John Booth - Convict

[Effie]

A Preaching Thief

In March 1826, 23 year old Staffordshire potter John Booth married Mary Sambatch. A little over 9 months later Mary gave birth to their son William and then, just 4 days short of their 1st wedding anniversary…

The Staffordshire Advertiser - Saturday 24th March 1827
A Preaching Thief. John Booth for a burglary at Wolstanton.
The prosecutrix is a widow apparently about 60 years of age, and the prisoner introduced himself to her notice in the character of a Methodist Preacher. In that character he had paid her many visits ostensibly for the purpose of giving her spiritual advice and consolation but in reality, as it should seem, for ascertaining the nature and extent of her property , and the best facilities for a surreptitious removal of it. About midnight on the 3rd of March, he broke open the house of the prosecutrix, and after packing up a number of portable articles, chiefly of wearing apparel, took his leave. In a few days afterwards he was found with a pair of shoes, part of the stolen property, on his feet, but the other articles he had contrived to dispose of. - Guilty. Death Recorded

Prison Hulks and Convict Ships

John’s Death sentence was commuted to transportation for life and on 9th June he was moved to the prison hulk Justicia in the Woolwich docks. After enduring it’s filthy, vermin and disease ridden accomodation for about 4 months he boarded the convict ship Hooghley which set sail for Australia on 31st October. Conditions here were much less unpleasant largely through the efforts of ships surgeon Alexander Nisbet as detailed in his journal.
Strict attention was paid to cleanliness both personal and general, and for the entire length of the 116 day voyage the convicts were on deck and remained there until a short time before sunset “which was not only beneficial personally but kept the prison clean and cool previous to their going to bed“ (from Free Settler or Felon)

Australia

The Hooghley arrived at Port Jackson, New South Wales on 24th February 1828 and John was assigned to work as a farm labourer for George Wiiliams a free settler who had been granted 500 acres of land.
John received food, clothing and accomodation but no wages. We cannot know how he was treated otherwise but he managed to stay out of further trouble and was granted his Ticket of Leave ( a kind of parole) in December 1835 after serving nearly 8 years of his sentence

Ticket of Leave

John’s Ticket of Leave allowed him to earn wages and own property. He could also live and work where he chose within a prescribed area. John could also and did apply for his family to be brought over from England to join him but for whatever reason (Maybe he couldn’t find the necessary person to certify his ability to support them or it maybe, after such a long separation, Mary simply didn’t want to travel to the unknown to be with him) Mary and William remained in Staffordshire.

Wedding Bells

In 1838 John applied to marry fellow convict Eliza Tye who had been transported in 1835 for stealing and pawning 9 yards of merino.
Permission was given but the wedding did nor go ahead because on arrival at the church “Booth stated that he was married” - perhaps after the failed attempt to reunite with his family he had come to share the wide spread belief among convicts that transportation annulled prior marriages.
Eliza went on to marry fellow convict Michael Kenny in 1841.

Disaster

On 9th of September 1839 John was convicted of Forgery. There are no records of what was forged - but it could have been a document to gain him more freedom - a pass to travel to another district or a pardon, or it may have been a financial document - bank notes or a promissory note.

Forgery was a serious crime - if committed in England the punishment was often up to 7 years transportation. John was given 7 years imprisonment in the notorious penal colony of Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island - Australia ‘s most brutal penal colony.

Norfolk Island is about 1600 km north east of Sydney in the South Pacific Ocean. Its Penal colony for repeat offenders was notorious for its harsh conditions, and brutal punishments - flogging by cat o nine tails was routinely administered for the most minor of infractions.
John was fortunate in that he served only about 6 months of his sentence before the arrival of new Commandant Alexander Maconochie who tried to establish a system based more on rehabilitation than punishment. John’s early release in February 1844 meant that he was back in New South Wales on the Ticket of Leave system before Maconochie was replaced and the old brutal regime was reinstated. He must still have had a grim experience but it could have been much worse.

Elizabeth Tripp

In 1850 John applied to marry 22 yr old Elizabeth Tripp a domestic servant who had emigrated from London in 1848. The application was refused on November 14th on the grounds that John was already married to Mary back in England. John must have speedily managed to convince the authorities that she had passed away as he and Elizabeth were married at Christmas Creek on 30th December, John describing himself as a Widower.

Mary

Mary, who had not died, was living in Staffordshire with her 2nd husband Joseph Darlington a Slipmaker (“The slip maker (or sometimes a "slapper" or "blunger operator") operated a "blunger," a machine that mixed raw clay with water to create a consistent, smooth, liquid clay suspension used for casting pottery”) and her son William now 24 a Fruit Dealer.

John & Elizabeth

On September 30th 1851 John was granted a conditional pardon, (the condition being that he didn’t return to the uk). He was now free of the convict system.
He and Elizabeth moved to Kempsey and had 11 children. John died in 1880 at the age of 73 leaving a legacy of 58 Australian grandchildren and 12 English Grandchildren - the offspring of William.

[Olde Crone]

In fact, the CHURCH did allow remarriage if one spouse had been "sent beyond the seas for life". A twiglet on my tree did just that with the permission of the Archbishop. The parish marriage register notes this in the margin.

OC

[Effie]

Originally Posted by Olde Crone

In fact, the CHURCH did allow remarriage if one spouse had been "sent beyond the seas for life". A twiglet on my tree did just that with the permission of the Archbishop. The parish marriage register notes this in the margin.

OC

Ah I didn’t know that - I think it was the administration of New South Wales rather than the church that refused John’s applications to marry.

[Olde Crone]

Yes, it would be the civil authorities, not the church. In the case I know of, the "widow" gave birth about a month after she married husband number two and I think it was morality which reigned.

OC