Joseph Alexander

Level 4

Alan J Barnes on 22nd August 2021

Did quite well in later life. Was the Licensee of the "Emily" hotel, Stanley, Tasmania (1854) and later the licensee of "The Wynyard Arms" also in Stanley. He had a small farm at Inglis River, Tasmania.

Level 108

Nell Murphy on 22nd November 2016

Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) record indicates that he was married, with 3 children. Wife a shopkeeper at native place, Ramsberry, Wilts. Free Pardon approved, at Hobart, 3 Feb 1836.(Ref. no. 313).

Level 42

Tim Flynn on 28th April 2016

http://www.amazon.com.au/Part-Irishman-Regiment-TS-Flynn-ebook/dp/B01D5LBJZ0?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 Mentioned in this novel

Level 42

Tim Flynn on 28th April 2016

Character in "Part an Irishman" by T.S.Flynn http://www.amazon.com.au/Part-Irishman-Regiment-TS-Flynn-ebook/dp/B01D5LBJZ0?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Level 8

Matt Hudson on 7th May 2012

A brief history of the events leading up to the Swing riots of 1830: In 1824, excessive rain ruined grain in the fields surrounding Ramsbury, Wilts., England; illnesses decimated the sheep. The next years were even worse. Despair brought on by hunger brought to the fore a strong sense of the Ramsbury village dwellers that even their modest customary rights were fast being eroded. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, there had been an inescapable shift in favour of the large landowners and farmers against those whose poverty forced them to till the lands of the landowners and farmers for subsistence. The eighteenth-century Enclosure Acts removed the last vestiges of the ancient rights of free grazing and fuel collecting of the poor. By 1830, Ramsbury and other English villages had become grim places. On 1 June 1830, the destruction of a farmer's property at Orpington, Kent, marked the beginning of the so-called Swing Riots. Throughout the summer of 1830 in Kent, numerous rick-burning fires signaled the spread of a spontaneous uprising against social and economic conditions. Witnesses reported Joseph and Matthias Alexander participated in the rioting of 22 November 1830. Arrested and tried, they were exiled to Van Diemen's Land (TAS) for seven years penal servitude, their sentence euphemistically referred to as transportation. Thomas Channon and William Wooley claim to have seen Joseph Liddiard and Matthias and Joseph Alexander among the mob. A chaff cutting machine was destroyed at Ramsbury and a thrashing machine belonging to James Jones was destroyed. Thrashing machines were also destroyed at the farms of David George, at Axford and Thomas Osmond, at Ramsbury. Convicted of destroying a Chaff Cutting Machine, at the property of John Shepherd on 22/11/1830, with his brother Matthias 1810 and his 2nd cousin Joseph Liddiard 1805. Thomas Channon was called as a witness and said "I saw Mathias Alexander active in beating the machinery of the mill. I also saw Joseph Alexander and Joseph Liddiard there. The machine was destroyed.” All three prisoners were found guilty. The judge stated that: “Matthias Alexander, Joseph Alexander and Joseph Liddiard belonged to a class of persons who has not even the vain pretence that these machines could effect them in any manner. One was a carpenter, another a blacksmith and the third a woodman. Such outrages by any party must be put down, but the law would visit the strictest severity on such persons as the prisoners, who it was proved had taken part in these outrages. The sentence of the Court on each of the prisoners was that they should be transported to such place beyond the seas as His Majesty should direct, for the term of seven years.” After being sentenced on 5th January 1831 they were returned to Fisherton Anger Gaol, and some three weeks later they were taken to Portsmouth and transferred to the prison hulk “York”. Then two weeks later they were transferred with 222 other Swing rioters to the “Eliza” which sailed for Van Diemen’s Land on 6th February 1831. They arrived in Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land on 29th May 1831.