,’ History Australia, vol. 3, No. 1, June 2006, pp. 11.1 - 12.1.

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suffering from prejudice or discriminatory treatment at the hands of some of their

employers in the late 1830s.19 John Hirst found that educated convicts in Australia’s

eastern colonies were not expected to work as common labourers, but rather as teachers

in private houses, book keepers and newspaper reporters. Colonists did not harp on their

past crimes, as they were more interested in their previous occupations. He found that

‘Wealthy convicts who conducted themselves respectably, were generally treated as

respectable people and reference to their past was dropped.’20

For educated convicts, their middle-class origins were more important than their convict station in the eyes of most employers and patrons, and this fact saved them from discriminatory treatment, as long as they remembered the obligations of a client relationship.

While Sandra Blair

argued that in New South Wales,

21

Barrie Dyster and a small team of researchers focusing on Australian convicts as

working people, found that people who broke the law came from all spheres of

conventional English and Irish society. They argued that there were black sheep in

every family and surmised that ‘when incomes are low all round, theft becomes an

option…to adopt or reject.’ However, his research team also concluded that many

convicts were useful because ‘the majority of prisoners brought specific skills to New

South Wales.’

22

There are conflicting views on whether convicts could ever be regarded as

respectable in Western Australia. In 1959, Alexandra Hasluck’s opinion was that, ‘a

considerable number of convicts did make good, acquire property, marry and melted

into the community.’

23 But twenty years later, Tom Stannage countered her argument,

believing that convicts who stayed in Western Australia and made good, still ‘carried

the mark of shame with them to the grave.’24

19 Sandra Blair, ‘Patronage and Prejudice: Educated Convicts in the New South Wales Press 1838’, Push from the Bush, No. 8, Canberra, Australia, 1980, pp. 62-67.

Sandra Taylor tested the validity of the

idea held by some Western Australians, that convicts arriving there were generally

guilty of only ‘minor offences, were generally ‘better’ behaved than those who were

transported to the eastern colonies and did not lower the moral tone in the Swan River

Colony. However she found that as time progressed, the crimes for which convicts were

20 J. B. Hirst, Convict Society and Its Enemies: A History of Early New South Wales, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1983, pp. 89, 94 & 206. 21 Blair, op cit, p. 84. 22 Barrie Dyster, ‘A New View - Convicts as Working People’, Westerly, No. 3, English Department, U. W. A., Nedlands, W. A., September, 1985, p. 61. 23 Alexandra Hasluck, Unwilling Immigrants: A Study of the Convict period in Western Australia, Melbourne, Angus & Robertson, 1959, 24 C. T. Stannage, The People of Perth: A Social History of Western Australia’s Capital City, Perth, Perth City Council, 1979, p. 101.

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sent to Western Australia worsened.25

…a significant percentage struck roots in the colony and even prospered. However all those who remained in Western Australia, were to be conscious for the rest of their lives, of having worn the shameful coat of a convict.

Rica Erickson’s research in 1985 led her to

believe that

26

She further found that middle-class, educated convicts suffered socially because, ‘the

bond class were not eligible for membership of certain societies, and they were not

allowed to dine with the genteel, nor attend their Assembly Balls’.

27

There have been some biographical studies of white-collar convicts in Western

Australia. Rica Erickson’s convict biographies in Brand on His Coat include several

white-collar convicts,

28 while genealogists such as Marcia Watson have detailed the

lives of a few including Stephen Stout.29 Others crop up in large studies, such as

suburban and other histories. Malachi Meagher appears in Michael Bourke’s history of

the Swan District in Western Australia30, and also in Jennie Carter’s social history of

Bassendean.31

White-collar convicts have also made brief appearances in three university theses.

Cherry Gertzel provided an overview of the convict system in Western Australia that

included factors relating to white-collar convicts, such as the need for educated convicts

as clerks and constables in connection with the Fremantle and Perth prisons and country

depots.

32 Peggy Anderson’s thesis also mentioned the need for educated convicts in

Western Australia,33 while Shirley Leahy’s thesis dealt with the relationship between

educated convict schoolmasters and their students in the Swan River colony and the

initial public apprehension about their appointment, by free settlers.34

25 Sandra Taylor, ‘Who were the Convicts? A Statistical Analysis of the Convicts Arriving in Western Australia in 1850/51, 1861/62 and 1866/68’ in C. T. Stannage (ed.) Studies in Western Australian History, No. IV, Perth, Department of History, U. W. A., December 1981, p. 19.

26 Rica Erickson, ‘What it was to be an Ex-Convict in Western Australia', Westerly, 30, No. 3, Nedlands, W. A., Centre for Studies in Australian Literature, English Department, U.W.A., September 1985, p. 45. 27 Ibid., p. 49. 28 Rica Erickson, The Brand on his Coat: Biographies of some Western Australian Convicts, Nedlands, UWA Press, 1983. 29 Marcia Watson, ‘Stephen Montague Stout (4901)’ , Convict Links, Convict Historical and Research Group, Vol. 17, No. 2, June 2003,Western Australian Genealogical Society, Bayswater, W. A. pp. 8-14. 30 Michael J. Bourke, On the Swan : A History of the Swan District Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, UWA Press, 1987, pp. 203, 231-2. 31 Jennie Carter, Bassendean: A Social History 1829-1979, Perth, W. A., Town of Bassendean, 1986, pp. 58-59, 131. 32 Cherry Gertzel, ‘The Convict System in Western Australia: 1850-1870’, B. A Honours Thesis, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, W.A., 1949. 33 Peggy Anderson, ‘Economic Aspects of Transportation to Western Australia,’ BA Honours Thesis, Special Collection, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, W.A.,1950. 34 Shirley Leahy, ‘Convict Teachers and the Children of Western Australia, 1850-1896 ' , B.A. Honours Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Churchlands, W.A.,1993.

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However there has been very little research that has focussed exclusively on white-

collar convicts in Western Australia. The exceptions are Martin Gibb’s article on Joseph

Horrock’s Gwalla Estate in Northampton, which focuses on the importance of his

copper mine to the colony, his support of unemployed people and his business

connections with free settlers, many of whom supported him and respected his

resourcefulness,35 and my article on Alfred Daniel Letch.36

Apart from these, there has

been no other research dedicated to white-collar convicts in Western Australia.

Primary Sources relating to White-Collar Convicts

Extensive research into a very wide variety of primary sources was essential for this

thesis. A range of British newspapers were searched to locate details of the court cases

of all the white-collar convicts discussed in the thesis. Magazine articles of the period

were also valuable. Two anonymous articles appearing in the Cornhill Magazine have

been attributed to white-collar convict Reverend James Roe. In ‘A Convict’s Views of

Penal Discipline,’ and his ‘Letter from a Convict in Australia to a Brother in England,’

he presented his viewpoints about the convict system, from his court case to receiving

his Ticket-of-Leave in the colony.37

Official convict records were also indispensable. ‘General Rules and Daily Routines

for Prisoners,’ ‘Prison Orders from Governor Fitzgerald to Comptroller General

Henderson, 1850-1852’ and ‘Clothing Allowed for Ticket-of-Leavers’

38

Rica Erickson and Gillian O’Mara’s Convicts in Western Australia, 1850-1888, a

biographical dictionary, was searched for details of any white-collar convicts. It

in the

Temporary Convict Establishment Records, gave some indication of the situation for the

white-collar convicts arriving in the early transports to the colony. ‘General Register’ or

‘Character Book’ prison records were located for all except one of the white-collar

convicts discussed in this thesis, while Ticket-of-Leave records were found for eight of

them.

35 Martin Gibbs, ‘Landscapes of Meaning: Joseph Lucas Horrocks and the Gwalla Estate’ in Jenny Gregory (ed.), Historical Traces: Studies in Western Australian History, Centre for Western Australian History, Nedlands, U.W.A., Press, vol. 17, 1997, pp. 35-60. 36 Sandra Potter, ‘Alfred Daniel Letch: A White-Collar Convict,’ in Jacqui Sherriff and Anne Brake (eds), 'Building a Colony: The Convict Legacy', Studies in Western Australian History, Centre for Western Australian History, U.W.A Press, Nedlands, W.A., vol. 24, 2006, pp. 37- 47. 37 Anonymous [James Roe], ‘A Convict’s View of Penal Discipline’, The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 10, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1864, pp. 722-733, and Anonymous [James Roe], ‘A Letter From a Convict in Australia to a Brother in England’, The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 13, London: Smith, Elder & Co., Jan-June 1866, pp. 489-512. 38 ‘General Rules and Daily Routines for Prisoners’, ‘Prison Orders from Governor Fitzgerald to Comptroller General Henderson, 1850-1852’, and’ Clothing Allowance for Ticket-of-Leavers’, AN 358, ACC 1156.

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provided summary details from convict records including their convict number, birth

and death date, marital status, number of children, British occupation, education,

religion, place and date of conviction, crime and previous convictions if any. It also

includes their transport’s name, arrival date, date of their Ticket-of-Leave, Conditional

Pardons and Certificates of Freedom and sometimes their place of work, occupations in

the Swan River Colony, reconvictions, marriage partner arrivals, marriage in the colony

and also if they departed from Western Australia.39

After transportation of convicts to the Swan River colony had ceased, extracts from

three anonymous white-collar prisoners’ exposés were published in the late 1870s and

1880s in Britain. They focused mainly on their negative experiences within the British

penal system, but also highlighted some preferential treatment and concessions they

received while on remand, during their trials, in separate confinement and in public

works penitentiaries. ‘One-Who-Has-Endured-It,’ afterwards found to be Edward

Callow, maintained that his aim in writing was to inform British citizens about ‘what he

actually suffered, saw and experienced during the terrible ordeal of penal servitude.’

40

While Callow conceded that there were some benefits during the first stage of ‘separate

confinement’ for educated prisoners, he concluded that the main problem for them was,

that they were incarcerated in a penal system, which failed to separate the ‘hardened

confirmed rogues’ from the ‘reformable first time offenders or gentlemen prisoners,’

during their second stage in public works penitentiaries.41 Ticket-of-Leave-Man,

George Bidwell, argued that his reason for writing was ‘to expose some evils connected

with the English Convict System and to suggest some remedies.’42 One-Who-Has-

Tried-Them, explained that his ambition was also to ‘expose the ill treatment and petty

tyranny existing in some of our prisons.’43

In John Wroth’s Diary, which he commenced in 1851 on his way out in the

Mermaid, he described occupations on board for well behaved educated prisoners, food

rations, regulations and rules and his reasons for distancing himself from other convicts

while on the transport. He also detailed his clerical duties in the temporary

establishment in Fremantle before gaining his Ticket-of-Leave, followed by more

39 Rica Erickson and Gillian O’Mara (eds), Convicts in Western Australia, 1850-1887, Dictionary of Western Australians, Vol. IX, Nedlands, UWA Press, 1994. 40 One-Who-Has-Endured-It, ‘Five Years of Penal Servitude’ in Martin J. Wiener (ed.), Crime and Punishment in England, 1850-1902, London, Rice University, Garland Publishing, 1984. 41 Martin J. Wiener, ‘Disillusion with the Prison,’ Reconstructing the Criminal: Culture, Law and Policy in England, 1838-1914, , Sydney, Australia, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p 311. 42 Ticket-of-Leave-Man (George Bidwell), Convict Life or Revelations Concerning Convicts and Convict Prisons, London, Wyman & Sons, 1879, preface. 43 One-Who-Has-Tried-Them, Her Majesty’s Prisons: Their Effects and Defects, Vols. 1 & 2, London, Sampson Low, 1881.

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clerical duties, friendships and social problems during his romances while in the York

and Toodyay Convict Depots up to mid-1853. His marriage, family life, career,

monetary problems, health problems and land acquisitions after attaining his Certificate

of Freedom in 1861 were included in his Letter Book, written while at Toodyay.44

As far as possible mid-nineteenth century writings have been used to define

‘respectability’ in the Swan River Colony at that time. The anonymous writer of an

amusing article titled ‘Respectable and Not Respectable’ published in the British

periodical Chambers Journal in 1838, concluded with the truism, “respectable” ‘means

different things in different places, and with different men.’

45 Some contemporary

views on ‘respectability’ and the ‘social acceptance’ of educated convicts by free

settlers in the Swan River Colony, have been located in: Reverend John Wollaston’s

Albany Journals from 1848 to 1856; Mrs Edward Millett’s An Australian Parsonage

published in 1863; J. T. Reilly’s in Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Western Australia in

1903, and J. S. Battye’s in Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the

Inauguration of the Commonwealth which was published in 1924.46 In an 1873

newspaper article ‘Notes of a Visit to Perth, West Australia by a Victorian,’ Howard

Willoughby conceded, ‘that (educated) convicts could make a position in society for

themselves on a business level’.47

Some idea of business dealings, credit ratings and in Alfred Letch’s case, Board

meetings about his overdrafts and bankruptcy details, have been gained from Western

Australian Bank Archives in Sydney, as were details about Joseph Horrocks, John

Sampson, Stephen Stout and James Roe’s bank accounts which were located there.

Land and property records including ‘Memorials of Conveyances,’ ‘Indentures of

Mortgages,’ ‘Transfers of Mortgages’ and ‘Certificates of Satisfaction,’ were researched

through the WA Department of Land Administration.

Most of their occupations, employers, employees, marriages, children’s births and

their own and their wives’ deaths were located in Battye Library’s Catalogue Cards.

Some news items involving white-collar convicts, reported in the West Australian,

Perth Gazette, Herald and The Inquirer and Commercial News, were also located there.

The Wills of Wroth, Horrocks, Palmer, Sophia Sampson (Dr Sampson’s wife), Hubbard

44 Diary of John Acton Wroth, 1851-1853, MN 725, 2816A/3 & Letter Book of John Acton Wroth at Toodyay, MN 118, 2290A/1, Battye Library ,Perth, Western Australia. 45 Anonymous, 'Respectable and Not Respectable' , Push from the Bush, A Bulletin of Social History, No. 21, October 1985, Armidale, New South Wales, University of New England, pp. 20-24. 46 J. S. Battye, Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth, Oxford, England, Oxford University Press, 1924. 47 Howard Willoughby, ‘Notes of a Visit to Western Australia, By a Victorian', Herald, 5 May 1873, p. 3.

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and Holdsworth, a Letter of Administration by Hubbard and the Probate details of

Lionel Sampson, Wroth, Hubbard and Holdsworth, as well as bankruptcy details of

Letch, Meagher, Stout and Hubbard, and a Police Report on the latter’s demise were

found there. Valuable piecemeal information was also been gained from resources such

as Honour Boards, Reports of Municipal Council and Agricultural Society meetings,

five stained glass windows of Perth streets and inhabitants, photographs of James Roe,

his wife and their classroom in Greenough and Tom Fisher’s useful research on Roe’s

family background.48

The first chapter of this thesis initially defines white-collar crime and its escalation in

eighteenth century Britain, including public demand for severer punishments. It then

compares the transportation and employment of British white-collar convicts in North

America and the West Indies, with that in New South Wales. By the year 1850, when

convicts were first transported to the Swan River Colony, changes had begun to appear

in British prison philosophy. These had an impact on conditions in British penitentiaries

for white-collar convicts and were described in contemporary accounts.

The second chapter reviews various aspects of life on board the transports for white-

collar convicts including: Alfred Letch on the Hashemy in 1850; John Wroth on the

Mermaid in 1851; Stephen Stout on the Lord Raglan in 1858; Miall Meagher on the

Sultana in 1859; Joseph Moll and James Roe on the York 11 in 1862 and Lionel

Holdsworth on the Hougoumont in 1868, while on their way to the Swan River Colony.

The third chapter discusses includes an examination of the attitudes of early settlers

towards convictism, the campaign for convicts and whether a need for educated

convicts was specified. Conditions in the colony prior to convict arrivals is followed by

vignettes of the lives of Alfred Daniel Letch, John Acton Wroth, Joseph Lucas Horrocks

and Thomas Matthew Palmer, who were white-collar convicts transported to the colony

between 1850 and 1854, during Charles Fitzgerald’s government.

The fourth chapter briefly describes the state of the colony between 1855 and 1859,

followed by the lives of Dr John Sampson, Stephen Montague Stout and Malachi Reidy

Meagher, who arrived during Arthur Kennedy’s government. The fifth chapter outlines

the economic situation within the colony between 1861 and 1868. It also includes the

experiences of Herman Joseph Moll, Reverend James Elphinstone Roe, James

Murgatroyd Hubbard, James Coates Fleming and Lionel Holdsworth, who had been

incarcerated in British penitentiaries either during or after the Chatham riots of 1861,

48 Thomas P. Fisher, 'Susanne Roe (née Moore)', Paper on the Wife of Reverend James Roe, 1998.

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when treatment of convicts became harsher in British penitentiaries and under Governor

Hampton in the Swan River Colony.

In each of these chapters, the ability of these white-collar convicts to regain their

competency and respectability is assessed. As previously there has been no substantial

analysis of whether it was possible for white-collar convicts to gain social acceptance

amongst the free settlers of the Swan River Colony, this thesis aims to fill that gap.

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CHAPTER 1. Origins of White-Collar Crimes, Transportation to North America between 1597 and 1776, to Australia’s Eastern Colonies from 1788 to 1856 and their Perpetrators’ Experiences in British Penitentiaries.

Nowadays, barely a week goes by without stories relating to huge financial fraud

appearing in news media and some of us may be tempted to believe that white-collar

crime is a rapidly escalating, modern phenomenon which has occurred mainly in our

era. However, George Robb discovered that:

The real origins of white-collar crime, however, lie almost two hundred years in the past, in the tremendous financial growth which accompanied the British Industrial Revolution… (around the early 1800s which) called into being a complex economy increasingly dependent on finance and investment… characterized by a vast banking network, a burgeoning commercial nexus of insurance, stocks and credit, and an increasingly complicated legal system. These phenomena as well as the concomitant increase in lawyers, brokers and financiers, greatly expanded the potential for white-collar crime.1

David Roberts perceived that the official response to rising convictions for that type

of crime and management of their perpetrators who were unsuited to hard labour then,

was:

…an emerging demand for greater equality and severity from the transport experience…guaranteeing the certainty and integrity of punishment through its more rigorous and impartial application … ensuring that diversities within the punishment experience were determined by obedience and merit, rather than social status, class privilege or other forms of luck.2

Transportation to North America and the West Indies.

British historians, Alan Brooke and David Brandon both agreed that, ‘In a sense,

transportation was a logical development of the medieval practice of banishment… or

involuntary exile.’3

1 George Robb, op. cit., pp. 1 & 2.

Roger Ekirch, who has studied early American history and culture,

found that when transportation to the Northern American Colonies and the West Indies

sugar cane and tobacco plantations was initiated in 1597, ‘it began as a form of exile to

rid Britain of rogues and vagabonds.’ After King James I began granting Conditional

Pardons from the death sentence, white-collar and other convicts were subject to ‘the

2 David Roberts, op. cit., p. 11.1 & 11.6. 3 Alan Brooke and David Brandon, 'The Convict Classroom', Bound for Botany Bay: British Convict Voyages to Australia, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond Surrey, U. K. 2005, p. 19.

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felony of attaint’ which meant they had to forfeit their goods to the Crown, including

profits from freehold land and their loss of civil rights, prior to leaving Britain.4

From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, punishment by transportation was

the official response to concerns by governmental authorities and law abiding citizens,

that ‘crime was getting out of control’ in Britain.

5 After the Transportation Act of 1718

was passed during King George I's reign, foreign exile for all serious commercial

crimes such as frauds, forgeries and embezzlements became law.6 Nearly 89% of

forgers had been executed between 1749 and 1771,7 but according to V. A. G. Gratrell,

‘Thomas Maynard was the last man hanged for forgery, on 30 December 1829.’8

Consequently, white-collar convicts were transported to North America and the West

Indies for fourteen years, where servants could sign contracts with their masters if a

magistrate endorsed it. But they were not allowed to acquire further property, sue

anyone, give evidence against colonists or serve as a juror or a witness in court, and

their masters could take any money convicts had earned in their free time. However

they were allowed to give evidence against other convicts in Virginia and Maryland, but

only in cases involving other convicts. All were disqualified from voting by 1749 and

they lost their right to freedom dues for service in 1753, after which all convicts were

under the total control of their master. However, if the courts found that a master had

been abusive, they could end his convict’s contract of service or transfer his services.

9

Ekirch found that nepotism played a part in some white-collar offenders gaining

reprieves from hanging. William Parsons, the son of a Nottinghamshire baronet who

was due to hang for forgery in 1749, gained a reprieve through his brother-in-law, who

was a Justice of the Peace in Kent. Subsequently, Parsons was allowed to carry ‘a large

chest of clothes on board’ on the way to America, and ‘received an annuity of £30 per

annum from his family’ while there.

10 While most convicts travelled to the docks

chained and on foot, some well-to-do felons paid for hackney coaches and were allowed

to purchase their own provisions to take on board.11

4 A. Roger Ekirch, op. cit.., p. 1. Also Bruce Kercher, ‘Perish or Prosper: The Law and Convict Transportation in the British Empire’, Law and History Review Journal, Vo. 21, March, 2003, p. 4.

Once convicts boarded the

contracting merchant’s ship, ‘the British government had little further interest in her or

5 Alan Brooke and David Brandon, op. cit., pp. 19 & 12. 6 Ekirch, op. cit., Introduction, p. 1. 7 Ibid., p, 35. 8 V. A. C. Gatrell, The Hanging Tree: Executions and the English People, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 416. 9 Bruce Kercher, op. cit.., pp, 3 &4. 10 Ekirch, ibid., pp. 36, 102 & 178. 11 Ekirch, ibid., pp. 72, 71, 93, 102 & 178.

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him, so long as the convict did not return early…the penalty for which was death.’12

Bruce Kercher found that some wealthy British families were able to pay for a

private cabin for their relatives, to prevent them being thrust amongst the lower class

prisoners in the hold of ships on their way to the American Colonies. On their arrival,

some ‘could buy their own liberty,’ probably ‘costing somewhere between £15 and £25’

at that time, but they were still exiled until their term was completed. By the eighteenth

century, ‘those who could only pay part of the required price, worked off the rest of

their time in a somewhat similar fashion to British indentured servants, in accordance

with the length of sentence which had been handed down at their trials in Britain.’

It

appears that a wealthy white-collar employee facing conviction could evade attaint, if

he chose to distribute his wealth legally to family members before his trial. In turn, he

was supported by them while living reasonably freely in North America or in the West

Indies, and probably regained his money upon his return to Britain.

13

Up to 1736, overcrowding on small transports by corrupt convict traders caused

wretched conditions for convicts on the long, open seas to the American and West

Indies colonies. Restricted and contaminated water rations, poor ventilation, fierce

storms causing seasickness, damp holds and the spread of contagious diseases such as

gaol fever, pneumonia, smallpox, dysentery and venereal infections, resulted in high

convict mortality rates, averaging 10.7% over 38 voyages. Many of those conditions

could have adversely affected white-collar convicts, despite any privileges they may

have attained. By the 1770s, some factors improved conditions for all convicts,

including an acceleration of prisoner processing, which meant that white-collar and

other convicts spent shorter periods in Britain’s disease-ridden gaols. Copper sheathing

around transport hulls created drier conditions below and 70% of the transports were

larger, ranging from 100 to 199 tons by 1775, which increased their efficiency and

speed. Quarantine laws from the 1760s, customs inspections, some transports hiring

medical staff, the provision of improved bedding, ventilation, sanitation, clothing, food

and the use of copper boilers, rather than iron for cooking, lowered the mortality rate

between 1770 and 1775 to 2.3% over 12 voyages.

14

In more modern, larger vessels, the use of iron rather than timber in the ships’

interior structure for bunks, around hatchways and ladders, created more space below.

12 Kercher, op. cit., p. 2. 13 Kercher, op. cit., pp. 3 & 125. 14 Ekirch, op. cit., pp. 97-108.

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Dakin’s ventilators improved the circulation of fresh air and all British convict

transports carried Surgeon Superintendents to Botany Bay by 1815.

In some historical papers, convicts sentenced for fraud, forgery and embezzlement

were often just referred to as ‘educated prisoners,’ and because their crimes are not

defined, the reader has difficulty deciding whether or not they had actually committed a

‘white-collar’ crime. Ekirch found that educated male convicts who could not afford to

pay for their liberty in America, were sometimes employed as man servants, physicians

or schoolmasters by various plantation owners. John Van De Huville, for instance,

practiced medicine in Maryland County and was allowed to keep a portion of his

patient’s fees. On the other hand, schoolmaster James Borthwick ‘endured the meanest

of Subsistence (sic)’ and had to provide his own ‘Clothes and Linen (sic).’ 15

Transportation to the American colonies was a cheap solution to get rid of criminals.

As the British government paid merchant contractors to transport the convicts, they had

no need to build penitentiaries or barracks to house them, or even to employ staff to

oversee them after their ships berthed, because they were generally sold by the transport

contractors to their masters soon after arrival. Shipping costs paid to contractors for

American bound convicts, averaged only £4 per head during that period, so Kercher

estimated that ‘During the course of the eighteenth century, some 50,000 convicts were

transported to North America,’ which probably cost the British Government as little as

‘£200,000.’

Obviously

the nature of a white-collar convicts’ life there, was fairly dependant upon his conduct,

the character of his employer and his conditions of employment.

16 After America gained her Independence in 1776, merchant contractors

were refused entry into America’s colonial ports. With the passing of British Hulks Act

that year, the Government established temporary gaols in overcrowded old warships,

which were moored in British harbours. For a few years, white-collar convicts and

others who would have been previously transported, provided cheap labour for building

dockyards, excavating basins for ports and building sea walls and jetties.17

Transportation to New South Wales.

The situation for the male and female convicts, who arrived in the first fleet on 26

January 1788, after an eight month voyage to Botany Bay, was vastly different from

15 Ekirch, op. cit., pp. 148, 149. 16 Kercher, op. cit., pp. 1- 3. 17 Ekirch, op. cit., Introduction, pp. 1 & 230.

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those sent to the already colonized America. The aboriginal inhabitants spoke no

English and some threatened the new arrivals’ lives, crops and herds. Initially there

were no towns, houses, shops, businesses, public buildings, transport facilities or farms

with crops, cattle, sheep or poultry. Sandy soils and high summer temperatures and

living in tents or more basic temporary shelters presented difficulties for convict

officials, their families and prisoners alike.18

Appalling conditions and high death rates from scurvy and typhus on the second fleet

of transports resulted in the employment of properly accredited naval Superintendent

Surgeons on transports from 1815 onwards. As well as the health of convicts and crew

on board, the surgeon’s responsibilities included their prisoners’ cleanliness, ensuring

their quarters were hygienic and well ventilated, control of their food and water rations,

daily issuing of lemon juice with sugar to combat scurvy, their schooling, reading the

divine service on Sundays to encourage their moral reformation and reporting the

convicts and crew’s health in a Sick Book.

19 Consequently death rates declined and

conditions radically improved for all convicts and crew members on transports.

According to Kercher, wealthy white-collar convicts could still pay for a comfortable

cabin, but on arrival they were not allowed to buy their way out of service.20

The New South Wales’ penal system was very different from that in the American

colonies. As the shipping contractors had been fully paid for transporting the convicts to

the eastern colonies of Australia, Britain retained the property rights of their labour and

all prisoners were treated as servants of the Crown.

21

18 Kercher, op. cit., p. 6.

The system was more centralised

and convicts were under closer supervision of the Governors, who had extensive

authority to control them. The greater proportion of convicts worked on free settlers’

farms or in their businesses and the rest were assigned to building government roads,

bridges and public buildings. However Auchmuty found that in New South Wales,

educated prisoners who were transported for forgery were generally appointed as minor

clerks in the government service, schoolmasters in the homes of the wealthier settlers, a

19 Brooke & Brandon, op. cit., pp. 169 & 191. They reported that according to Charles Bateson in The Convict Ships, 1787-1868, A.H.& A. W. Reed, Sydney, 1969, p. 276, for every 8.8 convicts on the General Hewart, one died. According to Brooke and Brandon, The first convict ship to convey an accredited naval surgeon was the Royal Admiral’ in 1792. Of a total of 18 convict ships that left Britain for Australia between 1792 and 1800, the first six all had surgeons on board, where the death rate was 1 to 55 men and 1 to 45 women. There were only two surgeons on the next 6 ships and consequently the death rate increased to 1 in 19 men, but lowered to 1 in 68 for women. On the last 6 transports where there was no proper medical supervision, 1 man in 6 died and 1 woman in 34, pp.191 - 193. 20 Kercher, op. cit., p. 7. 21 Kercher, op. cit., pp. 2 & 7.

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few were employed by emancipist merchants and surprisingly, some became involved

in the legal system, which had led to their previous downfall.22

Sandra Blair found that educated convicts in New South Wales, or ‘Specials’ as they

were often called by British and Colonial authorities, were classed a distinct group by

the free settlers. They were identified by the white-collar crime they had committed

such as embezzling, forging, writing threatening letters and false pretences or fraud,

their middle-class background and their previous type of professional or semi

professional occupation. Blair saw that some landowning gentry including James

Macarthur, argued that Specials were useless, as they were neither trained nor wanted to

be engaged in rural occupations. She quoted J. D. Lang, a Presbyterian clergyman, who

maintained that educated convicts were the most dangerous type of convict, because

their skills aided their vice and villainy and they should be disqualified from obtaining

responsible positions or influence in the colony. However for other employers,

‘prejudice was not a deciding factor,’ and was modified by ‘the need for skilled workers

in government, legal departments, newspaper offices and educational establishments.’

23

Kercher maintained that in some ways, the convicts had much greater freedom in the

eastern colonies of Australia than in America, prior to 1823. Those assigned to private

masters could choose their own lodgings or dwellings as there were no prison buildings.

Although not paid for their labour, they were allowed to earn money or were paid in

kind after working hours, so some could live relatively independently. Alternatively

others were allowed to work full time for themselves, so long as they shared the profits

with their masters. As they could ‘retain their own property and money,’ the Law of

Attaint was not enforced in Australia at this time. Under Governor Hunter from 1798

and Governor King from 1801, all convicts, including those who had been attainted,

were allowed to earn money, hold property (though not freehold title to their land), sue

for recovery of debts to protect it and give evidence in the Court of Civil Jurisdiction.

In 1801, Governor King invented the idea of a ‘Ticket-of-Leave,’ as an incentive for

compliant behaviour, which relieved white-collar and other convicts from compulsory

labour, after they had achieved that status. This enabled them to marry with permission

from the Governor and live independently, earning their own living.24

22 J. J. Auchmuty, op. cit., p. 59.

According to

John Hirst, stories of ‘bad masters and harsh treatment filled the Editorials of the Sydney

Gazette,’ which eventually triggered an inquiry into the effectiveness of the assignment

23 Sandra Blair, op. cit., pp. 75 & 76. 24 Kercher, op. cit., pp. 7 & 8.

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system. However Legislative Council members defended the system, as it required a

minimal level of government funding and proved to be effective and reformatory.

Unemployment was not an issue in the new colony as there was plenty of work

available and there was ‘a strong inducement to continue in an honest course of life.’

Hirst found that many proud, free immigrants in Botany Bay society were tempted to

exclude enterprising and major landowning expirees socially. However, they were

careful not to go too far, as ex-convicts were frequently involved with them on business

or on personal levels, and they were sometimes forced to accept monetary loans from

them. He maintained that wealthy expirees who lived respectable lives, were ‘treated

generally as respectable people, and all reference to their past was dropped.’25

By 1827, rather than ‘specials’ or ‘white-collar’ convicts receiving preferential employment which ensured a fairly comfortable lifestyle on reasonable incomes and relative freedom in clerical, accounting, printing, editing and engineering work soon after their arrival, Governor Darling formulated a new policy for them. They were to be:

…banished from the main centres of commerce and influence and made more aware of their status as convicts, by being subjected to a probationary stint of light labour, to enforce a measure of humility and to assess their worthiness for assignment.26

So on a short experimental basis, about forty ‘specials’ were sent to a small, isolated

establishment in the Wellington Valley across the Darling Range, where they were

employed in growing wheat and tending government owned herds of cattle between

1827 and 1830. They only had to undertake light duties, such as using a hoe or pitchfork

to build haystacks during the heat of summer harvesting, so as not to appear idle, while

convict rural workers, labourers, bricklayers and sawyers, performed all the heavy

work. They were expected to cook their own food, collect wood, wash their clothes and

were forced to sleep in the Prisoners’ Barracks in close proximity to lower class

convicts. Superintendent Maxwell did occasionally employ ‘specials’ as personal clerks

and others for keeping store accounts or acting as constables, which released them from

manual labour. However many potential constables were overlooked in favour of

working class convicts, who had developed better leadership or management skills.

27

Despite Frederick Lahrbush’s appeal to the Governor, to be granted a Ticket-of-

Leave and gainful employment in Sydney, the transported forger was exiled to

25 J. B. Hirst, op. cit., pp. 199, 209, 153 & 206. 26 Roberts, op. cit., pp, 11.1, 11.2 & 11.4. 27 Roberts, ibid., pp. 11.11 & 11.12.

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Wellington Valley by Governor Darling in 1827 for three years. His protest mirrored the

discontent of the majority of frustrated ‘specials’ there. They complained that they ‘had

been left languishing and forgotten on the settlement’ and ‘deliberately withheld’ from

‘the power, wealth and comfort’ attained by other ‘gentlemen’ emancipists, who were

often referred to as ‘Swells’ in Sydney’s environment.28

were placed on a more equal footing with men of lower social standing… not only competing for favour, but being administered and supervised by others whose primary qualification for power was their own ability… (it was) presciently egalitarian.

David Roberts appears to have

found that experiment very interesting, as ‘Specials,’

29

Kercher’s conclusion about the aims of the penal system administrators of

transportation at that stage was obviously well grounded:

Some (British) governments wanted the colony to be a place of deterrence, rather than rehabilitation, while some of the governors they sent, such as Macquarie and Bourke, favoured rehabilitation. So did most of the Judges… (however) convict freedom declined in the 1820s and 1830s under an increasingly centralized empire and the belief that transportation was too easy.30

According to Kercher, there were dramatic changes connected with the law of attaint

and civil rights after Commissioner Bigge had been sent out in 1819 to ‘enquire into the

state of convict discipline’ and to recommend ‘ways to make their discipline more of a

deterrent.’ The first Supreme Court’s Judge, Barron Field, had initially assumed that

‘ticket-of-leave holders and those who received colonial pardons were restored to

complete civil rights,’ when the court commenced operation in New South Wales in

1814. Field changed his mind in 1820 when he put the law of attaint into effect against

Edward Eager, originally an Irish attorney, even though he had been pardoned by

Governor Macquarie. He held that ‘any property acquired during the period of attaint

belonged to the Crown.’ His verdict devastated all the wealthy emancipists at that time,

because it threatened their ownership of fine houses, land, ships and commercial goods.

The right of expiree attorneys such as Eager, to practice law in the colony was

questioned and the validity of the Australian Governor’s pardons operating in Britain,

was of great concern to them. Emancipists who had served their term ‘felt that their

credit, their reputation and their incentives for hard work, had now been destroyed.’

Fortunately for the emancipists, the British Parliament passed an act in 1823 which gave

28 Roberts, ibid., pp. 11.1 & 11.13. 29 Roberts, ibid., pp. 11.15 & 11.16. 30 Kercher, op. cit., p. 21.

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‘retrospective validation’ to the Australian Governor’s pardons, after they had been

ratified in Britain. However they were only to have effect in the colony and future

pardons had to be approved in Britain before being granted. All convicts in the penal

colony then became subject to the law of attaint, which meant that ticket holders could

not sue, hold property or give evidence. Forbes and his fellow officials continued to

‘require strict proof of conviction and attaint after 1824.’ By 1832 Judges believed they

could not force a convict to reveal their true position on attaint and the second Supreme

Court ruled that attaint only applied to those who had committed a capital felony.

Members of the Supreme Court in the eastern colonies then assumed, that those holding

a Ticket-of-leave could hold property and sue in courts. However, the Imperial

Parliament soon passed an Act which stated that, ‘no transported person was to be

capable of acquiring property or bringing an action in Court to recover property, until a

(Conditional) Pardon was granted.’ Kercher believes that Act would have devastated

white-collar and other convicts who had worked hard to gain property.’ At the same

time, it probably pleased some ‘Exclusives’ who ‘wished the convict stain to be

permanent.’31

Rather than confiscating money brought out illegally by convicts on their transports,

effectively evading the felony of attaint, or spending their earnings before gaining their

Ticket-of-Leave, Governor Gipps decided that their monies should be placed in a

savings bank account opened for them in 1838. They could apply for access to part of it,

if for instance they needed to pay for a lawyer when charged with a crime, but all

convicts’ rights to property were at the Governor’s discretion. The practice of assigning

convicts to private masters before they gained their Tickets was abolished in 1840 and

was replaced by public labour in penal camps and settlements for all convicts. By 1843,

all Ticket-of-Leave holders were legally allowed to hold goods and land leases and

could sue in court to protect them. However if their ticket was revoked for some reason,

all their property was vested in the Crown. It also took twenty-three years of legal

uncertainty before the imperial Parliament finally clarified that convicts had the right to

give evidence in the colony in 1843.

32

The ‘Exclusives,’ a group of would be free settler aristocrats led by John Macarthur,

who was a former army lieutenant and Inspector-General of Public Works, and the

Emancipists (expirees), refused to mix even at the Governor’s table. Officers of the 46

th

31 Kercher, ibid., pp, 8, 9, 20, 11, 10, 13.

32 Kercher, ibid., pp, 14 & 12.

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Regiment vowed not to mix socially with expirees, even if the Governor commanded

them to, and refused to agree with the terms of a local act passed in 1830, which

allowed expirees to sit in juries during civil cases.33 As far as the government of New

South Wales was concerned, when the Constitutional Act of 1842 initiated a Legislative

Council of thirty-six members, the twenty-four elected councillors had to be reasonably

well off, but the ‘£20 franchise did not discriminate against emancipists being

elected.’34

There appeared to be good opportunities for some white-collar convicts to prove

themselves in the eastern colonies of Australia. After being transported for forgery,

George Howe, the only printer in the colony, soon came under the patronage of

Governor King and was responsible for printing government orders. Using the

government press, he also produced the first newspaper in the colony, the Sydney

Gazette in 1803, the first Australian art book, and the first volume of Australian poetry.

Auchmuty maintained that Howe ‘came out as a convict and re-established himself in

society as a typical eighteenth-century man of reason.’

35 Emancipist Francis Greenway,

transported for the same crime, was appointed as Governor Macquarie’s Civil Architect

and Assistant Engineer by 1816 and was responsible for designing the South Head

Lighthouse, Sydney Harbour, Queen’s Square Courts, the Windsor and Liverpool

Churches and St James, in the centre of Sydney.36

Another forger, Henry Savery, was initially employed as Governor Arthur’s clerk in

Van Diemen’s Land in 1825, before becoming the editor of the Hobart Gazette

newspaper. However he was the subject of an official inquiry from London when his

success story appeared in a paper there. In the first letter from London, British

authorities demanded that he be removed from that position ‘which appears to be

worthier than any convict of education has had.’ Fortunately for Savery the response

from officials at the Hobart end was cautious, so Savery went on to become the author

of Australia’s first novel titled, Quintus Servinton, which means The Bitter Bread of

Banishment in 1830. After gaining his freedom in 1832, Savery committed fraud and

died in the notorious Port Arthur Prison in 1842.

37

33Frank Crowley (ed.), A New History of Australia, 'J. J. Auchmuty /1810-30', pp. 72 & 77.

34 Crowley, ibid.,' Michael Roe, '1830-50', pp. 87 & 90. 35 Auchmuty, ibid, George Howe, p. 22 & Auchmuty, op. cit., pp. 59 & 61. 36 Ibid, Francis Greenway, pp. 59 &64. 37 Brooke and Brandon, op. cit., pp. 114 & 115.

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No one has attempted the difficult task of calculating how many white-collar

convicts were among the over 152,000 prisoners,38 who were transported to the eastern

colonies, because Kercher found ‘there were problems with convict Indents (records of

their convictions) and sentences of transportation, which were filed in the Colonial

Secretary’s office, as they ‘rarely stated the nature of the crime.’39

Changes in Prison Philosophy.

However the British

convict system had radically changed by the time convicts arrived in Swan River colony

in 1850, with the result that more details were available.

Attitudes to the running of prisons in nineteenth century Britain went through

considerable change. There were significant differences between the prison philosophies

of Major-General Sir Joshua Jebb from 1844 to 1863, Sir Edmund Henderson from

1863 to 1869 and Major-General Du Cane from 1869 to 1895, after they were appointed

as Directors of the Convict Penitentiaries in Britain. Captain Jebb had been seconded

from the Royal Engineers to Britain’s Home Office in 1838, to assist in drawing up new

plans to initiate a first stage of ‘separate confinement,’ under which ‘prisoners would be

subjected to a regime of instruction and employment,’ following current penal

philosophy in America, Germany, Belgium, Prussia, Sweden and Norway at that time.

Consequently, Parkhurst Boy’s Prison was completed that year, Pentonville Penitentiary

opened in 1842 and Public Works penitentiaries such as Portland was opened in 1848,

Portsmouth and Dartmoor in 1850 and Chatham in 1856.

When Jebb was asked to work out the practical details to introduce the new scheme,

after his appointment as Surveyor-General of Prisons in 1844, he rejected setting a fixed

term of separate confinement. He rather proposed that the duration of each convict’s

confinement should be flexible and decided ‘by the character and attainments of the

individual and his ability to bear the confinement.’ Although the initial period of

solitary confinement was set at eighteen months, Jebb believed that the average length

of time at that stage should be twelve months, but as little as six would suffice for those

requiring little moral improvement. In regards to the second stage in a public works

prison, he maintained they should still be separated at times when they were not

working. As a ‘stimulus to industry, good conduct and moral improvement,’ they could

‘earn marks and allowances varying from 3d to 9d per week to spend on luxuries’ such

38 Ibid., pp. 13 & 133. 39 Kercher, op. cit.., p. 10.

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as ‘tea, coffee, cheese, fruit, or even a small quantity of porter,’ or ‘their money could

be saved and credited to them upon their discharge.’40

Jebb believed that offenders’ characters could be reformed and they would be

received into society after release. If prison officers took a positive approach, led by

good example, performed their duties conscientiously without harshness and tried to

inculcate truth and integrity, they would excite the prisoners’ feelings of respect and

confidence in them. If prisoners were placed in small groups of eight to ten, in which

they worked, ate and received instruction together under their officer’s supervision, he

believed they would cultivate the necessary social virtues. However prison authorities,

politicians and the public demanded that ‘primacy be given to security and deterrence’

after ‘The Report of the Penal Servitude Acts Commission’ in 1863.

41

Alison Brown claimed that the shift from Jebb’s humane and moderate penal ideas

towards a much more deterrent penal policy during the late 1850s and early 1860s, was

influenced by two major prison disturbances. The first was at Portland Penitentiary

where over 300 prisoners went on strike and refused to work in 1858. The second was

the more serious and famous Chatham mutiny in January 1861, when the troops had to

be called in. Apparently thirty-five ringleaders gained possession of the cell keys,

released all the prisoners and encouraged up to 850 convicts to riot and create ‘terrible

havoc’ after taking over the interior of the prison, according to an anonymous article

placed in the Cornhill Magazine in 1863. Both authors of the article, blamed the

disturbances on ‘corrupt prison warders,’ referred to as ‘right screws’ by the prisoners,

as they were ‘trafficking for the prisoners at extortionate rates or keeping the money

received from friends and relatives of the prisoners,’ which made the convicts

‘desperate.’

42

The forty-eight leaders involved in the Chatham riots were each flogged with three

dozen lashes of the harsher military cat-o’-nine-tails and Sir Joshua Jebb was personally

subjected to a hostile press campaign, accusing him of being misguided and too lenient

on Convicts.

43

40 Leon Radzinowicz & Roger Hood, ‘The Emergence of Penal Policy,’ A History of English Criminal Law and Its Administration from 1750, op. cit., pp. 490-493.

41 Ibid., pp. 494 - 497, 42 Anonymous, (James Roe)‘Revelations of Prison life,’ The Cornhill Magazine, 7, (January –June 1863), p. 644. Also in Alyson Brown, English Society and the Prison: Time, Culture and Politics in the Development of the Modern Prison, 1850-1920, Boydell Press, Suffolk, U. K. pp. 46, 51 & 53. 43 Brown, ibid., p. 35.

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Just over a month later, The Chatham News writers were unsympathetic to prisoners

and labelled the:

…convict prison system (was)lax in discipline and over generous in diet, especially in the provision of meat… (They) asserted that prison conditions compared favourably with the workhouses, the military and with the standard of living of ordinary labourers. Certainly the people in this locality feel indignant that such unworthy objects should be so well treated, and they think that the too good treatment has rendered the convicts rebellious.44

Colonel Edmund Henderson of the Royal Engineers took over as Surveyor-General

of Prisons after Jebb died in 1863. Edmund DuCane was invited by Henderson to

become one of his Directors that year, as ‘they shared a similar outlook and were linked

by strong ties of friendship.’

45 Evidently while Henderson had been Comptroller-

General of Convicts in Western Australia for thirteen years, DuCane had served under

him for five years as Superintendent of the Convict Public Works. Henderson and the

Directors of the Convict Prisons believed ‘that penal servitude will become, as it ought

to do, the last and most dreaded result of heinous offences against life and property,

short of capital punishment,’ by 1865. The year after transportation to Swan River

Colony ceased in 1869, the Chairman of the Directors of Convict Prison, Major General

Sir Edmund DuCane’s priorities and philosophies were extended, due to ‘the prevailing

pessimistic social attitudes towards criminality,’ and ‘public and parliamentary pressure

for a more deterrent prison regime.’46

Prison Experiences in Britain.

Anonymously written articles, including two by the middle-aged sample group

forger, Reverend James Roe and one each by the ‘Ticket-Of-Leave-Man,’ ‘One-Who-

Has-Endured-It and ‘One Who-Has-Tried-It,’ recounted their prison experiences and

their feelings about the penal system in Britain. Roe recalled his discretionary treatment

by police and his feelings upon his arrest, after being led to a room lined with benches at

the Bow Street Police Station:

… as you are a “respectable” man, the policeman in charge of you, belonging as he will probably do, to the upper grades of the service, will no doubt have the good taste to “treat you as a gentleman,” and you will not be thrust in among the roughs.

44 Chatham News, Brown, ibid., p. 49. 45 ‘Radzinowicz and Hood, Vol. 5, op. cit.., p. 527. 46 Alyson Brown, op. cit., p. 85.

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During the ‘terrible hours’ while awaiting his solicitor’s arrival at Bow Street Police

station, Roe experienced:

…. an indescribable mixture of feelings arising at once from dread of the scene in which you are about to appear… the misery of those that love you… almost complete isolation from your friends… The first few hours of your incarceration are, of course the worst…You fear…. that you may not have the assistance of your solicitor.

During his first examination before a magistrate in a little courtroom there, while the

prosecutor detailed his crime, Roe remembered how, ‘You stand aghast at the picture of

your guilt as they paint it.’ After being taken to the Clerkenwell House of Detention in a

Black Maria’s dark, cramped compartment, he was required to stand with other

prisoners round the walls of the exercise yard, while ‘recognizing officers’ tried to sort

the ‘new chums’ from old offenders. He had his clothes and carpet bag searched, before

being locked up in a cell. While he admitted that his cell was ‘certainly a very different

place to the comfortable rooms’ to which he had been accustomed, the warder made

him ‘as comfortable as he could,’ took his ‘orders for dinner,’ for which he would have

paid, and ‘even found me books for amusement.’ It was evidently a clean and quiet cell,

which had a ‘roomy hammock’ and ‘a good jet of gas,’ so he was able to ‘sleep or read

or write.’47

While ‘One-Who-Has-Tried-Them’ was on remand, he was sent to a county prison

for three weeks prior to his trial, where he paid for a ‘larger room with windows, with a

fireplace and a small washroom nearby.’ It was situated over the prison Governor’s

office, which was ‘outside the prison proper.’ He paid another prisoner to clean his

room for 6d a day, and could order in food supplies such meat, potatoes and vegetables

and two pints of beer or stout each day for 2/3d, through his warder. As he had a kettle

and a saucepan, he cooked three eggs and a cup of tea for breakfast every morning. He

was allowed to exercise alone for ¼ hour and obtained ½ oz of tobacco daily from the

doctor. Though he reported that one ex-marine warder was a ‘bit rough and not well

educated’, he became ‘firm friends with the miller warder’ who was in charge of the

treadmill used to grind the wheat. He found the Chaplain was a ‘kindly, earnest’ old

man, and he was allowed to have ‘books brought in' from his own private library.

48

47 Anonymous ( James Roe), ‘A Letter from a Convict in Australia,' op. cit. pp. 490-491. See Leon Radzinowicz and Roger Hood, A History of English Law, vol. 5, op. cit., p. 535, in footnote No. 26, where they attribute the writing of that article to James Roe.

48 ‘One-Who-Has-Tried-Them, op. cit.. pp. 20, 34- 42, 54, 62, 66, 67.

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Like other prisoners, Roe could see his solicitor at any time and also communicate

privately with his family and friends through a perforated plate in his cell door from

11.30am to 1pm. However he complained about lack of privacy, after all his ‘in and out

correspondence’ was read by a principal prison officer. Roe advised his white-collar

readers who were committed for trial, to transfer their property while on remand to

evade the Law of Attaint, and also to employ an attorney, so their trial would be brought

on as soon as possible. When the prosecution had all the evidence it required, Roe was

admitted to Newgate prior to his trial. Although the front entrance reminded him of the

unpleasant dungeon days, he appeared to be impressed with its new modern interior, but

he admitted that the deadly silence and lines of closed doors was depressing. After a

night in a dark cell underground, he was placed into a more comfortable lighter cell,

measuring about 10 foot by 6 foot, with a black floor, white walls, a small table, a wash

stand in the corner, a corrugated glass window, a hammock and bedclothes and a plate

and spoon for meals. 49

According to 'One-Who-Has-Endured-It,' who was also in Newgate, the separate

cells had their own lavatory up to the 1870s. The water closet and seat was in one

corner, near a copper wash basin which was fastened to the wall with a tap over it.

However another prisoner found that flushing was a problem, because it went through

‘the same discharge pipe as the hand basin close by,’ probably fouling the air in the

cell.

50

To gain some idea of how white-collar convicts in this thesis viewed their prison

experiences, Roe maintained that he felt suffocated and longed for chapel time where he

‘sat near an open window,’ in comparison with the small window opening in his cell.

He objected to having to polish his floor and brass basin, scrubbing the table, folding up

his hammock and bedclothes and arranging every thing precisely, probably because

those tasks were usually allocated to servants among the middle-classes. He also hated

having to shout to make himself heard while speaking to friends who could visit three

days a week, and found it painful the way visitors were placed in a large iron cage about

two feet away from him. However, he praised the quality of the porridge for breakfast

and soup or meat for tea on alternate days, maintaining that they were well cooked and

he was served a sufficient amount. Roe felt that the exercise, medical attendance and

49 Roe, ‘A Letter from a Convict in Australia,’ op. cit., pp. 492 - 493. 50 One-Who-Has-Endured-It, op. cit., also Philip Priestley, Victorian Prison Lives, op. cit., p. 33.

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religious advice offered were good and he remembered the warder officers of Newgate

with respect and gratitude.51

Prior to his court appearance, Roe was doubtful about getting a fair trial, due to the

number of prisoners to be tried, time constraints for the Judge who had the Assizes

straight afterwards, and also his Judge’s reputation, as some were very testy, prejudiced,

enjoyed cutting down prisoners, or were unduly severe. During his trial he complained

that some witnesses committed perjury, some counsels exaggerated, there was exclusion

of evidence which should have been admitted and vice versa, misconstruction of

innocent acts and omission of things you wished to hear and admission of things you

dreaded. He recalled suffering terrible suspense while the jury was consulting, prior to

pronouncing him “Guilty.”

52 Doubtless some readers will conclude that Roe deserved

his sentence of ten years, as he over reacted by forging a money order for £6,000,53

You are persons of education, so far indeed, as can apply that term to persons of mere intellectual training, without corresponding development of the moral sense. You, who now ask for mercy, and who are not restrained by respect for law and honesty, must be met with a terrible retribution: and it should be well known that persons, who commit crimes which only persons of education sometimes commit, will be sure to meet with a very heavy punishment. The sentence is that each of you be kept in penal servitude for life.

when he was supposed to inherit only £500 from his uncle’s estate. Some of the legal

fraternity’s attitude against white-collar offenders was certainly apparent in Justice

Archibald’s sarcastic comments while sentencing four notorious forgers, after they

defrauded the Bank of England of £100,405/7/6 in 1873:

54

The thought of being hidden from public scrutiny in a separate confinement, was

probably a blessing for some white-collar offenders, after their trials had been

publicized in The Times or local newspapers. During the journey to Millbank by

omnibus, Roe enjoyed being in broad daylight again and talking freely to other

prisoners.

55 He was probably reluctant to surrender his personal toiletries, such as a

toothbrush, nail brush, handkerchief, purse, pen, watch and chain, to the warder at the

reception desk.56

51 Roe, ‘Letter from a Convict in Australia,’ op. cit., pp. 492- 494.

After the surgeon’s examination, he found his body search by the

52 Roe, ibid., p. 494. 53 James Roe, ‘Extraordinary Case,’ The Times, Thursday 22 August 1861, p. 9, columns a & b & Friday, 23 August 1961, p. 9, col. d. 54 George Dilnot, The Bank of England Forgery, London, Geoffrey Bliss, p. 273 in Philip Priestley, Victorian Prison Lives, op. cit.., p. 17. 55 Roe, 'Letter from a Convict in Australia,' op. cit., p. 494. 56 Priestley, op. cit., p. 18.

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rough and grumpy warders on stripping for a bath, was ‘disgusting.’ 57 He would then

have donned the uniform of a vest covered by a short, loose jacket and baggy tweed

knickerbockers, which featured the black broad arrow, and he was probably dismayed

when he discovered that his clothing failed to include flannel undergarments.58 Next he

would have been weighed, measured and undergone a full medical examination, the

purpose of which was to determine whether he was fit for hard or light labour, the

hospital or an observation cell.59 Roe would have been hardly recognizable, once his

hair was cut to the scalp and his beard and his whiskers had received the same

treatment. However, even though he would have been referred to by the number on his

uniform by the warders,60

Roe considered that Millbank was a rough type of prison, in the areas of discipline

and prison arrangements, where everyone and their actions were loud, indecent and

rough. Apart from those complaints, he found the cells were the best he had ever seen,

with good sized, clear glass windows, opening wide to let in fresh air and light. The

silent system was not strictly enforced and daily exercise was walking around in large

circles, spaced about five or six yards apart, or taking a turn at a many-handled pump.

There was daily chapel and visits by the chaplain or scripture reader and he would have

been exempt from schooling. Apart from the excellent bread, he reported that the beef

was very tough and the gruel was badly made. He complained that he needed to be an

acrobat to get into his hammock, but reported that the chapel was large, the chaplains

were popular and the singing tolerable.

the criminal reputation of 'toffs' or gentlemen prisoners

apparently spread quickly among other prisoners, making it difficult for them to remain

incognito for long.

61

According to 'One-Who-Has-Endured-It,' Edward Callow, the assistant schoolmaster

at Millbank used a bible, prayer book, hymn book and a volume of Leisure Hour, to test

his educational level. Then he was asked to write out a few verses of a psalm from the

bible on his slate. After concluding that he needed no instruction, he was allowed to

read, or write letters for less literate convicts during school hours. Rules for letter

writing included ‘writing only on ruled lines, not writing across them the other way and

no information regarding other prisoners, prison news or improper language.’ All letters

were examined by the Deputy Governor, who struck out any infringements and were

57 Roe, ibid., p. 495. 58 One-Who-Has-Endured-It, op. cit., p. 68. 59 Priestley, op. cit., p. 22. 60 Priestley, ibid., p. 22, 23. 61 Roe, ‘A Letter from a Convict in Australia,’ ibid., pp. 494-496.

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then initialled by the Chaplain, which was probably regarded by white-collar prisoners

as an invasion of their privacy. 62

On his next journey to Pentonville for nine months of separate confinement, Roe

received a good report on the place from his companions. However on arrival, he found

that his cell had no windows and it was smaller than those in Millbank. Although he

found that it was ‘a strict prison,’ he approved of ‘the pervading spirit of quietness,

regularity and good sense,’ where ‘all is done kindly, sensibly and well,’ so ‘your

condition is in every respect improved.’ While at Pentonville, there was a longer period

of time ‘for the high grade of officers to make their kindness felt,’ and the food

contractors, being ‘obliged to faithfully fulfil their contracts,’ meant ‘all is well cooked.’

As a ‘model’ prison, Roe argued that it represented the system ‘as faithfully and

favourably as could be desired.’

63

However in Terence and Pauline Morris’s sociological study of Pentonville Prison in

1973, they found that a prisoner of ‘superior intelligence and education … tended to be

a social isolate.’ Significantly, one educated lonely prisoner wrote:

A cultured person on entering prison finds he is quite up against it. For instance he has to mix with people who absolutely go against his own ways and manners, therefore he is being punished quite hard by having to try and adapt himself to other people’s ways, ways that are not very nice, but what is nice in prison? What is culture in here? 64

There appears to have been easy billets for educated prisoners in British Public

Works penitentiaries. After relinquishing his Master Tailor’s job,

65

62 Anonymous (Edward Callow), ‘Five Years Penal Servitude: By One-Who-Has-Endured-It,’ in Crime and Punishment in England 1850-1902, Edited by Martin J. Weiner, op. cit., pp. 97-99.

Edward Callow or

‘One-Who-has-Endured-It,’ was appointed Assistant to the Clerk of Works at Dartmoor

penitentiary in the 1860s, because he was familiar with the tasks of accounting,

bookkeeping, drawing plans and checking calculations by engineers and builders. He

was also in charge of stores and took written orders for supplies in his comfortable

small office, which contained a stove for winter. He maintained that he ‘was not treated

like a prisoner… was treated like a brother official…had access to a newspaper

daily…worked on new building plans’ (and) ‘could roam anywhere alone’ throughout

the prison. As he was responsible for deciding which officers’ quarters were to be

refurbished, and assisted some warders with their record keeping, he relished the fact

63 Roe, 'A Letter from a Convict in Australia,' op. cit., p. 496. 64 Terence Morris and Pauline Morris, Pentonville: A Sociological Study of an English Prison, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1963, p. 225. 65 Edward Callow or ‘One-Who-Has-Endured-It, op. cit., pp. 304 & 305.

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that he regained some ‘power…(was) very civilly treated,’ and he firmly believed he

held ‘the best (convict) position in the prison.’66

‘Ticket-of-Leave-Man,’ alias George Bidwell, who was sentenced in 1873, detailed

the advantages gained by William Roupell, a former Member of the British Parliament

who was imprisoned for forgery. Instead of hard labour, Roupell became Head Nurse of

the ‘Portland’ Infirmary and was given the same luxurious diet of fish, poultry, game,

fruit and port wine as sick prisoners received. He received ‘a nice little piece of garden,’

in the Infirmary grounds, where ‘he was allowed to build a summer house and grotto

where he tended flowers,’ had access to newspapers and his correspondence was

unlimited. Evidently Bidwell made ‘a great display of piety, stood high in the

Chaplain’s good graces and was ‘hail fellow well met with Governors and patronised

schoolmasters and principal warders.’

67 ‘One-Who-Has-Tried-Them,’ who was

supposed to undergo a sentence of twelve months of ‘hard labour’68 at ‘Millbank

Prison’ in the late 1870s, was also placed ‘in a position of trust’ as ‘a clerk in a fair

sized room opposite the (Prison) Governor and Clerks offices.’ He completed an

alphabetical list of prisoners sent there for the last twenty years, wrote up the daily

labour book, balanced the weekly provisions and extra diet books and arranged all

commitments to new rules and regulations over the previous four years.69

We are able to gain some impressions about life in Public Works penitentiaries from

Roe, and apparently what he had heard via the grapevine proved to be true. At

Portsmouth, he found his tiny, cramped, corrugated iron clad cell was dark, windowless

and only 7 by 4 foot by 6 foot high. It was painted in a drab colour and had a 12 by 4

inch darkened observation pane in the door, which was horrible for the prisoner inside.

After awakening, they had only a few moments rest for reading, thinking or praying,

before rushing off to work. There were limited means of cleaning their cell and they had

to work fast and swallow down their cup of cocoa in sweat and dirt before chapel, after

which they rushed to the closets. While working hard in the dockyards, Roe complained

that they failed to achieve anything, as all they did was to move iron and timber

backwards and forwards, just to give them something to do. They also cleaned the sides

of vessels and cleaned out the docks for coaling, during which many convicts were

maimed. Then they returned to the prison for a dinner of boiled beef or mutton and a

66 One-Who- Has-Endured-It, (Edward Callow), ibid, pp. 336-415. 67 Ticket-of-Leave- Man (George Bidwell), op. cit., pp. 90-94. 68 One-Who-Has-Tried-Them, Her Majesty’s Prisons, op. cit., pp. 201& 202. 69 Ibid., pp. 178 & 179.

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vegetable which was mixed together in dirty tins. After an hour's rest, parade and their

clothing being searched by prison guards, they filed back to work. They were searched

again after work, prior to changing their work smock and boots for a jacket and shoes

for chapel, where he complained, ‘Men who have been hard at work during the day are

in no condition, mental or physical, for joining in a holy service.’

After chapel they had gruel in their cells and were rostered for cleaning the landings

and presumably the toilets and bathing facilities, working in ‘sweat and noise’ until ten

minutes prior to bedtime. Roe complained that his sleep was broken for many weeks by

the sounds of the warders and loud rows and noises from his next door neighbours,

which resonated through the iron box cells, forcing him to rationalise ‘as morning draws

on, you are in the midst of a great cesspool. I speak strongly, but with truth.’ Though

Roe found that the Governor of Portsmouth and his principal assistants acted fairly and

kindly, he soon realized they had no power to modify the system. He had enjoyed

relaxing out of doors and talking with friends on Sundays, but before he left for the

Swan River colony in early October 1862, they were even deprived of that pleasure. It

was replaced by a service in the chapel and marching round the yard, probably resulting

from the tougher philosophy gradually infiltrating through the penal system. However,

he rationalized the situation for his readers by stating:

Things will become more tolerable every day… you will become almost indifferent … (but) you will deteriorate….if I had stayed there, I would lose all power of abstraction, together with the mental habits of any use to me, and that I would become as completely brutalized as it was possible for an educated, temperate man to be.70

This chapter has covered the origins and escalation of white-collar crime in Britain

and provided an historical overview of the transportation of white-collar convicts to

North America and the West Indies and then to New South Wales. It discussed the

opportunities for educated convicts in New South Wales many of whom were engaged

as government clerks and schoolmasters or became emancipist merchants. It also

included an examination of changes in prison philosophy in Britain and the resulting

changing conditions in British prisons during the early nineteenth century, ranging from

the experience of educated convicts who were placed on short-term sentences in

clerical, nursing or other duties in public works penitentiaries, and those prisons where

the effect of the harsher prison philosophy on white-collar prisoners was apparent by the

early 1860s.

70 Roe, 'A Letter from a Convict in Australia,' ibid., pp. 497-500.

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CHAPTER 2. Swan River Colony Settlers For and Against Convict Arrivals and Some Experiences of Sample Group Members on their Transports.

After briefly examining the reasons for the introduction of convicts to Western

Australia and the types of skills required in the colony, this chapter then moves on to

discuss the voyages to Western Australia, as experienced by some white-collar

transportees between 1850 and 1868. The age and type of transport, factors reducing

voyage time, structural changes for larger convict numbers, sleeping and eating

arrangements, everyday chores and food rations will be explored. Incentives for good

behaviour, entertainment, schooling, stormy conditions causing sickness, as well as

advice to educated prisoners on how to cope with life on board, will also feature.

The Decision to Introduce Convicts.

After the settlement of the Swan River Colony in 1829, the early settlers soon found

that they had an inadequate labour force and consequently faced severe economic

difficulties. Writers for the Fremantle Observer alluded to the need for convicts as early

as 1831,1 followed by a petition signed by sixteen people from Albany, published in the

Perth Gazette in 1834.2

At a public meeting held several years ago, the question was mooted, whether any application should be made to the government that convicts should be sent here; but the feeling was almost universal, that as it was one of the original conditions upon which this colony was established, “that no convicts should be transported to it,” it would be a breach of faith to introduce them here now.

However in 1839, Ogle noted that:

3

While analysing the colony’s labour needs for the private non- rural sector,

merchants and retailers, as well as agriculturalists and pastoralists from the mid to late

1840s, Pamela Statham concluded that ‘the availability of labour at Swan River in fact

differed considerably between major occupational groups and specific locations.’ In the

private non-rural sector, she found that apart from merchants and retailers, those who

were engaged in urban activities such as labourers, artisans, tradesmen, self-employed

individuals including millers, tanners and those employed in salt works, timber yards,

lime kilns, candle and soap works, in building or boat building enterprises and in the

large tertiary sector including doctors, lawyers, teachers, innkeepers, clerics, boatmen

1 Leonie Poole, ‘Convicts in Western Australia: Some Myths Exploded,’ Social Sciences Forum, Vol. 5, No. 1, July 1978, re quote in the Fremantle Observer, 23 May 1831, p. 20. 2 Poole, Petition from Albany, Perth Gazette, 1834, ibid., p. 20. 3 Nathaniel Ogle, The Colony of Western Australia: A Manual for Emigrants, James Fraser, London, 1839, p. 133.

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and so on, ‘the demand for labour in this sector…was certainly not sufficiently high

after 1848, for employers to agitate for convict labour.'4

However Statham argued that merchants and retailers were powerful advocates for

transportation. They would benefit from more regular shipping, the ability to import

cheaper supplies for colonists, and the increased market for food and other items needed

by the Commissariat, as well as from the public works undertaken by the convicts, such

as docks, roads and bridge building. Many merchants possessed good trade and family

contacts in London for lobbying purposes, typified by Lionel Samson’s silent partner,

his brother Louis Samson in London, who organised a petition signed by ‘friends of

Western Australia’ in 1849. It was addressed to the Colonial Office and recommended

that the colony be made a penal settlement, so the necessary public works could be

completed.

5

As far as some agriculturalists were concerned, they reasoned they would benefit

from a larger market for their grain produce, and the available assigned convict labour

in the Perth area would increase their output, as well as lower the cost of production. If

the construction of public works also included warehousing, that would aid their export

industry. However other agriculturalists were more concerned that the maintenance of

convicts and the number of guards required to supervise them, would be borne by

colonial revenue. They also reasoned that a substantial amount of money gained from

the sale of Crown land, would have to go towards supporting a large police force.

6

Negative press reports about the New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land’s

depression in the 1840s had proved that a large convict establishment which was

supported financially by the British treasury was no guarantee of financial prosperity, as

price levels could fall below the cost of production, and the British Government could

import grain from elsewhere. There was also a shortage of land close to Perth as ‘almost

all the fertile land in the Perthshire region was under cultivation by 1849,’ which meant

increased transport costs. Many agriculturalists questioned the benefits of assigned

labour, as there had been no real shortage since the sandalwood industry had waned in

1848, causing wages to drop and resulting in some labourers moving to South Australia.

However the agriculturalists from the York area gradually came round to the view, that

convict labour was essential to their prosperity.

4 Pamela Statham, ‘Why Convicts 1: An Economic Analysis of Colonial Attitudes to the Introduction of Convicts,’ Studies in Western Australian History: Convictism in Western Australia, Department of History, U. W. A. Press, 1981, pp. 1-3. 5 Ibid., pp, 3 & 4. 6 Ibid., p 4.

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The prospect for farming families being brought into contact with convicts on their

properties, led to concern about the ‘positive evils of the convict system experienced in

the eastern states.’ The only benefit the agriculturalists could find was the construction

of public works, however they believed that other means of supplying labour would be

preferable.7

Although the pastoralists provided a major source of export income derived from

sheep’s wool, Statham found that from 1845 their profits had begun to decline due to

higher labour costs, initially caused by labourers moving into the profitable sandalwood

industry. When the latter industry waned in 1848, the labourers’ preference appeared to

be employment in the Perth area, which deprived country pastoralists of their workers.

8

Seven of the colony's leading civil servants, however, were against the introduction

of convicts. When William Stanhope Stockley, an East India Company merchant,

initially petitioned the colony’s Legislative Council for convicts through the York

Agricultural Society in 1844, it was shelved by Governor Hutt and his Legislative

Councillors. The signatories against convicts included Frederick Irwin, an agriculturalist

in the Swan and Avon districts; Thomas Brown, an agriculturalist and pastoralist on

leased land in York and John Septimus Roe, the colony’s Surveyor General from 1829

to 1870, who was a member of the Legislative Council and the Director of Western

Australian Bank. Also, George Fletcher Moore, a lawyer, Advocate General between

1834 and 1846 and a farmer on 12000 acres in the Avon district, George Leake, a

merchant and F. C. Singleton, an agriculturalist.

Hence many pastoralists, whose land was further away from Perth and Fremantle, were

in agreement with transportation of convicts to the colony.

9

…no dearth of labour can be so extreme as to call for, or warrant, our having recourse to such a hazardous expedient for a supply of labour which accompany the presence of a convict population…of introducing such a moral pestilence amongst them…six out of eight members of the Council…take this opportunity of recording in the strongest terms then, their repugnance to the measure.

Those settlers advised the Home

Office that,

10

Frederick Irwin, who was Western Australia’s Acting Lieutenant Governor from

1832 to 1833 and again between February 1847 and August 1848, was initially opposed

7 Statham, of the colony's ibid., pp. 3, 5 & 6. 8 Ibid., pp. 6 & 7. 9 Pamela Statham, ‘Why Convicts II: The Decision to Introduce Convicts to the Swan River,’ Studies in Western Australian. History: Convictism in Western Australia, Department of History, U. W. A., 1981, p. 11. 10 Poole, op. cit., p. 20.

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to the introduction of convicts and he used his casting votes in Council for that

purpose.11 However due to labour shortages, he facilitated two schemes whereby York

Agricultural Society members obtained two hundred and thirty four juvenile convicts

from Parkhurst between 1842 and 1849,12 as well as twenty Chinese coolies and

servants in 1847 and sixty-nine Chinese labourers, also from Singapore, in 1848.13

In December 1846, London officials refused another request from members of the

York Agricultural Society, for forty well-behaved first offender convicts from

Pentonville penitentiary for public works. The members maintained they could be

removed from the colony when their sentence expired and ‘funds for their maintenance

and management was to be furnished wholly or in part by the British Treasury.’ Four

months later after numerous meetings, ‘a strongly worded memorial for the introduction

of convicts was presented to Western Australia’s Legislative Council in April 1847, but

was only signed by 22 pastoralists out of 160 current members.

14 The negative attitude

of the Legislative Council changed later in 1847, when incoming pastoralists, Thomas

Yule, who had been granted 29,000 acres in Toodyay, Canning and Swan districts,

Edmund Barrett-Lennard, the manager of his uncle Edward Pomeroy Barrett-Lennard’s

“St Aubyns” property on the Avon River during the 1840s, and Revett Bland who was

granted land in York, argued that employment of convict labour was essential. They

believed it was necessary for the production of wool to be profitable, while they were

facing lower wool prices and rising transport costs.15

A National system of emigration (from Britain) should be established…(and) a gang of convicts to be sent to be employed in Public Works in Western Australia, to be maintained partly by the mother country and partly by a loan secured on the Colonial revenue at low interest. Convicts were to be removed as their sentences expire.

Acting Governor Irwin was then

forced to start negotiating with the London Colonial Office for a supply of labour, prior

to Governor Fitzgerald’s arrival in August 1848. A recommendation by his committee

of Legislative Councillors, which arrived in London in August 1848, suggested an

alternative way of supplying labourers to the colony, was:

16

11 Pamela Statham, ‘Why Convicts 1,’ op. cit., p.11.

12 W. B. Kimberly, History of Western Australia: A Narrative of her Past: Together with Biographies of Her Leading Men, Melbourne, Australia Niven & Co., 1897, p. 153. 13 Poole, op. cit., p.19. 14 Poole, op. cit., Colonial Office, 18/50, London, 15. 12. 1846, p. 21. 15 Statham, ‘Why Convicts 11,’ op. cit., p. 12. 16 Poole, ibid., quoted C. O. 18/47, No. 24, Perth, 27. 2. 1848, p. 23.

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However at that stage the Colonial Office rejected both suggestions. After his arrival

in August 1848, Governor Fitzgerald sent a circular to all resident magistrates at the

request of Lord Grey in Britain, asking for their views on introducing Pentonville

prisoners into the colony. Although the colonists refused to accept those with life

sentences, they appeared to be willing to accept seventy married and thirty single

convicts. Their preferences were for blacksmiths, wheelwrights, shoemakers, coopers

and labourers from rural districts, with Governor Fitzgerald given the power to assign

them.17

According to Kimberly in January 1849, landowners from the Avon Valley

despatched a letter to the Sheriff Gerald Stone, pleading for convicts and requesting a

meeting of residents of the whole colony. Those land holders included Lionel Samson, a

merchant, a member of the Legislative Council from 1849 to 1856, and owner of 2000

acres in the Murray district; William Burges, an Upper Swan pastoralist with 8053

acres; Robert Mace Habgood from the Public Works Board who owned 5280 acres in

Northam; and George Munro Whitfield, a farmer and pastoralist at Toodyay from 1840

to the 1880s. It was also signed by William Wigmore Hoops, a farmer in partnership

with William and Lockier Burges in York; Robert Stewart, who farmed a small acreage

in Kelmscott; William Horatio Sholl, the Colonial Surgeon at Fremantle and landowner

in Helena Valley; and Anthony O’Grady Lefroy, a pastoralist at “Walebing” on the

Victoria Plains. In addition, the names of several business men such as Julian George

Carr, a merchant and proprietor of the Freemasons Hotel in Perth; Henry Thomas

Devenish, a brewer, baker and innkeeper in Guildford; James Stokes, the proprietor of

the Stanley Brewery in Perth and owner of 210 acres south of Monger’s Lake; and

Patrick Marmion, the ‘Emerald Isle’ innkeeper at Fremantle. All of these free settlers

pleaded:

We…beg you will call at your earliest convenience, a meeting of the whole colony for the purpose of taking into account the general prospects of the colony, its resources and want of labour to develop them; and to request Her Majesty’s Government to adopt the only means which we can conceive calculated to save the Province from abandonment, viz., by making it at once a penal settlement with the requisite Government expenditure.18

According to Poole, the ‘Monster Address,’ as it became known, was later read out

to His Excellency Governor Fitzgerald at the meeting in Perth on 16 February 1849.

17 Poole, ibid., C.O.18/48, No. 20, Perth, 24.10.1848, p. 23. 18 W. B. Kimberly, Free Settlers' Petition for Convicts, 27 January 1849, op. cit., p. 153.

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Consequently some two hundred settlers at the meeting voted that an:

Application be made at once to Her Majesty’s Government to erect the colony into a regular Penal Settlement, the whole cost of the transmission and supervision of all such convicts as may be transported hither, to be borne by the Home Government.19

Statham’s opinion about the power of the pastoralists appears to be true. They were

an influential lobby group, included the wealthiest men in the colony, had the power to

influence local decision making, due to their leadership in the community, membership

of the Legislative Council and contacts through family and friends in London, who had

access to British Government officials and politicians.

20 Proving Statham’s last point,

Henry Ommaney, a pastoralist who owned several large flocks of sheep on his grant of

2,560 acres and who had previously held the position of Civil Administrator and

Assistant Surveyor in the Bunbury area prior to returning to Britain, wrote a letter to the

Secretary of State for Colonies from Charing village in Kent, on 20 March 1849. He

gave a very pessimistic account of the colony’s prospects, highlighted its lack of public

works and prohibitive internal transport costs, concluding with, ‘All connected with

local government concur, that convicts are absolutely necessary to prevent utter ruin.’21

According to Gertzel, when the British Secretary of State, Earl Grey, wrote to

Governor Fitzgerald from London in October 1849, he advised that:

…it had been decided to send to Western Australia between 100 and 150 convicts to be employed on public works in the colony … (balanced by) an equal number of free emigrants on assisted passage to Australia. It was proposed that each convict transported to Western Australia, would be required to pay part of his passage money… Those transported…were all to be under 45 years of age and in good health. They were all to be long sentence men with at least half their sentence still to be served. Those chosen also had to have a good conduct record for the latter part of their confinement in the English Prisons.22

Discussions with the Colonial Secretary continued for many months, before the

British Government finally agreed to defray the entire expense of the convict

establishment in the colony. A sum would be set aside annually for promoting free

emigration (preferably young, single females) to ensure no imbalance between the

convict and free population, and that only male convicts would be transported.

23

19 W. B. Kimberly, op. cit., pp. 152-153.

What

is interesting is, that at no stage was there any mention of the need for white-collar

20 Pamela Statham, ‘Why Convicts 1,’ op. cit., p. 8. 21 Kimberley, ibid., p. 8. 22 Cherry Gertzel, op. cit., pp. 4 & 5. 23 Statham, ‘Why Convicts II', op. cit., p. 17.

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convicts’ skills, however a few belonging to that category arrived on each transport to

the Swan River Colony, suggesting that some free settlers in the colony required their

clerical skills.

Ten years after the free settlers’ arrival, in a manual designed to attract settlers,

Nathaniel Ogle enthusiastically promoted the superiority of the Swan River Colony

settlers.

The superior class of colonists, who leave their fatherland to dwell in a new country, are usually persons of energy, activity and decision: those qualities properly directed and under the restraint of religion and laws, constitute the most useful practical characters…In point of society the settlement of Western Australia stands pre-eminent. (the families are) well born and well educated and many of them of rank in the army and navy. The elegancies of life are sedulously cultivated by them, and constitute a distinguished feature in their intercourse. With taste and judgment, they have formed associations corresponding with similar establishments in their native country…24

Leonie Poole’s straight forward assessment of the first free settlers was:

…the greater majority of the early settlers were highly respectable and independent persons, being moneyed gentle folk, practical farmers, professional men, tradesmen and naval and military men.’25

It was these 250 or so investors, according to C. T. Stannage:

… who took out land grants in the first decade of settlement, shaped the physical contours of town and rural development and established the colony’s moral, social, spiritual and legal characteristics…for subsequent generations of Westralians of all classes.26

Despite support for the introduction of convicts to the Swan River Colony from the

merchants of Fremantle and the Avon Valley pastoralists, many other early settlers were

likely to have been anxiously contemplating the convict invasion into their

community.

27

Meanwhile the white-collar convicts now en route to the colony were

probably pondering the future that lay ahead for them. The next section of this chapter

will utilise the first-hand writings of John Wroth, James Roe, John Mortlock and John

Casey, as well as Surgeon Superintendents’ Journal reports, supported by other

information from secondary sources on the convict transports, to ascertain some of the

feelings and experiences of the white-collar convicts on board their transports.

24 Nathaniel Ogle, op. cit., pp. 82 & 83. 25 Leonie Poole, ‘Convicts in Western Australia: Some Myths Exploded,’ op. cit., p. 11. 26 C. T. Stannage, The People of Perth, op. cit., p. 7. 27 Stannage, ibid., p. 81.

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Alfred Daniel Letch on the Hashemy in 1850.

On 19 July 1850, Alfred Letch, the former manager of the grocery and drapery store,

now aged twenty-six, was among the hundred ‘able bodied,’ healthy convicts from

Portland prison28 who boarded the small 523 ton, 33 year old barque named the

Hashemy, the second convict ship to arrive in the colony.29 It had two masts square

rigged, as well as an after mast, which was rigged fore to aft.30 Four warders and thirty-

two invalided Pensioner Guards, who were accompanied by their families, guarded the

prisoners.31

… enormously heavy wooden fittings about the hatchways constructed of wood, the very massive stanchions supporting the berths and their thick bottoms and side boards, with a light framework constructed of iron materials, which would occupy infinitely less space, afford more light and air, tend materially to the comforts of the prisoners, and to the safety of the ship….

In his Journal of the voyage, Surgeon Superintendent Bowler recommended

that the Admiralty replace certain structures on the prison deck, including the:

He also reported that due to similar ‘clumsy (wooden) construction extending to the

pensioner guard barracks on the one side and to the ships’ crew apartments on the

other,’

I was compelled to pull down and reconstruct (them), otherwise I apprehended sickness must have prevailed to a much greater extent, and within the tropics the mortality (rate) would have been considerable. 32

Bowler’s initiative proved to be very timely, as the general appearance of the

invalided pensioner guards and their families upon boarding was ‘clearly poor,’ as if

they had been ‘indifferently fed,’ and ‘several of the children (were) sickly and squallid

(sic).’ At the beginning of the voyage, measles broke out among the pensioner’s

children and the surgeon treated pensioner guards and their wives for chest congestion,

diarrhoea, gastric dischargements (some probably from seasickness), dyspepsia, eleven

28 Hashemy Shipping List, Battye Library, ACC 128/2, Vol. 18, p. 26., Alfred De Letch, No. 114 and 'Attested List of the Surgeon Superintendent John Bowler, ‘General Remarks,’ Journal of Her Majesty’s Ship, Hashemy, 19 July 1850, p. 3. 29 Charles Bateson, op. cit., pp. 374 & 375. 30 ‘Barque,’ The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, George W. Turner (ed.), Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1987, p. 77. 31 Hashemy Shipping List, A N 358/1, ACC 1156, File 128, No. 32, Microfilm, Battye Library, Perth, Western Australia. 32 Bowler’s Journal, op. cit., pp. 1-3.

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small wounds, inflammatory sores, a haemorrhoidal disorder accompanied by an

abortion, four deaths and three healthy births.33

However he reported favourably on the health of most of the convicts and on their

conduct during the voyage. Apart from ‘seven cases of psoriasis,’ a red rash among the

convicts who were attending the sheep and goats, ‘one case of chronic rheumatism’ and

‘a long continued case of diarrhoea,’ all the rest were healthy.

34 Alfred’s conduct, which

had been listed as ‘Very Good’ and ‘1st Class’ while in Portland Penitentiary,35 was

recorded as ‘Good’ by the Surgeon Superintendent.36 His voyage lasted 3 months and 3

days, prior to arriving at Fremantle on 25 October 1850.37

John Acton Wroth on the Mermaid during 1851.

The next transport carrying the twenty year old printer, John Wroth towards the

colony, was the same age and type as the Hashemy, but was a smaller 473 ton barque

named Mermaid. She was commanded by Captain Anderson38 and was manned by

thirty-two able seamen.’39 On 20 December 1850, twenty-four Pentonville convicts

wearing black caps and twenty seven from Woolwich in striped caps, carried their

regulation clothing, toiletries and small sewing kits into the crowded prisoner’s quarters

below deck, between the main hatchway and the fore part of the ship. Thirty or more

pensioner guards, their families and four warders arrived four days later, while Wroth,

along with forty-two red capped Parkhurst lads and a hundred and sixteen older

convicts, wearing plain worsted caps from Portland, embarked on 28 December.40

Wroth was placed under the charge of Sergeant McGall, to check ‘articles specified in

the inventory.’41 Surgeon Superintendent Kilroy reported that the twenty children with

measles on board, as well as stormy weather, delayed the Mermaid’s departure from the

Falmouth until 1 February 1851.42

33 Bowler, ibid., pp. 4 & 5.

34 Ibid., p. 3. 35 Alfred D. Letch, ‘Attested List of the Convict Prison at Portland,’ Quarter ending the thirtieth day of June 1850, HO8/104, No. 1207, p. 26. 36 Alfred D. Letch, ‘Character Book,’ AN 358/2, ACC1156, ‘R’ Series, vol. 17, Nos 1-1103, No. 114. 37 Hashemy, Bateson, ibid., p. 374. 38 Charles Bateson, op. cit.., pp. 374 & 375. 39 Rica Erickson, ‘ John Acton Wroth, Diarist, ’The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p. 19. 40 Erickson, ibid.. 41 John Acton Wroth, ‘Diary,’ Part 1, On the Mermaid, 1851, op. cit., 3 January 1851. 42 Surgeon Superintendent Kilroy, ‘Journal of Her Majesty Convict Ship, ‘ Mermaid’ 16 December 1850 and 21 May 1851', Battye Library, Surgeon’s Journals AJCP, Part 8 – Miscellaneous – Entry No. 75, Reel M708 - M712, Film 711, Reel 4, No. 196, pp. 1 & 2.

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According to Wroth, who kept a detailed diary of the voyage, convict lads slept on

hammocks slung over fixed tables amid-ship which was a ‘dark gloomy area,’ while the

men slept between two hatchways in units containing four bunks placed at right angles

to the sides of the ship. Each bunk measured 5 feet 6 inches long by 14 inches wide and

had a plank about 10 inches high, which separated the two convicts above and below.

The inside lower bunks of two units next to each other, could be converted into a table

for eight in each mess by joining the inside bed boards and the dividing planks together

and they used the two outer lower bunks to sit on for meals during the day. Ten upper

lights and eight glassed portholes that could be opened, made that area ‘very light and

cheerful.’ There were two water closets and four Dakin’s patent ventilators and two

windsails in the hatchways, let the cool air in below.43 Weather permitting, salt water

baths without soap took place on deck after 4 a.m. The convicts were provided with

shaving utensils and soap twice a week, bedding was taken up on deck at 6.15am in fine

weather and clothes were washed and dried there each Monday.44

When fresh rations dwindled after a few days at sea, daily rations for each convict

included:

10¼ ozs of biscuit, 1 pint of oatmeal gruel, ½ lb salt meat, puddings made with 3 lbs flour, salt, ¼lb suet and ¼lb currants for 8 men, or ½ lb salt pork with 1 pt of pea soup and 1 pint of chocolate or tea. Cape wine, lime juice, vinegar and mustard (were) also issued to the messes three times a week. 45

All convicts were under the charge of Surgeon Superintendent Kilroy, who posted

the rules and regulations for their voyage. Two convict cooks commenced duties at

43 Wroth’s Diary, ibid., pp. 43- 45, 44 Erickson, 'John Acton Wroth, Diarist,’ The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p. 24. 45 Wroth’s Diary,’ op. cit., ‘Rations while sailing,’ p. 29.

Figure 1: John Wroth’s sketch of the Mermaid. John Acton Wroth’s Diary, p. 28, 2816A, No. 3, 1851-1853, Battye Library, Perth, W. A.

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5am, while other convicts had to be up, bathed, shaved and dressed by 6am. Mess tables

were made up for breakfast by 7.45am, after which utensils and mess areas were

cleaned. School commenced at 10 am for half the convicts, supervised by two pensioner

guards, while the rest sewed convict suits and duck trousers or knitted worsted

stockings. Dinner was timed at noon for all convicts on board. In the afternoon, those

who had attended school in the morning, sewed or knitted, while the other half went to

classes. Supper was served at 4pm, after which the utensils were cleaned, their beds

were made up by 4.45pm and the prison was locked down by 5.30pm at night.

Boatswains selected by the convicts, were then in charge of their fellow prisoners to

prevent too much noise, singing of indecent songs or using bad language and to check

that all convicts were in bed by 8pm. No more than one convict was allowed into the

water closets at a time and any other irregularities such as smoking below deck were

forbidden.46

Wroth was appointed as one of the school instructors along with other well behaved

convicts who acted as boatswains, hospital orderlies and cooks, for which they were

each rewarded with ¼ lb tea and 4 lbs sugar, each time supplies were drawn.

47

It is very laughable to observe the stratagems practiced by a number of the scholars, who it appears have quite an antipathy to attending school. Frequently when it is time for school, will they scamper away as fast as their legs will carry them to hide from the masters who have quite a chase after them, for when they get on one side, they run to the other and thus evade them.

He was

evidently amused by the antics of some convict students and wrote:

48

After tea, when the mess table were converted to bunks, aired bedding had been

taken below and the prison deck was swept and swabbed:

the fiddler comes up from between decks and sits himself amidst the chattering throng and begins at once, without any further ceremony to strike up a tune… suited to what is about to be introduced viz singing or dancing, the company manifesting their appreciation by clapping and booting. The party are honoured by the presence of females (probably the Pensioner Guards’ wives and daughters). The men are thus diverted until 6pm, when ordered to pass below.49

During January Wroth observed that many of his fellow prisoners were very

inquisitive, troublesome, presumptuous and assuming, while others were very obliging

46 Superintendent Surgeon Kilroy, ‘Regulations and Rules to be observed by the Convicts during the Voyage,’ in Rica Erickson, The Brand On His Coat, ibid., p. 23. 47 Wroth’s ‘Diary,’ op. cit., 10 April 1851. 48 Wroth, ibid., 22 April 1851. 49 Wroth, ibid., ‘Promiscuous Remarks,’ pp. 39 & 40.

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and friendly.’50 By mid-March he was complaining that he was ‘excessively heated by

the perspiration and breath of the men, who are sitting and lying about in a state

approaching to nudity’ while singing and continuing to chatter between decks during the

night.51 By the end of the voyage on the Mermaid, Wroth noted that eleven convicts had

been ‘boxed,’ referring to their solitary confinement on bread and water in the black

box, which was a dark, narrow cell erected under the forecastle.52 Their crimes included

dishonesty, stealth or theft, disobedience of orders such as no smoking below deck,

insolence to a sentry, threatening to abuse another prisoner, as well as the more serious

crimes of ‘evincing lewd propensity and attempted sodomy.’53

From his entries about other convicts, it is obvious that Wroth felt he was socially

superior to most of them and vowed to keep his distance:

Up to the present I have observed certain feelings existing in the breasts of the majority of the prisoners which are indicative of no good; viz avarice, envy and such like. Stimulated by these sentiments they are led to act in such a manner as will eventually be attended with disgrace and have a lasting stigma. 54

Destitute of moral rectitude and etiquette, they disgust that class where it is found, by their presumptuous and obscene language; taking all into consideration it may be reasonably inferred that it is a good thing for society that they are exiled, and that it is no wonder that such should have happened to them.

55

He resolved that:

From the conduct of those around and connected with me, I do primly resolve to abstain from having any dealings with any person placed in a similar situation to myself: they apparently being ignorant of the meaning of respect. 56

After their arrival in the colony in mid-May, Wroth appears to have been gratified

when the Inspector General and Governor Fitzgerald visited the ship, and ‘spoke very

kindly and favourably to us - the boatswains, instructors and two sick orderlies.’

57

Wroth had earned a First Class recommendation for conduct while at Parkhurst Prison

and his behaviour was noted as ‘Good’ by Surgeon Superintendent Kilroy, after 4

months and 4 days at sea on the Mermaid. 58

50 Wroth, ibid., under ‘Observations for the Month - January', 1851, p. 7.

51 Wroth, ibid., 18 March 1851, p. 41. 52 Charles Bateson, op.cit., ‘boxed,’ p. 307. 53 Wroth’s, ‘Diary,’ op. cit., 17 January 1851 - 9 May 1851. 54 Ibid., p. 35. 55 Ibid., p. 37. 56 Ibid., p, 40. 57 Ibid., Landing in the Swan River Colony, 16 May 1851. 58 John A. Wroth, Character Book, A. N. 358/2, ACC1156, ‘R’ Series, vol. 17, Numbers 1-1103, No 368.

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Stephen Montague Stout on the Lord Raglan in 1858.

After Superintendent Surgeon Bowler’s second journey to the colony, this time on

board the first class, four year old, 756 ton Lord Raglan which set off from Plymouth on

5 March 1858, he praised Stephen Stout's shipboard activities in his report. Stout was

appointed as an assistant schoolmaster, as he had been well educated ‘at a Sunday and

day school’ in France.' 59 Bowler found that Stout was a ‘good scholar’ and reported

that he ‘had delivered a lecture on the approaching eclipse of the sun’ with ‘illustrated

diagrams,’ which was evidently well received on 27 March. This was followed by a

second popular lecture on ‘Australia’ on 9 April, and a third on ‘Australian

Employments,’ eight days later. As Stout also voluntarily edited the weekly newspaper

named the ‘Lifeboat,’ it was not surprising that the surgeon noted his conduct as ‘Very

Good,’60 when they arrived on 1 June 1858, after eighty eight days at sea. Stout was

rewarded with six months remission of sentence by Sir Arthur Kennedy, the Western

Australian Governor at that time,61

Miall Malachi Meagher on the Sultana in 1859.

which meant that he gained his Ticket- of -Leave

within a year of arriving in Fremantle.

Miall Meagher, a former civil engineer, was placed in the 1st Class category of

convicts during his separate confinement and also while in Portland Public Works

Penitentiary. He was ‘Specially recommended’ by Superintendent Surgeon Richardson,’

for his ‘Very Good’ conduct on board the Sultana. The twenty six year old had

obviously held a ‘billet’ or undertook a special duty during the eighty two day voyage

on the Sultana, because he was awarded four months remission of sentence by Governor

Kennedy upon his arrival in the Swan River colony.62

Superintendent Richardson admitted that he was a ‘griffin’ or a greenhorn, which

may have been the reason why he initially experienced problems on the Sultana in

controlling ‘three bad characters,’ who ‘seemed anxious to see how far they could go,’

Although there is no personal

account from Meagher about his trip to the colony, Richardson’s journal entries about

the voyage provided a very detailed account of life on board.

59 Alan Brooke & David Brandon, Bound For Botany Bay, op. cit., pp. 112 &113, Stephen Stout. Also Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit. p. 280. 60 'Stephen Stout,' Character Book, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, ‘R’ Series, vol. 8, No 4901. 61 Stephen Stout, Alan Brooke & David Brandon, op. cit., p.113. 62 Miall Meagher, Character Book Record AN 358/2, ACC1156, Reel, R Series, Vol. 8, No. 5448, ‘Sultana,’ under ‘Character and special information received with a prisoner,’ who was arriving in the Swan River Colony.

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among the convict cohort. He soon warned the Captains of Divisions to inform the

convicts under their control that:

…my conduct towards them would to a certain extent be regulated by their own behaviour: if they conducted themselves well, they should be allowed all the privileges I could grant them; if badly, I should keep them close prisoners…chained to each other when on deck, if I could not preserve order otherwise.63

However Richardson proved he could be flexible and fair. During stormy weather

when many convicts and families of the pensioner guard were sick and refused to eat

gruel for breakfast, Richardson conceded that instead, they should be offered half issues

of tea or chocolate at that time, and the other half for supper, which ‘gained unanimous

approval.’

64 On Wednesdays and Saturdays, Richardson ordered an extra glass of wine

as incentives for barbers and washermen. An extra glass of wine was also given every

other night to Captains of Messes and their assistant cleaners, and Captains of Divisions

and Cooks were also provided with extra wine daily.65 On the other hand, Richardson

gave the convicts fair warning after seeing several prisoners smoking pipes, maintaining

that the use of tobacco was strictly forbidden by an Admiralty order and that if he

caught any of them smoking, he would be obliged to punish them. 66

When some convicts grew impatient to go up on deck after supper after heavy rain

one evening, one convict cried out, ‘Open the door, you bloody bugger!’ Richardson

overheard the swearing and because no one would turn the culprit in, he had them all

locked below. However the greater majority of prisoners further rebelled at bedtime.

When they ‘refused to budge and laughed at my threat to call in the guard,’ he ordered

the Pensioner Guards to have their bayonets ready down below, where he personally

took hold of the first prisoner he came across. Nineteen others were handcuffed in pairs

and were placed beneath the forecastle with four sentry guards.

67 After the Religious

instructor complained of classes being deserted on 5 July, several convicts were found

hidden away in the bows of the ship.68

63 ‘A Pleasant Passage; The Journals of Henry Richardson, Surgeon Superintendent aboard the convict ship Sultana, ’ produced from his original diary held in the State Archives, Fremantle Arts Press, Fremantle, W.A. 1990, 30 May 1859, p. 18.

Signs of rebellion later broke out again, after

64 Ibid., Sea sickness in stormy weather, 1 June 1859, p. 19. 65 Ibid., Wine incentives for washermen, barbers, cleaners, cooks and Captains of messes, 5 June 1859, p. 24. 66 Ibid., Smoking prohibited below deck, 6 June 1859, p. 25. 67 Ibid., Rebellion by convicts wanting to go up on deck, 21 June 1859. 68 Ibid., Religious Instructor complained that classes were nearly deserted, 5 July 1859.

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several prisoners were cautioned for playing dominoes in the fore hatchway after night

rounds at 8pm.69

Thereafter, a spate of mainly minor crimes including insolence, smoking below deck

and the singing of indecent songs past midnight occurred. Slippers, work boots, herring,

lime juice and pieces of pork were stolen. Four blankets that were taken from hospital

stores were later found to have been made into trousers. Waistcoats and other items of

clothing and a bag containing 34½lbs biscuits disappeared during July. However

Richardson noted a more serious crime when on 2 August, ‘John Knott complained that

two convicts had assaulted him.’ On the following day Knott was again assaulted, this

time by four convicts, two of whom were placed in cells, one was boxed and the other

escaped, as he was not identified. Not surprisingly, the next day Knott was struck a third

time with a belaying pin or cleat used to tie ropes around, for which he had to be

hospitalized. Signs of rebellion broke out again, when several prisoners were again

cautioned for playing dominoes in the hatchway after the night rounds.

70

According to a fifty year old convict, John Mortlock, who was on board the same

transport:

The good ship Sultana touched nowhere, and was all but wrecked on St Paul’s, that desolate volcanic rock, from which, right ahead one dark morning, we were not more than a hundred yards, when the chief mate happened to come upon deck, perceived the danger and instantly put the helm up. We just managed to clear the rocks; like pipe-stems, snap went the studding-sail booms, and we breathed more freely. Another half minute, and she would have been shivered (broken into small pieces) like a bandbox.71

Meagher and any other convicts on deck must have felt tremendous relief at the time,

but it is strange that Richardson failed to refer to the dramatic near miss described by

Mortlock in his Journal, instead he just wrote ‘Sighted Island of St Paul’s at 6am - 4

miles distant.’ Maybe he had to go below at that stage or he perhaps he was conscious

of Captain Sharp’s professional reputation.

72

Not a single death took place. I can never forget the kindness of our Surgeon Superintendent, Dr Richardson… There were plenty of books, and we were

However, Mortlock appeared to be

reasonably happy at the conclusion of his eighty two day voyage, reporting:

69 Ibid., Convicts cautioned for congregating round the hatchway, playing dominoes after night rounds at 8pm, 10 July 1859. 70 Ibid., John Knott was assaulted between 2 August and 4 August 1859. 71 John Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict; Transported for Twenty-One Years,. G. A. Wilkes & A. G. Mitchell (eds.), 1965, Sydney University Press, Australia, First edition published 1864-65, p. 219. 72 Richardson’s Journal, op. cit., Monday 8 August.

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equally fortunate in our Religious Instructor, the Rev. Mr Likely, a good tempered young Irish clergyman.73

After the ship docked in Fremantle, Richardson confessed:

The use of tobacco, I found it impossible entirely to prevent, and so long as they did not smoke in my presence I did not interfere. All smoking below was of course strictly forbidden on the pain of two dozen lashes. I am almost inclined to think that a moderate quantity to be issued at the discretion of the Surgeon Superintendent, would prove a valuable agent in his hands for rewarding the deserving and encouraging others to follow their example. 74

The last page of Richardson’s Journal contained the ‘Education level of the

Convicts’ under his care. Evidently 141 convicts had been educated in Britain’s Sunday

schools, 50 at other schools, 20 partially on board ship and 13 were still considered

uneducated by the journey’s end. Two hundred and one convicts could read and write,

10 could only read, and 13 could do neither,

75

James Elphinstone Roe on York II in 1862.

so it appears that the majority of British

convicts had probably received some basic education in Britain by 1859, even though

compulsory elementary education was not introduced until 1870. As Meagher was a

well educated civil engineer, he and the other few white-collar convicts on board,

probably didn't socialise much with the other prisoners.

After James Roe’s voyage to the Swan River Colony on an eight-year old, A1 Class,

940 ton frigate named York 11 in 1862, the forty-four year old Roe wrote a letter

addressed to white-collar and other educated convicts, which was published

anonymously. It provided practical advice for them to follow before their court cases

and while on their transports. He urged educated prisoners to evade ‘attaint,’ which was

the practice of confiscating a convicted person’s money, goods and property to the

Crown, by transferring their property to family members while they were on remand,

prior to their trial. He also warned them that ‘The time you will have to serve in

England has… been greatly and very injudiciously extended,’ referring to the tougher

penal policies that had then been introduced.76

His character was registered as ‘Good,’ while in the Portland penitentiary,

77

73 Mortlock, op. cit., p. 219.

and he

described the preparations for transportation. He explained that convicts received a new

74 Richardson’s Journal, ‘The use of Tobacco,’, op. cit., p. 63. 75 ‘Education Level of the Convicts,’ ibid., p. 66. 76 James Roe, ‘A Letter from a Convict in Australia, op. cit., pp. 492 , 77 James Roe, General Register, AN 358/2, ACC1156, Reel 22 (6393-6932), No. 6709.

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set of clothes and two sets of underclothing ready for the voyage ahead. Following a

surgical examination, they listened to a sermon in the chapel, where they were told that

they could look forward to ‘plenty of employment and high wages in the colony’ and

‘special advantages were to accrue for prisoners, if they were well behaved on the

voyage.’78

Roe found the major drawback of transportation was being cooped up between decks

at night which was:

worse, far worse in some ways than you can have any idea of… no officer dare show his face – the atmosphere is for foul conversation a little hell… wholly unrestrained in word or thought … of lewdness and dirt… It was horrible. 79

However during the day on the forepart of the ship, he maintained that they were

practically free to do as they pleased. As the safety of the vessel really depended on the

behaviour of the convicts, the Surgeon and Pensioner Guard left them alone on the

foredeck to avoid irritating them unnecessarily, while they read, talked or smoked. As

prisoners only had to keep their part of the ship clean, wash their clothes and help with

cooking meals, they gave no trouble, as they also wanted a safe and quiet voyage.

Initially everyone was jolly, most of the convicts started singing and when that petered

out, singing and step dancing was confined to performances under the hatchway in the

evenings. Card playing then became popular until the end of the voyage and they

watched a few fights, which were seldom interfered with. During the day, the scripture

reader tried to encourage schooling, which in Roe's opinion, ‘came to nothing’

80

Roe praised the food rations of good pork, pea soup and plum duff. It would appear

that his wife probably provided him with some money for the voyage, as he advised

other white-collar convicts to take some on board, so they could employ a convict as a

man servant and other convicts to cook, do all the rough work and take care of their

clothing, as servants were keen to eat better from their earnings. Roe maintained that,

‘Money and a man will be the greatest comfort to you’ and recommended that they

avoid accepting jobs or a ‘billet’ on board because in his opinion, the bonus of a three to

four week sentence reduction was not worth thinking about. He found that a berth

midship, meant better sleeping and meals, more air, room to move and quiet, and could

be arranged for a few shillings.

81

78 James Roe, ‘A Letter from a Convict in Australia,’ ibid., p. 501.

There was only one convict death while Roe was on

79 Ibid., p. 500. 80 Ibid., pp, 500 & 501. 81 Ibid., p, 502.

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board for 2 months and 23 days, and he became acquainted with a young, well educated

convict named Herman Joseph Moll, who was convicted for a similar crime and later

became his son-in-law.82

Lionel Holdsworth on the Hougoumont during 1867/8,

The tall,83 forty-two year old shipbroker merchant, Lionel Holdsworth, who had

scuttled the Severn, boarded the sixteen year old Hougoumont at Sheerness after leaving

the Pentonville penitentiary.84 He probably paused to admire the sleek, handsome, four

masted, 875 ton, Blackwall frigate.85 It was classed A1 and had been recently modified

to carry 62 Fenians, who were political prisoners among 280 other convicts on board.

According to Anthony Evans, the Hougoumont’s ‘upper deck had been partitioned into

three areas by means of 9 foot high wooden barriers.’ Each barrier had doors posted by

soldiers with loaded pistols, to prevent convicts passing through. The lower deck was

also divided into three sections with iron reinforced bulkheads, so that the guards could

fire on the prisoners if the need arose. Convicts who were not Fenians including

Holdsworth, were placed with soldier Fenians amidships; civilian Fenians were

positioned in the after section and the crew in the forward section. Surgeon

Superintendent Smith was in charge of their health, rations, conduct and comfort during

the voyage.86

According to Evans, the aim of the Fenians, a group of political Irish rebels, some of

whom were employed in white-collar occupations and had met in 1848,

… was to rise up in arms when the signal was given, to put an end to British rule in Ireland, and to establish a truly independent republic…It would appeal to labourers and craftsmen; farmers and fishermen; shop assistants and commercial travellers and clerks and trade unions…to have a democratic, proletarian character, was to be organized on military principals… and was intended to be highly secret and required an oath of allegiance from members…87

The Hougoumont departed from London on 12 October 1867. However the gun ship

Earnest remained on the alert along side them until they reached Ushant in the English

Channel, because it was rumoured that there would be an attempt by members of the

82 Rica Erickson, ‘James Elphinstone Roe: Schoolmaster and Journalist, ‘The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p. 301. 83 Lionel Holdsworth, ‘Physical Descriptions of Convicts on the Hougoumont, 1868', No. 9768. <http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/conwad42.htm>, 1868 (accessed 22 November 2008). 84 Lionel Holdsworth, General Register, ACC 1156, Reel 16, No. 9768, Pentonville Penitentiary. 85 Bateson, op. cit., ‘The Convict Ships Index,’ pp. 376 & 377. 86 A. G. Evans, Fanatic Heart: A Life of John Boyle O’Reilly 1844-1890, op. cit.., pp. 55, 56. 87 Ibid., pp. 25 & 26.

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Irish Republican Brotherhood to rescue the Fenians.88 By 25 October, convicts were

playing chess, dominoes, drafts and dice cards to relieve the monotony.89

Some of the

Fenians organized concerts in the evenings which were popular with the convicts

during the voyage. Their programmes included duets, traditional Irish ballads, recitations

of poetry which were nostalgic, political or comic in nature, and Irish dancing

accompanied by a banjo concluding with their favourite song, ‘Let Erin Remember.’

One of the Fenians even recited all of Shakespeare’s lengthy soliloquy from Hamlet, ‘To

be or not to be.’90

In his journal, a Fenian named Casey referred to a prisoner who had received 48

lashes without wincing from the boatswain, ‘for beating another prisoner most

inhumanly.’ Evidently after braving the punishment well, the convict concerned was

cheered by his comrades. That same night, when a wild storm ‘tossed the ship like a

cork,’ the prisoners’ terror increased below, after hearing that the sailors refused to go

aloft due to their fear. Evidently some officers had to stow the sails, while the terrorised

sailors were placed in irons.

91

88 Ibid, pp. 55 & 59.

89 John Sarsfield Casey (The Gallee Boy – Non de Plume), Journal of a Voyage from Portland to Fremantle on Board the Convict A Ship – “Hougoumont,” Captain Cozens Commander, 8 & 25 October. 90 A. G. Evans, op. cit.., pp. 61 & 62. 91Casey, op. cit., 26 October 1867.

Figure 2. Hougoumont

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In the first week of November, Father Delaney supplied paper, pens and ink, so that

John Flood as editor, O’Reilly as sub editor and John Kelly as manager, could produce

the first of seven handwritten copy of the ‘Wild Goose,’ an eight page weekly

newspaper, which was both literary and amusing and featured an ornately drawn front

page. It was named in honour of the ‘Wild Geese,’ who were Irish soldiers in earlier

generations, who had served in European armies after their exile from Ireland.92

Contents in the first edition on 9 November varied from a serious editorial titled ‘Home

Thoughts,’ notices about concerts, the first episode of a serial entitled ‘Queen Cliodhna

and the Flower of Erin,' satirical paragraphs on the latest news, humorous answers to

imaginary correspondents and two poems titled ‘Farewell’ and ‘Home Thoughts.’ The

last page featured a ‘satirical piece about Australia.’ The Fenians crowded together

below deck under the dim, yellow glare of the one available light and listened intently

while O’Reilly read it out aloud.’93

Evans wrote of an incident occurring on the Hougoumont on 13 November, which

indicated the Surgeon’s ‘fair but good natured approach to discipline and

punishment…at least in the matter of lighter offences.’ Smith was certainly prepared to

let the convicts have some fun at the expense of those who committed minor, non

violent offences. Evidently after a non-Fenian convict was caught stealing tobacco, as

well as biscuits which were meant to be fed to a pig, Smith allowed him to be tried by

his fellow convicts, much to the amusement of all the spectators. ‘Judge Lynch’ then

read out both his crimes using highly exaggerated judicial language and the witnesses

described how the defendant had stolen the animal’s food in precise but humorous

detail. Evidently, ‘His Lordship’ decreed that the prisoner’s punishment was to be

‘tarred all over by the members of the court,’ followed by being ‘locked in a water

closet for three hours, then scrubbed with a hair broom.’

94

On 22 November, during a violent squall when the ship was tossed about in the

rough ocean, huge waves almost capsized it and two sails were torn to ribbons. After six

to eight prisoners went aloft to haul in the main sail, Casey wrote:

Nothing conduces more to remind man of his utter powerlessness and to raise his mind to the omnipotence of his creator, than a storm at sea. The ship may sometimes obey man, but the winds and waves obey God.95

92 Evans, op. cit., pp, 65 & 66.

93 Evans, ibid, pp. 66-69. 94 Evans, ibid, p. 72. 95 Casey, op. cit., 22 November 1867.

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Christmas was literally a washout from Christmas Eve through to Boxing Day.

Holdsworth, along with other convicts had to eat their breakfast of sweet loaf, followed

by salt horse and plum duff pudding containing raisins, currents and spices for dinner

and a double ration of wine at 2pm, while they were sitting on their bunks. When storms

broke out again on 28 December, water went streaming over the gunwales, down the

hatchways and flooded the decks.96

While passing Rottnest Island, after an eighty-nine day voyage, the two hundred and

seventy-nine convicts crowded onto the deck to view their new home , in contrast to the

silent Fremantle citizens, who had assembled to watch the last convict ship’s approach

on 9 January 1868:

…were no less inquisitive and anxious than those on board. For most of them, however, the cargo of the Hougoumont was not welcome, and the more belligerent among them, waited nervously for the first sign of trouble.97

Conclusion

During Governor Fitzgerald's meeting with free settlers on 16 February 1849 in

Perth, when two hundred Swan River residents voted in favour of the colony becoming

a penal settlement, it was interesting to note there was no suggestion of a need for

white-collar convicts. However a few arrived on each transport, probably because

British authorities realised that the white-collar convicts' clerical skills would prove

beneficial for the free settlers.

Apart from Letch, Wroth and Horrocks, who sailed to the colony on old AE1 classed

convict ships, the other sample group members arrived on newer, larger, usually faster,

A1 classed vessels. According to both Wroth and Roe, the major drawback for them

and probably most other well educated, middle-class convicts, was being cooped up

below deck at night with lower class prisoners and having to put up with their foul

mouthed sexual innuendo, theft, smoking below deck and insolent comments directed

at them by tougher, lower class prisoners.

There was obviously a need of the services of well behaved sample group members

on their transports, which Moll and Roe chose to ignore. After initially helping with

Mermaid's inventory and assisting the school instructor, Wroth was introduced to

Governor Fitzgerald on his arrival in the colony. For his duties as an assistant school

96 Evans, op. cit., p. 84.

97 Evans, ibid., pp. 88 & 89, the Hougoumont's arrival in the colony on 9 January 1868.

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instructor, delivering three lectures, as well as editing the Lord Raglan's newspaper,

Stout gained six months remission of sentence. Meagher must also have held a billet or

two on the Sultana, as he received four months remission from Governor Kennedy,

while Holdsworth received a 'special recommendation' from Superintendent Surgeon

Smith on the Hougoumont. Six other sample group members' conduct ranged from 'First

Class, Good,' to 'First Class, Exemplary', while Sampson's character was described as

'respectable.' It appears that some sample group members took the opportunity to prove

their behavioural reform by making themselves very useful whilst on board. Whether

there was a further need for sample group members to work in various convict

departments and depots after their arrival in Fremantle, will be revealed in the following

three chapters.

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CHAPTER 3. Swan River Colony by 1850 and the Lives of Alfred Daniel Letch, John Acton Wroth, Joseph Lucas Horrocks and Thomas Matthew Palmer, who arrived between 1850 and 1854.

This chapter will initially briefly focus on demographic and economic conditions in

the Swan River Colony and some of the early settlers’ problems such as a lack of

labourers, roads and economic difficulties, prior to the arrival of convicts. It then

discusses the early years of convictism in the colony and the type of work initially

offered to four educated convicts, namely Alfred Daniel Letch, John Acton Wroth,

Joseph Lucas Horrocks and Thomas Matthew Palmer, who were transported to Western

Australia between 1850 and 1854. Their employment by free settlers in the temporary

prison in Fremantle and after they gained their Tickets-of-Leave, would appear to have

been an ideal opportunity for them to regain the trust of their employers. Their various

careers and marital situations, support of and by society in their locality, their children's

careers and marital partners, as well as an assessment of their social acceptance within

the colony, will conclude this chapter.

By the beginning of 1850, the colony’s population was only 5254,1 the colonists’

labour force was inadequate and the colony was suffering from severe economic

difficulties. At that stage, the colony exported lead, copper, tin, timber, wool, whale

products, sandalwood, livestock, potatoes, onions, hides and skins and bark and gum

totalling £21,798.2 As its imports were valued at £62,351, the colony's trade deficit was

£40,533.3

When the first transport arrived in the Swan River colony on 1 June, 1850 containing

seventy-five convicts, they stayed on board the Scindian with their warders until

accommodation was available, while the fifty pensioner guards and their families had to

make do with what shelter could be found on the mainland.

4

1 Pamela Statham, ‘Swan River Colony 1829-1850', A New History of Western Australia, C. T. Stannage (Ed.), U. W. A. Press, Nedlands, W. A, 1983, p. 181.

Under the direction of

young Comptroller General Henderson, the colony’s Clerk of Works, James Manning,

the Superintendent of Convicts, Thomas Dixon, five Royal Sappers and Miners and

fifty Pensioner Guards, Captain Daniel Scott’s warehouse in South Terrace Fremantle

was leased for £250 a year and converted into a temporary prison. Using convict labour,

2 Ibid., ‘Appendix 6.3, Western Australia: External trade 1850-1913 (£s),’ p 235. 3 Pamela Statham, ibid,, Table 5.4, Exports 1844-1850 (£s) p. 204. 4 Cyril Ayris, Fremantle Prison: A Brief History, West Perth, Cyril Ayris Freelance, 1996, p. 9.

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Scott’s large shed was floored and reroofed, windows were inserted and hammock

frameworks for associative wards were installed. Other structures on the same site were

converted into a cookhouse, bakehouse, bathhouse, storehouse, privies, temporary

hospital, warders’ rooms, a blacksmith forge area and four separate cells for unruly

convicts. Two long stone buildings were added to house 360 or more convicts and a 10

foot high wall was erected around the whole site for security reasons, and to prevent

trafficking in alcohol.5

While Superintendent Dixon was conducting a tour through the temporary prison on

26 July that year, observers were ‘surprised and extremely gratified’ to find that, rather

than ‘gangs of sullen, sulky convicts’ being ‘kept at their task by fear of punishment’

under guards and sentries to prevent their escape:

…not a guard was to be seen, save a gate-keeper…not a discontented or sullen countenance was to be observed in the whole body. On the contrary, good humour, alacrity and contentment, was the characteristic of all …these fine, healthy looking men… 6

According to Gertzel:

The most outstanding feature of these early years was the lack of serious crime …Compared with the later years of the penal settlement, these years were not violent.7

By the end of 1851 many Ticket-of-Leavers had been sent to convict hiring depots in

country areas, set up by Edmund Du Cane, where the majority were employed by local

farmers. However country landowners complained that Fremantle and Perth employers

gained the better convicts, leaving few for their areas. After local free labourers found

their wages were dramatically reduced, they were forced to move north or leave the

colony to find work, while the Avon Valley farmers found that a lot of ticketers lacked

the necessary basic farming skills. As numerous convicts were eligible for their Tickets-

of-Leave during the first three years of transportation, either upon disembarking or not

long after their arrival, the completion of necessary public works, such as decent roads

and bridges on the way to and from country areas to ease transport costs, failed to

eventuate.

8

5 Michal Bosworth, ‘The Convicts are Coming', Convict Fremantle: A Place of Promise and Punishment, Crawley, U.W.A. Press, W. A., 2004, pp. 7 - 11.

6 Bosworth, ibid., ‘Report on the Convict Establishment,’ in The Independent Journal, 5 July 1850, p. 10. 7 Cherry Gertzel, ‘The Convict System in Western Australia,’ thesis, op. cit., p. 22. 8 Pamela Statham Drewe, ‘Toodyay Convicts – Why Did They Come and What Legacy Did They Leave?’ Paper at the Toodyay, R W. A. H. S. Conference, August 2004, pp. 9 & 10.

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Instead the Royal Sapper and Miners continued to instruct the majority of convicts in

building techniques and supervised their building of a jetty and wooden rails which led

to the new Commissariat’s loading bay in Fremantle. Hard labour on quarrying, laying

tramways, road making, tunnelling to South Beach, as well as digging an underground

water reservoir and several wells soon followed. They built a bridge across upper Swan

River, completed a second Courthouse, ‘Government Cottage’ for the Water Police,

Fremantle’s first lighthouse at Arthur Head, six small houses for warders, four

Principal Warders’ duplex styled homes and nine small cottages in close proximity to

the future Convict Establishment, which began construction in 1851.9

By December 1851 there were 505 ticketers in private service, 227 convicts on

public works and many living in the new convict depots at North Fremantle, Freshwater

Bay, Mount Eliza, York, Toodyay and Bunbury.

10 The River Jetty in Fremantle was

completed in 1853 and substantial homes were built for Superintendent Henderson and

his Deputy Steward, Chaplain and the Surgeon. A convict hospital, limestone walls 4.5

metre height and an elaborate gatehouse and guard towers, were built around the new

convict Establishment. Another terrace of warders’ homes was completed by 1855, in

time for the first wing of the four storey high main limestone cell block, to admit its first

convict intake.11 In the Perth area, convicts were involved in the construction of Perth

Boys School in St Georges Terrace in 1852, the three storied Colonial Hospital from

1853 to 1854, a new Perth Goal and a slaughterhouse at Claise Brook. The levelling of

Perth’s central area and the draining of the lakes behind the town centre near Wellington

Street was also initiated in 1854.12

It was easy to recognize the convicts as they wore uniforms of ‘trousers, a waistcoat

and jacket of white duck or canvas material which was stamped with a broad arrow in

summer and a heavier dark grey or a brown thick twilled cotton suit, also with arrows in

the winter.’

13 According to Gertzel, unless reported for misconduct on the voyage out,

all prisoners were put on probation and placed in 1st Class on arrival, but they could be

moved down to 2nd or 3rd

9 Bosworth, op. cit., pp. 14, 15, 18 - 20.

Class for misconduct, then reinstated later for good behaviour.

Within each of those Classes, there were further classifications connected with good

10 Gertzel, op. cit., p. 9. 11 Michal Bosworth, op. cit., pp. 15, 18-21, 32, 33 & 44. Also John Dowson, Old Fremantle: Photographs 1850-1950, , Crawley, W.A., UWA Press, 2003, pp. 24 -27, 34. 12 C. T. Stannage, The People of Perth: A Social History of Western Australia’s Capital City, op. cit., pp. 135-140. 13 I. Elliott, Moondyne Joe, Battye Library, microfiche, p. 27.

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industry and moral improvement. The highest was ‘Ex’ for Exemplary conduct and

work over the required rate, followed by ‘VG’ for Very Good conduct and an average

day’s work, then ‘G’ stood for Good work and conduct. After 1852, stripes indicated

their Class level, with three for 1st Class, two for 2nd Class, one for 3rd Class, which

were sewn onto their uniforms. As that scheme failed to induce all convicts to work

hard and behave well, gratuities were introduced. First Class convicts with a ‘G’ for a

Good rating earned 1½d a day, those who were rated ‘VG’ for Very Good earned 2¼d

a day, and some with ‘Ex’ for Exemplary conduct received 2¼d each day, as well as a

remission of sentence. All money earned by convicts was kept on account, until they

gained their Ticket-of-Leave.14

By 1853, when the number of convicts arriving was increasing, a similar but better

paid Constable System was augmented to supplement the insufficient number of

Warders in the crowded Fremantle and Country depots. If a 1

st Class convict had

obtained an ‘Exemplary’ rating for six months, he was eligible for selection as a Third

Class Constable to assist in ordinary warders’ duties, initially in the Branch

Establishments in North Fremantle and at Freshwater Bay, then in the country depots,

and by the 1860s, in convict road parties. By good conduct and length of service, Third

Class Constables could progress through to Second Class and later to First Class

Constables. After three months they were paid 1/- a day, between three to six months,

1/6 daily, and after twelve months, 2/6 per day. The ‘most attractive part of being a First

Class Constable’ was the fact that, as well as the higher gratuity for each day he served,

he was also eligible for a remission of thirty days off his sentence. Second Class

Constables could earn twenty days’ remission and Third Class Constables, fifteen

days.15

As ticketers were only paid £12 per annum plus keep in wages, there was a great

incentive for them to earn extra money after gaining their Ticket, so they could

discharge the debt of half the cost of their transportation, prior to gaining their

Conditional Pardon. Their fare, which had to be repaid in proportion to their sentence,

was £7.10s for a seven year term which was payable after 1½ years, £10 for a 10 year

sentence in 2 years, (presumably) £14 for a 14 year sentence in about 2½ years, £20 for

a twenty year sentence in 4 years and £25 payable in 5 years for a ‘life’ sentence.

16

14 Gertzel, op cit, pp. 32 -35.

15 Gertzel, ibid., pp. 36 -39. 16 Sister Mary Albertus Bain, Ancient Landmarks: A Social and Economic History of the Victoria District of W.A., Perth, UWA Press, 1975, p. 113.

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Fortunately that unpopular imposition ceased for all convicts on 28 February 1857,

when money which earlier convicts had paid, was refunded.17

According to Alexandra Hasluck, the British Government initially thought the free

settlers required labourers for private hire, so they sent convicts who would soon be

available as labourers. They believed that if they sent convicts with longer sentences

who had been employed on public works, the colony would experience similar evils to

the other penal colonies. Hasluck found that during the initial four years, the convicts

received were of good character, but, as the colonists wanted more public works

completed, some were prepared to accept convicts who backgrounds were not so

desirable.

18 After two shiploads of Irish convicts arrived in 1853 on the Robert Small

and the Phoebe Dunbar, the Comptroller General found there had been ‘a remarkable

increase in crime in the Prison since their arrival,’19

This then was the context in which the four white-collar convicts who arrived

between 1850 and 1854, are discussed in this chapter. Their crimes varied from

larceny and embezzlement, forging orders and stealing stationary materials, forging and

uttering two acceptances to bills of exchange and forging and passing a forged order for

payment by a bank. Their ages ranged from nineteen to forty seven years.

and the good reputation of convicts

began to wane.

20

Alfred Daniel Letch.

Alfred Letch was born on 5 July, 1823 and is likely to have been illegitimate.21

17 J. S. Battye, Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth, op. cit., 1924, pp. 237, 238.

He

was brought up by Edward and Mary Letch, in the prosperous agricultural village of

Finchingfield in Essex, where there was little serious crime. According to Edward’s

Will, as well as being the village miller, he owned their two storied, thatched and white-

18 Alexandra Hasluck, ‘The Nature of the Convicts Sent to Western Australia between 1850 and 1868,’ Appendix C, in Unwilling Emigrants, op. cit., p. 136. 19 Ibid., p.138. 20 Rica Erickson and Gillian O’Mara, Convicts in Western Australia, 1850-1887, Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 1X, op. cit., pp. Alfred Letch, p. 335, John Wroth, p. 615, Joseph Horrocks, p. 269 and Thomas Palmer, p. 427. 21 Letch Family Bible, 'The Register of Births.' Alfred was born in Braintree on 5 July 1823. In the Essex Baptism Index 1780-1840, Ref. No. 321/92, the other eight siblings born to his Father, Edward and Mother, Mary, were christened in Finchingfield, but there is no record of Alfred’s baptism there. His younger ‘brother,’ Charles Derby Letch, was born on 1 October 1824, only a year and three months or so after Alfred’s birth on 5 July 1823. As the closeness of those births was highly unusual for breast fed babies in those days, it has been suggested by Mrs Joan Nutt (an Essex Genealogical Researcher), that as his father’s sister - also ‘Mary Letch,’ was registered as living with Alfred’s parents in the 1841 Census, she may have been Alfred’s mother, and her illegitimate son was probably adopted by her brother, Edward and sister- in- law, Mary Letch.

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washed ‘Mill Cottage’ next door to his mill, two cottages nearby, two other mills and a

farm.22 Edward was a respected Superintendent of the Sunday school, as well as Deacon

of the local Congregational Church, 23 while his wife ‘was involved in charity work for

the poor.’24 Alfred and his seven step-brothers often helped out their father’s three

mills, appear to have been well educated, went to Finchingfield’s Congregational

Church and were ‘musically inclined.’25

Prior to his arrest at twenty five years of age, Alfred had been employed to manage

Mr Bell’s grocery and drapery store in Chelmsford for four years, while his employer

was otherwise engaged in his wool and hop trade.26 During Bell’s lengthy absences

from his shop, Alfred stealthfully acquired pieces of material to have clothing made up

by a tailor or a dressmaker and purchased instruments through a music seller, by

bartering his employer’s tobacco and groceries for payment.27

22 Edward Letch, 'Last Will and Testament,' Essex Records Office, Chelmsford, Essex, CMI, ILX, 391, MR14, p. 392.

After Alfred became ill,

when Mr Bell was forced to take charge of his shop, he discovered his employee’s

crimes and contacted the police. Consequently, Alfred and four of his six suspected

accomplices were arrested and placed on remand in Springfield Prison on 24 November

1848. The following day, Alfred wrote a letter of apology to his parents who were not

23 Plaque erected above the altar in the Finchingfield Congregational Church, Essex, dedicated to Edward Letch, Alfred’s stepfather. 24 Alfred Letch’s obituary for his stepmother, Mary Letch, The Inquirer, 1 March1864. 25 ‘Essex Quarter Sessions: The Baddow Robberies,’ The Chelmsford Chronicle, 12 January 1849, back page under ‘Bond’s Case, ’columns 5 & 6. 26 Ibid., column 1. 27 Ibid., Mrs. Rolph, Alfred’s dressmaker admitted that’ Letch had lately owed her 17/6, which he paid 5s in cash, and the rest in shop goods… Asked if she had any bills of her dealings with Mr Bell, she said she had not- she had always burnt her bills.

Figure 3: Edward and Mary Letch’s ‘Mill Cottage,’ in Finchingfield, where Alfred grew up with his seven stepbrothers. Courtesy of Ron Hawkins.

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taken into custody, despite the fact that he had clothing made for his mother and he had

stored some items at their home and in the mill next door.

My dearly beloved parents,

…My dear father has so often told me to take care of my money, my c(h)aracter and my soul. I have given you proof that I have not shown it attention. Money lost, c(h)aracter ruined, and soul trifled with. I now know well the value of freedom and a good name which I have now lost. If I ever live to have them returned to me again, I hope and trust to use them right. I hope you will still love me as your son … Your unworthy though affectionate son, Alfred Letch. 28

Alfred’s step parents initially had to stand trial, but after seventeen prominent and

upstanding members of their community ‘spoke in the highest terms’ of their characters,

they were found not guilty of receiving any goods given to them, or stored by them for

Alfred.

29 As Mr Bond, the instrument seller and repairer was found to be ‘a poor

bookkeeper’ and ‘not very learned,’ he was also acquitted. However Alfred's three other

accomplices were found guilty of receiving goods and were gaoled for six months. After

Letch eventually pleaded guilty to ‘larceny and embezzlement’ to the value of £40, he

was sentenced to fourteen years transportation in Chelmsford Court, Essex, on 2

January 1849.30

After his trial Alfred was returned to Springfield Prison, where he wrote a full page

titled ‘Reflection,’ which was found in his prison cell the day after his sentencing:

I thought yesterday was the most depressing day in my life, standing in the dock; hearing the jury pronounce me Guilty and the Judge sentencing me to fourteen years imprisonment and transportation to Australia. But waking up in Springfield Goal this Thursday morning with all the noise and smell of the sweat and urine was beyond words, and when I think I have this for the next fourteen years, God please help me… The shame I have brought upon my family hurts me more than my sentence and should I get the opportunity to rectify my life, I will grasp it with both hands.31

According to a notice still posted nowadays on a cell wall for tourists visiting

Springfield prison, Letch’s diet was likely to have included a breakfast of oatmeal gruel

and bread and a dinner of cooked meat, potatoes and bread on Sundays, Tuesdays,

Thursdays and Saturdays, and supper every night of more gruel and bread. Variations

on the other three days included a breakfast of sweetened cocoa and bread, and dinner

was soup made of cooked meat, potatoes, barley, rice or oatmeal, onions or leeks, salt

28 ‘The Baddow Robberies,’ Column 3, Mr. and Mrs. Letch’s Case, note the relevance of ‘I hope you will still love me as your son.’ 29 Ibid., column 5. 30 Ibid., columns 6 - 8. 31 Alfred Daniel Letch, ‘Reflection,’ written by him at Springfield County Goal on 3 January 1849.

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and pepper, as well as bread. The diet, although devoid of fresh fruit, salads and only a

few vegetables, was probably quite filling and was the recommended prison diet.32

Alfred was sent to Millbank for solitary confinement on 28 April 1849 and onto

Portland Public Works penitentiary by 6 March 1850.

33 As he had no previous

convictions and his character was assessed as ‘Very Good,’ he was placed in 1st Class

while in Portland. He retained that rating on the Hashemy, which arrived in the Swan

River colony on 25 October 1850.34 Due to his good conduct and literacy level, he

worked and resided in the ‘Dispensary in the Surgery,’ which was located away from

the temporary Convict Establishment. His excellent billet may have been due in part to

a good ‘Character Reference’ given by Colonel J. R. Bride, the owner of the vast Spains

Hall Estate in Finchingfield, Essex.35 According to his new friend, John Wroth, Letch

‘dressed well,’ not in ‘the usual prison garb,’ while working in the Surgery.36

Alfred was granted his Ticket-of-Leave on 26 January 1852, about 15 months after

his arrival. Interestingly, his name on his Ticket-of-Leave record referred to him as

Alfred DeLeech, by which name he was known until 1872.

37 He was employed by

James Porteous, the chief engineer on a coastal steamer, and Lionel Lukin, a pastoralist,

farmer, boat owner and trader on the Swan River from 1 January 1852,38 probably in a

clerical capacity. DeLeech was likely to have been paid the standard rate for Ticketers

of £1 per month, out of which he had to start repaying half his voyage costs.39

Following his father’s death in June 1852, DeLeech inherited £80, which enabled him to

run Livery Stables and a Coffee House at the base of Howard Street near the Swan

River in Perth,’ where he employed Wroth during September that year.40

32 ‘Springfield County Goal, Dietaries,1850, Class 3,’ Recommended and Approved on 16 December 1849, by the Secretary of State, printed on 14 March 1850.

In 1854,

33 Alfred Daniel Letch was moved from Springfield to Millbank, Middlesex, on 28 Apri1 1849, then to Portland on 6 March 1850, Reel 5974, Prison Commission 2, Piece No. 27-30. 34 H.O. 8/104, ‘Attested List of the Convict Prison at Portland,’ Quarter ending the 13 June 1850, Alfred D. Letch, No. 1207, p. 26. Also, Alfred D. Letch, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, Character Book, Reel 17, No. 114. 35 Alfred D. Letch, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, General Register, Reel 21A, 1- 299, No. 114 under, ‘Character Reference.’ 36 Rica Erickson, ‘John Acton Wroth - Diarist,’ The Brand on his Coat: Biographies of Some Western Australian Convicts, op. cit., Chapter 3, p. 30. 37 Alfred DeLeech, ACC 1386, vol.1, Ticket of Leave Register, District of Perth, p. 234, No. 114. 38 Ibid. 39 Erickson (Compiler), The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians pre 1829-1888, op. cit., Vol.III, K-Q, James Porteous, p.2515, & Lionel Lukin, p. 1915. 40 ‘Last Will and Testament of Edward Letch', Essex Record Office, Chelmsford, CMI ILX, 391, MR 14, p. 392, Alfred Letch was left ‘eighty pounds’ by his father. Information about the livery stables and its location was contained in a letter to Susan Tighe (nee Letch) from her great aunt, Rose Dempster. An advertisement in the Inquirer, dated 6 March 1872, incorrectly states that his business was ‘Established 1851.’ The earliest date would probably have been about September 1852, after he gained his inheritance.

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Alfred realized his latent ambition by leasing a shop from George Shenton and opening

his own grocery and drapery store in St George’s Terrace, Perth. 41 The sign on the shop

indicated that he still called himself DeLeech.42 He received his Conditional Pardon

dated 25 July 1855 on 4 August that year.43

Little is known about the thirty five year old Letch’s first marriage. On 6 September

1858 he married a nineteen year old servant girl named Margaret Legray in the

Congregational Church in Uriah St, Guildford. She was born in England in 1839 and

had arrived on the Emma Eugenia on 25 May that year.44 It is possible that she died,

perhaps in childbirth, for just over five years later, Reverend Innes married the forty

year old DeLeech to another nineteen year old immigrant lass, a machinist named

Amelia French. They were wed at the Congregational Chapel in St George’s Terrace in

Perth on 14 September 1863.45

See John Wroth’s Ticket-of-Leave Record, which states that he worked in Alfred’s 'Livery stables and Coffee House,’ during September 1852.

41 ‘Plan of Perth 1871-72 in C. T. Stannage, The People of Perth, op. cit., See inside back cover where , Letch’s shop was named as ‘Deliches’s Store, ’ between William and Barrack Street on the river side of St Georges Terrace, Perth. After extensive research at DOLA, Midland, on the ‘ Perth Roll Plan,’ it appears that Alfred DeLeech’s Grocers and Drapery shop was previously owned by George Fletcher Moore and according to a Memorial of Indenture, Book IV, p. 261, dated 28 July 1849, Alfred’s store may have been previously served as ‘The Commercial Inn.’ 42 Photograph of DeLeech's Grocery and Drapery shop, Battye Library Photography Collection, No. 26478p. 43 Alfred D. Letch, Ticket-of-Leave Register, op. cit. 44 Alfred DeLeech’s first marriage to Margaret Legray in Guildford, Perth Registry Office, 1252/58. Also Bibliographic Files, Legr(a)y, Margaret, 1839 (born in England) arrived on 'Emma Eugena' on the 25/5/1858, married DeLeech on 6/9/1858 in the Guildford Congregational Church, Uriah, St. Guildford. 45 Alfred DeLeech's second marriage to Amelia French, an immigrant lass aged nineteen who arrived in the colony on the Burlington on 8 April 1863 in the Inquirer, 15 April 1863, p. 2, column b. She married Alfred DeLeech on 14 September 1863. Alfred DeLeech, Battye Library Catalogue Card.

Figure 4: DeLeech’s Grocery and Drapery Store on the left, in St Georges Terrace, Perth, from 1854 to 1883. Courtesy of Battye Library.

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By the early 1860s, DeLeech was involved in a number of other enterprises and

according to Michael Bourke:

Guildford’s largest stores were now branches of Perth companies. Early in 1860 these consisted of Henry Saw and Alfred DeLeech... In addition to his two general stores, Alfred also ran a daily cart service between Perth and Guildford, carrying mail, parcels and passengers ...(by) 1868, by (which) time Alfred …put his horse-drawn ‘Diligence’ omnibus into daily service...46

However according to Bourke, DeLeech’s general store in Guildford ‘was taken over

by John Yeo in 1866,’

47 an expiree who had arrived on the Clara in 1864 and became a

Guildford broker and general dealer by 1867.48 Between 1859 and 1882, DeLeech held

Government Mail Contracts between Fremantle and Perth, which were worth £220 per

annum by 1879.49

Ladies and Gentlemen’s Saddle Horses, Carriages, Phaetons, Omnibuses, Gigs, Carts and Saddlery. Expresses done to any part of the Colony. Royal Mail Passenger and Parcel Carts run daily between Perth and Guildford. On Sale, General Groceries and Provisions, Drapery etc., Corn and Meal, Saddlery and Saddlers’ Ironmongery etc, Whips of all sorts, Horse, Spoke, Shoe, and other Brushes, Springs and Patent Axles, Cutlery, Jewellery, Perfumery and Stationary in great varieties.

In the late 1860s, a ‘GENERAL NOTICE’ was reproduced in Perth

newspapers up to February 1872, advising that in his Perth store DeLeech had:

50

46 Michael J. Bourke, On the Swan: A History of the Swan District, op. cit., pp. 204, 213 & 222.

47 Ibid., p. 213. 48 Yeo, John, b. 1826, (Expiree) in Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians pre 1829-1888, vol. 1V, R- Z, p. 3409. 49 A. D. Letch, ‘Contracts for Mails,’ The Inquirer and Commercial News, December 1879. 'The Government have accepted the following tenders for the conveyance of mails for three years. A. D. Letch between Perth and Fremantle for £160 per annum and to carry expresses between Perth and Fremantle and Perth and Guildford for £60 per annum.' 50 A. DeLeech's Perth and Guildford General Stores advertisement in the Houghton Herald, a pamphlet which was distributed on River cruises.

Figure 5: Pretty, young Amelia Letch, née French, dressed in middle class attire with fashionable jewelry.

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His business prowess must have been noticeable as he was invited to speak in the

Fremantle Congregational Church on 2 June 1869 by Reverend Johnston, who wrote in

his diary, ‘Mr DeLeech gave a very good lecture on “Success” in the Chapel this

evening.’51

Letch was also involved in four property transactions, the middle two of which

involved prominent free settlers. According to a Certificate of Satisfaction signed by the

Register of Deeds on 2 July 1877 ‘De Leech’ paid off the £300 and interest due for 2

Acres on Lot 141 in Guildford, originally owned by Dennis Desmond.

52 On 9 July

1866, De Leech and George Shenton, the younger merchant, purchased all Alexander

Halliday’s land and appurtenances (buildings – probably on Perth, Lot Y12) for £100,

after Halliday became bankrupt.53 On 10 November 1871, DeLeech and the merchant

Walter Padbury sold 52 acres in the Avon Location No. 430 to William Locke

Brockman of Herne Hill for £34.54 Alfred paid £60 of a £210 mortgage for 40 acres of

land in Canning Location 59 on 21 October 1875, which was previously owned by John

Peglar. Worth noting is the fact that he signed his correct name of Mr A. D. Letch,55

when he had paid off that Canning property on 30 October1893.56

After receiving his Certificate of Freedom in 1863, DeLetch was paying £12/10/- per

annum in license fees to the Perth City Council to hire out nine four-wheeled carriages,

five two-wheeled phaetons, omnibuses, gigs and carts from his Omnibus and Coaching

House by 1875.

57 He also provided drivers, carriages and horses for John Summer’s

Funerals 58 and during 1879 he started a cab service around Perth, which included an

imported London cab in 1880.59

51 'Diary of Joseph Johnston', 2 June 1869, MN 298565A, Battye Library, Perth..

Letch had employed a free settler named Daniel Hardy

as a driver on his Fremantle to Perth mail run during the 1870s. Hardy recalled that in

52 Dennis Desmond to A DeLeech, Memorial of Conveyance, Book 6, Memorial 349, 1 December 1857, p. 61, re Lot 141 of 2 acres in Guildford Deeds Office, Landgate, Midland, W.A. 53 ‘Alexander Halliday to George Shenton and Alfred DeLeech, Memorial of an Indenture of Conveyance,’ Lot Y12, Perth, from Alexander Halliday to George Shenton the Younger of Perth and Alfred DeLeech of Perth, Book 6, p, 2047, 10 July 1866, Deeds Office, ‘Landgate', Midland, W.A. 54 DeLeech and Walter Padbury to William Locke Brockman , Indenture of Conveyance, Book 7, No. 538, 10 November 1871, DeLeech and Walter Padbury conveyed Avon Lot 430 to William Locke Brockman, Deeds Office, Landgate, Midland, W. A. 55 John Peglar to A. D. Letch, Memorial of an Indenture of Conveyance, from Mr John Peglar, Sadler and Harness Maker, to Mr. A. D. Letch, Book 7, No. 2040, Canning Location 59, 15 November 1875, Deeds Office, Landgate, Midland , W. A. 56 Certificate of Satisfaction, issued by Stephen Henry Parker to A.D. Letch, Book X1, p. 979, Mortgage was paid off by 30 October 1893 by A..D. Letch, Deeds Office, Landgate, Midland , W. A. 57 Perth City Council Meeting Minutes, 22 February,1875, Perth City Council Library. 58 Daniel Hardy, ‘Over Fifty Years Ago: Mail Days in the Eighties’, West Australian, 4 November 1936, p. 8, col. c, microfilm. 59 A. D. Letch's cab service in Perth, Inquirer, Battye Library, Perth, W. A., 4 April, 1880, p. 3, microfilm.

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Letch’s prime during those years ‘the current topic of the day was that, considered from

a cash point of view, he was reputed to be the most wealthy man in Western

Australia.’60 According to Rica Erickson, ‘Letch employed 46 T/L men from 1852-1876

including 6 shopmen & book-keepers in the 1860s, (and) cooks and a baker at Williams

River (in the) 1870s.’61

Alfred’s younger brother, George Abner, a Manchester schoolmaster, and his

family came out to join him in February 1872, prompting Letch to own up to his convict

past by placing the following advertisement in the local paper above his business

advertisement:

60 Daniel Hardy, op. cit.. 61 Rica Erickson & Volunteers, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians pre 1829-1888, vol. II, D-J, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, W. A., 6009, A. D. Letch, under ‘DeLeech', p. 808.

Figure 6: Letch admits changing his name, to DeLeech, after his stepbrother George arrived in the colony. Inquirer, 6 March 1872, p. 29.

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George Abner was obviously very proud of his brother’s achievements, as his diary

entry attests:

Rejoice with us !!! our reception at Fremantle and Perth, our Pride, my Brother’s Position, our Prospects everything surpasses our most sanguine expectations.62

Despite his convict background, Letch was able to contribute to the political life of

Perth. He first showed signs of interest in the political life of the colony in 1867, when

he signed a memorial in the form of a petition to be sent to Her Majesty, Queen

Victoria, supporting an extension of Governor Hampton’s administration in the colony,

which the signatories believed ‘has proved so beneficial.’63 He signed ‘General Trader’

against his name on a second petition in 1869, for the establishment of an enlarged and

partially elected Legislative Council, which was addressed to His Excellency, Governor

John Stephen Hampton. That successful petition was signed by more than one third of

the colony’s householders.64

62 G. A. Letch, ‘Diary of a Voyage to W.A., in the Ivy', (1871/2), p. 106, Battye Library in Perth. According to an advertisement in The Inquirer on 24 April, 1872, p.3. George opened a Commercial Boarding School for boys, opposite the Weld Club in St George’s Terrace on l3 May, 1872, which ran very successfully until 1888.

63 The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, ‘Copy of Address on Presentation of Memorial', 19 August 1867, ACC/CONS No. 136, Item No. 97, S.R.O, Perth. Despite the petition, Hampton was not offered a second term of office according to De Garis, because of the intervention of Bishop Hale. (B. De Garis, ‘Political Tutelage 1829-1870,’ in A New History of Western Australia, C. T. Stannage (ed.), UWA Press, Nedlands, 1981, p. 303. 64 ‘Petition to His Excellency John Stephen Hampton and the Legislative Council’, WAS 1363, ACC 137/2, SRO, W.A, re an Ordinance to be passed for a representative Legislative Council.

Figure 7: Alfred, on the left, and George Letch, after George’s arrival in the Swan River Colony in 1872.

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Letch was voted in as a Perth City Councillor from 1875 to 1880, serving three terms

for Perth’s Central Ward.65 It is worth noting that he was elected to the Perth City

Council, at a time when expirees were generally not allowed to hold to civic positions.

While it is clear that Alfred was trusted by free settlers in land transactions with some

prominent Perth citizens, his suggestions at Perth City Council meetings were not

always accepted, so his manner there was fairly circumspect. For example, during a

debate over the building of Public Baths in Perth in March 1879, he graciously

conceded defeat over his idea that ‘a work of this character should be taken in hand by a

private company,’ concluding that ‘he would support any decision the meeting arrived

at.’ However at the same meeting, his application for a cab stand in front of his shop

was granted, demonstrating that useful contacts could be made while connected with the

Council.66

Letch and other expirees who were trying to achieve a modicum of social acceptance

in the colony had to tolerate the idea that some free settlers would always be prejudiced

against them. An example of how one prominent settler privately thought about

emancipists is typified by a reference to Alfred Letch in one of Alfred Hillman’s diary

entries in 1880.

A. D. Letch was ousted from the Central Ward and a bigger blackguard elected in his place… mobocracy triumphs…if people of wealth and respectability will

65 ‘Alfred D. Letch, City of Perth Councillors’ Honour Board now sited on the top floor of the Perth City Council Offices shows that Alfred was elected for three terms from 1875-1880. According to PCC records, in the Central Ward Municipal Elections, Mr. A. D. Letch gained 76 votes, J. Summers, 63 and H. Birch, 54, were elected on 9/11/1877 while H. Osborne on 22 votes, missed out. 66 Inquirer and Commercial News, 26 March 1879, p. 3.

Figure 8: The City of Perth Councillors, Honour Board - see A. D. Letch was elected for three terms from 1875 to 1880.

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persist in taking no interest in these municipal elections ... they must not be surprised at the result.67

In early 1880, during Alfred’s last term as a Perth City Councillor, he took his wife

and three of his children back to England, presumably to visit his other brothers and

their families. Sadly their last son, Thomas Augustus, who was born there on 20 June,

1880, died at sea on the Fitzroy on 15 November that year on their return voyage to the

Swan River Colony. After his arrival back in the colony, Letch needed to focus all his

attention on his Perth businesses and make decisions to divert their financial threats.

Seeing that trains would eventually supplant some mail and passenger services, he had

already handed his Perth to Guildford mail contract to T. Horton in 1879,

68 and by

1882 he had also relinquished his Perth to Fremantle mail contract. He sold his coaching

business to John Summers in early 1884.69 However he retained his City Cab service,

which was operating in competition to Harry Osborne’s service, transferring passengers

to and from the new Perth Railway Station.70

With the completion of the station, the retail centre of Perth moved away from St

George’s Terrace to Hay Street, and merchants including Letch, Monger, Shenton and

Padbury were among the first to relocate, so their lengthy, expensive advertisements

dominated the newspapers. In anticipation of the impact of the new train station, Alfred

took out a lease on the brick and shingle/corrugated iron Saw Estate building in Hay

Street, in October 1883. His new shop was ideally situated, being about mid-way

between William and Barrack streets and stretching through from Hay through to

Murray Street. Alfred proudly announced his change of premises in a newspaper

advertisement on boxing Day 1883,

71

67 Alfred Hillman Jnr, The Hillman Diaries: 1877-1884, entry for 15 November, 1880, F. Hillman, Applecross, W.A., 1990, p. 435. 68 A.D. Letch, 'After twenty years uninterrupted Mail Service,' Herald, 19 July, 1879, p. 2, col. h, Battye Library Perth, W. A., microfilm. 69 Inquirer, 20 February, 1884. 70 C.T. Stannage, The People of Perth:, op. cit., p.133, also the Inquirer, 12 March, 1884. 71 Inquirer, 26 December, 1883, p. 2.

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Letch kept up his musical interests and was the organist at the Trinity Congregational

Church in St George’s Terrace for many years.72 He was later thanked for ‘his musical

contributions’ at a Metropolitan Fire Brigade ‘smoke social’ in May 1890, where he had

favoured the company with ‘some selections on the piano’.73

However, despite his apparent success, Letch had considerable financial worries at

various times during his career. He struggled with insolvency during the recessions of

the 1870s. He had opened an account with the Western Australian Bank in August 1858

with a deposit of £152,

74

72 Alfred’s name is on a plaque in Perth's Trinity Congregational Church, as the church's organist. His brother evidently followed in their father’s footsteps, as a small stained glass window there was dedicated to George Letch for ‘29 years as the Superintendent of Trinity Sunday School’ by his ‘Old Pupils and Friends, 1909.'

but on 28 April 1871 his account was overdrawn by £330 and

Bank officials resolved he could ‘only ever exceed that amount by £400.’ On 28

February 1877, his overdraft was extended to £750. Twelve years and a half later, on 1

October 1889, after a depression in 1888, a ‘Bill of Sale’ of his stock in trade and

household furniture valued at £1400, was obtained by the Bank’s solicitors. He

negotiated a loan to cover his debts, but by 10 February 1890, Letch had still not paid

his interest owing for loans in 1889. He was advised that unless he took immediate steps

to pay it, the bank’s solicitors would proceed with the sale of his business. Board

Minutes regarding Letch on 12 February 1890 read, ‘Keep trying to get all you can from

73 'Metropolitan Fire Brigade Smoke Social,' reported the day after Alfred's fire in West Australian, 27 May 1890, p. 3. 74 Alfred Daniel Letch, Western Australian Bank, Individual Accounts Ledgers WAB-3/609/10 & 11.

READ CAREFULLY!

NOTE ACCURATELY!!

CHANGE OF PREMISES!!!

Mr. A. D. Letch begs to inform

his customers individually, and

the public generally that he has

REMOVED

from St. George’s Terrace to the

most attractive looking and pre-

eminently suitable premises in

Hay Street.

Figure 9: Alfred proudly announced his change of premises in the Inquirer, 26 December 1883, p. 2.

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him.’75

Coincidently a devastating fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning on 25

May 1890, which gutted the whole Saw Estate, including Letch’s shop, his home

upstairs and two other shops. Despite many willing volunteer helpers, most of the

contents of Letch’s store and home were either lost or partially destroyed by water

damage.

It seems that George Shenton Junior, who was the Director of the Western

Australian Bank at that time, and his Board members, were prepared to support Letch,

despite the fact he was an expiree.

76

…the chief loss will fall upon Mr A. D. Letch, who is wholly uninsured, and whose stock and furniture suffered so seriously from the water and the rough, but good natured handling they received, in the course of well meant attempts to remove them to a place of safety.

Dispelling any insinuations that Letch may have purposely started the fire to

collect the insurance, considering that he did have financial problems at that time, The

West Australian reporter stressed that:

77

Letch maintained that he had decided not to insure the contents of shop or his home

above, as he had taken suitable precautions against fire,

78

Sir, I feel moved by gratitude to offer my public thanks to all who rendered truly valuable and substantial help at the recent disastrous fire which has fatally shattered my business position ... seeking to recover as much as we could from so serious a wreck. Yours etc. A.D. Letch.

which was probably a cover

up, as his bank records suggest that he could ill afford the premiums. His letter to the

Editor of The West Australian which was published on 29 May 1890, read in part:

79

On 3 June 1890, the Bank took out a Fire Insurance Policy for security on his

remaining stock and furniture, and on the following day, the terms for an Auction Sale

of them were drawn up. By 23 July 1890, the Auctioneer was requested to wind the

auctions up to stop further expenses. However on 9 September 1891, the Bank finally

agreed to release Letch from the balance of his debt.

80

75 Western Australian Bank, Board Minutes, WAB, 2/101/2, Friday 28 April 1871 to Wednesday 12 February 1890.

Family belief is that after his

bankruptcy, he bred horses on his land in Canning and exported them to India, which

seems feasible as he had paid off his Canning property by 1893. During 1904, Letch and

76 ‘Disastrous Fire in the City: Great Destruction of Property: Two Shops and Their Contents Burned’, The West Australian, Monday, 26 May1890, p. 3a-c. 77 ‘Vigilans Et Audax,’ The West Australian, Perth, Tuesday, 27 May 1890, p. 3. 78 Letch's business was uninsured, The West Australian , 27 May 1890, p. 3. 79 Letch's thanks to those who assisted him during the fire in his shop, The West Australian, 29 May 1890, p. 3. 80 Alfred D Letch, WAB, 2/101/ 2, Board Minutes, 9 September, 1891, Letch was released from debt.

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his wife, Amelia were living in Forrest Street, Highgate Hill.81 However Letch died

while living in Robinson Street in North Perth in 1907, aged eighty-four.82

Unfortunately his will has not been located, so his financial position at that time cannot

be assessed.83 Amelia died in 1918, aged 79, while she was living with her eldest son

and his family on their farm named ‘Eadine.’ All she left to her children were some

articles of lounge and bedroom furniture.84

Alfred and Amelia had seven children, with only four sons surviving. Three married

and fathered children in the colony.

85 Their first born, Edward Alfred Letch who was

born in 1864, was an organist at St George’s Cathedral, worked in the Post and

Telegraph Department in Perth between 1886 and 1887 and became a clerk and operator

from 1888 to 1889.86 He married Emily Wilding, the daughter of an expiree farmer

named Thomas Wilding in September 1888. Edward then farmed on “Eadine,” near

Clackline, and was elected Chairman of the Northam Road Board from 1929-1940.87

Alfred and Amelia’s only daughter, Ada Mary Letch, who was born in April 1867,

suffered severe back problems and died unwed of pneumonia in 1899.88 Charles

William Essex Letch, who was born in February 1870, worked as a clerk in a

Government Office from 1887 to 1889. He married in 1904, prior to becoming an

orchardist at Coates Siding near Wooroloo.89

Arthur Albert Letch was born on 1 September 1872, and after working in the

Western Australian Government Railways for a number of years, he became their

Principal Records Clerk on a salary of £285, plus special allowances of £22 per annum

in October 1919.

90

81 Legislative Assembly Rolls, 1904, p. 73, Alfred Daniel Letch is listed as a landowner.

Arthur was also a professional musician, playing the piano and the

organ and evidently had a reasonable singing voice. He married Edith Helen Clairs, the

daughter of Rev. Edward Clairs, an Anglican clergyman in Busselton between 1887 and

82 Alfred Daniel Letch died from 'senile decay ' at Robinson St, North Perth on 14 March 1907, recorded at the Office of the Register General, Perth. 83 Office of the Register General, ibid. 84 Rose Dempster, A letter to Suzanne Tighe (née Letch) from her Great Aunt. 85 Alfred Daniel DeLeech, Battye Library Catalogue Card, Perth. 86 Edward Alfred Letch, Battye Library Catalogue Card, & Government Gazette, 1887. 87 Edward Alfred Letch, Rica Erickson (Compiler),The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australian pre 1829-1888, vol. III, K-Q, op. cit., p. 1849. 88 Ada Mary Letch, Inquirer, 13 April, 1867 and ‘Register of Births’ in Letch Family Bible held by the Brockman.. 89 Charles William Essex Letch, Inquirer, 23 February 1870, 1904 Legislative Assembly Rolls, North Perth, p. 73 and also information from Maida Brockman, née Letch, but there is no other information available about his marriage at this stage. 90 W. H. Hope, Letter to the Acting Commissioner of Railways, re Arthur Alfred Letch, 23 December 1919.

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1890, who became Canon Clairs in 1904.91 Their fifth child, Henry Frederick Letch,

who was born in 1877, was a cabinet maker at Zimpels furniture factory in Perth by

1902,92 then an itinerant handyman, tradesman and farmer living on a small country

property.93 Two other sons, Lionel Cecil Letch, born March 1873, lived less than a year,

and Thomas Augustus Letch, born in June 1880, was the son who died at sea on the way

home from England with his parents.94

Letch’s name still features on a plaque, placed to the right of the alter in Trinity

Church and on the Perth City Councillor Honour Boards in Council House. Another

lasting tribute to Alfred Letch was originally installed in the Capitol Theatre in 1928,

where Alfred's St Georges Terrace shop, featuring his name, could be viewed on one of

Arthur Clarke’s seven leadlight glass panels, depicting Perth in the 1870s. Those panels

have now been relocated to the Fremantle Film and Television Institute. Alfred had

ample opportunities to show his character reformation and gained the friendship and

support of some colonial families as a self made man, through his extensive businesses.

He was well regarded and supported by his brother’s family, who encouraged and

assisted him, and also by the Western Australian Bank Managers for many years.

John Acton Wroth

Seventeen year old John Wroth is the youngest white-collar convict to be discussed

in this thesis. His diaries and letters are held in Battye Library and were used

extensively by Rica Erickson.95 This discussion of his life is based on her work, which

has been supplemented by a re-examination of Wroth's Diaries and letters96

Wroth was employed as a printer and was still residing in his father’s Ipswich home,

when he was arrested, placed in Ipswich Gaol and committed for trial at the Ipswich

Assizes on 31 July 1848. He was charged with forging three orders with the intention to

defraud Richard Coles, of a gold watch and chain, Jonathon and Henry Buckingham of

a pair of Wellington boots, from Robert Burrows, a pair of leather slippers, as well as

as well as

by other primary sources.

91 Clairs, Edward Spittlehouse, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, pre 1829-1888, Vol. 1, A-C, p. 541. 92 Letter and Family Tree from Ron Letch, a descendant of Henry Frederick Letch. 93 Henry Frederick Letch, Battye Library Catalogue Cards, 1904 Legislative Assembly Rolls. 94 Lionel Cecil Letch and Thomas Augustus Letch in the Battye Library Catalogue cards. 95 ‘John Acton Wroth - Diarist', The Brand on his Coat: Biographies of some Western Australian Convicts, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 6009, pp. 16-74. 96 Papers of John Acton Wroth', 1830-1876, MN 725, ACC 2816A and 5110A, Battye Library, Perth, Western Australia.

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attempting to obtain watches. He also stole 10 quires of note paper, 1 packet of paper

tie, 3 fragments of packets of note paper, 13 sticks sealing wax, fifty steel pens, an

Octave Memorandum Book and a bottle of Butler’s Marking Ink from his employer,

Stephen Piper.97

According to the Suffolk Chronicle and the Ipswich Journal, Wroth was initially only

charged with having ‘feloniously defrauded’ Coles, to which he pleaded ‘not guilty.’

However on the advice of his attorney, he changed his plea to ‘Guilty,’ so the other

charges were dropped. At the conclusion of his trial, Justice Baron Parke addressed the

prisoner,

… this is by no means the first act of this kind of which you have been guilty... I am sorry that a young man of your respectable expression and education should have committed such a serious offence…I must make an example of you to prevent other persons being tempted to commit similar crimes. The sentence…is…that you will be transported for the term of ten years.98

Wroth’s Ipswich Gaol Book documented that he had been ‘schooled for nine years.

99

According to Rica Erickson, he was the only son of a ‘respectable brewer,’ though her

source for this is not provided. Erickson surmises that after his mother’s death in 1845,

when Wroth apparently nearly died of typhoid fever, his ‘indulgent and loving father’

and his three married sisters spoiled him. Later he formed a romantic attachment to

Elvina Garlett and wrote loving letters to her, which he sealed with his signet ring.100

He was initially employed as Superintendent Thomas Dixon's clerk in the

temporary convict establishment in Fremantle.

Wroth was detained at Ipswich Gaol for the customary nine months of separate

confinement so family members could visit him. Then he was sent to Parkhurst Boy’s

Prison on the Isle of Wight for about seven months, prior to his transportation on the

Mermaid, which arrived in the Swan River Colony on 7 May 1851.

101

97 Suffolk Records Office, ACC 609/8, Ipswich Gaol Record Book, 2 August 1848.

In a letter to his father soon after his

arrival, Wroth reassured him that he was ‘placed in realy (sic) good circumstances for a

Prisoner,’ was healthy, had sufficient food, good lodgings, many privileges and even

tobacco. He reported that he was treated with ‘great kindness and respect’ by Dixon,

98 Suffolk Chronicle, 5 August 1848 & Ipswich Journal, 5 August 1848. 99 Ipswich Goal Book Record, op. cit.. 100 Rica Erickson, ‘John Acton Wroth - Diarist,’ op. cit., pp. 16 & 17. 101 Ibid., pp. 25 & 28.

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asked his father for money in note form, sent his love to his sisters and wanted to know

how his sweetheart was getting on.102

Sadly for Wroth, despite having written an ardent letter to his sweetheart, wanting

her to confirm her intentions regarding him, Elvina Garlett never replied. By his second

letter home on 12 July from the temporary establishment, Wroth wrote that he had

formed a friendship with 'Alfred De Letch' who had made him, ‘a neat drab

waistcoat…a cloth cap of a superior quality… (and) has been continually suggesting

things to make me more comfortable.’ Wroth enclosed a letter written by ‘A DeLeech’

that was calculated to set his father’s mind at ease. DeLeech wrote, ‘Should the days of

adversity overtake him…I will cheerfully provide for him,’ and he referred to Wroth

junior as his ‘beloved friend & Brother John.’

103

Prior to receiving his Ticket-of-Leave, Wroth was sent to the York Convict Hiring

Depot to work as a clerk, on probationary prisoner status. He was allowed to sleep in a

small hut in the town, rather than at the road works camp and kept up his

correspondence with DeLeech. In a letter dated 29 September 1851, he assured

DeLeech ‘how much I wish sometimes that you were at my side,’ before signing off as

‘Your affect. Brother.’ Wroth wrote that he found that the new superintendent at the

depot was ‘a very kind man - but when excited, he is very authoritative and even

presuming,’ so Wroth apparently had some ‘short words’ with him.’

104 Wroth was

responsible for all weekly statistics including pay lists, rolls, sick reports, day passes,

requisitions for supplies, monthly accounts, transport and medical comforts, work party

sheets and documenting instances of misconduct in the Occurrence Book, which were

all reported monthly to the Comptroller General.105 When Corporal Hays of the Royal

Sappers and his wife took Wroth under their wing, he accepted their gifts of food,

enjoyed their companionship, went riding out to the road camps with the corporal, and

later on even assisted in their marriage reconciliation.106

102 John Acton Wroth, Letterbook, ACC 2816A, MN 725, Battye Library, Perth, Microfilm. Wroth’s first letter to his father from Fremantle, June 1851.

He kept up his correspondence

with his father who sent him some money, wrote to his two sisters, and one of his

brothers-in-law even arranged for someone to bring money for him to Australia.

Although his father was no longer able to send him any money by mid-1853, Wroth was

103 Ibid., Wroth's second letter to his father, 12 July 1851. 104 Ibid., Wroth’s letter to De Leech from the York Convict Hiring Depot, 29 September 1851. 105 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit.., pp.38 & 39. 106 Ibid., p. 39.

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still receiving letters from him and other family members at that time, to which he

enthusiastically replied.107

After Wroth received his Ticket-of-Leave on 28 November 1851, six months or so

after his arrival,

108 he had a surreptitious love affair with Jessey McGall while at the

York depot. She was the stepdaughter of Sergeant McGall, whom he met on the

Mermaid on their way to the colony. However due to Wroth’s convict status, McGall

would not allow them to marry and consequently poor Jessey was sent off into domestic

service at Fremantle, while Wroth was temporarily transferred back to the Fremantle

Depot for a short interval in mid-1852.109 While at Fremantle, Wroth suffered a

recurring fever which incurred a debt of several pounds for medical treatment to a

convict moneylender. As De Leech went his guarantor, Wroth gave him his ring as

security,110 and during September 1852 he worked in De Leech’s 'Livery Stables and

Coffee House’ in Perth, to help pay off his debt to his friend.111

After Wroth returned to the York Depot, he worked as an assistant clerk under a

ticketer named William Basely, who resented Wroth’s presence there. Wroth also had to

share his tent with an uncouth convict, which forced him to draw up a code of conduct

for his ‘uneducated ‘and ‘depraved’ tent mate to follow. His ‘Rules to be observed

within this Tent’ included, taking caps off and washing face and hands before meals,

placing food scraps in the appropriate box, wiping down the table and cleaning used

utensils. Obscenity had to be ‘rigidly suppressed, all vulgarity discountenanced

(and)]...Cleanliness to be observed always, and good manners upheld.’

112 Adding to his

woes, DeLeech sent him a threatening letter, demanding payment for the rest of the debt

for which he been guarantor and warned Wroth that he would have to ‘proceed against'

him, as he had been forced to pay off Wroth’s debt to the moneylender.113

Wroth survived mostly on meat, bread and tea with milk and sugar with occasional

treats of rice, soup, greens, melons and other fruit, dripping, pancakes, damper and

brandy from Mrs Hay.

114

107 Erickson, ibid., Wroth’s letters to his father, pp. 28-31, 34, 35, 50- 52.

He could not afford to pay the last four shillings he owed to

108 John Acton Wroth, Character Book Record, op. cit. 109 Erickson, op. cit., pp. 35 & 36. 110 Erickson, ibid., p. 38. 111 John Wroth, Ticket-of-Leave Registers, ACC 1386, Vol. 1, No. 368, June 1853.Also Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 36. 112 Erickson, Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 38. 113 Ibid., p. 44. 114 Wroth’s Diary, Part II, ‘In the Colony,’ from 16 July 1853 to 27 July 1853.

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De Leech until 18 July 1853, when he took on a small private position, teaching the

hostelry manager’s children to repay his debt. 115

His third, brief love affair while at York, was with Susannah Smithies, whose father

was the Wesleyan Minister. Wroth composed a poem, wrote a letter to her and courted

her from afar. However after discovering Wroth’s letter, Reverend Smithies accosted

Wroth and warned him that it was ‘utterly impossible for a Ticket-of-Leave man to

aspire to his daughter’s hand,’ so Wroth avoided her and attended the Anglican Church

instead. They later attempted to renew their relationship through a series of surreptitious

letters and were planning an elopement in December 1853, however Reverend Smithies

intercepted another letter and persuaded the Resident Magistrate to charge Wroth with

attempted abduction of an under-age girl. At the last minute, Wroth refused to sign his

sworn evidence form and was consequently sentenced to a year’s punishment in

Fremantle, where he was dealt with leniently by the Comptroller General, and ‘the

year’s sentence was either remitted or greatly reduced.

116

Wroth received his Conditional Pardon on 1 January 1854.

117 By March that year he

moved to Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot, where he was appointed Clerk of Courts and

also acted as Resident Magistrate Harris’s personal clerk on £18 a year, until the end of

1856. In addition to his official clerical duties at the Depot and as the Resident

Magistrate’s clerk, he supplemented his income with clerical work for James

Drummond, a pioneer pastoralist, merchant and owner of “Hawthornden” in Toodyay,

while living in one of his cottages at Mill farm.118 On 7 June 1854, Wroth married a

migrant lass named Brigid Josephine Ellis, who was the daughter of a sea captain,119

and had probably arrived on the Clara on 3 September 1853.120

During 1857 there were fears that transportation would cease, after the Imperial

Government had ordered the closure of all country depots to cut costs, after the new

Fremantle Convict Establishment had opened in 1856. Consequently Wroth lost his

115 Wroth’s Diary, ibid., 18 July 1853. 116 Letter from the Resident Magistrate in York to the Comptroller General, 23 December 1853, CSO 311, cited in Erickson, ‘John Acton Wroth, Diarist,’ pp., 55 & 56. 117 Rica Erickson and Gillian O’Mara, Convicts in Western Australia, 1850-1887, op. cit., Wroth, p. 615. 118 Erickson, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., pp. 56 & 57. 119 Ibid., p. 57. 120 Erickson, The Bride Ships: Experiences of Immigrants Arriving in Western Australia, 1849-1889 Hesperian press, Victoria Park, W. A., 1992, p. 154. Also Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. 11, D-J, p. 973.

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position as clerk in the Toodyay Convict depot at the end of that year, although the

Magistrate still employed him as his Clerk of Courts until May 1861.121

Fortunately for Wroth, James Drummond opened a store at Mill farm, which Wroth

rented as storekeeper. He also held the position of postmaster at Toodyay from 1857 to

October 1864. During 1858 he was also employed as the Secretary of the Toodyay

Agricultural Society on £10 a year.122

Many floods occurred in that area and during 1862 the government abandoned the

Toodyay town site in favour of Newcastle nearby. Wroth had the foresight to purchase

two lots in Newcastle in 1861, which were close to the convict depot buildings and the

two wells that held the town’s water supply. In November 1864, he bought a 60 acre

tillage lease freehold and 40 acres adjacent to it. During March 1866 and July 1867, he

successfully negotiated the purchase of two more town lots with river frontages, and in

August 1866 he paid for two larger locations of 40 acres each. By 1867, he had

purchased two more town lots of 14 acres at £7 each, as well as an adjacent town lot.

123

Early in 1865 before the new schoolmaster arrived, Wroth who had taught his own

sons, accepted a short term teaching role from Drummond, in an empty cottage near

Steam Mill, probably to repay some of his £150 debt he owed to him.

124

121 Erickson, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p, 58, 59.

He also secured

the contract to supply food to the Government Commissariat at Newcastle which was

worth about £270 a month, commencing in April 1865. He purchased another horse and

commissioned Solomon Cook to build a strong two-horse dray, to carry goods from

Newcastle out to the road parties. On his recent land acquisitions, he grew hay to fatten

122 Erickson, ibid., pp. 56-63. 123 Erickson, ibid., p. 69. 124 Erickson ibid., pp. 63- 67 & 69. Also Rica Erickson, Old Toodyay and Newcastle, Toodyay Shire Council, 1974, p. 212.

Figure 10: The Toodyay Convict

Hiring Depot.

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stock and set up his own butchering and carting business with the help of his two older

sons.

In January 1865, Wroth ordered supplies such as tea, pepper, vinegar, soap, sago and

sugar from Mr Gull, the leading merchant in Guildford, which were delivered to

Newcastle two or three days later, sometimes by farmers who were in debt to him. From

there he and his sons would later cart them to convict road parties near Bolgart and Tea

Tree Swamp, which were further on down Guildford Road. Wroth traded the skins from

his butchering to a Perth tanner, in exchange for a harness and potatoes, swapped

rendered fat for soap and used local teamsters to cart his tallow, hides and sandalwood.

Being short of capital by March 1865, Wroth was forced to advise his customers that he

would much prefer to no longer accept credit or unsaleable items in his business

transactions, because the merchants he dealt with, had a similar policy. 125

Unfortunately the year 1865 was not a very good year to start provisioning contracts

as rainfall there was light, so some crops partly failed. Wroth had to nearly double the

cost of meat to town customers because the number of healthy stock declined. There

were often delays in his payment for supplies from the government, which meant Wroth

had to negotiate overdrafts or mortgages. He suffered great anxiety over his business

problems, because he had no substantial capital reserves and was forced to extend credit

to his regular customers, during difficult years after fires, floods or drought. There were

also seasonal fluctuations in the value of his goods, which forced him to raise the price

of meat from 3¼d to 5d, then 6d per pound, which was bad for business. At least he had

a crop of hay from the previous year to feed his horses.

126

Although Wroth offered Alfred DeLeech some of his hay reserve for his livery

stables, the sale fell through. Months later when DeLeech tried to renegotiate the sale,

Wroth replied that he now required the hay for his own horses, but he did place a large

order for note paper, envelopes, foolscap paper, mustard, plums, currents and ground

coffee supplies from DeLeech. In other letters he enquired after DeLeech’s wife and

‘the younger branch’ and signed himself, ‘I am still the old fashioned… 'quobba'

(cobber).’

127

125 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp. 65.

He successfully tendered again for the Commissariat contract in 1866, but

the very dry winter season caused farmers in the area to sell off their stock and many

were on the brink of bankruptcy, including Wroth and other major traders. That year,

the long winter delayed shearing and haymaking, and due to an excess of grain the price

126 Erickson, ibid., p. 68. 127 Erickson, ibid.

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of flour fell, affecting all the wheat farmers in the area and forced Wroth to lower his

tenders for flour and meat. As small storekeepers were denied credit, Wroth and others

had no other option but to place orders from South Australia.

Business worsened after droughts in 1868 and government contracts were reduced

after transportation ceased that year. A trade recession had started to develop from

1868, continued through most of the 1870s, and worse still for those living in Toodyay,

some of their wells began to dry up. Lack of finishing rains in 1870 meant smaller grain

yields, forced farmers to cut for hay, and the prices of sandalwood and horses fell,

causing even wealthy pastoralists to file for bankruptcy, yet Wroth and his sons hung in

there. He had employed sixteen ticketers between 1858 and 1871, including a butcher

and a road worker, and his sons helped him with stock, butchering and his mail

contract.128

Wroth had been experiencing health problems in his early thirties and by November

1865 his legs were starting to feel weak. In March 1866 he complained of heaviness in

his left foot, loss of power in his left leg and acute pain in both legs. He couldn’t feel the

iron in the stirrup and at night both feet swelled slightly. He wrote in his Diary, ‘I have

had no appetite for food, or energy for work.’ By July 1866 the thirty-four years old,

Wroth found that he was, ‘hardly able to sit up, having had a severe attack of

rheumatism and influenza.’129

From 1867 to 1876 Wroth advertised himself as a general dealer, storekeeper and

farmer and he still held the government mail contract in 1876. In 1868, members of the

Toodyay Agricultural Society allowed Wroth and some other expirees to join them.

Their acceptance into the Society was probably due to a financial climate where all

128 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp. 68-73. 129 Erickson, ibid., p. 71.

Figure 11: John Wroth, while a dealer, shopkeeper, farmer and mail contractor, 1867-1877, Courtesy of Battye Library.

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farmers were suffering, everyone was supporting each other in times of need, and

obviously Wroth and other expirees had reformed and proved to be law abiding citizens.

During their Annual General Meeting, members declared they were:

…glad that the time had arrived to receive in their Society the expirees of this district, especially those whose conduct entitled them to join this or any other Society.130

Erickson argued that this was a sign that ‘some of the prejudices against expirees

were fading.’

131 After the Road Board Act of 1871, Wroth was appointed the first

Secretary of the Toodyay Road Board on £10 a year, which was increased to £30 per

annum in 1874 until he died in 1876.132 His eldest son, Arthur John Wroth, who was a

competent butcher at nineteen, was handling Wroth’s business in that area by 1874.133

He became a grazier in Toodyay and took over his father’s role of Secretary of the Road

Board at £25 per annum, after his father’s death of typhoid in Toodyay on 30 July,

1876.134

In his will, Wroth asked for all ‘his property to be sold with the exception of his

conveyances and horses etc, which were required to carry out the mail contracts.’ After

130 Toodyay Agricultural Society Minute Books, Meeting 1868, ACC 627A, Battye Library. 131 Erickson, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit.. p. 73. 132 Erickson, ibid. 133 Erickson, ibid., p. 73. 134 Erickson, ibid., p. 74.

Figure 12: The Toodyay Honour Board which contains John Wroth’s name as well as those of two of his sons, who were also Secretaries of the Toodyay Road Board.

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paying off his debts, the remainder was to ‘be divided into seven equal parts for his wife

and children.’ His mourning ring stick and gold watch were bequeathed to Arthur, a

gold locket and white ring to William and a family bible, his musical box and

Shakespeare’s Works to Joseph. He left his double barrel gun to James, his desk tea

caddy and work box to Bessie and his pistol to Acton. He ‘desired that the amounts

accruing to James, Acton and Bessie be held in trust until they come of age.’135

John and Bridget’s Wroth’s eldest son, Arthur John Wroth, married Elizabeth

Matilda Sinclair, the daughter of the free settler and farmer, William Joseph Sinclair, in

1877, then Elinor Hill Ridley in 1888 or 1889, the daughter of Joseph Ridley, also a free

settler, who was a farmer at Irwin.

136 Their second son, William Augustus Wroth

became a farrier, jockey and horse trainer and was in charge of his father’ mail contract

between Newcastle to Guildford and Newcastle to York until 1880. He was later the

lessee of the Newcastle, then the Clackline hotels. William married Jane (nicknamed

Jessie) Lloyd in 1884.137 She was the daughter of Charles Lloyd, a free settler and

Toodyay farmer and grazier.138

Joseph Ablett Wroth, their third son first worked at expiree Dan Connor’s store and

mill, and was then was apprenticed to a carpenter at York. He was only seventeen years

old when his father died in 1876, so he returned home to run the family store and a few

months later, added a butcher’s shop.

139 From 1880 to 1884 he worked as a carpenter at

York, then as a blacksmith and carpenter in Toodyay from 1886-1889. He was also

Town clerk for 41 years, taking over from his brother Arthur, and became a

Freemason.140 Evidently, he later made a modest fortune after gaining building

contracts for railway cottages between Northam and Merredin and a new hospital in

Newcastle, which he invested in land or mining ventures.141

135 Last Will and Testament of John Acton Wroth, S.R.O, WAS 34, CON 3403, Item 1876/505, 22 February, 1876.

He married Emily Hannah

Sinclair in 1882. She was the daughter of a prominent free settler, James Sinclair, who

was a farmer, pastoralist and innkeeper. Sinclair was President and Secretary of the

136 Arthur John Wroth, Rica Erickson (Compiler), The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians pre 1829-1888, op. cit., vol. IV, R-Z, pp. 3402. He married Eliner Ridley, p. 2624, daughter of Joseph Ridley, p. 2625. 137 William Augustus Wroth, Vol. 1V, ibid., p. 3402, 138 William married Jane (nicknamed Jessie) Lloyd in 1884, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol III, K-Q, p. 1876. 139 Joseph Ablett Wroth, Rica Erickson, Old Toodyay and Newcastle, op. cit., p. 259. 140 Joseph Ablett Wroth, Erickson, Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. IV, R-Z, op. cit., p. 3402. 141 Joseph Ablett Wroth, Erickson, Old Toodyay and Newcastle, op. cit., p. 316.

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Toodyay Agricultural Society in 1857, on the Board of Education in 1874 and a

member of the Toodyay Road Board between 1872 and 1893.142

James Lyons Wroth, their fourth son was initially a blacksmith at “Dumbarton”

Toodyay in 1883 before retiring to a small farming property in Toodyay. He married

Lizzie Grogan, possibly the daughter of expiree, Michael Grogan, who worked for

Robert De Burgh, a farmer and grazier at Moore River.

143 John and Bridget’s fifth son,

Adam Ellis Wroth died when aged only 22 years old and his occupation, although not

stated, was probably assisting his father’s business. Elizabeth Caroline Wroth, their only

daughter, married John Ferguson in 1890. He was the son of Alexander Ferguson, a

farmer and grazier in the Gingin-Chittering district and the grandson of free settler,

Robert Lewis Ferguson. They lived in a stone cottage at James Drummond’s Mill

Farm.144

As well as John Acton Wroth and two of his son’s names featuring on the new

‘Toodyay Road Board,’ honour board, the Royal Western Australian Historical Society

recently installed a plaque, ‘Commemorating Services to Toodyay by Members of the

Wroth Family Since 1852,’ which has been attached to a garden seat in the town.

Members of that family are still serving that community today.

142 James Sinclair, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. IV, R-Z, p, 2824. 143 Michael Grogan, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australia, vol. II, D-J, p. 1286. 144 Elizabeth Caroline Wroth, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australia, vol. IV, op.cit., p, 3402 & John Ferguson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australia, vol. II, op. cit., p. 1034.

Figure 13: The commemorative plaque to honour the Wroth family is on the side of the public bench seat, situated in the town, near the old Courthouse.

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Joseph Lucas Horrocks.

The third white-collar convict under review is Joseph Horrocks, who was born in

1805.145 According to Martin Gibbs, Horrocks came from a respected Cornish family,

was well educated, married and had owned a merchandising business. In his early life

he had served in the Royal Navy as a sick berth attendant146 and had gained some

medical knowledge which proved very useful later on in the colony, for treating

illnesses and those who suffered from accidents.147 On 9 April 1851, the forty-nine year

old Horrocks, who was described by the Times reporter as ‘a person of gentlemanly

appearance,’ pleaded guilty to ‘feloniously forging and uttering’ one acceptance to a bill

of exchange for ‘£430. 9s. 6d’ and another of ‘£602. 3s. 6d,’ for which he was

sentenced to transportation for 14 years.148

After being categorised as a ‘Class 1’ prisoner while in Pentonville penitentiary, he

arrived at Fremantle on the Marian on 31 January 1852. According to Wendy Birman,

Horrocks worked in the medical area of the temporary convict establishment in

Fremantle,

149 where his conduct was also assessed as ‘Exemplary’ and he was placed in

Class 1 for two months, prior to gaining his Ticket-of-Leave on 8 June 1853.150 His

religion was noted as Protestant on his Character Book Record.151 Evidently there was a

shortage of medical officers, so he applied for the post of medical attendant at the newly

opened convict hiring depot in Port Gregory on a reduced salary of £20 a year, because

his qualifications were limited. Horrocks arrived there on the brig named ‘Hero’ in

September 1853,152 where according to Gibbs, he ‘soon gained a reputation for freely

dispensing aid to convicts and settlers alike, earning the epithet ‘Doc,’ before leaving in

early 1856.153

His financial situation was frequently precarious in his early years in the colony. On

5 January 1855, Horrocks opened an account at the Western Australian Bank with a

cash deposit of £241/-/8, but his account was overdrawn by 21 August that year, when

145 Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 11, D-J, op. cit., p. 1535. 146 Martin Gibbs, ‘Landscapes of Meaning: Joseph Lucas Horrocks and the Gwalla Estate, Northampton,’ Historical Traces: Studies in Western Australian History, Jenny Gregory (ed.), vol. 17, 1997, p. 39. 147 Rica Erickson, ‘Men of Enterprise, Joseph Lucas Horrocks,’ The Brand on His Coat, ,op. cit., p. 224. 148 Joseph Lucas Horrocks, Central Criminal Courts, London, April 9, The Times, 10 April, 1851, p. 7c. 149 Wendy Birman, ‘Horrocks, Joseph Lucas, (1865),’ Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 4, Melbourne University Press, 1972, pp. 425-426, 150 Joseph Horrocks, Rica Erickson & Gillian O’Mara, Convicts in Western Australia 1850-1887, op. cit., p. 269. 151 Joseph Horrocks, ‘Character Book’ Record, ACC 1156, R 17, No. 1014. 152 Birman, ibid. 153 Gibbs, op. cit., p. 39.

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he owed £10/8/1. Fortunately George Shenton loaned him £100 to clear his debt, so his

credit balance stood at £89/11/11. On 24 November 1855, when Horrocks was in

financial trouble again, owing the bank £16/12/11, Shenton rescued him again with a

loan of £29/11/3. On 26 January 1856, while he was in debit for £6/11/5, Shenton

loaned him £13/-/10, to clear that debt.154

Horrock’s monetary situation improved dramatically after he became involved in

copper mining, initially helping to manage James Drummond’s White-Peak mine in

March 1856.

155 He received his Conditional Pardon on 19 April 1856,156 by which time,

Drummond, a pioneer pastoralist, agriculturalist and merchant (who had also employed

Wroth), formed the Wanerenooka Mining Company backed by Shenton. He employed

forty-six ticketers on his mine site, north of Northampton, and his farm at Toodyay,

between 1856 and 1873.157 Horrocks set up at Wanerenooka as the village storekeeper

and postmaster and also assisted in the management of the mine. While there, Horrocks

experimented with various crops including tobacco, hops, sugar cane, fruit and wheat 158 and according to Erickson, ' he ‘continued to minister to the sick.'159

After more copper ore was discovered about 3kms south of Wanerenooka in 1858,

Horrocks purchased 100 acres of land in that area to set up his Gwalla Mine, financed

by George Shenton, who was by now the Director of the Western Australian Bank. His

financial situation radically improved after his mine became operational in April 1859.

No overdrawn debits were recorded between February 1855 to December 1859 and his

highest credit rating during that period was £283/9/9, recorded on 25 June 1858.

160

Horrocks then set to work to establish a ‘model village,’ for his workers.

161

154 Joseph Lucas Horrock’s, Western Australian Bank Records from Historical Services, 6-8 Parramatta Road, Homebush, N.S.W, 2140, via Lucy Rantzen, 31 May 2004.

According to the Perth Gazette, in December 1860, when Governor Kennedy visited the

mine, there were, ‘but three or four comfortable brick cottages … (surrounded by)

crops, and a large garden enclosed by walls.’ It was located on the southern edge of

where Northampton’s town boundary is today and according to a Geological Survey

Plan of the Gwalla Estate in 1907, twenty or more stonewalled cottages, which were

155 Perth Gazette, 14 March 1856. Mention of Horrocks, managing White Peak Mine. 156 Joseph Horrocks, Rica Erickson and Gillian O’Mara, Convicts in Western Australia, op. cit., p. 269. 157 James Drummond , Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, pre 1829 – 1888, vol. 11, D - J, op. cit., p. 899. 158 Gibbs, op. cit., p. 44. 159 Erickson, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p. 225. 160 J. L. Horrocks ‘Customer of Western Australian Bank, 1856-1859 Account Information,’ via Lucy Rantzen, op. cit. 161 Gibbs, op. cit., p. 40.

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leased at low rentals to married men, and a ‘U’ shaped structure for twenty single men’s

quarters were built in the northern section along a surveyed road.162

In a lengthy letter to the British Colonial Secretary, Horrocks stressed the need to

continue transportation to the colony and pleaded that, despite their 'blemished

character,' he had found that most convicts proved to be:

…equal in honour and probity to the settlers themselves, in every respect on a par with the most respectable immigrants… (and were willing) to become good and useful members of society, if provided with opportunity…163

162 Perth Gazette, 7 December, 1860, cited in Gibbs, p. 40. 163 Gibbs, ibid., Horrock’s letter received by the Colonial Secretaries Office, Vol. 494, p, 185.

Figure 14: Horrock’s Model Village at the Gwalla Estate, Northampton, in Martin Gibbs, ‘Landscapes of Meaning,’ p. 38.

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Horrocks believed that his remote mining frontier was an ideal place for the former

felons to transform themselves into valued settlers. On the highest hill in the middle of

his village, he had an interdenominational church with a tall spire built, next to a

graveyard. He was its lay preacher after it opened in October 1864 and it overlooked the

entire village, including fields to the eastern boundary. The mine shaft and associated

buildings ran from the mid west side towards the mid and lower south, and the farm

house, dairy, barn, orchard and vineyard were drawn down the western and southern

edges of the map.164 Wheat was ground into flour by a steam powered mill and

Horrocks continued experimenting with various crops on his 165 acres and also

encouraged his tenants to grow vegetables and flowers in their gardens.165

Horrocks had become a man of considerable status. Governor Hampton, Bishop Hale

and other officials toured his mine and ‘model village’ in 1862, and after the tour, ‘the

official party and leading settlers in the district, sat down to dine with Mr Horrocks.’

166

From 1862 to 1865, he employed sixty ticketers. Half of them were miners, and there

were also several building tradesmen, 3 cooks, an engineer, a blacksmith and a

bookmaker. He also provided sustenance to the jobless, while they built stone walls

leading into the village and fronting the cottages.167

164 Ibid., Gibbs, ‘Central portion of the Gwalla Estate (Victoria Location 315), based on a c.1907 plan,’ p. 46.

By 1865, a convict expiree teacher,

William Brooks, was teaching in the new schoolhouse financed by Shenton. in return

165 Erickson, ‘Men of Enterprise,’ op. cit., p. 227. 166 Ibid., p. 226. 167 Ibid., pp. 225, 226.

Figure 15: Horrock’s Church, built in 1864 in his model village at Gwalla, where he was the Lay Preacher.

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for £15 a year rental.168 According to Erickson, Horrocks asked his wife to join him at

Gwalla, but for some reason she remained in England.169 Gibbs assessed that the

‘Gwalla Mine was ‘quite successful’ as it produced ‘282 tons of copper ore with a net

return of £2920 in 1860 and 900 tons worth over £14,700 between 1863 and its closure

in 1869.’170

Horrocks died of a ‘general disability’

171 at about sixty years of age in his home,

‘Bridge Farm,’172 at Wanerenooka on 7 October 1866, and was buried in his own

Gwalla Village Cemetery.173 His obituary in the Perth Gazette stated, ‘the poor have

lost a friend.’174

In the event of William’s decease, 'Bridge Farm was to be legally transferred to his

mother, Mrs Julia Bradbury, now free from the control of her husband, expiree John

Bradbury, who had left Champion Bay for Callao on 10 March 1863. 'Bridge Farm' was

to be properly furnished, tiled and newly roofed for Mrs Bradbury and William, if they

wished to occupy it. The rest of his properties and monies were bequeathed to his wife,

Mrs Joseph Lucas Horrocks, at 17 St James Street, Westbourne Terrace, London. He

left his Illustrated Family Bible to William Mercer Parker, who was a farmer and

grazier of horses, his surgical instruments and medicines to Rev. Laurance at Gwalla

Mines, and his German books to Mr Waldeck, who was probably William Frederick

The two Executors of Horrock’s will, written three days prior to his

death, were Charles Crowther, a Geraldton merchant and Shenton’s business manager

by 1857, and Rev. Thomas Clarke Laurence, formerly a solicitor, then a Methodist

minister in Ireland from 1856 to 1864, prior to his appointment in Champion Bay at

Horrock’s church from 1865 to 1869. His executors were requested to purchase

Horrock's home named ‘Bridge Farm’, which was on a village lease at that time and to

hold it in trust for William Bradbury. That property was to be let or managed by those

trustees for his benefit and they were also asked to maintain William’s clothing and

education until he reached 21 years of age, after which Bridge Farm would be conveyed

to him.

168 Gibbs, op. cit., p. 42. 169 Erickson, ‘Men of Enterprise,’ op. cit., p. 227. 170 Gibbs, op. cit., p. 44. 171 Gibbs, op. cit., p. 44. 172 Joseph Lucas Horrocks, ‘Last Will and Testament, WAS 56, CONS 3436, 1/1832-433/1873, Book 1, No. 143,p. 146. 173 Erickson, ‘Men of Enterprise, op. cit., p. 227. 174 Perth Gazette, 27 October 1865, quoted in Gibbs, p. 45.

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Waldeck the owner of 'Bridge Farm' and a member of the local Board of Education in

1863.175

William was about five years old when his father left Western Australia in 1863 and

aged about seven

176

With great foresight, Horrocks had led a movement to petition for a railway linking

the Gwalla and Wanerenooka mines with the port of Geraldton.

when Horrocks died in October 1865. Perhaps Horrocks and Julia

Bradbury were in a relationship, maybe she was his housekeeper, or they could have

developed a strong friendship and supported each other in the absence of their partners,

with Horrocks providing a father image for her son.

177

…it would be foolish to deny that Horrocks had a vision for the development of his (Gwalla) site, which encompassed the physical and spiritual well-being of his community. Convict, ‘doctor,’ miner and philanthropist, he attempted to create a landscape which had a sense of order and purpose… the evidence that we do have, shows that Horrocks had a deep personal commitment to social reform.

Gibbs saw that,

178

Others obviously agreed. There is a town named Horrocks on Western Australia’s

coastline, just south of Port Gregory, Horrocks Beach in that vicinity bears his name and

Horrocks Road connects Horrocks town to Northampton, just north of Gwalla, in

recognition of his services to the people who lived in that area, over a hundred and forty

years ago.

175 William Mercer Parker, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. III, op. cit., p. 2417, Reverend Thomas Laurence, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians , vol. III, ibid, p. 1805 & William Frederick Waldeck, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. IV, op. cit., p. 3167. 176 John Bradbury, an expiree engine attendant at Champion Bay, who had been convicted of rape in 1848, was sentenced for 20 years. He arrived on the Scindian in 1850, married Julia and their child William was born in 1858. John left for Callao, South America on 10/3/1863, according to The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 1, op. cit., p. 285. 177 Erickson, ‘Men of Enterprise,’ op. cit., p. 227. 178 Gibbs, op. cit., p. 59.

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Thomas Matthew Palmer.

Little is known of Thomas Palmer's background, except that he was an unmarried

clerk at the time of his conviction. At the age of twenty-six he was initially indicted for

‘six counts of defrauding sundry persons’ at Stafford Crown Court on 12 March 1850,

however he was only tried on one count. He was found guilty of 'forging and passing a

forged order for the payment of £35/7s’ on 13 June 1849,' purporting to be drawn and

signed by his employer Harvey Wyatt, the Earl of Lichfield's agent at the Acton Bank

near Stafford. Palmer was sentenced to transportation for ten years.179

He arrived in the Swan River Colony in the Sea Park on 5 April 1854.

180 Both

Palmer’s General Register and Character Book records are missing. However according

to his Ticket-of-Leave Register details, he received his ticket on the day of his arrival

and was employed as a servant by A. Thomson, Assistant Superintendent of the Convict

Road Parties on £2 a month, which was twice the rate usually offered to ticketers.181

179 Thomas Matthew Palmer’s Trial, The Times, 19 March 1850, p. 7d.

180 Erickson and O’Mara’s, Convicts in Western Australia, 1850-1887, op. cit., p. 427. 181 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp. 290, 291, & Thomas Palmer, Ticket-of -Leave Register, ACC 1386, Vol. 2, Perth, No. 2897, p. 1025.

Figure 16: Horrocks Road, 'Western Australia' R.A.C.W.A.

Figure 17: Horrocks Town, 'Traveller's Guide,' Western Australia, W.A. Tourism Commission

Figure 18: Horrocks Beach, Courtesy of Battye Library.

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After gaining his Conditional Pardon on 24 November 1855, he moved to Albany where

he was employed as a government schoolteacher. There had been little education organized for the colony's children until the Sisters of

Mercy and then the colonial government established elementary schools in 1846 and

1847. According to Shirley Leahy, in order to cope with the increasing cost of providing

an education for the growing number of children in the colony, the decision was made

to appoint educated convicts of good character as schoolmasters, especially in rural

districts.182 But convict and expiree teachers experienced serious problems. There was

no teacher training, a relatively new educational system, badly equipped schoolhouses,

poor salaries and they suffered from social discrimination.183

By 1853, when settlers had spread out to live in country areas such as York,

Toodyay, Bunbury, Vasse and Albany, as fifty per cent of the colony’s population was

living away from Perth and Fremantle, those problems intensified. Leahy argued that,

despite compulsory school attendance for children aged between 6 and 14 years after

1871, payment of teachers’ salaries by results, a rise in incentives, improved standards

and the establishment of local Boards of Education to supervise schools, those problems

persisted. The moral and intellectual concerns among the children, failure to improve

conditions for teachers, deteriorating standards due to irregular attendance and low

enrolments of children during the 1870s and 1880s, were also issues of concern. She

found that the continual transferring of ticketers or expiree teachers from one school to

another, gave convict schoolmasters little opportunity to create stable teaching

environments, or allowed them to prove themselves as good teachers.

184

Palmer began teaching in the Albany Government School in December 1857. He had

received good testimonials from the Albany Board of Education and the Comptroller

General, but within a month Governor Kennedy stated,

I am informed that 'Palmer' is, or has been a convict – are the Board aware of this, and if so, do they think the appt. (appointment) expedient, when men of untainted character may be obtained? 185

Nevertheless Palmer had been accepted into the family of free settlers in January

1858, when he married Elizabeth Thomas, around the time he began teaching in Albany.

Her father, William Thomas, appeared in the 1836 Census as a servant and brick layer

182 Shirley Leahy, ‘Convict Teachers and the Children of Western Australia, 1850-1890,’ Honors Thesis, Edith Cowan University, W. A., submitted 4/6/1993, pp. 1-3. 183 Ibid., p. 2 & 3. 184 Ibid., pp. 3 & 88. 185 Ibid., pp. 36 & 37.

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and had become a Police Constable by 1841, prior to reverting to stonemasonry again

and working on sites such as St John’s Church of England rectory in Albany in 1848. In

1850 Thomas had purchased a Town Lot in Albany, by which time he and his sons were

recognized as master builders and masons there.186

Palmer and his wife Elizabeth had ten children in sixteen years between 1861 and

1877, eight of whom survived.

187 To support so many children, Palmer also worked as

the country agent for the Inquirer newspaper in Perth, from 1861 to 1877. 188

Their second daughter, Mary Eliza Palmer, married the son of Reverend James Mark

Innes, Edward Hume Innes, who worked as a Post and Telegraph messenger in 1873 at

Toodyay, then at Bunbury in 1874. Edward was appointed a Telegraph operator in

Albany in 1875, prior to being employed as the Chief Operator in 1887.

189 Their first

son, Edwin G. Palmer, a storeman in Albany by 1885 did not marry.190 Their second

son, Thomas G. Palmer married Mary Ann Cornwall, the daughter of William Walter

Cornwall who was illiterate, but Mary had been taught at home by private tutors. Her

father was a free settler and pastoralist, who had leased about a million acres in

Narrogin, Williams, Beaufort and Kojonup in the 1860s, prior to opening the Bridge

Hotel at Williams in 1871, the Royal Hotel at Kojonup in 1883 and purchasing Alfred

Krakouer’s store in Albany in the same year.191

Helena Palmer married Charles Alfred Bond in 1898, but no information is currently

available about his parentage or career.

There is no employment record for

Thomas, but it is likely that he worked for his enterprising father-in-law.

192 Emma married Edwin Charles Doust Keyser,

who was employed as a clerk in the Customs Department by 1886.193 Edwin was the

son of a free settler, an American named Charles Doust Keyser, who had jumped ship at

Vasse in Western Australia in about 1852. Her father-in-law, Charles, was a

schoolmaster from 1857-1858, purchased Busselton Town lots in 1862, built the

Busselton Lighthouse and employed 42 Ticket-of-Leave men between 1864 and 1871,

prior to settling in Albany in 1873.194

186 Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. IV, R-Z, William Thomas, p. 3043.

There is little or no information about Palmer and

his wife Elizabeth’s other children.

187 Thomas Matthew Palmer, Battye Library Catalogue Card, Perth. 188 Ibid. 189 Edward Hume Innes, The Bicentennial Dictionary, op. cit., vol. 11, D-J, p. 1598. 190 Edwin G. Palmer, The Bicentennial Dictionary, op. cit., vol.111, K-Q, p. 2405. 191 William Walter Cornwall, Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 1, A-C, p. 670. 192 Helena Palmer, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, op. cit., K-Q, p. 2406. 193 Edwin Charles Doust Keyser, ibid., p. 1739. 194 Charles Doust Keyser, ibid., p. 1738.

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After indicating his preference for ‘untainted’ schoolmasters, Kennedy may have

been surprised to learn, that Palmer taught successfully for 33 years in the Albany

Government School where he had been originally appointed, before his retirement in

December 1890. When Palmer died in Albany on 16 January 1893, he had already

arranged that his two son-in-laws, ‘Edward Hume Innes, Postmaster at Geraldton’ and

‘Edward Charles Doust Keyser of the Colonial Treasury at Albany,’ would be the

executors of his will. His estate, which did not amount 'in value to the sum of two

hundred pounds,’ was ‘bequeathed to his wife Elizabeth for her own use and benefit

absolutely.’195

195 The Last Will and Testament of Thomas Matthew Palmer, S.R.O, Cons 3436, 1008/1891, Book 5, No. 34, 1896, pp. 898-900.

Figure 19: In his Will, Thomas Matthew Palmer bequeathed all his estate his wife, Elizabeth.

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In 1868, five years after transportation to the Swan River Colony had terminated,

Reverend Millett’s wife had an optimistic view of social relations between the bond and

free children in class rooms:

…class distinction between the penal and free classes did not exist, where children of convicts and colonists were treated alike from 1873 onwards in the classroom.’196

This is debatable. However Leahy has argued that:

These teachers brought stability to the children in their care, a sense of stability and unity to the whole community in which they lived, well deserving of respect from the pupils and parents alike.197

Erickson’s view of Palmer may have been true:

It has been said that Palmer was the only expiree in the district to attain a position of respectability in the town. He had the distinction of training one of his daughters as a teacher, as well as a niece, before he retired in 1891. He was very

196 Mrs E. Millett in Leahy's thesis, op. cit., p. 59. 197 Leahy, op. cit., p. 88.

Figure 20: See the Probate Duty payable on the ‘whole of Thomas Palmer’s Estate and Effects, which did not ‘amount in value to the sum of £200,’ State records Office WAS 56, CONS 3436, 1008/1891, Book 5, No. 34, 1896, pp. 898-900.

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active in public affairs and was included among the guests at a banquet in honour of Governor Weld in January 1875.198

Conclusion

Records of the employment of these four white-collar convicts indicate that there

was certainly a need for educated convicts in the Swan River Colony. Letch initially

worked in the Convict Dispensary and was then employed by two free settlers,

including the well regarded Lionel Lukin. He reached the peak of his career wise in the

mid 1870's, while running his General Store in St George's Terrace, Perth. He was voted

in as a Perth City Councillor for six years, held the Government Mail Contract between

Perth and Fremantle which was driven by a free settler, and was hiring out nine four

wheeled carriages and five two wheeled carriages, as well as gigs and carts, from his

coaching house. He also provided drivers, carriages and horses for funerals, initiated a

cab service around Perth and employed forty six ticketers between 1852 and 1876.

Letch was involved in four land transactions in the Avon, Canning and Guildford areas,

two of which included George Shenton, Walter Padbury and William Locke Brockman,

who were prominent free settlers and property owners. As Letch was a well known a

shop owner and business man about Perth, was voted in as a Perth Councillor for three

terms, became involved in land and transactions with prominent free settlers, played the

organ in Perth's Trinity Church and one of his sons married Canon Clair's daughter, the

Letch family members would have been considered to be socially acceptable by many

free settlers.

Wroth was initially Superintendent Dixon's clerk, then a clerk at the York Convict

Depot, prior to being demoted to assistant clerk after his love affair with a free settler's

daughter caused problems. After moving to Newcastle in 1861, Wroth reached the peak

of his career when he purchased six town lots, two lots of 14 acres, three 40 acre blocks

and one of 60 acres between 1861 and 1867, on which he held stock, grew hay to feed

them and also for settlers in the town, as well as for provisioning convict road parties

nearby. He was appointed as Toodyay Road Board's first Secretary from 1871 to 1876.

Three of Wroth's sons and his only daughter married the progeny of free settlers, so the

Wroth family also appeared to have been socially acceptable.

Horrocks worked in the medical department of the temporary Convict Establishment

prior to gaining his Ticket, then as the Medical Attendant at the Port Gregory Convict

Hiring Depot. After gaining some mining experience while helping James Drummond 198 Erickson, ‘Schoolmasters,’ The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p. 291.

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run his copper mine, he became the owner of a very successful copper mine, model

village and church in Gwalla, where he employed sixty ticketers. As Governor Hampton

and Bishop Hale were prepared to dine at Horrock's table and he left his family bible,

surgical instruments and medicines and German books to William Parker, Reverend

Laurance and William Waldeck, Horrocks was obviously socially accepted by those

officials and some of Gwalla's free settlers.

Palmer taught successfully for thirty five years, owned his home, was active in

public affairs and was employed as the country agent for the Inquirer newspaper in

Albany, where he was a guest at a banquet in honour of Governor Weld in 1875. At

least three of Thomas and Elizabeth Palmer's eight children, married the progeny of free

settlers, so it appears that Palmer and his family members were considered to be socially

acceptable.

Alfred Letch's name still features on a small plaque in Perth's Congregational Church,

as a Councillor on a Perth City Council Honour Board and on one of seven leadlight

windows in Fremantle's Film and Television Institute. John Wroth's name and two of

his son's names are inscribed on a new Toodyay Council Honour Board and also on a

plaque attached to a garden seat in that town. Horrocks had a beach, a town and a road

named after him in northern Western Australia, while Thomas Palmer was considered to

be socially acceptable, as he was invited to dine in the presence of Governor Hampton

and Bishop Hale.

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CHAPTER 4. The State of the Colony from 1855 to 1859 and the Lives of Dr John Sampson, Stephen Montague Stout and Miall Reidy Meagher.

Conditions rapidly changed in the Swan River colony between 1855 and 1859, as a

result of demographic increases and economic improvements. This chapter will briefly

recount these changes before examining the lives of Dr John Sampson, Stephen

Montague Stout, a land agent and surveyor and Miall Reidy Meagher, a civil engineer,

who arrived as white collar convicts during that period.

With the rising number of convicts, free settlers became concerned when the

colony’s population increased from 12605 at the end of 1855 to 14837 at the close of

1859, when the male to female ratio was approximately 100 to 56.1 There were 990

convicts in the colony as well as ticket-of-leave holders, who were distributed

throughout the settled areas of Western Australia.2 Free settlers became wary that public

security was at risk, so a curfew was set up for convicts in the Fremantle area which had

the largest proportion of prisoners in 1859. A soldier was employed there to confront

male persons in the streets, to inquire whether they were bond or free.3

During this period exports from the colony radically increased, which must have

been reassuring for the free settlers and some white-collar convicts who had received

their tickets-of-leave and begun their new careers. In addition to minerals including

copper, zinc, coal and lead which had already been discovered, more copper was found

south of Northampton in 1856 and 1858, so the value of mineral exports more than

quadrupled from £2951 in 1855 to £14,752 by 1859. Other exports included

sandalwood, which drastically reduced in value from £12076 in 1855, but gradually

started to rise again to £6,051 by 1859, while wool exports steadily increased from

£24,723 to £44,599 by 1859. In 1855, the colony's exports had totalled £46,314, while

imports were worth at £105,320. By 1859 exports had more than doubled to £93,037

while imports rose to £125,315 which lifted the balance of trade to a 0.74% level,

though still favouring imports at that stage.

4

According to Stannage, the problem was that ‘the economic benefits of convictism

were spread unevenly and could not prevent recessions in the mid to late 1850s, (when)

1 R. T. Appleyard, Appendix 6.1, ‘Western Australia: demographic trends 1850-1915,’ A New History of Western Australia, C. T. Stannage, op. cit., p. 233. 2 Appleyard, ibid., ‘Table 6.1, Western Australia: distribution of convicts 1859 and 1865,’ in C. T. Stannage, ibid., p. 214. 3 Appleyard, ibid., p. 213. 4 Appleyard, op. cit., Appendix 6.3, ‘Western Australia: external trade 1850-1913, op. cit., p. 235.

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… unemployment was high and wages were extremely low.’5

Dr John Sampson

However, during

Kennedy’s term as Governor, the next three white-collar convicts under discussion in

this thesis, got off to a good start for their life ahead in the Swan River Colony, perhaps

due to the shortage of qualified doctors, teachers and engineers at that time.

Thirty-nine year old John Sampson was married and his home and medical practice

were in the County of Gloucester, where he was sentenced for forging and uttering a

£10 and seven £5 notes in December 1855, for which he was sentenced to transportation

for fifteen years to the Swan River Colony.6 As his conduct was 'Exemplary' on the

Clara,7 he was appointed as a Constable in the Fremantle Establishment. After

receiving a Provisional Ticket-of-Leave in October, 1857, he was soon employed by T.

Hicks, the medical officer in Bunbury, due to a shortage of qualified doctors in country

areas. Sampson was then appointed as the Bunbury District Medical Officer, as there

was a dire need for well qualified medical staff to treat convicts who were sent out to

road parties, as well as providing medical treatment for settlers and their families who

had moved beyond the Fremantle, Perth, Guildford and Bunbury areas. So he was

placed in a fortunate position as far as his future employment in the colony was

concerned. He opened a savings account at the Western Australian Bank in April, 1859,

which gradually began to accumulate funds.8

Appleyard found that, ‘Though about a quarter of the convicts were married on

arrival, few arranged for their families to join them at Swan River and many of those

who tried, found their families unwilling to come, which is understandable in view of

the social stigma associated with a convict status.’

9 Dr Sampson was one of the more

fortunate convicts, as his wife Maria arrived on 8 August 1859, but sadly for him she

died just over eight years later in August 1867 at the age of forty-seven. However he

soon married again, wedding Sophie Wilhelm in April the following year in the Wesley

Church, Perth.10

5 C. T. Stannage, The People of Pert, op. cit., pp. 93 & 114.

6 John Sampson’s Court Case, Times, 13 December 1855, p.11, column c. 7 John Sampson, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, Character Book Record, Reel 19, No. 4305. 8 Western Australian Bank, WAB-3/609/11, Ledger Individual Accounts, Dec. 1858-Dec. 1859, Folio 851, John Sampson, Bunbury. 9 Appleyard, op. cit., p. 213. 10 ‘Dr John Sampson,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card and The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, Vol. 1, op. cit., p. 2724.

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Sophie had arrived in the colony as an immigrant lass and had married an expiree

doctor named Auguste Wilhelm in the Champion Bay area in October 1864. On

Christmas day that year, while on his way home from his professional duties near the

Wheel Fortune Mine at Waneranooka, his horse bolted and he was fatally injured. After

his death, twenty-two year old Sophie started corresponding with his family and their

financial support enabled her to purchase a property in Murray Street, Perth, which

yielded useful rents in the years to come.11

The Sampson's credit account at the Western Australian Bank reached its highest

point of £257.1s. 8d on 6 March 1879,

12 by which time John and Sophie were living in a

fine, two-storey house in Bunbury, probably located half way along Clifton Street,

between Victoria and Wittenoom Street in Bunbury.13 Sampson kept a carriage and

horses on their forty acre block, which was cultivated by twenty ticketers. His

employees also looked after his stable and horses which he used to visit distant patients,

while his carriage was reserved for pleasure excursions with his wife, visiting their

friends and while travelling to the Bunbury Congregational Church on Sundays, where

he played the organ. He was evidently an accomplished musician, donated the

instruments for Bunbury’s first Brass Band in 1879 and was their conductor for many

years.14

On his retirement as Bunbury’s Medical Officer in 1880, he continued in private

practice and he and his wife began purchasing many properties in the Bunbury area.

After spending the winter of 1886 in South Australia, they led a quieter life, however

they continued to be active Church members and were also involved in local electoral

campaigns.

15 On 4 September 1889, Sampson’s application for an overdraft of £200

was approved after he delivered some of his land deeds to the bank. By 10 August 1892,

while he was still practicing in Bunbury, he was able to raise an £800 bank loan,

secured by deeds on his Bunbury properties, which were valued at £6000.16 His

repayments on his loans were recorded from 10

11 Erickson, The Bride Ships, op. cit., pp. 180, 181. Also Auguste Wilhelm, Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 1V, R-Z, p.3309.

October 1879 and were paid off by 2

12 John Sampson, Western Australian Bank, op. cit., 6/3/1879, Credit £257/1/8. 13 K. Steere, ‘Plan referred to in Valuation of the Sampson Estate,’ Bunbury, for Probate Jurisdiction in the Will and Codicil of Sophia Sampson, 16 February, 1912. 14 Dr John Sampson, Battye Library Catalogue Card and Erickson, The Bride Ships, ibid., p. 181 & 183. 15 Erickson, op. cit., pp. 183. 16 Western Australian Bank, WAB-2/101/3, Board Minute Book – 21.8.1889 – 30.8.1893, Folios 5,377,428,438, Dr John Sampson, Wednesday 4 September 1889 & Wednesday 10 August 1892.

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November 1891.17 Dr Sampson died in Bunbury aged eighty four years on 19

November 1904, a wealthy and apparently a contented man and left all his estates to his

wife.18

Those estates were listed in Sophie’s will after she died of Bright’s or kidney disease

on 23 October 1911, nearly seven years later. It was well known that she was a wealthy

woman and her funeral was not only attended by her relatives, but also by many

members of the Bunbury community.

19

All the Bunbury blocks of land, together known as ‘Sampson Town’ which contained

15 cottages or houses and one villa, 2 shops and 2 offices, were left to a married niece

named Mary Ann Baldock. Bunbury Building Lot 49 and the buildings on it were

inherited by her nephew William Allen, a butcher in Wellington Street in Perth. The

Bunbury Wesley Church was left portions of Lot 53 and Lot 54, which included a

cottage and shop buildings. Twenty pounds were left to the Salvation Army, as well as

portions of Lot 52 and Lot 53, and the Trustees of the Congregational Church in

Bunbury were given the other portions of Bunbury Lots 53 and 54.

As John and Sophia were childless, she

bequeathed her horse, carriage and harness to her Executor and her furniture, jewellery

and personal effects to her sister-in-law Jane Carnaghan. Her personal estate (other than

her properties) and also money from rented real estate, was divided equally between her

sister-in-laws Jane and Mary Carnaghan. Her land in Murray Street, Perth, on Town

Lot 41, and all the buildings on it were left to her niece, Emily Davis.

20

John and Sophia would have been considered a very wealthy couple in those days, as

according to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s ‘Inflation Calendar’ for the year 1912, just

after her demise in 1911, their estate was worth £8,945 0s 7d, or the equivalent of

$904,677.68 in June 2009.

21

17 Western Australian Bank, WAB, 6/4/1, John Sampson, Discount Progressive Ledger, Bunbury Folios 588 & 594. 18 Erickson, Convicts in Western Australia, op. cit., p. 483. 19 Erickson, The Bride Ships, op. cit., p. 185, based on an article in the Bunbury Herald, 26 October, 1911. 20 The Last Will and Testament of Sophia Sampson, ibid.. 21 Affidavit verifying the Statement of Assets and Liabilities in the Estate of Sophia Sampson, WAS 34, CONS 3403, Item No. 1912/033. Also the Reserve Bank of Australia, ‘Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator,’ Reserve Bank of Australia, Commonwealth Government, Canberra, Australia, 11 June 2009, http://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html.

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Figure 21. Sophia Sampson’s Personal Estate was worth £8945/0/7 on 16 January 1912 ,which according to the Reserve Bank of Australia's, Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator , would be valued at

$904,677.68 in 2009.

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It appears that Erickson’s opinion that Sophia ‘brought to their union a flair for

business which matched his own,’22

22 Erickson, The Bride Ships, op. cit., p. 181.

is validated. Prior to their marriage, Sampson was

already trusted and well known in the Bunbury district, as the local medical practitioner.

Having no children from his first or second marriage, they could concentrate their

efforts on building their fine home and an impressive portfolio of land and estates

together. During their membership of the local Congregational Church, where Sampson

was the organist, members had time to get to know them, learn to trust Sampson and

welcome them both. With his donation of brass instruments, conducting of the local

brass band and their involvement in Bunbury’s elections, members outside the church

also had an opportunity to see his character reformation at first hand. His career as a

doctor, persona as a big land owner, socializing with a wide range of local citizens and

Figure 22: Sophia Sampson’s Assets were valued at £9395/7s., and her Liabilities at £450/6/5 on 16 January 1912.

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being married to an intelligent business woman who was also socially inclined, surely

facilitated his social acceptance among free settlers in the area, and 'Sampson Road' in

Bunbury, was likely to have been named after him.23

Stephen Montague Stout

The second of the white-collar convicts under discussion in this chapter was Stephen

Stout, who arrived in the late 1850s. Evidently prior to his conviction at the Central

Criminal Courts on 11 April 1856 for forging and uttering an acceptance to a bill of

exchange for £25 for a sewing machine, the twenty- seven year old former Land Agent

and Surveyor, had been previously suspected of dishonesty on several occasions and

had been imprisoned for twelve months in Coventry Gaol for embezzlement in 1851. He

had even obtained his situation with Mr Judkin with a forged character reference.

Consequently the Judge concluded that ‘the prisoner was a most dangerous man to be

allowed to remain in this country,’ so Stout was sentenced to 14 years transportation.24

Stout’s initial Character Book report during separate confinement in Britain, was ‘Good,

but Indifferent – requires to be watched,’ which improved to ‘Very Good,’ while he was

in the Dartmoor Public Works penitentiary.25

Stout left behind a wife and child in England,

26 when he boarded his transport at

Plymouth Port and after the Lord Raglan sailed on 5 March 1858,27 he was appointed as

a schoolmaster on board, having been well educated in England and France.28 Surgeon

Superintendent Bower reported that Stout was a good scholar after he heard him deliver

three lectures on the ‘Eclipse of the Sun’ using diagrams, on ‘Australia’ and another on

‘Australian Employments.’ As Stout also edited a weekly paper named the ‘Life Boat'

during his voyage,29 he received a ‘Very Good’ character report from the ship’s

Surgeon.30

23'Sampson Road', Bunbury, Map B3,co-ordinates E,16, 'StreetSmart,' Perth Street Directory, The West Australian, 2006, Perth, W. A.

Consequently, when he arrived in Western Australia on 1 June 1858, he was

rewarded with six months remission of sentence from Governor Kennedy. That meant

24 Stephen Stout, Court Case, The Times, Central Criminal Court, 11 April 1856, p. 11 d. 25 Stephen Stout, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, R Series, Character Book Record, Reel. 8, No. 4901. 26 Rica Erickson, ‘S. M. Stout & Alfred Chopin Photographers,’ Chapter 9, ‘Men Of Enterprise,’ The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p. 280. 27 Lord Raglan, Charles Bateson, The Convict Ships, 1787-1868, op. cit.., p. 375 28 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 280. 29 Erickson, ibid., p. 280. 30 Stephen Stout, Character Book Record, op. cit.

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that he gained his Ticket-of-Leave just over fourteen months early, on 30 April 1859 in

Bunbury, rather than on 7 July 1860 when it had been due.31

After Stout gained his Ticket, he was employed as a teacher in a government school

at Australind, just north of Bunbury.

32 The Colonial Treasurer opened an account for

him with £2. 3s, at the Western Australian Bank on 5 June 1859, and his salary appears

to have been £4. 3s. 4d a month, as that amount was regularly paid into that account. By

30 December that year, his bank balance was £15/-/8, the highest amount of credit he

ever attained, but on the other hand, his account had already been overdrawn twice that

year.33

By 1861 Stout had left the school at Australind to set up his own boarding school

named the Fremantle Academy in High Street, Fremantle. Twenty-five boys who

were

enrolled there between 1861 and 1863, were taught French, English Grammar,

Geography, History, Mathematics, Book Keeping and rudimentary Latin,34 according to

an advertisement in the Perth Gazette in July 1861.35 To publicize his Fremantle

Academy, Stout offered a reference from Henry James Duval of Bunbury, for whom he

had previously worked for seven months as a writer or clerk.36 Duval would also have

known him previously, when he was Deputy Superintendent at the Fremantle

Establishment from November 1853 until the end of 1861, during the time Stout was

there.37 Lionel Samson and John Bateman, free settlers and business men in the

Fremantle area, also knew Stout and both commended his enterprise.38 He was

encouraged to give more public lectures on topics such as the ‘The discovery of Gold,’

after Arthur Shenton’s find in Northam, which was published in the Perth Gazette on 15

November 1861.39

31 Ibid.

32 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 280. 33 Western Australian Bank, WAB-3/609/11, ‘Ledger Individual Accounts, Dec.1858- Dec.1859, Folio 883, Stephen Stout. Information gained on 17/8/2004, from Lucy Rantzen, Historical Services, 6-8 Parramatta Road, Homebush, N.S.W, 2140. 34 John Dowson, ‘Stephen Montague Stout, Fremantle’s Pioneering Photographer,’ Old Fremantle Photographs 1850-1950, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley, W. A., 2003, p. 84. 35 Perth Gazette, 26 July 1861, Stouts advertisement for his 'Perth Academy for Young Gentlemen, ' which was actually located in High St, Fremantle. 36 Inquirer, 2/2/1859, Stout’s advertisement with a testimonial by Henry James Duval, which he used to advertise his Fremantle Academy. 37 Henry Duval, Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, pre 1829-1888, vol. 11, D - J, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, p. 927. 38 John Dowson, 'Stephen Stout,' op. cit., p. 12. 39 Ibid., p. 84 and also Perth Gazette, 15 November 1861.

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By the time Stout had received his Conditional Pardon on 11 September 1862, 40 he

was beginning to make a name for himself as a photographer. In 1864 he rented a studio

room in the old Duffield family home in Pakenham Street, Fremantle,41 where he

developed many excellent photographs, including the first panoramic view of Fremantle

and the Convict Establishment.42 Mrs Gull, the wife of Thomas Courthope Gull, who

was a free settler and prominent merchant at Guildford, commented that Stout also took

good likenesses on cards, six of which cost ten shillings, while enthusing about his

views, which she described as ‘first rate’.43

Due to competition from other photographers, Stout visited some country centres to

gain new clients and while in Bunbury, took the first known photographs of three New

Norcia aborigines who were dressed in kangaroo skin cloaks.44

On a later business trip to Bunbury he met Ellinor Brown who was the stepdaughter

of a free settler, Nathanial Howell, who was a well known barrister and solicitor in

Perth. Stout married Ellinor in Australind in July 1868.

45

40 Stout Stephen, (4901), Rica Erickson and Gillian O’Mara, Convicts in Western Australia, 1850-1887, vol. 1X, op. cit., p. 530.

This may have been a

bigamous union which was not uncommon in the colony, as there is no evidence of the

death of his wife in England. Their first of their seven children, Ernest Augustus Stout,

41 Marcia Watson, Notes on Stephen Stout about his studio which she gained from the Western Mail, 7 July 1921, p. 38. 42 Dowson, op. cit., pp. 85- 94. 43 Stephen Stout, Rica Erickson, ‘Men Of Enterprise,’ The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 280. 44 Dowson, op. cit., p. 84. 45 ‘Ellinor Brown,’ in Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australian, pre- 1829-1888, vol. 1, A-C, p. 343.

Figure 23: Stout’s photograph of the Convict Establishment at Fremantle, after its completion in 1859, in John Dowson, Old Fremantle, Photographs 1850-1950, U. W. A. Press, Crawley, Western Australia, 2009, p. 89.

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was baptised in Bunbury on 4 July 1869, the following year.46 While they were living

there, it appears that Stout opened another school named the Wellington Academy,

which ran from 1868 to 1869.47 Although there is no record of when Stout received his

Certificate of Freedom, he should have gained it while there by 14 October 1869, due to

his six months remission of sentence for good conduct on the transport.48

Stout and his wife and son must have moved back to Perth during the following year,

as their first daughter, Frances Mary, was born there on 10

October 1870.49

Competition between photographers was escalating by November 1870, as Stout was

advertising ‘Shilling Portraits,’ at a ‘City restaurant opposite Padbury and Company in

Perth, for one more week.’50 As the competition continued to grow, Stout opened a

second studio in Perth in 1872, where he offered large portraits at a reduced rate of 3s.,

‘cartes-de-visite’ or single small copies which were used as visiting cards, sold for

1s.6d., and extra copies were a shilling each. His likenesses on glass, which were

advertised as ‘not fading,’ were only 6d. each and he advised country clients that if they

sent postage stamps, they would receive extra copies by return post.51 While he was

earning a living for his family as a photographer, their second son William Laurence

Stout was born on 21 July 1872 in Perth. 52

Stout was probably relieved to be able to move out of the competitive photography

business, when he became the first and only expiree schoolmaster ever to be employed

at the Pensioner Barracks in Perth in 1873. As the Pensioners’ Commandant lent him a

magic-lantern for charitable functions, he was able to show historical slides in the Perth

Town Hall on the Crimean War, the Victoria Cross, Eddystone Lighthouse, polar

regions, natural history and astronomy, as well as many comical slides, which evidently

‘produced roars of laughter,’ and were very successful.

53 On 6 September 1874 their

second daughter, Rose Templar Stout, was born in Perth.54

46 Ernest Augustus John Stout’s baptism, Marcia Watson, ‘Stephen Montague Stout (4901),’ Convict Links, Quarterly Newsletter, of the Convict Historical & Research Group, WAGS, Vol. 17, No. 2, June 2003, p.10.

47 Marcia Watson, 'Stephen Montague Stout(4901), ibid.. Stout ran his Wellington Academy in Bunbury from 1868 to 1869, p. 10. Also Inquirer, 15 February, 1871. 48 Unfortunately there is no record of when Stout gained his Certificate of Freedom, on his General Register details. 49 ‘Francis Mary Stout, ' Stephen Montague Stout,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card, Perth, op. cit. 50 Inquirer, 23/11/1870, Stout's advertisement. 51 Ibid., Stout’s advertisement in the Inquirer, 23 October, 1872, p. 281. 52 'William Laurence Stout', Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, pre-1829-1888, vol. 1V R-Z, William Laurence Stout, p. 2965. 53 Rica Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, ibid., p. 283. 54 Rose Templar, ‘Stephen Montague Stout (4901)', Battye Library Card, op. cit.

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The first indication the general public had that Stout was experiencing serious

monetary problems occurred when his attorney, Stephen Henry Parker, placed a notice

in the Western Australian Government Gazette on 13 April 1875, summoning Stout’s

creditors to the first General Meeting at the Supreme Court House in Perth on 21

April.55 It coincided with economic recessions in the colony, which occurred from 1867

through most of the 1870s.56 Stout was described by his lawyer as a ‘Perth Storekeeper,

Schoolmaster, Commission Agent and Boarding House Keeper,’57 He and Ellinor may

have taken in boarders, his wife probably ran his store when he was teaching, and his

agency work was probably done whenever he had a spare moment. In Parker’s

‘Statement of Debtors Affairs’, Stout’s creditors were owed £313 17s, which far

exceeded Stout’s assets of furniture, fixtures and fittings from their boarding house in St

Georges Terrace, Perth,’ worth only £30.58

Of interest is the social standing of some of his creditors, who ranged from those in

interstate and local companies, high profile settlers, other settlers and two expirees. He

owed the most money, £143, to Feldheim Jacobs & Company which manufactured

tobacco in Melbourne.

59

55 ‘In the matter of proceedings for liquidation by arrangement or composition with creditors, instituted by Stephen Montague Stout', The Western Australian Government Gazette, 13 April 1875, p.1.

Mary Higham and her sons, Edward and John were owed £33,

George Shenton junior, £22 10s, William Lawrence Senior, £18. 10s and George

Throssell, £16 10s. Edmund John Stirling, the owner of the Inquirer and his son were

56 Stannage, The People of Perth, op. cit., p. 124. 57 Stephen Montague Stout, ‘Statement of Debtor’s Affairs’ & ‘List of Creditors', State Records Office of Western Australia, Alexander Library, WAS 54, Bankruptcy Files, Consignment No. 3622, Item No. 14. 58 Stout’s ‘List of Creditors,’ ibid. 59 ‘Fieldheim Jacobs Company', Michael Cannon, Life in the Cities: Australia in the Victorian Age: 3, Australia, Thomas Nelson, 1975, p. 271.

Figure 24: Middle-aged Stout, appropriately dressed, probably while he was teaching at the Pensioner Barracks between 1873 and 1877. Courtesy of Battye Library.

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owed £15. 10s, Mrs Charlotte Parker, £15, Samuel Titus Mitchell and his son John, £11

and Joseph Dyson, £10. 8s. The expirees Henry Albert and Alexander Wilson, were

owed £12 and £10. 3s. respectively. Stout’s liquidation was not completed until 1875,60

when he was declared bankrupt.61 His third daughter, Alice Maud was born in Perth on

22 June 1876 after his financial trauma,62

Stout then moved his family to Geraldton, where he taught at the local government

school. He was also appointed editor and manager of the new Victoria Express

newspaper on 11 September that year, in partnership with Isaac Walker, who was an

accountant, merchant, a member of the Geraldton Board of Education and the paper’s

bookkeeper.

but fortunately he was able to continue

working to support his family as the schoolmaster at the Pensioner Barracks up to the

start of 1878.

63 Stout’s salary was £3 per week and under the partnership terms, Stout

gained a five per cent commission on the gross earnings of the paper, a rent free house

until January 1880, and was paid to collect debts owing to the company on the same

commission, which he handed over to Walker.64 At that stage of his life, Stout’s future

was looking brighter, but sadly his daughter, Alice Stout, was buried on 12 July 1879,

just three years after her birth in Geraldton.65 Their fourth daughter, Ellinor Victoria

Stout, was born there two months later in September 1879 and Isaac Walker was asked

to be her godfather.66

Just when life was looking up for Stout’s family, he had a falling out with Walker

who dismissed him on 5 May 1880, then sued Stout for embezzlement of three sums of

money totalling £1/11/6. Stout was remanded in custody until the following week and

then released on bail of £500 with two sureties of £250. He was ordered to stand trial in

the Geraldton Court on 1 December 1880.

67

60 Stout’s ‘List of Creditors,’ op. cit.

It must have been a very traumatic

experience for Stout and his wife, especially when his trial was extended again until late

May the following year. During this anxious period, Stout started his own paper to

support his family. It was called the Observer, was published weekly on Tuesdays and

61 Stephen Montague Stout, ‘Statement of Debtor’s Affairs', by his Attorney, Stephen Henry Parker, in the Supreme Court was Registered on 22 April 1875. 62 'Alice Maud Stout born, ‘Stephen Stout,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card , op. cit.. 63 Stout, Editor and Manager of the Victoria Express,11 September 1871, Marcia Watson, 'Stephen Montague Stout (4901) ', Convict Links, Western Australian Genealogical Society, Vol. 17, No.2, June 2003, p. 10. 64 Ibid., p. 11, cited in Victoria Express, 1 September 1880. 65 Alice died 12 July 1879, ‘Stephen Montague Stout,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card. 66 Ellinor Victoria Stout born, Battye Library Cards, ibid. & Convict Links,’ op. cit., p. 10. 67 Watson, op. cit., p. 10 & 11. Also cited in the Victoria Express, 1 September 1880.

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ran from 31 August 1880 to 25 October 1881. His newspaper was backed financially by

another friend, Henry Gray,68 who was a prominent free settler, storekeeper and

landowner in Swan and Geraldton areas and the employer of forty three ticketers

between 1864 and 1876.69

While Stout was under cross examination during his third and final court case at the

end of May 1880, Walker accused him of embezzling the three sums of money.

However Walker admitted that, ‘he sometimes made mistakes in his book keeping,’ and

as it had been proved that he had already countersigned all Stout’s receipts, ‘the judge

ruled there was no case to answer,’ so the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

70

Stout was arrested 3 times and conveyed to the lock-up. 3 times bail has been demanded at an amount so extravagant, as to be the joke of the place. 3 times he was placed in the dock on charges … Stout earned about £250 per year and would not risk his job for three amounts of 10/-, 11/- and 16/-.

After

Stout’s trial, a sympathetic editorial, probably written by Gray, appeared in the

Observer.

71

As Stout was unemployed after his trial,, he and his family returned to Perth, where

he wrote articles for the Daily News and the Morning Herald and was also employed as

the Secretary of the Working Man’s Society.

72 In September 1880, their fifth daughter

Annie Grace was born73 and during the latter part of 1881, Stout also worked for the

Inquirer in Perth as well as writing for other papers.74

Stout’s alert spare figure, long frock coat and white bell-topper hat and cane being familiar features of the Terrace, as his cane each morning aided his quick city walk from the courts and other news haunts to the old “ Inquirer” chambers, which, from the year 1840 stood upon that site that is now occupied by St George’s House.

According to a reminiscence in

the Western Mail in 1921,

75

68 Watson, op. cit., p. 11.

69 ‘Henry Gray,’ The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 11, op. cit., p. 1252. 70 Erickson, p. 284. Also cited the Herald, 29 May, 1880. 71 Probably Stout's friend, Henry Gray, defending him in the Observer, 29 May, 1880. 72 Watson, op. cit., p. 13 & Stout Battye Library Cards, op. cit. 73 Annie Grace Stout, Battye Library Catalogue Card. 74 Watson, op. cit., pp. 10 & 11, and Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 283. 75 Western Mail, 7/7/1921, p. 38.

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Annie Grace died on 27 March 1882, aged about eighteen months, prior to the birth

of Elsie May Stout, their last child born while they lived in Fremantle during 1884.76

Sadly Stout's wife Ellinor died in 1885, aged only 34 years.77 The following year Stout

collapsed and died in front of the Colonial Hospital on Sunday afternoon on 11 April

1886, aged about fifty seven. A post mortem examination revealed that his death was

caused by a ‘general break-up of his system…and the weak state of his heart was

sufficient to account for his sudden death.’78

They left six orphaned children, four daughters and two sons, aged from 2 to 17

years.

79 Ernest Augustus Stout married Elizzie Stansfield at Northampton in 1897. She

was probably the daughter of one of two expiree brothers, either John Stansfield, a

labourer, woodcutter and quarryman sawyer in Wellington or Moses Stansfield, a

general servant and labourer, also living there.80 Francis Mary Stout married William

Sheplley in Guildford, during 1896. There is some confusion over his name, as he had

arrived as ‘Alfred’ on the Chollerton in 1887, however he was evidently a free settler.81

William Laurence Stout married in Western Australia, prior to moving to Victoria.82

76 Elsie May Stout, Stephen Montague Stout's Battye Library Catalogue Card, op. cit..

Rose Templar Stout’s first marriage during 1895 in Guildford, was to a free settler

named Edwin Edward Williams. He had arrived on the Charlotte Padbury from London

77 Ellinor, Stout's wife died in 1885, Marcia Watson, ‘Stephen Stout,’ op. cit., p. 12. 78Stout's death, Western Mail, Saturday, 17/10.1886, p. 18, the Inquirer and Commercial News, 14/4/1886, and in Watson, Convict Links, ibid., p. 12. 79 Marcia Watson, Convict Links, op. cit., pp, 12 & 13. 80 Earnest Augustus Stout married Elizzie Stansfield, Battye Library Catalogue Card. Also 'John and Moses Stansfield', Convicts in Western Australia, op. cit.. p. 523. 81 Francis Mary Stout married William Sheppley, Battye Library Convict Catalogue Card, ibid., The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. IV, R-Z, pp. 2965 re Stout, & 2796 re Sheplley. 82 William Stout, Battye Library Catalogue Card, op. cit., unfortunately there is no reference to William Stout's wife's name.

Figure 25: The Inquirer’s office in Perth, Courtesy of Battye Library on the left. Figure 26: On the right, Stout impeccably dressed with his white bell-topper hat and cane.

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in 1882. When Edwin died, Rose married another free settler, Frederick George Chaney

in Midland in 1904.83 Eleanor Victoria Stout married a James M. Hunter at

Northampton in 1897, who could have been the son of an expiree. 84 and Elsie May

Stout married a free settler named Otto Bernhard Martin Eggert in 1905.85

As Frances,

Rose, Eleanor and Elsie married free settlers’ sons, the family must have been

considered respectable and socially acceptable by at least four free settlers’ families by

that time.

Miall/Malachi Reidy Meagher

Miall Meagher was born on 19 November, 1836 in Limerick, Ireland, the son of the

Superintendent of an Irish Infirmary. He was well educated and became a civil

engineer.86 At twenty one years old, he pleaded guilty to forging and uttering an order

for the delivery of goods worth £94 at the Central Criminal Courts in London. He was

sentenced to transportation for eight years penal servitude on 2 March 1857.87 Over the

next two years he was imprisoned in England and finally left Portland Penitentiary with

a 1st Class rating, for transportation to the Swan River Colony on the Sultana on 29 May

1859. As he was ‘Specially recommended’ for his very good conduct by Superintendent

Surgeon Richardson after his arrival in the Swan River Colony on 19 August 1859, he

earned four months remission of sentence from Governor Kennedy.88

Meagher was initially employed with a road works gang on the Fremantle to Perth

road, probably in a supervisory or planning capacity considering his engineering

qualifications. He was based at Freshwater Bay, where a number of Pensioner guards

and their families had formed a village settlement.

89

83 Rose Templar Stout, Battye Library Convict Catalogue Card & The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. IV R-Z, pp. 2965 married first, Edwin Edward Williams a free settler, then Frederick George Chaney, Battye Library Catalogue Cards & The Bicentennial Dictionary, A-C, p. 508 .

As that area was very sandy, blue

metal and limestone were used to make solid foundations at the Fremantle end of the

road, and round blocks of sawn jarrah, known as Hampton’s cheeses, were used to form

84 Eleanor Victoria married James Hunter, Battye Library Catalogue Card. 85 Otto Eggert, Battye Library Catalogue Card, op. cit.. Otto Eggert’s name does not appear in The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. 2, or the Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 5, or Convicts in Western Australia, so he must have been a free settler. 86 ‘Miall Malachi Reidy Meagher,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card. 87 Miall Meagher, Court Case, Times, 5/3/1857, p. 10, col. f & p. 11, col. A. Also Alan Campbell, ‘Miall Malachi Meagher,’ in Chapter 9, ‘Men of Enterprise, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit.., p. 266. 88 Miall Meagher, No. 5448, Character Book, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, ‘R’ Series, Vol. 8, Sultana, 19/8/1859. 89 Jennie Carter, Bassendean: A Social History: 1829-1979, op. cit.., p. 58.

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the surface on the section towards Perth.90 Geoffrey Bolton found that colony officials

were bemused by the good conduct of road gangs at depots such as Freshwater Bay,

where settlers could sleep safely with their doors unlocked during the night.91

After gaining his Ticket-of-Leave on 19 October 1860, Meagher worked privately as

a clerk for the Swan Districts Surgeon and Resident Magistrate, Samuel Waterman

Viveash, until the end of May 1861. He was then employed as a tutor for Viveash’s

family at £30 per annum until 30 June 1862.

92 While he was self-employed in the

Guildford area, he may have done some bookkeeping for George Stubberfield, who was

a hotel licensee and victualler. That situation would have given him the opportunity of

meeting Caroline, his employer’s very capable daughter, who assisted in the running of

her father’s business.93 By then Meagher was using the anglicized version of his

Christian name, so he signed ‘Malachi Reidy Meagher’ on their marriage certificate on

16 October 1862, in the Trinity Congregational Church in St George’s Terrace, Perth.94

Alan Campbell firmly believes from then onwards, Malachi Meagher prospered.95

After gaining his Conditional Pardon in the Swan area on 14 April 1863,96

90 Alan Campbell, 'Malachi Reidy Meagher,' The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp. 266 & 268.

Meagher

leased Sandalford vineyard from the Colony’s Surveyor General, John Septimus Roe,

91 Geoffrey Bolton, Land of Vision and Mirage: Western Australia Since 1826, U. W. A. Press, Crawley, Western Australia, 2003, p. 28. 92 Myall (Miall) Meagher, Ticket-of Leave Register, No. 5448, ACC 1171, Swan District, p. 162. 93 Alan Campbell, ‘Malachi Reidy Meagher,’ in Rica Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 268. 94 ‘John George Stubberfield', The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. IV, R-Z, p. 2975 & Campbell, op. cit., p. 268. 95 Campbell, ibid., p. 268. 96 Myall (Miall) Meagher, Ticket-of-Leave Register, op. cit.

Figure 27: A portrait of Miall Meagher’s wife, Caroline, dressed in the fashion of the day. Erickson, The Brand on his Coat,’ p. 267.

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from 1864 to 1869, while living at the “Bassendean Estate.97 As he had received four

months remission of sentence, he gained his Certificate of Freedom and expiree status

by 2 November 1864. While at Sandalford he employed many ticketers as shingle

splitters and for building stockyards and repairing fences. On 30 August 1865 he

applied to the Resident Magistrate at Swan for seventy gallons of spirits to fortify his

wine after his bumper crop of grapes yielded two thousand one hundred and sixty

gallons of wine in the summer of 1864/65, which was probably sold to Guildford

hoteliers. During 1866 and 1867 he employed labourers to reap his harvests, and in

March 1869 he purchased all Edward Barrett-Lennard’s horses from his Avon property,

to ease the latter settler’s financial difficulties.98

By 1870, Meagher was the proprietor of the Guildford Hotel,

99 which was the

commercial centre for settlers living in the Avon Valley and the Victoria Plains areas.

As many settlers carted their wool or sandalwood to Guildford in heavy wagons and

transferred their goods there before proceeding to Perth, Meagher seized the opportunity

to advise his hotel customers and travellers that his ‘Twice Weekly and return

Conveyance would Operate from the Guildford Hotel to Perth.’100 He employed a

Ticket-of-Leave ostler, cooks, a carpenter, woodcutter, ferryman and servants, while the

day to day management of the hotel was probably left to his wife, Caroline, who was

well experienced in that area, having managed her own ticketers in 1871 and 1873.101

97 Malachi Reidy Meagher, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, 1988, vol. III, K-Q, p. 2135.

98 Campbell, op. cit., pp. 268 & 269. 99 Jennie Carter, Bassendean: A Social History, op. cit.., p.58 & Malachi Ready Meagher, The Bicentennial Dictionary, op. cit. p.2135. Also Michael J. Bourke: On the Swan: A History of the Swan District, Western Australia, University of Western Australia Press, for the Swan Shire Council, Middle Swan, Western Australia, pp. 202, 203, 231 & 232, B. J. Gordon, Hotels of Guildford and Midland, 1832-2002, p. 29 and also ‘Miall Meagher,’ Battye Library Catalogue Cards . 100 Campbell, Meagher's advertisement for transport from Guildford Hotel to Perth, op. cit., p. 270 101 Campbell, ibid.

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Their business must have been going well, because on 12 May 1872 Meagher took

out a five year lease with the option to purchase over the next five years, on fourteen

acres of land in West Guildford for £150. It was known as 'The Retreat 'and was owned

by Alexander Taylor, a schoolmaster.102 Five years later, on 23 May 1877, Meagher

transferred the lease and the right to purchase 'The Retreat' to Thomas Courthope

Gull.103

102 Meagher leased 'The Retreat, Guildford Lots 134 to 138 from Alexander Taylor, Memorial Book VII, No. 2465, 12 May 1872, Landgate, Western Australian, Land Information Authority, Midland.

Between 1872 and 1876, Meagher employed more ticketers for quarrying stone,

103 Meagher transferred the lease of The Retreat to Thomas Courthope Gull, Memorial Book VII, No. 2473, 23 May 1877, Landgate, op., cit.

Figure 29: Guildford Hotel, where Meagher was the proprietor and also operated a twice weekly transport to and from Perth. B. J. Gordon, Hotels of Guildford and Midland, 1832-2002, Courtesy Ruth Andrews, Midland Public Library.

Figure 28; A portrait of Malachi Reidy Meagher circa the 1870s. Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, p. 267.

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stone-breaking, road making and fencing.104 He had been elected onto the newly

gazetted Swan Road Board in March 1871, holding that office until 1877, during which

time he was also employed as its Honorary Secretary. He received an honorarium of £8

for his secretarial duties in his first year, which gradually increased to £20 over time.105

He was also a member of the Swan Board of Education from 1874 to 1876,106 and was

elected onto the Guildford Municipal Council from 1873 to 1876, but resigned after

being its Chairman during the latter year.107

Proving that he was never one to stay settled in one place for long, Meagher and

Caroline and their nine children, whose ages ranged from about sixteen down to one

year, moved to Fremantle in 1878, where he became the licensee of the ‘Crown and

Thistle,’ later known as ‘Meagher’s Hotel.’ In 1880, he introduced a passenger service

between Fremantle and Perth, however, that business proved to be unprofitable.108 The

economic recessions during most the 1870s may have adversely affected his business

profits, as well as initiating his next career move.109

By late 1880, the Meagher family had moved back to Guildford, where he leased the

old Sandalwood Estate again and took over the management of the Bassendean

104 Campbell, op. cit., p. 271. 105 Rev. Canon A. Burton, ‘The Personnel of the Board,’ The Story of the Swan District, 1843-1938, pp. 29, 34 & 75. 106‘Miall Meagher,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card.. 107 Malachi Ready Meagher, The Bicentennial Dictionary, op. cit., p. 2135 & Campbell, op. cit., pp. 270 & 271. 108 Campbell, ibid., p. 271. 109 Stannage, The People of Perth, op. cit., p. 124.

Figure 30: Honour Board with Meagher, as Chairman of the Guildford Municipal Council in 1876.

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Brickyard in West Guildford.110 On 12 January 1885, when a builder named David

Auliffe Gray found that he was not able to meet his debts, he filed a petition for

liquidation. The majority of Gray's creditors were forced to agree to an arrangement

where they received only two shillings and six pence in the pound. After Meagher

agreed to pay all Gray's debts, legal costs, the expenses of Gray's liquidation plus £30,

Gray granted Malachi Reidy Meagher and his heirs, a lease on 1000 acres known as

Stone's Green, which he had owned.111

Meagher was re-elected to the Swan Road Board again in 1885 and was also

employed as its Secretary from 1885 to 1890, during which time he was voted its

Chairman from 1888 to at least 1890, after which the records are missing until 1895.

112

His oldest son, Gerald, joined him as a member of the Swan Road Board in 1887.

Meagher evidently lobbied the Council fruitlessly for improvements and services for his

area in West Guildford and collected money to build a bridge linking West Guildford

with the town of Guildford. Carter has argued that not many residents were prepared to

take up the cause for West Guildford, so they could receive equal treatment by the

Guildford Council, because the few old Pensioner Guards, widows and tenants who

resided there, were just not able to fight for their rights.113

Following the economic downturn in the colony in the late 1880s,

Understandably the

improvements Meagher fought for, would also have been very beneficial for his own

interests. 114 Meagher went

bankrupt. The first sign of Meagher’s monetary problems was an ‘Indenture of

Conveyance’ or a transfer of a lease from Meagher, who was described as a ‘farmer and

grazier,’ to John Bateman, a Fremantle merchant, which was registered on a Memorial

dated 12 July 1888. To clear his debt of £228, Meagher conveyed to Bateman and his

heirs, ‘that parcel of land (which he had leased on 12 April 1886 for seven years),

‘situated on the Swan River… containing one thousand acres or thereabouts and being

in the Swan location,’ for the residue of the unexpired lease which was by then,

approximately four years and nine months.115

110 Jennie Carter, Bassendean, op. cit., p. 131.

By 14 March 1891, when Meagher was

undergoing bankruptcy proceedings with his creditors,’ his ‘Statement of Affairs’

111 David Gray transferred his lease of Stone's Green to Meagher, Memorial Book, IX, No. 733, 22 January 1885. 112 Rev. Burton, op. cit., p. 39. 113 Carter, op. cit., p. 59. 114 Stannage , The People of Perth, op. cit., p. 203. 115 Meagher conveyed his lease of Stone's Green to John Bateman, Memorial Book 10, No. 428, 24 July 1888.

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named his twenty creditors and his total debt of £1184 to them. By then he owed his

first son, Gerald, £475 and his second son, Francis John Meagher, £197, which together

equalled £672, over half of what he owed to his other creditors. Everything he owned

went through the process of liquidation, including his ‘stock in trade, debts, cash in

hand, bills of exchange, furniture, fixtures or fittings, property, or other securities.’116

Fortunately for Meagher, by 1 September 1892, his lawyer Richard Haynes,

informed the Register of the Supreme Court, that Meagher’s creditors had closed the

bankruptcy and Meagher had been relieved of his debt liability.

117 As well as his two

sons already mentioned, there were twenty other names on Meagher’s ‘List of Creditors,

eleven of whom were owed £10 or more.118 Isaac and William Wood were owed £115,

an expiree named Henry Seeligson, £100,119 William Byers Wood, £35, Richard

Septimus Haynes, £30, and G. Roby Woods, £30. Mrs Mary Higham and her two sons

were owed £25, Arthur William Glover was also owed £25, Hann and J. Fiddes, £23,

and Arthur Shirley Kelly who later married Meagher’s daughter Nora, was owed £23.

Henry Monger Junior was owed £20 and William Lovegrove, £20. Jeremiah and John

Clune £14 and another expiree, George Smeddles, was owed £10.120

Malachi and Caroline had nine children. Their first born daughter, Mary Ellen

Meagher, married Charles Henry Henderson in December 1894. Charles was a free

settler and a merchant and ironmonger in Perth, then a farmer in north east Boyup

Brook.

121 Gerald Shenstone, Miall and Caroline’s first son, born in 1864, was mainly a

farmer and cattle drover. He was elected onto the Swan Road Board between 1887 and

1890 and the Upper Blackwood Road Board from 1904 to 1907, prior to becoming a

Justice of the Peace. Gerald married Florence Ensie Hicks in June 1906. Florence was

the daughter of Duance and Clarence Spenser Hicks, a free settler from Melbourne..122

116 Malachi Meagher, 'Statement of Affairs,' Bankruptcy Records. Liquidation by arrangement or composition with creditors instituted by Malachi Reidy Meagher of Perth,’ in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, 14 March 1891, WAS 54, CONS 3602, Item No. 05.

Their second son Francis John Meagher, born at ‘Sandalford’ in February 1866, was

initially a businessman in Perth and Cossack, then a farmer and station owner, living at

“Winning Pool” at Ferguson. He married Madeleine Martin in October 1897. She was

117 Meagher's Bankruptcy closed, WAS 54, CONS 3602, Item No. 161. 118 Malachi Meaghers' Creditors,’ presented to the Register of the Supreme Court by Richard Haynes, State Records office, WAS 54, CONS 3431, Item No. 161, Item Title, Malachi Reidy Meagher. 119 Ibid., Henry Seeligson, an expiree was owed £100. 120 Ibid., Meagher's creditors included three other expirees. 121 Mary Ellen Meagher, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australian, vol. III, K-Q, op. cit., p. 2135 & The Bicentennial Dictionary, Vol.11, D-J, op. cit., ‘Henderson, Charles Henry, p. 1439. 122 Gerald Shenstone Meagher, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, ibid., p. 2134 & Clarence Spencer Cope Hicks, Vol. 11, ibid., p. 1466.

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the daughter of Jane and Ebenezer Martin, a free settler. Ebenezer was a policeman, the

licensee of Baylup Inn and Newcastle Hotels, a builder, then a butcher and a Justice of

the Peace by 1903. 123

Nora Meagher, their second daughter was born in June 1867. She married a civil

servant named Arthur Shirley Kelly in 1894. Arthur was the son of Marie and Samuel

Kelly, a free settler who became a mine owner.

124 Kate Anna (Hannah) Meagher, their

third daughter was born in September 1868 in Guildford. She married Albert Rupert

Kelly, the brother of Arthur Shirley above. Kelly was initially an Engineering

Surveyor, then an Assistant Engineer with the Government Department of Works and

Railways between 1908 and 1910.125 Their fourth daughter, Lillian Caroline Meagher

was born in April 1871 and married Stephen Gibbs in July 1909. Stephen farmed in

Dinninup from 1907 to c.1938,126 and was the son of Sarah Ann and William Gibbs, a

free settler, farmer and grazier in Darkin, then a pastoralist on the Blackwood River and

was elected as a West Arthur Road Board member.127

Caroline and Malachi’s fifth daughter, Frances Julia Meagher, who was born in

February 1873, married a widower named Alfred Charles Thompson in February, 1914.

He was the son of a free settler named Alfred Thompson, and a landowner in the Avon

area in 1858, then a farmer and grazier at Gingin.

128 Martin Malachi Meagher, their

third and youngest son, was born in August 1875, but died in a horse riding accident in

June 1897, aged only twenty-one.129 Malachi and Caroline’s last daughter, Hilda

Margaret Meagher, born in March, 1877, married Alfred Edward Parry in August 1908.

Alfred was the son of Henry Hutton Parry, who was appointed Bishop of Perth in 1870

and initiated the building of St George’s Cathedral.130

123 Francis John Meagher, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, ibid., p. 2134 & Madeleine Martin, the daughter of Ebenezer Martin p. 2098 & Ebenezer Martin, vol. III, p. 2090.

124 Nora Meagher, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, ibid., p. 2135 & Arthur Shirley Kelly, vol. III, p. 483. 125 Kate Hannah Meagher, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, ibid., p. 2134 & Albert Rupert Kelly, vol. III, p. 482. 126 Lillian Caroline Meagher, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, ibid., p. 2134 & Steven ( Stephen), Gibbs, Erickson, Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. V, 'The Golden years 1889-1914, p. 328. 127 Steven Gibbs, son of Sarah & William Gibbs, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. II, D-J, op. cit.,. p. 1182. 128 Francis Julia Meagher, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, op. cit.., p. 2134, married a widower, Alfred Thompson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. IV, R-Z, op. cit.., p. 3044. 129 Martin Malachi Meagher,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card. 130 ‘Hilda Margaret Meagher,’ in The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, K-Q, op. cit., p. 2134/5, married Alfred Edward Parry, the son of the Bishop Parry, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, K-Q, p. 2420.

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According to Carter, Malachi’s wife Caroline, died when aged sixty in 1898, after

they had retired to Perth.131 Until his death at seventy years of age on 26 November

1906 at Dinninup, Meagher resided alternatively with his nine surviving children and

their partners, 132

For an expiree to have won such positions (on the Swan Road Board, the Guildford Municipal Council and the local Board of Education) in so short a time was a notable achievement.

probably as a result of his monetary problems in 1891 and 1892.

However as Alan Campbell pointed out:

133

After her research on Meagher, Carter assessed that Meagher:

…made a reputation for himself as a shrewd businessman … was an energetic Councillor possessed of a good deal of personal magnetism and Gaelic charm which he deployed at times in defence of the underdog… (and) Meagher’s career, both publicly and privately, was an outstanding achievement for a member of the group that the historian J. S. Battye labelled as, ‘the scourings of English jails.’ 134

Conclusion

There were both positive and negative aspects facing Governor Kennedy and the free

settlers between 1855 and 1859. On one hand mineral exports quadrupled, wool exports

rose significantly and the colony's exports more than doubled in those five years, to the

extent that its balance of trade improved to 74%, although still in favour of imports. On

the other hand, as unemployment was high, wages tended to be low and many free

settlers were concerned about public security in the Fremantle area.

After gaining his Certificate of Freedom in 1869, Sampson and his second wife

Sophie were living in their two storied home built on a forty acre block in Bunbury by

1879. In their heyday over the next decade or so, they became proprietors of fifteen

houses, a villa, two shops and two offices, in an area known as 'Sampson Town, which

were all paid off by the end of 1891. Sampson bequeathed all his Bunbury estates to

Sophie after his demise in 1904, with the exception of two lots which he left to the

Wesley Church and two portions of lots to the Congregational Church. Sophie's

relatives inherited all their assets valued at £8945 after her death in 1912 and Sampson

Road in Bunbury was obviously named after him.

131 Campbell, op. cit., p. 271. 132 Carter, op. cit., p. 59. 133 Campbell, op. cit., p. 271. 134 Carter, op. cit., pp. 58 & 59.

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Stout’s reconviction, imprisonment and transportation appears to have jolted his

conscience, resulting in his character reformation in the colony. He was obviously

intelligent and was prepared to work hard to support his second wife and children, while

often juggling multiple careers as a photographer, schoolmaster, boarding house keeper

and journalist. He became well known as a public lecturer, earned the respect of many

free settlers and gave something back to society. There are no records of property being

owned by Stout or his wife, probably due to his bankruptcy and liquidation problems in

1875. As three of Stout's daughters, Francis, Rose and Elsie, married the sons of free

settlers, his family appears to have been considered socially acceptable by those free

settler families. Marcia Watson, the Editor of ‘Convict Links’ and a member of the

Western Australian Genealogical Society for many years, firmly believes that Stout

made a significant contribution to early Western Australian journalism and created a

lasting legacy of photographs for the R. W Passey collection in Battye Library, which

contributed to Western Australia’s history.135

Meagher received his Conditional Pardon in 1863 while leasing Surveyor General

Roe's vineyard 'Sandaflord,' and probably gained his Certificate of Freedom in

November 1864 while there.' During 1885, while at the height of his career in the

colony, he paid all David Gray's debts and took over his lease of 1000 acres known as

'Stone's Green.' Ironically, after facing bankruptcy himself in 1891, that lease was

transferred to John Bateman, while Meagher was forced into liquidation, from which he

never recovered.

These expirees were very public spirited. Dr Sampson played the organ at Bunbury's

Congregational Church and donated instruments for Bunbury's first Brass Band, which

he conducted for many years. After giving lectures and editing the weekly newspaper

on the Lord Raglan, Stout delivered many more entertaining public lectures in the

colony and was employed as Secretary of the Working Men's Society. Meagher was

elected onto the Swan Road Board from 1871 to 1877 and was voted its Chairman in

1876, while acting as its Honorary Secretary. He sat on the Swan Board of Education

between 1874 and 1876, was re-elected to the Swan Council in 1885, acted as their

Secretary for another for five years, and was then voted in as Chairman from 1888 to

1890. He was also elected onto the Guildford Council from 1873 to 1876 and became its

Chairman in the latter year.

135 Watson, ‘Stephen Montague Stout (4901),’ op. cit., p. 13.

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The main problem for Stout, Meagher and other hard working white-collar convicts,

was that they usually had little or no monetary reserves to fall back on in hard times

during depressions and recessions and consequently often lost most or all of their

properties and businesses, bearing in mind that many free settlers suffered in the same

way. Considering that eight of Meagher's nine children married free settlers’ offspring,

it appears that he and his family appear to have been considered socially acceptable by

many Swan River free settlers. Hilda Meagher’s marriage to Bishop Parry’s son, like

Alfred Letch’s son's marriage to Canon Clair's daughter, says a great deal about the

degree of social acceptance that could be achieved by family members of white-collar

convicts by the 1890s.

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CHAPTER 5. Swan River Colony between 1861 and 1868 and the Lives of Herman

Joseph Moll, James Elphinstone Roe, James Coates Fleming, James Murgatroyde

Hubbard and Lionel Holdsworth.

This chapter examines the lives of five white-collar convicts who arrived between

1861 and 1868, after which transportation to the Swan River Colony ceased. During

this period, the crimes for which convicts were transported to Western Australia

generally worsened, which was reflected in the tightening of governmental policies

regarding them in the colony. While the convicts' general reputation was deteriorating

and tougher new policies regarding their employment and wages were being set in

place, the lives of Herman Joseph Moll, James Elphinstone Roe, James Coates Fleming,

James Murgatroyde Hubbard and Lionel Holdsworth will be explored.

During this period, Governor Kennedy introduced a new policy, that no ticketers in

government employment would be paid a labourer’s wage, which had the effect of

encouraging them to find alternative employment in the Swan River Colony. Under

Governor Hampton, Conditional Pardons were no longer granted and after January

1864, ticketers were not allowed to leave the colony until they had served the full term

of their sentences.1 Also the frequency and severity of convict floggings increased,

peaking in 1868.2 According to Mrs Millett, the wife of Reverend Edward Millett, who

both arrived in 1863, the best behaved prisoners in British gaols were on the first

shiploads to arrive, but as time went by ‘a much worse class of criminals composed the

cargoes,’3

Between 1861 and 1868, the colony’s population rose from 15,936 to 24,292.

which was why stricter convict policies were introduced during the 1860s.

Also the male to female ratio increased to 100 to 56 females in the colony, which

concerned many free settlers. 4 By

1865, the ratio of its exports exceeded that of imports for the first time by £10,000,

prior to falling below that of imports again the following year.5

1 Rica Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp, 5 & 6.

Despite economic

2 P. R. Millett, ‘Convict discipline and punishment,’ Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia, edited by Jenny Gregory and Jan Gothard, U. W. A. Press, Crawley, Western Australia, 2009, p. 235. 3 Mrs Edward Millett, An Australian Parsonage , op. cit., 1872, p. 329. 4 R. T .Appleyard, Appendix 6.1, ‘Western Australia: Demographic Trends', A New History of Western Australia, op. cit, p. 233. 5 Ibid., Appendix 6.3, ‘Western Australia: External Trade 1850-1913 (£s)', p. 235.

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recessions in 1863 and 1867 and through most of the 1870s,6 and seasonal crop failures

from severe drought in 1869 and 1870 in the colony,7 wool exports rose from £15,482

in 1850 to £94,021 by 1869, timber exports rose from an average of £707 per year

between 1850-52 to £6,484 annually between 1867-69, and minerals exports increased

from £55 in 1850, to a yearly average of £14,952, between 1862 and 1869.8

During 1861, Francis Gregory and his party explored the land around the Ashburton,

Fortescue, Oakover and De Grey river systems north of Geraldton and discovered good

grazing lands and soils for agriculture, plenty of fish in the rivers and pearl shell in

Nickel Bay. This resulted in sales or leases of land for pastoral and mining ventures in

the north and east regions, where settlers began farming corn and wheat crops and

breeding sheep, cattle and horses. However the Secretary of State, responding to free

settlers’ requests in 1865, directed that no convicts, ticketers, or those whose sentences

had not expired, would be allowed to move to the northern portion of Western Australia

or to remain living there.

9

Western Australia’s economic situation gradually improved, mainly due to

population growth, the supply of cheap convict labour for settlers, more land being

cleared and fenced, as well as increased export activity. However, as the total value of

all exports in 1868 was £192,636, in comparison with imports worth £225,614,

Consequently white-collar and other convicts were barred

from settling or mining up north until they had received their Certificate of Freedom.

That was probably not only due to the poor reputation of recent convict arrivals, but also

the lack of policing facilities throughout the northern region.

10

After the cessation of convict arrivals in January 1868, the total population in the

colony rapidly increased from 25135 in 1870, to 29561 in 1880, and up to 45660 by

1889.

the

colony’s trade deficiency, must still have been a cause of concern for Governor

Hampton and his colonial administrators.

11

6 Stannage, C. T., The People of Perth, op. cit., p. 124.

The colony’s trade deficiency in 1870 resulted from a drought caused

depression, which occurred again in 1872 and 1873. From 1874 to 1882, the total value

of exports exceeded those of imports for a record of eight years in a row, however the

7 R. T. Appleyard, ‘Western Australia: Economic and Demographic Growth, 1850-1914', op. cit., p. 216. 8 Ibid., Appleyard, pp. 216 & 235. 9 J. S. Battye, Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth, op. cit.., p 261. 10 Appleyard, op. cit., p. 235. 11 Appleyard, ibid., Appendix 6.1 Western Australia: demographic trends 1850-1915, pp. 233 &234.

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colony’s deficient economy resumed again for the following fifteen years, from 1883 to

1898.12

Many educated convicts would have welcomed the news that the Swan River

Colony’s government changed to a partially representative government in November

1867, when six non official members from six districts were elected for a period of three

years, balanced by an equal number of official members. White-collar expirees probably

felt they were more likely to gain support and assistance from local district

parliamentarians who had observed their character reformation, strong work ethos and

their positive contributions to the society in which they lived. For the same reason, they

would have welcomed the innovation of a two-thirds representative government of

eighteen members, which included twelve free settlers for the first Legislative Council

in Western Australia under Governor Weld in 1870.

13

Herman Joseph Moll

By this time many white-collar

convicts or ‘specials’ as they were often referred to, were expirees and they had been in

the colony long enough to prove their worth and character reformation. It is against this

backdrop that Moll, Roe, Fleming, Hubbbard, and Holdsworth, who arrived during the

last seven years of transportation, sought to make a new life in the Swan River Colony.

On 8 July 1861, Herman Joseph Moll, a twenty-three year old, well educated

German born clerk, who also spoke French and English fluently,14 pleaded ‘guilty’ of

using a false passbook belonging to his employer, when he faced the jury at the Central

Criminal Courts in London. He had been employed by Mr Vich, a West Indian

merchant and the Belgian Consul for four years. During this time Moll had evidently

given Vich a fake passbook to prevent him knowing the true amount in his account at

the Bankers Association, while he illegally used his employer’s real passbook to obtain

Vich's money. He was tried on only one count of ‘forging and uttering an order for the

payment of £107. 9s,’ but according to the Consul, Moll’s misappropriation of money

‘amounted to several thousand pounds.’ Consequently Moll was fortunate to be only

sentenced to ten years penal servitude.15

12 Ibid., p. 236.

13 J. S. Battye op. cit., pp. 284 & 285. 14 ‘Joseph Van Eyck Herman Moll,’ Battye Library Catalogue Cards. 15 Herman Joseph Moll, Central Criminal Court, Times, 10 July 1861, p. 11e.

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Moll’s General Register notes recorded his character as ‘Very Good,’ while he was

transported on the York II with James Roe to the Swan River Colony, arriving on 31

December 1862. He received his Ticket-of-Leave on 16 July 1864, just over eighteen

and a half months after his arrival.16 As Moll’s religion was Catholic, he was soon

engaged by Father Bertram as his servant on a salary of £12 a year. Initially they lived

in Perth until the priest was transferred to Guildford.17 By 8 November 1864, Moll was

employed in the same occupation for the same wage by Father Coll, another Catholic

priest.18 However his salary doubled to £24 a year in January 1865, when he was

employed as a teacher by Father Bourke in the Catholic school in York until the end of

1865.19

By May 1866, Moll was earning £18 a year in York, as a clerk and accountant for

young John Henry Monger, a merchant in Fremantle and York, who was also a farmer

and pastoralist with extensive land to the east of York, Williams and Blackwood areas

by 1859. Monger employed over fifty ticketers between 1858 and 1882.

20

16 Herman Joseph Moll, General Register, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, Reel 22, No. 6659.

Considering

that Moll’s court case had featured in the London Times on 19 September 1862, that this

paper would have been available in Perth’s Weld Club about three months later, and

that his former employer in London had openly stated in court that his clerk Moll had

misappropriated ‘several thousand pounds,’ his appointment as Monger’s accountant

would certainly have raised eyebrows. There must still have been either a critical

17 Herman Joseph Moll, Ticket-of-Leave Register for the District of Perth, ACC, 1386, Vol. 4, No. 6659, p. 570. 18 Herman Joseph Moll, Occurrence Book, ACC 1386, vol. 8, 8 November,1864, p. 202. Moll was discharged from Bertram and employed by Reverend Coll, Guildford. 19 Herman Joseph Moll, General Register, op. cit.., 7 January 1865. 20 ‘ John Henry Monger', Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, pre 1829-1888, vol. III, K-Q, op. cit., p. 2202.

Figure 31: Herman Moll’s Court Case, Times 10 July 1861. Note the incorrect spelling of his surname and his enormous frauds, which ‘amounted to several thousand pounds according to his employer.

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shortage of clerical staff in the colony, or Moll may have been recommended to Monger

by the three Catholic priests in the colony, after he had gained their trust. However his

work appears to have been appreciated by his new employer, because on the last day of

December 1866, his salary was raised to £25/4/- a year.21

It is not known why Moll returned to work as Bourke’s servant on 31 January, 1867

on his former low wage, maybe he felt he needed the priest’s guidance. However two

weeks later, that move appeared not to have harmed his career, as he returned to

Monger on his previous salary. On 31 December 1867, his pay at Mongers was reduced

to £9/8/- a year, as it included his board and lodging, although it increased to £12 per

annum in December the following year.

22

Moll gained his Conditional Pardon on 12 February 1869 and his Certificate of

Freedom on 19 August 1871. By then he had decided there was a future for him in the

Swan River Colony and maybe he was already smitten by his good friend, Roe’s

twenty-one year old daughter. He remained in Monger’s employment until 1874 in

York, where he received a boost to his morale by being asked to sit on their Board of

Education that year. At the age of thirty-five, he married the twenty-four year old,

Catherine Agnes Roe and the following year Moll was transferred to Monger’s business

in Perth, where he still continued to work as Monger's accountant until 1882.

23

Herman and Catherine then moved to Cossack where he was employed as a Manager by

Alexander McRae, who owned a shipping agency and pearling company. Sadly for his

wife and their four young children, the forty-four year old Moll died there on 18

December 1882, due to complications of a broken leg from a riding accident.24

Catherine went to live in Northam and supported their four fatherless children by

running a boarding house, where her father, James Roe later joined her in his mid

sixties. 25

Herman and Catherine's oldest child, Cecilia Mary Agnes Moll, who was born in

1875, married John White in 1904.

26 He was the son of a free settler farmer who owned

two farms in the Northam district and was the Trustee of the Jennacubbine Catholic

Church.27

21 Herman Moll, Ticket-of-Leave Register, op. cit.

Their second daughter, Sophia Maria Josephine Moll was born in 1877 and

22 Herman Moll, General Register, op. cit. 23 Herman Joseph Van Eyck Moll, Battye Library Catalogue Card. 24 Herman Moll, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, op. cit., vol. III, K-Q, p. 2195. 25 Herman Moll, Battye Library Catalogue Card & Erickson, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit. p. 320. 26 Cecilia Mary Agnes Moll, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, op. cit., p. 2195. 27 John White, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary , vol. 1V, op. cit., p. 3284.

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when she was old enough, she moved to South Australia to become a Dominican nun.28

Their first son, Wilfred Joseph Moll who was born in 1879, was the Head Prefect at the

Perth High School in 1893, then Dux of the school in the following year. He was

employed as a Customs Officer from 1895 to 1934, then as an Examining Officer in

Albany then Geraldton, and eventually worked as the Chief Tariff Officer in Fremantle.

He married Laura Ann Somers, the daughter of a free settler named Samuel Henry

Somers in 1904.29 Their youngest son Arminius Phillip Moll, born in 1881 and became

a member of the Catholic Church in Perth, but that is the extent of available information

about him at this time.30

J. T. Reilly, the Catholic author of Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Western

Australia, published in 1903, saw Moll as gentleman of exceptional ability. He

enthusiastically reported that as well as being an excellent English scholar, Moll was a

proficient linguist in German, French and Flemish languages. His community

involvement included supporting the orphanage committee, becoming an active member

of the Board of Education, was a proficient musician, a good story teller and he was

devoted to the Catholic cause. For those reasons, Reilly perceived that Moll’s death was

deeply lamented by his widow, his family and Catholic Church members.

31

Moll’s character reformation may have been expedited by his connections with the

Catholic priests. Due to his membership of the orphanage committee, musical ability

and storytelling talents, he became well known and respected and his popularity appears

to have abounded among the free settlers, especially those who were members of the

Catholic Church. His intellectual ability was in line with that of James Roe and both

those expirees and their families benefited from their friendship.

James Elphinstone Roe

As readers will discover, James Roe’s rash temperament tended to lead him into

trouble in England as well as in his life ahead in the Swan River Colony, but first, his

family background and court case. His father, Reverend Thomas Roe, as the eldest son

in his family, inherited the Lincolnshire livings of Kirkby-on-Bain where the family 28 Sophia Maria Josephine Moll, Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. III, op. cit., p. 2195. 29 William Joseph van Eyck Moll, Erickson, The Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 5, op. cit.., p. 629. 30 ‘Arminius Philip Moll,’ Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary , vol. III, op. cit., p. 2195 & Herman Joseph Moll, Battye Library Catalogue Card. 31 J. T. Reilly, Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Sands & McDougall, 1903, p. 61.

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home was built, as well as that of Sotby, which was administered by a curate. Both were

gifts from the royal family and like most of the other white-collar convicts in this

research, Roe had been brought up as a gentleman. His father died when James was ten

years old, and as all the males in the family line had been clergymen and schoolmasters

for generations, he was encouraged to follow in his father’s footsteps. He matriculated

at seventeen and took Holy orders within the Church of England. A few years after his

ordination, Roe married Catherine Elphinstone, the youngest daughter of Captain John

Elphinstone, who had distinguished himself in the battle against the Turks, while in the

British Royal Navy. 32

At the conclusion of his two day trial in the Central Criminal Courts in London on 22

August 1861, Reverend Roe, the now forty-two year old Anglican Vicar of Macclesfield

in Cheshire, was sentenced for ten years for forging a cheque for £6000, purportedly

made out to him by his wealthy uncle, prior to his decease. He claimed in self- defence

that the reason why he took that course of action, was because his cousins had

fraudulently tricked him out of inheriting £500 from that uncle, but he made no attempt

to deny his over reaction to his two cousins' deceit. Unfortunately for Roe and his

family, the jury failed to believe his version of events, probably due to the fact that he

had forged a cheque worth eleven times more than his original inheritance was

supposed to have been worth. Reverend Roe and his wife had nine children by then and

they were probably in need of financial assistance, as a vicar’s yearly earnings were not

high, however he was sentenced to ten years penal servitude.

33

After his incarceration in Newgate, Millbank, Pentonville, then Portsmouth

penitentiaries for just over fourteen and a half months, he arrived in the Swan River

colony in the York II on New Year's Eve, 1862. During the voyage he became friends

with Herman Moll and although Roe was forty-four years old and Moll was half his age,

they had found they had much in common while on board. Moll was Catholic and Roe

had belonged to the Oxford movement while at university, during which time he had

acquired some sympathy with the Catholic ideology of its founder.

34 Roe received a

‘Good’ character record on the transport, to restart his life in the colony.35

32 Hilary Thomas, 'Our First Newspaper Man in (Western) Australia: A Family History,' unpublished. Hilary is the great grand-daughter of James Roe.

33 James Roe, Central Criminal Court, London, ‘Extraordinary Case,’ Times, 22 August, p. 9a, 9b & 23 August, p. 9d, 1861. Also in, ‘Painful Case of Forgery - James Roe,’ from the Annual Register, History and Politics of the Year 1861, J & F. H. Rivington, 1862, London, pp. 158 & 159. 34 Erickson, 'James Elphinstone Roe, Schoolmaster and Journalist,' Brand on his Coat, op. cit.. pp. 301 & 302. 35 James Roe, General Register, A.N. 358/2, ACC 1156, Reel 22 (6393-6932), No 6709 .

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In Roe’s anonymously written article, ‘A Letter from Convict in Australia, to a

Brother in England,’ which was later published in the Cornhill Magazine, he described

Fremantle as ‘pretty’ and ‘cheerful’ and ‘not unlike small seaside places at home, ’ as

well as the process that he had gone through on arrival. The prisoners were escorted in a

quiet, orderly fashion via the gates through a large, quiet courtyard, into the

conspicuously new Convict Establishment which overlooked the town to the coast. This

was followed by a bath and presumably he was given either a new or clean uniform,

after which his hair and whiskers were shaven so closely that:

Every particle of whisker, every hair of your head which can be made to pass through a flat comb, is taken off unsparingly.36

Roe advised potential white-collar prisoners to secure their money with a warder, a

friend, a ship servant, or any professional person he felt he could trust.

37 He tried to

reassure educated prisoners or ‘specials’ about conditions in the convict establishment.

He maintained that during the day the doors were left open, so they could walk outside.

There was only one officer at the door to the exercise yard, they were free to walk

around and talk to friends, and they were only shut in their cells at night and as long as

there were no disturbances, the officers tended to leave them alone. He observed that

good order was not obtained by a continuous display of force there, but by appealing to

the prisoners’ good sense. Roe praised the convict Constables for successfully

preserving prison order in areas where there were no prison officers and explained that

the Constables were rewarded by gaining their Tickets-of-Leave earlier, being paid for

their duties and they also obtained some sentence remission.38

However he appears to have been trying to make the best of his situation for his

family’s sake and stretched the truth somewhat, when he reported that the tiny cells

were ‘really cheerful, airy little dens.’ Contrary to Roe’s claim that, ‘the cells here are a

little larger than the iron cages at Portsmouth,’

39

What is different from its Australian and English contemporaries was the extraordinarily small cell size: 7ft x 4. It came about because Henderson had based his cell size on the dimensions …at Portland. The catch was that, while the

they were actually smaller than those

in new Public Works prisons such as in Portland in England. When James Kerr wrote a

policy for the conservation of Fremantle Prison in 1998, he explained:

36 Anon (James Roe), ‘A Letter from a Convict in Australia, to a Brother in England', The Cornhill Magazine, ,vol. XIII, January - June, 1866, London, p. 503. 37 Roe, ibid., pp. 502 & 503. 38 Roe, ibid., p. 503. 39 Roe, ibid., p. 504

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Portland cells were fabricated of corrugated iron…Henderson erected the Fremantle cells in the local limestone, but retained the dimensions specified by Jebb for iron.40

The thickness of the limestone in the ground floor walls measures between 3 ft to 4 ft

wide, while on the top floor landing, the walls are only 1 ft wide for strength of

construction reasons.

41

As Roe was led through the prison, he observed that the cell windows were made

from thick grey glass and were semi-transparent, which as he pointed out, was

‘necessary for the strong light of the climate.’

Consequently on hot summer days, although the lower cells

were narrower, they probably would have been much cooler, airier and pleasanter to be

in, than those on the top third landing, which had thinner walls and the prisoners were

directly under the slate roofing, therefore closer to the sun’s rays.

42 According to Kerr, the windows are

approximately 6 ft wide by 2 ft high and were ‘heavy iron framed with mullioned

hopper windows, fitted with rough glass and hinged at the base to open inwards.’ They

were covered on the outside by vertical one inch square iron bars about 6 inches apart,

and each set of windows was shared by adjacent cells. The floors were covered with

thick jarrah planking and the walls and ceilings were plastered and whitewashed by

1859. Until later in the century, fresh air passed from the opened cell window out

through the base of the jarrah cell door, to ventilate the cells. On the wall opposite the

hammock, which was rolled up during the day, there was a stool, a small hinged table

and an oil lamp for light after nightfall.43

Although Roe enthused about some aspects of living in huts while on convict road-

parties in open country areas, he maintained that it was better to be in the establishment,

because ‘the cells there were cooler and closer to Freemantle (sic) or Perth.’ He

predicted that ‘you will probably be made a clerk in the chief establishment … (or) at

the country depots,’ however he warned that by 1866, no extra remission was given for

clerical positions in the main Establishment.

Most visitors viewing separate cells on the

lower floors nowadays would hardly find them ‘cheery,’ but rather describe them as

dimly lit, pantry sized cupboards.

44

40 James Semple Kerr, ‘The cell block’s place in the penal design,’ Fremantle Prison: A Policy for its Conservation, Department of Contract & Management for the Fremantle prison Trust Advisory Committee, 1998, p. 49.

41 The only remaining separate cell at Fremantle Prison was measured on 10 November, 2008 by Tourist staff there, and also the difference between cell wall sizes on the ground floor to the top floor. 42 Anon. (James Roe), ‘Letter from a Convict in Australia', op. cit., p. 504. 43 Kerr, op. cit., pp, 51 & 49. 44 Anon, (James Roe), ‘A Letter from a Convict in Australia,’ ibid., pp. 504 & 505.

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According to his General Register record, there is no mention of Roe taking on a

clerical or constable role, but as his conduct continued to be ‘Good,’ he gained his

Ticket-of-Leave early on 8 August 1864. By 31 December that year, he was working by

‘Private Means’ in York.’45 Bob Reece maintains that while Roe lived in that area, he

was said, ‘to have tutored the young Sam Burges in 1864.’46 Meanwhile, his wife,

Susannah, who had been living in Highgate, London, was also teaching to support their

children.47 Although she would have been well aware that life in the Swan River

Colony would be socially difficult for all her family members, she and their nine

surviving children, aged from three to about nineteen,48 arrived on the Hastings in

December 1864.49 Hopefully Roe had taken his own advice to convicts and transferred

his property to his wife, while he was on remand,50

Roe obtained an extended pass from York to Fremantle to meet them.

as the voyage out to the colony

would have been expensive for such a large family. If not, they may have been assisted

financially by family and friends in Britain. 51 After

Susannah politely refused an invitation from Bishop Hale’s wife for them to stay at their

home because Roe was not included, the family travelled to York, sleeping under the

stars on the way.52 From 31 December 1864 to 31 December 1866,53 Erickson’s

research suggests that he was still teaching privately at Seven Mile Springs, where he

had leased a farmstead known as ‘Six Mile Brook.’54 Roe and his wife were forced to

live separately when Susannah started teaching in York in 1865, during which time, she

and her children may have lived in a Wesleyan Mission house in town.55 According to

Roe’s descendent, Hilary Thomas, ‘Susannah and several of her daughters had become

Catholic since their arrival in the colony, a fact that did not disturb Roe in the

slightest.’56 Roe employed six ticketers in York between 1864 and 1866, while his wife

employed eight.57

45 James Elphinstone Roe, General Register, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, Reel 22, No. 6707.

46 Bob Reece, ‘Fremantle’s First Voice: The Herald Newspaper 1867-1886,’ unpublished, in Local Studies Collection, Fremantle Library, 2008, p. 5. 47 Hilary Thomas, op. cit., p. 3. 48 James Elphinstone Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card, includes Thomas, Dymoke and Louisa, who died in infancy and Mary who died when seven. 49 Rica Erickson, The Brand on his Coat,’ op. cit., p. 302. 50 Roe, ‘A Letter from a Convict to a Brother in England,' op. cit., p. 492. 51 James Roe, Acc 1386, Occurrence Book, Vol. 8, p. 167. 52 Erickson, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit. p. 302. 53 James, Elphinstone Roe, General Register, op. cit., 31/12/64, Roe's private occupations in York. 54 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 302. 55 Ibid.. 56 Hilary Thomas, op. cit., p. 3. 57 James Roe, 'Employers of Ticket-of-Leave Men,' Western Australian Biographical Indexes.

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As Bishop Hale was Chairman of the General Board of Education at the start of

1866, he was able to ensure Roe and his wife were teaching not far apart at this stage.58

Roe was placed at Central Greenough in the Champion Bay district, after the Bishop

sensibly gained the school children’s parents’ approval regarding Roe’s penal status and

his unusually high qualifications earned him a large salary of £100 per annum, whereas

the usual wage was about £40 a year. It also included extras such as housing, but

unfortunately at that stage there were no dwellings available for such a large family, so

Susannah was allocated a private teaching post in Geraldton for £50 annually, teaching

only five children.59 However they all moved to Greenough at the end of 1866 ,where

Roe taught and hired another thirteen ticketers between 1868 and 1872. In April 1867,

Susannah accepted a government teaching post at Central Greenough where they both

taught until the end of the year. With increased enrolments in that area, a new school

was built at South Greenough, where Susannah was employed during 1868. Meanwhile

Roe stayed on at Central Greenough with a larger class, and received his Conditional

Pardon on 11 May 1869 while there.60

58 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 303. 59 Ibid., Letter to Mrs Roe, Colonial Secretary’s Office, Board of Education, CSO 573, 7 June 1866. 60 James Roe, General Register, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, Reel 22, No. 6709.

Figure 32: Inside a classroom at Central Greenough were they both taught in 1867.

Figure 33: The Central Greenough Schoolhouse.

Figure 34: Roe James Roe, Teacher and Journalist, and his wife, Susannah Roe, a School Mistress in Greenough.

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Susannah and James’ eighteen year old second son, Edward Roe, was evidently a

sensitive youth and was having problems adjusting to his family’s reduced standard of

living, combined with the social stigma of his father’s conviction. By 1868, he had

started working for Dr Judah Hora as a trainee chemist in Perth. In January 1870, while

he was still working for and living with Dr Hora’s family, Edward committed suicide by

taking prussic acid, after becoming jealous when his sweetheart went walking with

someone else, while ‘he was smarting from a convict taunt.’61

Soon after that family tragedy, Roe had a clash with the young and inexperienced Mr

Lawrence, who was the newly-appointed local Resident Magistrate, as well as the

Chairman of the Greenough Education Committee. Laurence had already earned a

reputation for ‘unfair treatment of certain groups and individuals’ and the ‘Irish Catholic

minority was one such group,’ he had singled out.

62 Roe’s firm belief that the cessation

of the Education Grant to Catholic schools was wrong and his strong views on school

management, led to his dismissal on what was thought to have been a prefabricated

charge by Lawrence for ‘being late to school one day’ in September 1870.63

…the master (Roe) had their full confidence, not only as efficient, painstaking and impartial, but as exercising a good influence on the children’s minds far beyond that of the ordinary Colonial masters, and that the (local) School Committee, represented neither their feelings nor opinions.

Leahy

argued that Roe’s sacking ‘was an example of what could be termed exploitation of

teachers… (and) his qualifications and complete support of the parents of his pupils

meant nothing.’ Apparently the parents of one student, who vehemently disagreed with

Roe’s dismissal, sent a letter of protest which was published in the Fremantle Herald on

14 January 1871, and a memorial signed by the parents of forty-two of his forty-six

students and sent to the Central Education Board, complained that:

64

Being able to speak his mind publicly after his dismissal, Roe published his own

ideas on educational reform in a letter published in the Herald, two weeks later on 28

January 1871. He advocated that the overall aim of a Government education should be

to:

…afford children of the working classes such an education as is most likely to be useful to them, reading, writing, ciphering, book-keeping, mensuration and a fair knowledge of physical, social and political history of the world they live in, and

61Inquirer, 12 January, 1870, in Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 305. 62 Hilary Thomas, op. cit., p. 3. 63 Erickson, op. cit., p. 306. 64 Shirley Leahy, ‘Convict Teachers and the Children of W.A, op. cit., p. 40.

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above all such habits of close and accurate thought as will alone enable them to make their knowledge of value.65

Roe believed that aim was achievable; if the Central Government School Board

made schooling compulsory; if it began later when learning was easier and faster; if

students were provided with better books; if teaching aids were procured and if

qualified and experienced inspectors were employed. He argued that local school

committees should only be responsible for school buildings and furniture and better

school prizes should be obtained. Better schoolmasters should be selected, even if their

salaries had to be trebled and School Boards should dismiss intemperate, drunken

teachers permanently. Teaching should be strictly secular, as not one teacher in twenty

was suited as a religious leader. Control of the education system should not include

clergymen, but should be by a Board of laymen or a Minister of Education.

Many of his outspoken views were included in the Education Act in 1871. His

proposals on compulsory education for those living within three miles from a school

and that the starting age for schooling should be lifted to six were heeded, as were his

ideas about children’s education being extended to fourteen years, teachers sitting

examinations for competence and pupils being examined by inspectors. The payment of

teachers by results and Catholic schools receiving the same grant as sectarian schools,

were also accepted.66

Roe experienced more problems in connection with Magistrate Lawrence at the end

of 1870, when he leased a small farm. After obtaining two sandalwood licences and

employing two sandalwood cutters and a teamster to work there, he was fined ten

shillings and costs for allowing his teamster to walk beside his horses while not holding

their reins. Roe unsuccessfully attempted to quash his conviction and his fine, by

petitioning higher authorities in Perth and his case was reported in the Fremantle

Herald.

67 Later that year he was employed as Henry Gray’s agent, auctioneer and clerk

in Geraldton.68 Roe received his Certificate of Freedom on 29 August 1871 and he

began working as the local correspondent in Geraldton for the Fremantle Herald

newspaper. He was sent to Champion Bay on 29 August 1871 and started working as

the local correspondent in Geraldton for the Fremantle Herald newspaper.69

65 Erickson, ‘James Elphinstone Roe, Schoolmaster and Journalist', op. cit., p. 307.

Meanwhile

66 Roe's letter to the Fremantle Herald, 28 January, 1871, p. 3. 67 Roe's court case reported in the Fremantle Herald, January 1872. 68 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, ibid., p. 310. 69 Inquirer, 12 January, 1870, cited in Erickson, Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 305.

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Susannah continued teaching five males and eight female students on the same salary at

Central Greenough until 1872.70

Roe’s feud with Laurence continued, however. Six months later Roe petitioned again

and even sent a copy to the Fremantle Herald, to no avail. He was then fined £4/8/-

after Lawrence accused him of employing three sandalwood cutters, while only holding

licences for two. Roe’s story that he had asked his Aboriginal houseboy to help him

reload his cart, set him further offside with Lawrence and the Magistrate appeared to be

fed up with his petitions.

71

As Roe’s radical ideas and forthright views on education and responsible government

were shared by the other expiree editors of the Fremantle Herald newspaper, he was

invited to become their co-editor, after which his family’s monetary situation appears to

have stabilized. According to his Western Australian Bank records, Roe’s account held

£5.16s.11½d on 1 January, 1872, increasing to £35.8s on 31 December that year. By 30

June, 1876 he had deposited £42/18/10, and there were several payments of interest

with no overdrafts.

When the area around Greenough started showing signs of

an economic recession in 1872 due to floods, fires and rust in the wet season, Roe

resigned his job with Gray, and he and his children moved to Perth.

72 Susannah moved to Perth after resigning from teaching at the end

of 1873 and in 1874, their daughter Catherine Agnes married Joseph Moll in the

Catholic Cathedral.73

Given their education, political and social interests and the type of logic they used, it

seems highly likely that Roe and William Beresford, another white-collar expiree, were

at least partially responsible for a petition addressed to Queen Victoria in 1877. It

contained six hundred and twenty four signatures, including those of many ticket-of-

leave holders and expirees. The main thrust of the petitioners’ argument was that, as

expirees were now free subjects of the English crown, they deserved the same political

and civil rights that were enjoyed by the free settlers. They pointed out that expiree

landowners, merchants and tradesmen who were now living peaceably and honestly,

were interested in the preservation of order, and argued that ‘the conservative character

70 Blue Book 1872, Susannah Roe's teaching appointment to Central Greenough School. 71 James Roe, General Register, op. cit., and Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp. 310 & 11. 72 James Roe, Western Australian Bank, ‘B’ Ledger, WAB-3/610/2, Country Customers, 1 January, 1872.According to Lucy Rantzen, the Bank's Historical Researcher, Roe had no overdrafts after 30 June 1876,when his Bank balance was £42/18/10, 73 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, ibid., p. 311 & Catherine Agnes Roe, under James Roe, Batty Library Catalogue Cards .

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of election franchise is a sufficient guarantee for no improper person being elected to

the Legislative Council or any other public office.’74

The petitioners believed it was also a danger to society and ‘one of the greatest

obstacles to its progress,’ to have two distinct classes i.e. ‘expirees’ and a privileged

class of free settlers. They saw that the situation had the potential to cause jealousy, ill

feeling, useful men to leave and some to withdraw from public affairs. It also stood in

the way of united social, political and commercial action, restricted marriages and

retarded settlement. To push their point home, they further claimed that ‘as expirees

constituted the bulk of the male population, took a leading part in literature, education,

trade and commerce, and as it was eight years since transportation had ceased, it was

time for the distinction to be removed.’ They fully realised that the removal of civil and

political disabilities, ‘would not immediately dispel social distinctions which they had

fostered,’ but they believed ‘such a removal was the first step…’

The petitioners pointed out that expirees should also have the right, ‘to sit on juries,

to be elected as Chairmen of Municipalities and for the Legislative Council,’ and argued

that the separation of these classes ‘stood in the way of united action, social, political or

commercial ... restricts marriages and retards settlement.’

... contrary to the spirit of the British Constitution, that Englishmen (bond class emancipists) should in any part of the British dominions be deprived of rights which they enjoy in the mother country, unless there is good reason to apprehend that the possession of such rights would endanger the peace of the realm ... The influence of property and the conservative character of every kind of electoral franchise is a sufficient guarantee for no improper person being elected to the Legislative Council or any other public office... The recognition by the state of two distinct classes of subjects - a proscribed class and a privileged class - is constantly giving occasion to jealousy and ill feeling, has caused a great number of useful men to leave the colony and others to withdraw from public affairs.

More specifically, the petition

focused on the fact that it was:

75

According to Isla Macphail, Governor Ord had serious reservations about the Swan

River colony adopting self government, as he believed that they would soon:

… have to grant, as all the others on the continent had done, manhood suffrage without any property qualifications for members, and eventually the restoration of

74 ‘A Petition addressed to The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty,’ Governor’s Correspondence, 1876-1878, ACC 392, Box 62, ACC. 392, Item 278, SROWA, referred to by Andrew Gill, ‘Petitions, Memorials and Politics in Western Australia, 1829-1849: A Note,’ Studies in Western Australian History, vol. 1V, December 1981, p. 49. 75 Ibid., Andrew Gill, ‘Petitions Memorials and Politics in Western Australia.’

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civil rights to the Criminal Class, which forms something like one half the population. 76

Although Roe's monetary situation had improved after he became co-editor of the

Fremantle Herald, his situation again deteriorated after Pearce sold the Herald to the

Inquirer, due to the newspaper’s monetary problems in 1886. After Susannah passed

away in 1887, Roe found it financially difficult to support himself and his widowed

daughter Catherine and her family, but he continued working for the Inquirer’s new

proprietors and was very concerned about his children’s futures.

Only nine of their thirteen children migrated with their mother to the colony, as

Thomas Elphinstone, Dymoke and Louisa died as infants and Mary had died at seven

years of age. Georgiana Alice Roe was born in 1844 in England and married an expiree

brigantine owner named Joseph Walton in the colony during 1873, which turned out to

be his second bigamous relationship. She and Joseph moved to Singapore in August

1874, but he left for Hong Kong in early 1876, leaving a note and £1707 to support

Georgiana and their son. Her second marriage was to a druggist named Paul Martina

and her third to Mr De Silva, both while in Singapore. She became a Matron of the

Singapore Hospital, before retiring on half pay and travelling to London when her

eyesight was failing.77

Their eldest son, James Elphinstone Roe, who was born in 1846, remained unmarried

and after working for his father from 1864 into the 1870s, became a linesman on

Fleming’s Esperance to Eucla telegraph connection, before moving to South Australia

where he continued working on the telegraph line, prior to moving overseas.

78 Catherine

Agnes Roe’s marriage to the expiree Herman Moll, and their four children, Cecilia,

Sophie, Wilfred and Arminius's marital positions, have already been mentioned in the

previous chapter. Edward Henry Lionel Roe, born in 1851, was the son who suicided

when aged nineteen.79 Laura Francis Roe was born in 1852 and married Henry Edward

Thomas, the son of a free settler who was a pastoralist at Moore River.80

76 Isla MacPhail, Highest Privilege and Bounden Duty: A Study of Western Australian Parliamentary Elections 1829-1901, Western Australian Electoral Commission, Perth, 2008, p. 140.

Helen Emily

Roe was born in 1856 and married Patrick Stone, the son of a Pensioner Guard, in 1877.

77 Georgiana Alice Roe under James Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card and Erickson The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., p. 311, 317, 319, 320. 78 James Elphinstone Roe, (Junior) Battye Library Catalogue Card, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. R-Z, p. 2664, and Erickson, ibid., p. 317. 79 Edward Henry Lionel Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card, ibid., The Bicentennial Dictionary, ibid., p. 2662, and Erickson, ibid., p. 305. 80 Laura Francis Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card , ibid., and Erickson, ibid., p. 319.

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Patrick was a farmer until he was twenty five years of age, then a storekeeper in

Geraldton, prior to owning the Commonwealth Hotel. He was elected as Municipal

Councillor for fourteen years, became a member of the Agricultural Society and was

elected onto the Greenough Road Board, prior to becoming the Liberal member for that

district from 1901 to 1908..81

Una Felicia Grace Roe, born in 1857, entered the Sister’s of Joseph convent as a

Dominican nun and died in South Australia.

82 Louisa Roe, who was born in 1858,

joined her brother James in Esperance hoping to get work as a telephonist, but accepted

a teaching post at Wandearah and soon returned home. She married Francis Kirk White

who was the son of a free settler from South Australia in 1889. When she was about

forty, she realised her latent ambition by becoming the post mistress and telegraph

operator at Kojonup.83 Annie Susan Ethelreda Roe was born in 1862 and married John

Gallop, a market gardener, in 1883. He was the son of the free settler, Richard Gallop,

who was also a market gardener in North Perth in 1862, then a Fremantle Fruiterer by

1873.84

While Roe was living with Catherine in her boarding house at 57 Fitzgerald Street,

Perth, he was still contributing to newspapers and helping in her garden,

85 until he died

at seventy-nine years of age in May 1897. According to J. T. Reilly, ‘Although family

members gathered at his graveside, few other mourners turned up to pay their

respects.’86

Mr Roe always maintained his personal dignity and self respect… Journalists may never hope for fame. Their only reward is in the conscientious discharge of duty.

While reminiscing about the last fifty years in the Swan River Colony in the

early twentieth century, Reilly wrote:

87

One of his colleagues, J.M. Drew, who had been a reporter for the Geraldton

Express, wrote a eulogy on the editors of the Herald:

No pen can describe…the true extent of the good work done by that journal in the days when courage to speak one’s mind, almost meant the courage to speak treason.88

81 Helen Emily Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card, ibid., The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol.4, R-Z, p. 2961 and Erickson, ibid., p. 317.

82 Una Felicia Grace Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card, ibid., and Erickson, ibid., pp. 311, 317. 83 Louisa Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card, ibid., and Erickson, ibid., pp. 311, 317, 319. 84 Annie Susan Ethelreda Roe, Battye Library Catalogue Card , ibid., married Richard Gallop, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 11, D-J, op. cit., p. 1145. 85 Erickson, The Brand on His Coat, op. cit., Roe’s last letter to Georgina in March 1897, p. 320 & 321. 86J. T. Reilly, Reminiscences of Fifty Years Residence in Western Australia, Perth, W.A, Sands & McDougall, 1903, p. 276. 87 J. T. Reilly, ibid.

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Historian Brian De Garis, writing eighty-four years after Roe’s death, praised the

efforts of all three ‘remarkable’ expiree editors who launched the Herald, because they

maintained ‘a high standard of journalism, encouraged local writers and consistently

championed a working class point of view.’89

Bob Reece thought it was ironic that:

The convict system, which had been used for so many years by the British and colonial authorities to justify the withholding of representative and responsible government, produced the very men who most effectively upheld that ideal and fought for its introduction.90

Right from the start, Roe always stood up for what he thought were his and other’s

rights, including responsible government, for which he and sometimes his family

suffered. When his cousins thwarted his plans of inheritance, he tried to get around that

problem by forging a cheque for a very large amount, and ended up being transported,

which meant his wife and children had to pack up and follow him. When his opinion

clashed with the local magistrate over the cessation of the education grant to Catholic

schools, and then for not holding enough sandalwood licences, he was fined, then later

dismissed on a minor charge of being late to work once while a teacher. He was not

afraid to publish his derogatory views on education in the local newspaper and was

involved in drawing up a petition on expiree’s rights, which eventually earned him the

position as one of the editors of the Herald. Roe’s forthright views on education

benefited the colony’s children, and it seems that with his intelligence and dogged

temperament, he was born to be both a teacher and a journalist.

James Coates Fleming

Although James Fleming appears to have been a seasoned swindler in England, he

subsequently gained and deserved the praise of all the free settlers and expirees in the

Swan River Colony. Fleming was born in 1834 and by 1862 he was living in the town

of Wickford in Essex County with his wife Emma, and their eighteen month old son

named John.91 Prior to his court case on 18 September 1862,92

88 Rica Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 320.

he was a shipbroker

89 B. K. De Garis, ‘Political Tutelage 1829-1870,’ in A New History of Western Australia,. C. T. Stannage (ed.), UWA Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1981, p. 312. 90 Bob Reece, ‘Fremantle’s First Voice: The Herald, 1867-1886,’ p. Unpublished, Fremantle Library, Local Studies Collection, p. 24. 91 Fleming, James Coates, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians pre 1829-1888, vol. II, op. cit., p. 1073.

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merchant.93 He faced twenty-one charges of ‘falsehood, fraud and wilful imposition,’

also ‘forgery’ and ‘feloniously using and uttering as genuine a forged bill of exchange,

promissory note, or other writing.’ He pleaded guilty to seven charges, which was

excepted by the crown. An example of one of his frauds was described in The Glasgow

Herald. Fleming had evidently ‘deposited several chests of tea with a party on which he

got money advanced.’ However, it turned out that he had sprinkled tea leaves on the top

of saw dust and other worthless substances, in those chests. His defence lawyer tried to

excuse Fleming’s action, by stating that ‘the object of the prisoner in his frauds and

forgeries had been to gain time, not eventually to defraud anyone.’ However Lord

Ardmillan found no grounds for mitigation, as ‘the object of the prisoner seemed to

present a complete series of rogueries from beginning to end,’ and sentenced Fleming to

seven years of penal servitude.94

Fleming’s character was noted as ‘Very Good’ while on the Clara, and the thirty

year old convict arrived in the colony on 18 April 1864. Three days after gaining his

Ticket-of-Leave on 19 May 1865, he was employed as a servant by a free settler in

Fremantle, then in Perth up to the beginning of August that year, on thirty shillings a

month. By 2 August 1865, he was still working as a servant in Perth, and on 31

December that year, he was employed as the schoolmaster for his employer’s children.

95

By June 1866, he was Headmaster of his own William Street Academy in Perth and

was earning £50 per annum by which time his wife Emma and their son had joined him

and his income increased to £60 a year, after 30 December 1866.

96 Half way through

1867, he was working in Perth as a clerk on £6 a month until the last day in December

that year on an excellent salary of £7 a month, or £84 a year. He gained his Conditional

Release the following year on 29 February 1868. 97

It was probably while he was a shipbroker merchant in Britain, that he developed a

keen interest and understanding of the elementary principles involved in the Morse dot-

dash code of telegraphing, which had linked America to Britain in 1861.

98

92 Fleming, James Coats, General Register, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, Reel 28, Reg. No. 7688.

For this

reason, Edmund Stirling and Alexander Cumming selected him to run their Electro-

Magnetic Telegraph Company and to supervise the laying of the line and installation of

93 Fleming, James Coats, Convicts in Western Australia, op. cit., p. 190. 94 The Court Case of James Coat[e]s Fleming, The Glasgow Herald, 19 September 1862, p. 7. 95 James Coat(e)s Fleming's General Register, op. cit. 96 Ibid., & Rica Erickson, ‘James Coates Fleming,’ The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., p. 248. 97 James Coates Fleming, General Register, op. cit. 98 ‘The Morse Telegraph', The World Book Encyclopedia International, vol. 19, T, World Book Inc. Sydney, 1992, pp. 102 & 103.

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equipment for their telegraph link between Perth and Fremantle, which was completed

in 1869.99

In February 1870, Fleming submitted his plan for connecting all the small

settlements in Western Australia, west and south of Perth through to Albany by

telegraph. The Perth to Albany line had good commercial prospects, because news

could be conveyed rapidly by mail steamers, which made Albany their first port of call,

and from there it could be immediately telegraphed to Perth. Governor Weld endorsed

his plan and Fleming formed his Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company in 1870 and

took over the Western Australian Telegraph Company. Under its agreement with the

government, his company owned and erected the lines and supplied the equipment,

while the Post Office operated the service and provided both the staff and buildings.

100

It must have been a tremendous relief for Fleming and his wife, when he gained his

Certificate of Freedom on 9 October 1871,101 prior to the line being completed by

December 1872 with the assistance of nine ticketers.102

99 'James Coates Fleming,' Erickson, ibid., p. 248.

However as the British Colonial

Office disapproved of joint private and public systems, the West Australian Government

bought out EMT and Fleming was appointed as the first Western Australian

Government Superintendent of Telegraphs in 1873. He was then employed to supervise

the placement of telegraph lines between Albany and Eucla.

100 Richard G. Hartley, ‘Industry and Infrastructure in Western Australia: 1829-1940', Institution of Engineers, Australia, Western Australian Division, 1995, p. 20. 101 Fleming’s General Register, op. cit. 102 James Coates Fleming, Battye Library Catalogue Cards.

Figure 35: The first heliograph was tried successfully, between Rottnest Island and Fremantle by Fleming, while he was the Superintendent of Telegraphs, in December, 1879. John Moynihan, All the News in a Flash, Rottnest Communications 1829-1979, p. 25.

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His wife, Emma, sometimes accompanied him on his voyages to King George’s

Sound. 103 There were dangerous moments in rough seas, such as when he ‘only

narrowly escaped drowning when trying to land ashore to inspect a possible telegraph

station site.’104 The estimated total cost of constructing the Eucla Telegraph Line was

£33652/10/-,105

and by 8 December 1877, telegraph communications between Perth and

Adelaide, which had already been linked up to Darwin, Britain and Europe, was

achieved.

103 Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. II, op. cit., under ‘Fleming, James Coates', p. 1073. 104 The Institution of Engineers, Australia, East-West Telegraph', 1877, Nomination of the East-West Telegraph for an Engineering Landmark, 2 June 2001, p. 16. 105 ‘Eucla Telegraph Line,’ Report by the Postmaster General, A. Helmich, Postmaster General, General Post Office, Perth, 13 July 1876, p. 1.

Figure 36: As there were no roads connecting Albany to Eucla, ships conveyed the linesmen, their food supplies and equipment along the coastline to the nearest bay. This photograph shows Fleming on a camel, which were used for pulling wagons with equipment and food supplies while they connected the telegraph lines. Photo courtesy of Battye Library, BA508/3.

Figure 37: Fleming’s East West Telegraph line from Perth through Albany to Eucla

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The highlight of his career was when Fleming became an Associate Member of the

London Society of Engineers, followed by full membership in 1878, an honour won for

his work on the telegraph line which he highly prized and justly deserved.’106 John, their

first born son, who became a miner at “Wheal Fortune” in Northampton between 1880

and 1889, married Adelia Frohlich, the daughter of Stephen Frohlich who was a free

settler, in the Catholic Church in Fremantle on 22 August 1892.107 Sadly for James and

Emma, their two other babies, Arthur Colvie, who was born in October 1879, died on

11 April 1880, and Oswald who was born on 16 October 1880, died on 2 May 1881.108

Fleming and his wife were both active members of the Presbyterian Church.

109 When

Emma died in early 1885, her funeral was attended by ‘many leading citizens who paid

homage to her charitable work among the poor and sick.’ On 21 May 1885, only four

months after his wife’s death, James ‘died at the home of the Presbyterian minister,

Reverend Shearer, who had cared for him in his final illness.’110 While Erickson

concluded that, ‘Fleming was remarkable among expirees, for he was the only one of

the bond class to achieve eminence in the civil service,’111

most Western Australians

would agree that he well and truly deserves a place in our history, as he was responsible

for setting up a telegraph system which connected us to the rest of the world.

James Murgatroyde Hubbard.

The question facing Sergeant Lappin, after Hubbard’s decease from Strychnine

poisoning on the day following his land sales, was whether Hubbard committed suicide

or whether his death was accidental. After reading his life story and the events leading

up to his death, readers will have to make up their own minds.

On 21 December 1863, the twenty-six year old, single clerk named James

Murgatroyde Hubbard, who had been working in his father’s small brewery in Norwich,

faced ‘five indictments for separate and distinct acts of forgery and uttering bills of

exchange,’ in the Guildhall at Norwich. He was prosecuted by a customer named

Edward Mills, for an amount ‘upwards of £160,’ but he was only charged with ‘forging

106 James Coates Fleming, Battye Library Catalogue Cards & Rica Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op, cit., p. 248. 107 ‘John Fleming,’ Rica Erickson, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. II, op cit., p. 1073. 108 James Coates Fleming, Battye Library Catalogue Cards, op. cit.. 109 Rica Erickson, ibid., p. 248, from the Inquirer, 13 March 1878. 110 Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp. 248 & 249. 111 Erickson, ibid., p. 249.

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and uttering the acceptance for the sum of £45,’ at his trial. Mills employed two lawyers

and the accused only one. Evidently Mills had owed Hubbard’s Brewery £4/18/- for

which he gave James a £5 bill of exchange, and he obtained a receipt signed by the

prisoner for the same amount. However, prior to depositing the £5 bill in the bank,

James altered the amount on it, by carefully inserting the word ‘forty’ before the word

‘five,’ so he received credit for £45 instead of £5. When the jury found him guilty, he

was sentenced to twenty years of penal servitude, as Judge Martin pointed out that

Hubbard’s charge was part of ‘a wholesale forgery of bills,’ of which we have no

details.112

Hubbard left England from Chatham Public Works penitentiary on 26 May 1865,

along with 142 other convicts on the Racehorse, which was described by a crew

member as a ‘beautiful, long, yacht like craft’.

113 Although his character had been

judged as only ‘moderately good’ on his General Register record in Britain, Hubbard

was ‘Specially recommended’ by Superintendent Surgeon Watson ‘for good conduct on

the voyage’ after its arrival on 10 August 1865. This facilitated his appointment as an

Acting Constable on 1 January 1866, in the Fremantle Convict Establishment. After

gaining one months ‘special remission of sentence’ on 2 April 1868 and receiving a

further two months remission on 19 February 1869, he was made a Constable on 1

March 1869. Over the next two years he received more than ten months remission for

his good behaviour which led to his discharge on a Ticket-of-Leave on 24 July 1872. He

would have earned approximately £224/17s over 6 years 11 months and two weeks, for

his constabulary duties while at the Fremantle Establishment.114

Within three days after his discharge on a Ticket-of-Leave, Hubbard was engaged as

a tutor on £2 a month for six months, teaching the children of a well known, very

successful expiree named Daniel Connor at Wicklow Hills. By then, Connor was a

storekeeper and had been invited to become a member of the Newcastle Board of

Education. A home was found for Hubbard in the township at the beginning of the 1873

school year, which contained a suitable room for teaching, where Hubbard initially

instructed twenty-six pupils, a relatively small class size for that time. With Connor’s

influence and the support of the other members of the Newcastle Board of Eduction,

112 James Hubbard’s trial, Norfolk Circuit, Norwich, 21 December 1863, The Times, 22 December 1863, p. 10d. 113 Michael Dumbleton, ‘With Convicts to Australia in 1865', Western Ancestor, Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc., vol. 5, No. 11, September 1993, p. 396. 114 James M. Hubbard, General Register, ACC 1156, Reel 30, No. 8291 & Alexander Hasluck, Unwilling Emigrants, op.cit., pp. 75 & 76.

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Hubbard was soon able to remedy an absenteeism problem, when action was taken

against parents who kept their children home to work. Not surprisingly, student

enrolments grew to forty-eight within the year.115

During 1873 and again in 1877, Hubbard supplemented his income from teaching by

employing two ticketers for ‘grubbing sandalwood,’

116 which was much sought after

during that era, for its aromatic oil used in incense, perfumes, soaps and candles.117 By

the end of 1874, he was still being paid only £2 monthly as a teacher. He now taught a

much larger class, but was on the same wage as he had been paid as Connor’s private

tutor, so he probably felt that he was being exploited. He resigned and began working as

an accountant in Guildford during 1875. On 29 March 1875, he married Amelia, the

thirty-two year old daughter of James Cockman. His father-in-law, one of the first free

settlers to arrive in 1829, was a farmer and a dairyman in Wanneroo.118 By 1878,

Hubbard and Amelia had moved to the Swan district, where he was initially employed

as the Master of the Boys Orphanage on 30 June 1879, then as the School Director a

year later. One of his duties was to order food supplies, evidence of which can be seen

from meat orders in his note book during 1879 and 1880.119 He received his

Conditional Release on 9 December 1880.120 In 1887, Hubbard now aged forty-nine,

resigned from the orphanage and was employed as the Town Clerk at the Guildford

Municipal Council, remaining in that position until 1896.121

115 James Hubbard, General Register, ibid. & Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, op. cit., pp. 298 & 299.

116 ‘James Murgatroyde Hubbard,’ Battye Library Catalogue Card. 117 ‘Sandalwood,’ The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Inc, Sydney, Australia, 1992, Vol. 17, S- Sn, p. 75. 118 James Hubbard, Battye Library Catalogue Card, ibid, & The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. I, A - C, op. cit., pp. 586 & 587. 119 James Hubbard’s Order Book Notes, Boys Orphanage, WAS 165, CON 5, 3560, Items, Meat Orders, Friday 13 December 1879 & Friday 14 December, 1880. 120 James Hubbard, General Register, op. cit. 121 James M. Hubbard, The Bicentennial Dictionary, vol. 11, op. cit., p. 1557 and Erickson, The Brand on his Coat, pp. 298 & 299.

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While Hubbard was working at the Guildford Town Council, he realized that monetary

gains could be made through the sale of land and housing around that area, so over the

next ten years he purchased eleven valuable properties, two of which contained

residences. However, it appears, that Hubbard may have overreached himself. His

entrepreneurial ventures into land and real estate were at risk of failure during the

recession of 1897 to 1898, when their value decreased. On 24 June 1898 George Parker,

a solicitor who was acting for Dalgety Company Ltd, reported that Hubbard was in debt

to that company for £87/2/2 and requested that a Bankruptcy Notice be issued by the

Supreme Court against him. This appears to have been postponed. On 23 July 1898,

Parker again requested that the Bankruptcy Notice be lodged against Hubbard and

warned him that ‘the consequences of not complying with the requisition of this notice

are, that you have committed an Act of Bankruptcy, on which proceedings may be taken

against you.’122

I, James Murgatroyde Hubbard lately carrying on business and residing at Guildford in the Colony of Western Australia Agent…. being unable to pay my debts, hereby petition the Court that a Receiving Order be made in respect of my Estate and that I may be adjudged Bankrupt – Dated the thirteenth day of October 1898.

By October, Parker encouraged Hubbard to sign a document headed

‘In Bankruptcy:’

123

In his ‘Statement of Affairs,’ presented to the Supreme Court on 2 December 1898,

prior to the auction of his properties, his liabilities were £2156/17/6 against his assets

valued at £1217, leaving a discrepancy of £839/17/6. His unsecured creditors, their

occupations and the amount owed to them by Hubbard can be gleaned from Hubbard’s

122 James Murgatroyde Hubbard, Supreme Court of Western Australia, ‘In Bankruptcy, James Murgatroyde Hubbard Exparte Dalgety and Company Limited,’ ACC 3560, Item No. 149, 23 July 1898. 123 James Murgatroyde Hubbard, 'Statement of Affairs,’ in Bankruptcy in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, WAS 165, CONS 3560, Item No. 1898/209, 14 October 1898.

Figure 38: Hubbard served as a Guildford Town Clerk from 1887 until that position was taken over by G. Broome ten years later, in 1897. The Honour Board was recently located behind book shelves in Guildford Town Library

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‘List A, Unsecured Creditors’ below. The total amount of £2156/17/6 that was owed by

Hubbard, would have been considered a huge debt at that time124

Consequently over ten months later on Saturday 28 October 1899, there was a notice

in the West Australian advertising the public auction of Hubbard’s eleven ‘valuable

properties’ at 8pm that evening in the Lodge Room at the Mechanics Institute in Hay

Street, Perth. It had taken Hubbard ten years to build up a large portfolio of land and

housing in Guildford, Northam, Avon, Swan and Moora areas, while working as a clerk.

Two contained residences and many were fenced, as the list of his properties attests.

124 James Murgatroyde Hubbard, ‘Bankruptcy, Liabilities and Assets', WAS 165, CONS 3560, Item No. 209, 2 December 1898.

Figure 39: Hubbard had considerable debts totaling £2156/17/6, which were the equivalent of $268,941.41 cents in 2008, according to the ’Inflation Calculator from 1901,’ Reserve Bank of Australia.

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The following day on 29 October 1899, Hubbard died suddenly in the evening at the

Perth Hospital. During the court case that followed, there was some doubt about the

cause of his death. On 3 November 1899 a number of statements relating to Hubbard’s

death were recorded at the District Police Office in Perth. His wife Amelia explained

that because Hubbard ‘suffered a great deal of pain in his back from Bright’s disease’

(which is one of various forms of degeneration of the kidneys), ‘he used to take large

quantities of Laudanum.’ She remembered that on 24 October 1899, James had told her

that he was going to the chemist to get some poison to destroy the cats, which had

become a nuisance about their home, keeping them awake at night. Amelia maintained

that she had since searched for the ‘small paper packet’ it came in, ‘still couldn’t find it,

but would continue the search.’ She stated in Court:

I do not think he contemplated suicide. I saw him in Perth in the morning, Saturday the 28th he seemed very cheerful. I returned to Guildford with the

Figure 40: Hubbard owned eleven properties including four Lots in Guildford, three in Swan two in Avon, one in Northam and another in Moora which were due to be auctioned in the Mechanics’ Lodge room in Hay St, Perth at 8pm. West Australian 28/10/1889, CONS, 430, File 4510/99.

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intention of going back at 7pm. My husband has been troubled a lot financially… 125

Evidently Edward Robbins, a Newcastle hotel keeper who had known Hubbard for

eight years, met him in Perth on business matters on 28 October 1899 at 10.35am. At

5pm, after lunch and a few drinks together, Robbins saw Hubbard take some tobacco

out of his left hand coat pocket and put it in his mouth, then they returned to the Globe

Hotel where Hubbard had another small brandy at 6.30 pm. Hubbard then complained

of feeling queer, said he felt very sick and started having fits of retching without

vomiting. When Robbins returned from the chemist after buying an emetic, he found

Hubbard was having convulsions, so he was taken up to a bed, where he took the

medicine according to the instructions, to no avail.

Robbins then went to meet Mrs Hubbard at the Perth Railway Station and Dr Kenny

arrived a few minutes later to examine her husband and prescribed medicine. However

Hubbard’s convulsions were now so severe, he was unable to take it. After Mrs

Hubbard entered the room Hubbard remarked, ‘I am afraid that in taking a chew of

tobacco, I may have got a few grams of strychnine with the tobacco I had in my coat

pocket.’ As Hubbard was still unable to take the medicine, the doctor ordered his speedy

removal to Perth Public Hospital, and said he would communicate with the police. 126

Sergeant Lappin visited the chemist in Guildford and also corroborated Hubbard’s

story with another of Hubbard’s friends, a baker named Mr Fred Billett, who had

accompanied him to the chemist.

127 Lappin visited another witness named Joseph

Burgess, a yardman at the Globe Hotel, who had seen Hubbard sitting downstairs in the

parlour ‘looking bad and was singing out,’ for help. Burgess had ‘asked Hubbard if he

was sick’ and he replied that he was ‘very bad’ and ‘he would like to lie down.’

Burgess informed the landlord and he and another man took him upstairs and laid him

on the bed fully clothed, ‘during which time he was twitching.’128

On 30 October, the day after Hubbard’s death, Sergeant Lappin reported Hubbard’s

view that the tobacco in his pocket may have been contaminated by the strychnine and

respectfully suggested to Mr Mann, the Government Analyst, ‘that they examine all the

pockets in Hubbard’s coat and vest for traces of tobacco and strychnine’. On 4

125 Statement by Mrs. Hubbard, District Police Office in Perth, J. M. Hubbard, WAS 76, General Files, CONS 430, Item 1899/4510, No. 2090, 3 November 1899. 126Edward Francis Robbin's statement on the Death of J. M. Hubbard,, Perth District Police, WAS 2126, General Files, CONS 430, Item No. 32, p. 763. 127 Sergeant Lappin's statement in the Guildford District Police Office, No 2090, 2 November 1899. 128 ‘Statement of Joseph Burgess', witnessed by Sergeant Lappin, 30 November 1899.

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November 1899, Mann’s report to Lappin read, ‘I have found slight traces of strychnine

in the left waistcoat pocket. Strychnine has also been found in the deceased’s stomach.’

Consequently the verdict reported by Lappin on 7 November, 1899, at the Coroner’s

Court after the inquest was:

…cause of death was asphyxia caused by strychnine poison administered by the deceased to himself, but whether accidentally or otherwise, there is not sufficient evidence to prove.129

However Sergeant Lappin appears to have believed that:

No traces of any evidence to throw any light on Hubbard’s illness could be found in the bedroom. Hubbard’s demeanour or conversation did not indicate in any way, that he had attempted to commit suicide.130

Hubbard’s ‘Last Will and testament,’ written and signed by him on 23 December

1897, was witnessed by Ernest Monger, a farmer in Northam, and William Rose, who

was his labourer and a carpenter at Guildford. He had appointed William Byers Wood

of Guildford as his Trustee and Executor and requested that Wood either to sell or

whatever appeared to him to be the best option, what was left of his property, after

paying all his debts. Then to collect all debts due to him and invest them for his wife

Amelia, his stepson, Joel Hubbard, who may have been Amelia’s son from a first

marriage and their adopted daughter, Sarah Jane Pollitt. Upon his wife’s death, Joel and

Sarah were to divide their inheritance equally. Hubbard blamed his poor health for not

efficiently looking after his affairs, and asked his Trustee to carefully examine any

claims against his estate.

131

In the Supreme Court after Hubbard’s death, Wood renounced his right to be a

trustee and to execute Hubbard's Will, and the estate of the deceased was granted by

the Court to his lawful widow, Amelia Hubbard of Guildford. Wood was probably tired

of Hubbard’s insolvency problems and left Amelia to manage his difficult financial

situation herself.

There is no information available about either of those

children, however Sarah may have come from the orphanage where Hubbard and his

wife had both worked.

132

129 Sergeant William Lappin, 1st Class Constable', Fremantle, ‘Report into the Death of James Hubbard at Perth’, to Inspector Hogan, 7 November 1899, No. 4510 .

On 23 June 1902, Morris Melville Ross, the Official Receiver stated

130 ‘Statements of Sergeant William Lappin, 1st Class Constable, Perth District Police Office, W.A. CONS, 430, File 4510, 1899, No. 2090. 131 ‘The Last Will and Testament of James Murgatroyde Hubbard', 23 December 1897, WAS 34, CONS 3403, Item No. 1902, p. 86. 132 Ibid., Hubbard’s Will.

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that, although Hubbard was legally bankrupt on 19 October 1898, he believed that his

estate would not be wound up for at least twelve months.133

Stannage provided a logical reason why Hubbard and others in his occupation had

severe liquidity problems in 1890s:

The pattern of economic life which emerges from the study of individual entrepreneurs and workers is fairly clear. Those well or comfortably off before the gold rushes, profited greatly from the increased tempo of economic activity… (however) This population, at least as indicated by property development, did not share significantly in the general prosperity of the boom years, and suffered greatly in the years of economic recession, such as 1892-93 (and) 1897-98…. they had too little to fall back on in times of economic distress.134

Up to 1897, Hubbard had acted as Guildford’s Town Clerk for ten years, during

which time he worked diligently to acquire all his properties. With the combination of

his illness and the recession, his property investments were threatened and consequently

his wife and family would have suffered not only from his death, but also from his

resulting bankruptcy. It is difficult to determine whether his death was accidental or

planned.

Lionel Holdsworth

On 30 January 1867, in London’s Central Criminal Court, Lionel Holdsworth, a ship

and insurance broker, his clerk, Joseph Dean, Captain Thomas Berwick and Charles

Webb, a ship’s carpenter, were charged for their part in sinking the ship Severn with the

intention of defrauding several insurance company owners and underwriters.

Holdsworth and Berwick were charged with inciting Webb to sink the ship and Berwick

and Dean for harbouring Webb after he had committed the offence, as well as various

other counts. All the prisoners were considered to be principle offenders in the

felony.135

Evidently Holdsworth and Berwick had originally paid £5000 for the ship which was

considered to be a sound and seaworthy vessel in 1866. Then they fraudulently insured

the Severn and the consignment of expensive firearms and swords which she was

supposedly carrying for £17000, with Lloyds and several other insurance companies. In

133 ‘Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Estate of James Murgatroyde Hubbard,’ Supreme Court of Western Australia, before Registrar Francis Arnold Mosely, 23 June 1902, WAS 165, CONS 3560, Item No. 86. 134 C. T. Stannage, ‘Social mobility in goldrush Perth,’ The People of Perth 1979, op. cit., p. 268. 135 Holdsworth, Berwick, Webb and Dean’s Court Case, Central Criminal Court, 30 January 1867, Times, p. 11, col. b.

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reality the ship and her cargo should have been valued at about £7654, as she only

carried coal and twelve large cases of practically worthless salt, and Holdsworth and

Berwick stood to gain over £3100 each from their fraud.136

It became clear during the court case that Lionel Holdsworth wished to make money

illegitimately and, with the aid of his three conspirators, had been prepared to use a

devious and dangerous scheme to achieve this. After a sensational five day trial, both

Holdsworth and Berwick were sentenced for twenty years for scuttling the Severn on 5

February 1867

After Charles Webb bored a

hole in the ship’s hull, the crew abandoned the ship as she sank. When Holdsworth and

Berwick tried to recover the money from each insurance company, Lloyd’s Salvage

Association successfully led a group of underwriters, who faced being victims of their

enormous fraud.

137 and both arrived from Pentonville to Western Australia in the

Hougoumont on 10 January 1868.138

Reform, or at least the ability to make the best of a bad situation was immediately

evident. The forty-two year old Holdsworth was specially recommended by Surgeon

Superintendent Saunders for his good conduct during his voyage, and he was further

recommended by the Superintendent of Perth Prison for his ‘assiduous conduct’ while

occupied as a writer there. He even joined the Anglican choir on two occasions in

December 1868 and twice again during January 1869. Holdsworth probably earned

about £86. 8s in gratuities, while acting as a school monitor for one day a month from 2

April 1871 until 2 April 1872, and after his appointment as a Constable on 1 April 1872,

until he received his Ticket-of-Leave on 7 November 1874. He gained his Ticket two

years and seven months earlier than he was originally entitled to it. His wife Margaretta

was the most likely recipient of the twenty-three letters, which he regularly mailed to

England, while connected with the Fremantle Establishment.

139

By 13 November 1874, Holdsworth was being paid £1 a week while he was

employed as a mercantile clerk by an expiree named George Thompson, who had

founded a firm of merchants and importers in Fremantle. At the end of December that

year, his wage more than doubled to £120 a year, and on 30 June 1876, he was

appointed Thompson’s accountant, employing a ticketer as his assistant. His work must

136 Arthur Griffiths, ‘The Severn: A Barefaced Fraud', Mysteries of Police and Crime, C19th Microfiche, Reid and Law Libraries, University of Western Australia, vol. 11, pp. 250, 251, 137 ‘Holdsworth, Berwick, Webb and Dean’s Court Case, op. cit.., Times, 5 February, p. 11, col. C. 138 Rica Erickson & Gillian O’Mara, Convicts in Western Australia, op. cit.., Holdsworth, p. 265 & Berwick, pp. 38 &39. 139 Lionel Holdsworth, General Register, AN 358/2, ACC 1156, Reel 16, No. 9768.

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have been really appreciated by his employer, as he was earning £144 a year by 30 June

1877, and was employed by Thompson on that high wage until June 1880.140

Holdsworth’s wife, Margaretta, who had lived in a villa in London while he was in

British prisons,

141 arrived as a free immigrant on the Helena Mena on 16 September

1879.142 She successfully applied for a 50 acre immigrant grant of land in the Cockburn

District the following year,143 which some historians believe was ‘the turning point for

their family fortune.’144 Holdsworth received his Conditional Release on 17 December

1880, four months after her arrival, followed by his Certificate of Freedom on 21

January 1887.145

They appear to have sold her land grant to purchase eight Fremantle Town Lots, on

which they proceeded to build houses with double frontages of 200 feet onto Bateman

and Ord Streets. The valuation of Holdsworth’s estate in 1901, shows three were semi-

detached, built of stone and brick with iron roofs and had five rooms, including a

drawing room, 2 bedrooms, kitchen and pantry, bathroom and a wash house, and each

was valued at £1,800. Another two-storied, iron roofed residence of stone and brick

with a verandah, balcony, two bathrooms and all the usual rooms, was considered to be

worth £1,200. A larger two storied wooden residence, containing twelve rooms with a

bathroom, pantry and a verandah and balcony round two sides, was estimated at £900.

Three stone and brick homes, each containing five rooms including a kitchen, laundry,

pantry and bathroom, with a verandah back and front, were together valued at £1580

and in the same area, there was a wooden stable man’s house, chaff room and fowl

house valued at £60. Two other blocks of land, one with a 200 foot frontage to Ord

Street and another with a 200 foot frontage onto Bateman Street were together worth

£1600. On Lot 4, Barnett Street in Fremantle Town, there was an iron roofed, four

roomed brick villa with a kitchen and bathroom with verandahs on two sides, which was

valued at £410. Their land holdings also contained a two storied, iron roofed residence

with stone and brick walls, five rooms, a small servant’s room, a kitchen and bathroom,

all enclosed by a stone wall, as well as two, iron roofed, five roomed, semi-detached

140 Lionel Holdsworth, General Register, ibid. 141 Lionel Holdsworth, Battye Library Catalogue Cards and General Register ibid.. 142Ibid. 143 ‘Lionel Holdsworth', Battye Library Catalogue Cards, ibid. 144 George Seddon and Barbara Haddy, Looking at an Old Suburb: A Walking Guide to Four Blocks of Fremantle, Nedlands, UWA Press, 2000, p. 85. 145 Lionel Holdsworth, General Register, op. cit.

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stone and brick homes with a kitchen, bathroom, pantry and lean-to wash-houses, with a

total value of £2120.146

The Holdsworths also purchased Fremantle Town Lot 929, which was less than 'five

minute's walk from the Convict Establishment and fronted Stirling and Ord Street, upon

which they started building what was to be their new home, Braeside. It was a large,

single storey house on a nearly one acre block. It had two feet thick limestone walls, a

verandah on all four sides and an extensive garden containing fig, apricot, mulberry and

almond trees, as well as grapes on trellises dividing the two lawns. There were four

bedrooms, a drawing room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, storeroom, maid’s

quarters, a seventy foot deep well, a windmill that pumped water up to above ground

tanks and a big underground rainwater tank with an old fashioned hand pump.

147

146 Valuation of Freehold Property at Fremantle in the Estate of the Late Lionel Holdsworth, under instructions from Messrs Moss & Barsden, Solicitors, Fremantle, November 4, 1901, pp. 1 & 2. 147 George Seddon and Barbara Haddy, Looking at an Old Suburb, ibid.. Holdsworth’s home, ‘Braeside,’ described by Flora Anderson, who lived there in the early twentieth century, pp. 87.

Figure 41: ‘Braeside,’ Holdsworth’s home, fronting Stirling and Ord Streets in Fremantle, unfortunately not completed until 1889, after Margaretta’s death in 1886.

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Unfortunately Margaretta died on 15 May 1886, prior to their new home being

completed and Braeside was not ready for Holdsworth to occupy until 1889. In 1897

Holdsworth was invited to become a member of the new, exclusive Scotch College

Council,148 and he loaned the boys’ school £50 on two occasions that year, both of

which were recorded in minutes of meetings.149 He was a Councillor from Scotch

College's founding year in 1897 through to 1901.150

148 Founding Meeting of Scotch College Council Members, 29 April 1897, see ‘L. Holdsworth Esq. Fremantle', along with sixteen other ‘Gentlemen Councilors of the College'.

149 Jenny Gregory, Building a Tradition: A History of Scotch College, Perth, 1897-1996, UWA Press, Nedlands, W.A. pp.17 & 24. His loans were offered on 29 April, 1897 and 30 July 1897. 150 Peta Madalena, Scotch College Archivist confirmed his membership of Scotch College Council from Jenny Gregory, A History of Scotch College, ibid.

Figure 42: The location of ‘Braeside’ in StreetSmart: Perth Street Directory, Ed. 49, Landgate, Government of Western Australia, 2008, p. 430, at the point of the black arrow on the right hand side of the map.

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In forging a new life after his wife's death, Holdsworth may have decided to pursue

business opportunities in South Australia, as he sailed there in 1890 and again in 1900,

each time returning to the colony.151 He died in Fremantle on 19 October 1901, aged

seventy-five.152

As they were childless, the beneficiaries of his Will were his nephew, Edward

Hamilton Oliver who lived in Burma, and his Sister-in-Law, Mary Jane Green by then a

spinster, who had reverted to her maiden name of Mary Jane Oliver and had resided in

Fremantle from 1886 after her sister died.

153

151 Battye Library, Perth, Convict Catalogue Cards under Lionel Holdsworth.

Holdsworth’s ‘Real Estate’ including his

152 Rica Erickson (Compiler), The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australian pre 1829-1888, vol. II, D-J, UWA Press, Nedlands, W.A., 1988, p. 1507. 153 Lionel Holdsworth, Last Will and Testament, Alexander Library, Perth, WAS 34, CONS 3403, Item No. 1901/135-023. Mary Jane Oliver married Alfred John Green in 1880, The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians pre-1829-1888, vol. III, K-Q, op. cit., p. 2373.

Figure 43: Minutes of Scotch College’s first Councilors’ Meeting. Note. L. Holdsworth Esq, Fremantle, was among the first Scotch College ‘Gentlemen’ Councillors,’ appointed on 29 April 1897. Courtesy of Peta Madalena, Archivist, Scotch College, Swanbourne, W. A.

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own home and thirteen rental properties, were calculated to be worth £9,950 at that

time, or approximately $1,263,250.12 in Australian currency in 2009.154 The potential

value of his rental properties was £778 a year in 1901 or $98,838 in 2009.155 These

figures do not take into account the increasingly desirability of the location of his

properties in Fremantle, and thus the 2009 value is likely to have been significantly

higher than the Reserve Bank calculation which is based on inflation alone indicates.

Holdsworth's ‘Personal Estate’ of livestock, harness and saddlery, furniture, money in

the bank, life policies and bonuses, totalled £7349.3.5d and as his liabilities of loans,

mortgages and money to contractors, amounted to £5649, his probate duty was

calculated at £220.9s.6d.156

By today’s monetary value, Holdsworth would have been considered a very wealthy

man - a millionaire. But he ended his life with neither a wife nor children to enjoy his

fortune, though his sister-in-law, Mary Jane Oliver is likely to have provided some

companionship. It is intriguing too that all his properties were situated very close to

Fremantle Prison. The Prison dominated the area and the high limestone walls of the

prison would have been visible from the garden of his house in Stirling Street. But the

proximity of the Prison, or indeed the imposing stone Lunatic Asylum just down the

road, did not seem to be a deterrent to the wealthy of Fremantle, for Holdsworth’s

neighbours in 1899 included wealthy merchant Henry Rischbieth and a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council, the Honourable Donald MacKay.

157

In later

years, Hill Street, which led up to his home was renamed Holdsworth Street and as a

marker of his standing in the community, he had clearly overcome the stigma of

convictism.

Conclusion

Proof of Moll's social acceptance was discernable when he was invited to sit on

York's Board of Education and the Orphanage Committee, and he was praised as a good

154 Valuation of Lionel Holdsworth's properties, Reserve Bank of Australia, Pre-Decimal Inflation for the year 2009, Calculator, http://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html,12/06/2010. 155 The annual income which gained from Holdsworth's rental properties in , is now calculated to be Last Will and Testament of Lionel Holdsworth, ibid. 156 Lionel Holdsworth, 'Inventory for Probate Jurisdiction', Moss & Barsden, Solicitors, Fremantle, 6 March, 1902. 157 Wise’s Post Office Directory, 1899, <http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/find/guides/wa _history /post_office_directories/1899>, 2009, (accessed 10 December 2009), p. 122.

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musician, storyteller and supporter of the Catholic Church, by its members. Other signs

were two of his children's marriages to free settlers' children in 1904. His daughter

Cecilia, married John White, the son of a free settler who owned two farms, was a

member of the Jennapullen and the Northam Agricultural Society and Trustee of the

Jennacubbine Roman Catholic Church. While Moll's first son Wilfred, married Laura

Annie Somers, the daughter of a free settler named Samuel Henry Somers.

Although Roe's temperament sometimes caused him to be offside with the local

authorities, he was prepared to fight for what he thought was right and his ideas about

educational reform, expirees' rights and responsible government were heeded by free

settlers. Roe's family must have been perceived as socially acceptable as four of his

daughters married the sons of free settlers. Laura Francis Roe married Henry Edmund

Thomas, the son of a pastoralist at Moore River. Helen Emily Roe married Patrick

Stone, the son of a pensioner guard who was a farmer, then a storekeeper in Geraldton,

owner of the Commonwealth Hotel and a member of the Greenough Road Board, prior

to being elected as the M.LA there for seven years. Louisa Roe was a teacher prior to

marrying Francis White, who was also the son of a free settler. Annie Roe married John

Gallop, a market gardener, who was the son of a free settler named Richard Gallop, a

market gardener then a fruiterer in Fremantle.

Fleming and his wife were active members of the Presbyterian Church and his setting

up of the telegraph system, which eventually connected citizens in the Swan River

Colony to people in the rest of the world, was rewarded by his full membership of the

London Society of Engineers in 1878. Reverend Shearer took Fleming into his home

and cared for him during Fleming's illness prior to his death. Fleming's son, John,

married Adelia Frohlich, the daughter of a free settler. Hubbard was allowed to marry

Amelia Cockman, the daughter of James Cockman, who was one of the first free settlers

in the colony. At the peak of his career as a landowner, Hubbard owned eleven valuable

properties in Avon, Guildford, Swan and Moora, prior to his bankruptcy. Holdsworth

was invited to become a member of the elite Scotch College School Council, serving on

it for five consecutive years until his death in 1901. His thirteen homes and Braeside in

the Fremantle area, which were valued at £9,670 after his death in 1901, would have

been be worth $1,263,250 in Australian Currency in 2009. 'Holdsworth Street', which

ran down the side of his property, near the old Fremantle Prison, which was named after

him, is still there.

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J. T. Reilly, who wrote Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Western Australia, which

was published in 1903, argued that Moll was 'a gentleman of exceptional ability.' An old

classroom furnished with old desks, a bookcase and old photographs of James Roe and

his wife Susannah, is still a tourist attraction in Greenough. Fleming's East-West

Telegraph line from Perth to Eucla, was nominated by the Institution of Engineers as an

'Engineering Landmark in Western Australia's history,' on 2 June, 2001. Hubbard's

name still features on a Town Clerks Honour Board in the Guildford Library and

Holdsworth Street, which ran down the side of his property near the old Fremantle

Prison, was named after him. Scotch College Council Minutes for 29 April 1897

includes his name, as 'one of 'the following gentlemen Councillors of the College.' All

these expirees were obviously considered to be gentlemen and were socially acceptable

by many free settlers.

FINAL CONCLUSION

This thesis has reviewed the lives of twelve white-collar convicts who were transported

to Western Australia between 1850 and 1868. While this is a small number, information

about the vast majority of about four hundred white-collar convicts sent to the colony is

scant or non-existent. For these twelve convicts, however, it has been possible to build

up a picture of their lives through fragmentary and diverse sources such as court

records, official records of the Convict Establishment, memoirs, bank records, honour

boards, street names and photographs.

The thesis has discussed the origins and escalation of white-collar crime in Britain,

as well as provided an overview of the transportation of white-collar convicts to North

America, the West Indies and then New South Wales. Changing prison philosophy and

the impact on British prisons has also been mentioned, as those convicts who were

transported in the 1860s bore the brunt of harsher conditions. The reasons for the

introduction of transportation to the Swan River Colony, after it had ceased in New

South Wales, has also been reviewed, as has the limited historiography on white-collar

convicts in each of those colonies. After introducing the twelve white-collar convicts

who have been the subject of this thesis, their experiences during some of their voyages

to the colony on the convict transports, have been outlined.

The aim of this thesis has been to assess whether white-collar convicts were able to

regain their respectability and become socially acceptable in the colony. Hence a series

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of questions have been asked about these twelve white-collar convicts. How many were

first offenders and why did they commit their crimes? Did changes in penal philosophy

have any effect on their lives? What skills did they have to offer prison authorities and

the free settlers after their arrival in the colony? What career changes did they make?

How did they cope with monetary problems during economic downturns? How many of

them or their children married into the families of free settlers, and did those marriages

assist their family’s social acceptance in the colony? In what other ways could they gain

social acceptance? What evidence is there that free settlers in the Swan River Colony

appreciated their service to the community?

There were other white-collar convicts transported to the colony, who had been

convicted of more serious crimes. Many of these left the colony and moved to the

eastern colonies. This may have been due to the monetary extent of their crimes, or

reconvictions or character defects that had a negative effect on their social acceptance.

William Robson, for example, was sentenced to transportation for twenty years for

transferring £10,000 worth of forged share scripts while he was principal clerk in the

share department of the Crystal Palace Company in 1856.158 He was reconvicted in the

colony for embezzlement and false pretences in 1860, lived intemperately, and moved

to the eastern colonies in 1867.159 With his poor reputation, he would have sensed that

he would never be considered to be respectable or socially acceptable, so he left the

colony. Leopold Redpath, who had issued himself £220,000 worth of shares while

working for the Great Northern Railways in England, was given a life sentence in

1857.160 On gaining his Ticket in the colony, he founded and became the honorary

Secretary of the Working Men’s Association. However as he was shunned by free

settlers, due to his rather arrogant nature, he moved to Adelaide in 1871.161 William

Pullinger, who was Chief Cashier at the Union Bank of London, withheld a real

passbook and substituted a false one, to record a much lower pay into the Bank of

England, robbing it of £263,000, for which he was sentenced to twenty years.162

158 William James Robson, ‘The Frauds on the Crystal Palace', Times, 11 October, p. 1, 13 October, p. 9b, 1 November, p. 9a and 3 November 1856, p. 9a.

He died

159 Howard Willoughby, ‘Social Life, Celebrated Convicts,’ The British Convict in Western Australia: A Visit to the Swan River Settlements by the Special Correspondent of the Melbourne Argus, London, Harrison & Sons, 1865, Chapter VI, p. 30. 160 W. B. Kimberly, History of Western Australia: A Narrative of Her Past: Together with Biographies of Her Leading Men, Niven and Company, Melbourne, 1897, p. 201. Also in Illustrated London News, 22 November, p. 528, 2 columns, 29 November, column A., top, and 6 December 1856, p. 568, column B. 161 Ibid., Kimberley, p. 201. 162 Arthur Griffiths, ‘Pullinger', Mysteries of Police and Crime, vol. 11, p. 369.

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on the Lincelles on his way out to the Swan River Colony.163

It is difficult to determine why these twelve white-convicts committed their crimes.

However evidence available from newspaper records of their trials indicates various

themes including, trying to impress family members or their sweethearts,

unemployment, financial problems, alcohol addiction, living beyond their means, a

previous conviction, as well as greed. While trying to prove to members of his adopted

family, that he was engaged in a successful career while managing a grocery and

drapery shop, Letch dressed fashionably and illegally obtained over £300 worth of

goods for himself and his family members, but pleaded guilty to only £40's worth of his

employer's goods. Wroth’s mother died while he was very young, so he was brought up

by his father and married sisters, who appear to have spoiled him. He was able to hide

his stolen possessions in his bedroom and may have been trying to impress his

sweetheart with the stolen clothing and gold watch and chain.

It is likely that had he

survived, he would not have been able to gain the respect of free settlers, as English

newspapers were available in the colony and knowledge of his enormous fraud would

have ruined his reputation for ever.

Horrocks may have had financial problems connected with his merchandising

business and as he had a wife and child to support, he took what appeared to him to be

the only way out, and forged and uttered a bill of exchange. Palmer was a young,

unemployed clerk at the time he defrauded several people, probably because he needed

money to cover his living expenses. When Dr Sampson’s patients observed that he was

suffering from delirium tremens, many probably lost confidence in him and sought

other family doctors, which led to his financial difficulties, then to his forgery of bank

notes. As Stout had a previous criminal record, he would have experienced problems

gaining good references for job interviews and consequently faced financial difficulties

while supporting his wife and child

As a young and relatively inexperienced engineer whose parents lived in Ireland,

Meagher would have had to pay for his board and lodging in England. Perhaps there

were few well-paid jobs available, so he began forging orders for goods to resell, in

order to support himself, as his salary did not cover his needs. Moll had misappropriated

several thousands of pounds according to his employer, so greed and the satisfaction of

getting away with his forgeries may have been the reasons for his crimes. Reverend

Roe’s anger when he was deprived of what he believed was his rightful inheritance of

163 ‘William Pullinger’, Convicts in Western Australia, op. cit., p. 450.

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£500 from his uncle, caused him to forge a cheque for £6,000. He may also have been

experiencing financial difficulties, as his fourteenth child had just been born, and his

family probably had problems existing on his low minister’s income.

Fleming may also have had serious monetary problems, while supporting his wife

and son, to commit twenty-one acts of fraud and forgery. As the twenty-four year old

Hubbard was found guilty of committing five acts of forgery and uttering worth over

£160 while working in his father’s brewery, he may have been living well beyond his

means and required more money to sustain his lifestyle. Holdsworth stood to gain

£3,100 from several insurance company policies after sinking the Severn, so his motive

was clearly greed. However in all cases only fragmentary evidence exists, so this has

been pieced together to draw conclusions, though these can only be speculation.

Some patterns began to emerge after research was under way. All of these white-

collar convicts, apart from Stout, were first offenders. The monetary range of their

crimes of fraud, forgery or embezzlement was between £25 and £6,000. Wroth,

Horrocks, Meagher and Moll, all pleaded guilty at the start, or early during their trials.

Fleming pleaded guilty to seven of twenty-one charges and Hubbard, who had five

indictments, was tried on only one count worth £45. However, Letch, Palmer, Sampson,

Stout, Roe and Holdsworth, according to newspaper reports, underwent lengthy trials.

In most cases, with the exception of Holdsworth’s attempt to gain £3100 personally in

insurance money, after arranging for his and Berwick's ship to be scuttled, the others

were not sentenced for major crimes.

The conduct of eleven sample group members while in British prisons, on the

transports and prior to receiving their Tickets-of-Leave in the Swan River Colony was

considered to be First Class, 'Good' or 'Very Good,' or in some cases 'Excellent.'

Palmer’s Character Book and General Register records appear to have been mislaid, but

as he received his Ticket-of-Leave on arrival in the colony, his conduct was probably, at

the very least, ‘Good.’ Wroth was introduced to Governor Fitzgerald on his arrival, as

he had proved useful checking the Mermaid’s inventory prior to sailing and acting as a

schoolmaster during the voyage. Stout, who had been a schoolmaster and had delivered

three lectures while on board, gained six months remission of sentence and Meagher

was rewarded with four months remission by Governor Kennedy, probably for teaching

or other duties while on Sea Park.

Seven of the twelve white-collar convicts were placed in responsible positions in

connection with the Convict Establishment. Letch was allowed to wear normal clothing

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while he lived and worked offsite at the Medical Dispensary, of the temporary convict

prison in Fremantle. His new friend, John Wroth, was initially employed as

Superintendent Thomas Dixon’s clerk in the temporary prison, then in a similar position

at the York Convict Hiring Depot. Horrocks had previously treated patients in the Royal

Navy and, as there was a shortage of doctors in the colony, he worked as the unofficial

Medical Superintendent at Port Gregory. Sampson was initially appointed as a

Constable at the new Fremantle Convict establishment, then as the District Medical

officer in Bunbury, after gaining a Provisional Ticket-of-Leave. Meagher’s engineering

skills were probably required in a supervisory or planning capacity, while he worked

with a road gang which was employed on the new roadway at Freshwater Bay. Hubbard

was selected as an Acting Constable, then Constable at the Fremantle Establishment,

while Holdsworth was initially a writer at Perth Prison and then a school monitor, prior

to also being selected for Constabulary duties in the Fremantle Establishment. There is

no information available about the initial employment of the other five white-collar

convicts in the colony.

Although there were some changes in penal philosophy between 1850 and 1868

which generally impacted on conditions for convicts in the Swan River Colony, they do

not appear to have been detrimental for these convicts. Letch, Wroth, Horrocks, and

Palmer, may have found it difficult to pay half the cost of their transportation to the

colony between 1850 and 1856, but would have welcomed their refunds in 1857. When

the curfew was set up for convicts in the Fremantle area during 1859, all but Wroth who

would have already received his Certificate of Freedom, would have had to be indoors

by then, if they lived in that area. There were certain constraints in the employment of

convicts in the colony. Stout, for instance, was the only expiree schoolmaster ever

employed as a schoolmaster at the Pensioner Barracks, and under Governor Kennedy, to

encourage them to find alternative employment in the colony, no Ticketer employed by

the government was allowed to be paid a labourer’s wage. However, as many of these

convicts worked as clerks at convict hiring depots, two were employed as medical

officers or they were servants, tutors or teachers for free settlers, his new policy did not

apply to them.

After gaining their Tickets-of-Leave, most of these men accepted work in white-

collar occupations, fulfilling areas of need within the colony. Most were employed in

clerical, teaching, medical positions or as servants, which were all required in the

colony at this stage. Letch was employed in clerical work for James Porteus, Lionel

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Lukin and two other free settlers. Wroth worked as a clerk at the Toodyay Convict

Depot, also as Clerk of Courts, as well as the Resident Magistrate’s secretary. Horrocks

was Port Gregory’s Medical Officer and Palmer was employed as a servant by the

Assistant Superintendent of Convict Parties. Dr Sampson worked as the Bunbury

District’s Medical Officer and Stout may have been tutoring or teaching there. Meagher

worked as Magistrate Viveash’s clerk in Guildford, then as a tutor for his children. Moll

worked as a servant for Father Bertram, then Father Coll, followed by teaching at the

York Catholic School, while Roe was privately employed, tutoring in York. Fleming

was a servant in Fremantle, then in Perth, after which he too was employed as a teacher

for his employee’s children. Hubbard tutored the children of an expiree named Daniel

Conner and Holdsworth was employed as a clerk by George Thompson, who owned a

merchant and importers firm in Fremantle. Their salaries ranged between £12 and £52 a

year, depending on the level of responsibility required. This had an impact on whether

they were single, married or were able to bring their wives and children out to the

colony.

Marriage was the preferred state in the eyes of free and respectable colonists. Hence

the arrival of a ‘respectable’ wife with well-educated children, marriage to a free

settler’s daughter, migrant lass or a respectable spinster, or their children’s marriage to

free settlers’ children, was a step in the right direction towards respectability and social

acceptance.164

164 Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1780 – 1850, London, Hutchinson, 1987, p. 24.

Of course it should be acknowledged that, as there were no female

convicts transported to the colony, if marriage occurred, the intermingling of bond and

free could not be avoided and this reduced the chances of the development of a separate

‘bond class’ within the colony. Letch’s second marriage was to an immigrant lass who

produced four sons, one of whom wed the daughter of Reverend Edward Clairs, who

became Canon Clairs in 1904. Wroth also married an immigrant lass, and they had five

sons and a daughter. Three of their sons married free settlers’ daughters and their

daughter married the grandson of a free settler. Palmer married the daughter of a free

settler and master builder in Albany, and at least four of their children married the

progeny of free settlers in the colony. Stout, who left a wife and two children in

England, married the stepdaughter of a free settler and at least three of their six children

married children of free settlers. Meagher also married a free settler’s daughter and

eight of their nine children married free settler’s offspring, including the son of the

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Anglican Bishop of Perth. Moll married Roe’s daughter and two of their four offspring

married children of free settlers. Of their nine children who migrated to the Swan River

Colony with Susannah Roe, four married free settlers’ children. James Fleming’s first

born son married a girl who was either the daughter of a free settler or an immigrant

lass.

One of the main aims of these white-collar convicts and their families appears to

have been to regain the trust, respectability and become socially acceptable in the eyes

of the free settlers, as soon as possible. To achieve those ambitions, they had to dress

well, demonstrate that they were able to support themselves and adhere to middle-class

values, ethics and lifestyle, which included marriage to a respectable wife. They had to

develop good business acumen, be able to predict financial problems ahead and readjust

their financial situations during natural or manmade disasters, as there was no social

welfare available. Gaining some financial support from family in Britain, either before

or just after they gained their tickets, was a bonus for Letch and Wroth. However like

other members of this group, later on, they too had to rely on the Directors of the Bank

of Western Australia, George Shenton Senior up to 1867 and George Shenton Junior

until 1909, for overdrafts during financial downturns in the second half of the nineteenth

century. Banking records and wills of some sample group members have been

invaluable in assessing their business careers and financial positions within the colony.

The economic situation in the colony was patchy prior to the discovery of gold and

the introduction of full self-government in 1890, and there were numerous recessions

that lasted for varying lengths of time. Even after the massive gold boom of the 1890s,

there were periods of economic downturn and they often had a knock-on effect, during

which those in business had to demonstrate considerable resourcefulness to find

alternative sources of income and recover. In the 1860s and 1870s, 1888, 1892–93 and

1897–98, six of these expirees suffered severe financial difficulties. Letch had to sell

three of his properties including his shop in Guildford by the end of 1870. He had to let

go his two mail contracts in 1879 and 1882 and his coaching business in 1883, as well

as relocating to another leased shop in Hay Street that year. The fire in his second store

in May 1890 shattered his business position and the Western Australian Bank did not

release him from debt until July 1891, by which time he was relying on breeding horses

in Canning to support himself and his wife.

Wroth had to allot his nine blocks of land to his sons, then mortgage them, when he

was experiencing monetary problems with delays in payment from his government

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provisioning contract in 1866, as well as coping with dry seasons in 1866 and 1867 and

dry wells and stock losses during 1868 and 1869. Practical support from his sons, who

helped out with cropping, butchering and his government provisioning contracts,

enabled him to keep his properties going. During the recessions of the 1870s, Stout was

teaching at the Pensioner Barracks from 1873 to 1878, but that did not prevent him

declaring his bankruptcy in 1875.

During the severe recession in 1888, Meagher had to convey his lease of 1000 acres

on the Swan River to John Bateman. By 1891, everything he owned had been liquidated

and he was not discharged from bankruptcy until September 1892. There are no records

of Moll experiencing monetary problems from recessions, but after his death in

December 1882, his widow was forced to run a boarding house in Northam to support

their children. After Roe's wife died in 1887, he had monetary problems and found it

difficult to support himself during the severe economic downturn in 1888, so he went to

live with his daughter. Hubbard’s entrepreneurial ventures into land and real estate were

threatened during the 1897 to 1898 recession and he went into bankruptcy, causing his

eleven properties to be auctioned in 1899, the day before his death.

However a few of these convicts did not appear to have been adversely affected by

economic downturns. Horrocks’ copper mine, with its model village, proved to be very

successful and his financial situation was sound. Dr Sampson and his wife purchased

many blocks of land and appeared to have had no monetary problems during

recessions. Palmer had a steady job and was regularly paid by the government as a

teacher for thirty-three years, though he also worked for the Inquirer supplementing his

government salary, to support his wife and ten children in Albany. The long economic

recession of the 1870s did not seem to affect Fleming’s income or his completion of the

telegraph lines, linking the colony to the rest of the world in 1877. Holdsworth’s good

fortune after the sale of his wife’s immigrant land grant and their purchase of many

blocks of land in the Fremantle area, allowed them to build twelve rental properties and

own two blocks of land, as well as building ‘Braeside,’ his future home. In 1897 at the

beginning of a short recession, he was able to offer two donations to Scotch College,

while a member of their Council.

Many of these white-collar workers had radically changed their careers and interests

by the time they received their Certificates of Freedom, and this allowed them to

become well known, respected and socially acceptable in the areas where they lived.

Letch, who had managed a food and drapery shop in Chelmsford, ran two general stores

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in Perth and Guildford by the 1860s. He also provided essential public transport, funeral

carriages and mail services between Fremantle, Perth and Guildford, played the organ at

the Congregational Church in Perth and the piano for social occasions and was a Perth

City Councillor for six years.

Wroth started his career in England as a printer. By 1858 he was storekeeper and

postmaster near Toodyay until 1864. He won the government Commissariat contract for

provisioning convict road parties from 1865 and farmed eleven properties in Newcastle,

some of which he used to grow crops and fatten stock. Horrocks, who had owned a

merchandising business in England, was responsible for building and owning the

colony’s second major copper mine and establishing a model village including a church

south of Northampton, for his sixty workers in the colony. Palmer started off as a clerk

in England and became a respected teacher over thirty three years in Albany, as well as

writing articles for the Inquirer newspaper.

Dr Sampson, who had delirium tremens in England, overcame his addiction to

alcohol, administered to the sick for about twenty nine years in Bunbury and eventually

owned fifteen properties in ‘Sampson Town.’ He was well known around the district as

a major landowner, the Congregational Church’s organist, for supplying the instruments

and conducting his brass band, as well as supporting local elections.

Stout was a land agent and surveyor in England. In the colony he was initially

employed as a government schoolmaster at Australind, prior to setting up a boys’

boarding school in Fremantle. He then became a photographer in Bunbury, where he

opened another school prior to moving back to Perth to set up two photographic studios,

then taught at the Pensioner Barracks. He then moved to Geraldton where he taught,

prior to managing and editing two newspapers, then back to Perth, where he wrote

articles for the Daily News and the Morning Herald newspapers, as well as being

employed as the Secretary of the Perth Working Man’s Society.

Although Miall Meagher’s first vocation was civil engineering in England, he leased

Sandalford vineyard twice, was licensee of two hotels for short periods, managed the

Bassendean brickyard, leased the 'Retreat' on fourteen acres, then leased a 1000 acre

farm, prior to his bankruptcy in the early 1890s. Moll was employed as a clerk in

England, but after gaining his Ticket he was employed as a servant by Father Bertram

and Father Coll, then as a teacher by Father Bourke. He was then employed as John

Henry’s clerk and accountant until in York, then in Perth. Prior to his accidental death

in the colony, he was managing Alexander McRae’s merchant business, shipping

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agency and pearling company at Cossack. Roe, an Anglican minister in England,

initially leased a small property and taught in country areas in the colony for many

years, prior to becoming a journalist and co-editor of the Fremantle Herald, then

working for the Inquirer newspaper in Perth.

Fleming, a shipbroker and merchant in England, succeeded in connecting Western

Australia by telegraph to the rest of the world, for which he was duly recognized,

becoming a member of the London Society of Engineers. Hubbard, initially a clerk at

his father’s brewery in England, prior to working in an orphanage in the colony, was

then employed as a clerk in the Guildford Council, during which time he purchased

eleven valuable properties in the Avon, Northam, Swan, Midland Junction and Moora

areas. Holdsworth was a ship and insurance broker in England, then the sale of his

wife’s emigrant grant of fifty acres in the colony, provided them with the initial capital

to make a considerable fortune. Holdsworth built thirteen rental properties and owned

two blocks of land in Fremantle, besides building his own large home in Fremantle.

Many of these convicts made a significant contribution to the life of their

communities. They took on voluntary positions in their churches, local government,

Boards of Education, Agricultural Societies, School Councils or the Orphanage. Or they

were teachers, doctors, hoteliers, newspaper reporters, gave public lectures, made

suggestions for improving the colony’s education system. In doing so, they became well

known in their communities and they were in an excellent position to demonstrate their

public spirit, regain trust and earn the respect and social acceptance by free settlers. The

marriages of Letch’ son to a canon’s daughter and Meagher’s daughter to a bishop’s

son, is clearly evidence that their families were considered to be respectable and socially

acceptable. Indeed most of these white-collar convicts probably achieved more in the

Swan River Colony, than they would have in England.

Nevertheless all white-collar convicts had to be constantly aware of their reputation,

their families’ conduct and their appearance. They had to battle to regain their

respectability, which could be very easily lost, and was more than likely to have been

earned gradually over time. They had to accept the fact that some settlers would never

trust them enough to employ them or ever consider them to be socially acceptable.

However, as many settlers often had to work with them on a business level, if they were

found to be reliable and law abiding, their convict origins seem to have been

overlooked. All white-collar expirees had to rebuild their own self confidence, try not to

over react to the convict stigma and be able to deal with likely social and financial

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setbacks, especially during economic downturns, all the while striving to keep up

middle-class appearances. Those aspects must have been really difficult while they were

adjusting to new lives and careers in the colony on low salaries. However as they

previously came from middle class families, they knew what was expected of them and

appear to have strived to conform to those parameters.

There are still many visible signs that free settlers valued their efforts in the colony.

As you walk towards the altar in the Trinity Congregational Church in St Georges

Terrace in Perth and glance to the right, there is a plaque with Letch’s name on it,

indicating that he was their organist for many years.165 He is also listed on the Perth

City Council Honour Boards for serving three terms as a Perth City Councillor.166

Another lasting tribute to Letch is the depiction of his shop, which features his name, on

one of a large set of seven leadlight glass panels depicting Perth in the 1870s, now in

Fremantle’s Film and Television Institute. The Honour Boards of the Toodyay

Agricultural Society record Wroth’s community services,167 and there is also a garden

seat in Toodyay with a plaque commemorating the services of the Wroth family, which

was installed by the Royal Western Australian Historical Society. Wroth’s name was

also inscribed on a brass footpath plaque on St George’s Terrace, the city of Perth’s

main thoroughfare, during the sesquicentenary celebrations of the colony’s foundation

in 1979. Honour Boards in the Guildford Library reveal Meagher and Hubbard’s

services to the Guildford Municipal Council. The town of Horrocks, on Western

Australia’s coastline north of Geraldton, Horrocks Beach and Horrocks Road,

commemorate Horrock’s contribution to copper mining in Western Australia. Sampson

Road in Bunbury and Holdsworth Street in Fremantle, records their contributions to

society and is proof of theirs respectability and social acceptance in the colony.168

The photographic records that Stout left, many of which are now housed in Battye

Library’s Photographic collection, are a priceless depiction today of colonial society and

many have been published in histories of Western Australia. Meagher's name can still

be viewed on a Guildford Honour Board, as Chairman of the Guildford Municipal

Council and J.T. Reilly's reminiscences in 1903, record Moll’s actions on behalf of the

165 Trinity Congregational Church, St Georges Tce, Perth, 166 Honour Boards in Perth Council House, 27 St Georges Terrace, Perth, W.A. 167 Information gained from the current Toodyay Agricultural Society Secretary. 168 Sampson Road, Bunbury, Map B3, coordinates N34, & Holdsworth Street, Fremantle, Map S10,ordinates C5, StreetSmart, Perth Street Directory, 2008.

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Catholic Church and his community service.169 Parents backed Roe, who was an

excellent teacher and many of the causes he promoted, including responsible

Government, the development of railways, more liberal land laws and improvements in

education, came to fruition. Fleming’s memorial is the Intercolonial Telegraph Line that

connected the Swan River Colony to other parts of Australia in 1877. As a result of his

work he was made a member of the London Society of Engineers in 1878. The visible

reminder of Holdsworth’s respectability and his contribution to society, is Holdsworth

Street in Fremantle, which originally led to his home.170

The Swan River Colony provided a second chance for these twelve white-collar

expirees who worked hard to support their families, win the confidence of free settlers

and were able to turn their lives around. While those discussed in this thesis are only a

small number of the white-collar convicts who were transported to Western Australia,

and it is accepted that this sample may be skewed, their lives indicate that opportunities

existed in the colony, which made it possible for them to regain their respectability and

gain social acceptance.

While this thesis supports Erickson’s general conclusion that, 'convicts in Western

Australia played an important part in the development of the colony during the latter

half of the nineteenth century’171, there is some evidence that has been presented in this

thesis that suggests that her view, that all convicts remained forever conscious of

‘having worn the shameful coat of a convict’ and that some middle-class educated

convicts suffered socially172

Erickson concluded that,

is not entirely true. The white-collar convicts discussed in

this thesis all showed competency, regained their respectability and were socially

accepted by many free settlers. Whether their success or failure was determined by

character rather than circumstance, as she has suggested, is not so clear. Though it is

clear that the shortage of white-collar skills in the colony did provide white-collar

convicts with considerable opportunities in the colony.

… the convict taint need no longer be a social embarrassment to their descendents, the historian may begin to assess more truly, whether those who wore the government brand on their coats, made for good or bad in colonial

169 J. T. Reilly, Reminiscences of Fifty Years Residence in Western Australia, Perth, WA, Sands & McDougall, 1903, p. 61. 170 Ibid., Map 430, coordinates C,5. 171 Rica Erickson, ‘Acknowledgements', The Brand On His Coat, op. cit., p. xi. 172 Rica Erickson, ‘What it was to be an Ex-Convict in Western Australia', Westerly, 30, No. 3, September 1985,p p. 45 and 49.

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history, or whether they merely faded away without leaving their print on the sands of time.173

The names of the white-collar convicts discussed in this thesis are still on public view

because they contributed to the well being of free settlers in colonial society and thus

gained respectability and social acceptance. Despite the government brand that they had

once worn, they made good in colonial society. Although past generations hid their

convict ancestry, the lives of these white-collar convicts show that they made a

significant contribution to society and those descended from these white-collar convicts

should be proud of their ancestry, as indeed I am of my ancestor - Alfred Daniel Letch.

173 Rica Erickson, ‘James Elphinstone Nelken, David (ed.), White-Collar Crime, Aldershot, England, Dartmouth, 1994. Roe, Schoolmaster and Journalist,’ The Brand On His Coat, op. cit., p. 321.

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Agnostos, 'The Cost of Convicts', London, The Times, 3 January 1857, p. 7. Anonymous (James Roe), ‘Revelations of Prison Life’, The Cornhill Magazine, 7, January - June 1863, p. 644. Bowler, D. R., Portland Convict Prison & Borstal, Pamphlet, Held at Weymouth Library, Dorset, L365, 32 BO1. 'Change of Premises, Mr. A. D, Letch', Inquirer, 26 December, 1883, p. 2, Battye Library, Perth, W. A, .microfilm. DeLeech', A., A. DeLeech's Perth and Guildford General Store advertisement in the Houghton Herald, a pamphlet which was distributed on River cruises. DeLeech, A., Alfred DeLeech's second marriage to Amelia French, an immigrant lass aged nineteen, arrived in the colony on the Burlington on 8 April 1863, Inquirer, 15 April 1863, p. 2, column b. She married Alfred DeLeech on 14 September 1863, Alfred DeLeech, Battye Library Card.

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'Disastrous Fire in the City: Great Destruction of Property: Two Shops and their Contents Burned', The West Australian, Monday 26

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Fleming, James Coat(e)s, Court Case, The Glasgow Herald, 9 September 1862, p. 7. Forsyth, William, 'A Visit to Portland Prison', Good Words, Norman Macleod (ed.), England, 1873, pp. 684-688. ‘General Notice’, A. DeLeech, Perth and Guildford General Store advertisement in Perth newspapers. Greenward, James, 'Convict Life at Portland', Southern Times, 24 March 1866, Weymouth Library, Dorset. Hardy, Daniel, 'Over fifty years ago: Mail days in the eighties', The West Australian, Battye Library, Perth, 4 November 1936, p. 8, col. c, microfilm. Hislop, D. J., 'Finding the Truth of a Convict Past', The West Australian, 21 March 1987, p. 37. Holdsworth, Lionel, Court Case, Central Criminal Courts, Old Court, London, The Times, 29 January, p. 9b, 31 January, p. 11b, 1 February, p. 9c, 2 February, p. 11c, 4 February, p. 9b and 5 February, p. 11b, 1867. Hopkins, Tighe, Wards of the State: An Unofficial View of Prisons & the Prisoner, Weymouth Library, Dorset, W24-7512, Herbert & Daniel, 1913, Local Pamphlet file L 365.32 HO1. Horrocks, Joseph Lucas, Central Criminal Courts, London, April 9, The Times, 10 April 1851, p. 7c. Horrocks, Joseph Lucas, Perth Gazette, 14 March 1856, was helping helping to manage James Drummond’s White-Peak mine in March 1856. Horrocks, Joseph Lucas, Perth Gazette, 7 December, 1860, Governor Kennnedy was visiting Gwalla mine. Hubbard, James, Norfolk Circuit, Norwich, The Times, 22 December 1863, p. 10d. Irvine, Peter, 'The Convict M.P: Jabez Balfour’, Portland Souvenir Magazine vol. 94, London, Collins Harvill, Weymouth Library, Dorset, England, pp. 4-8, photocopy. Irwin, Rev. William, 'Notes by the Way, Weekly Record, Western Australia: Its History and Prospects’, Norwoodiana or Sayings and Doings on Route to Western Australia, Nos. 1-11, April to July 1867. Kemp, John, The Book of Weymouth and Portland, Clarke Publications, Dorset, England, 2000. Letch, A. D., 'Advertisement, Day and Night Street Cab Service in Perth', Inquirer, 14 April 1880, Battye Library, Perth, WA, p. 3, microfilm.

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Letch, Charles William Essex Letch, Inquirer, 23 February 1870, 1904 Legislative Assembly Rolls, North Perth, p. 73 and also information from Maida Brockman, née Letch, but there is no other information available about his marriage at this stage. Letch, George Abner, 'Commercial Boarding School for Boys’, Inquirer, 24

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