Summary
Personal Information
Transportation
Matthias Alexander was transported on the Eliza, departing 2nd Feb 1831 and arriving 29th May 1831 with 224 passengers.
The Eliza was a 511-ton (later 538 ton) merchant ship built in British India in 1806. She made five voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia.
Eliza (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 89, Class and Piece Number HO11/8, Page Number 9 (7) SHIPS, ELIZA, PROTEUS and OTHERS, SWING RIOTERS to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) compiler. Geoffrey Sharman, Tasmania. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~austas/proteus.htm |
| Source Description | This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
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Convict Notes
Matthias Alexander was the grandfather of Frederick Matthias Alexander, the founder of the Alexander Technique of posture and movement re-education.
Description: Trade: Hurdle maker, Height w/out shoes: 5'4", Gae: 20, Complexion: Brown Head: M.S. Round, Hair: Brown, Whiskers: ? Visage: M.S., Forehead: perpent?, Eyebrows: Brown Eyes: Blue, Nose: M.S., Mouth: M.W., Chin: M.S Remarks: Stout made free pardon 3rd February 1836 married 1838
Born in Ramsbury, Wiltshire
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
A brief history of the events leading 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. After four and a half years, after serving out his sentence with the Van Dieman's Land Company, Matthias was granted a Ticket-of-Leave for good behaviour on 1st June 1835. On 26 August 1835, Joseph received the same. They were released from compulsory labour and able to find work on their own account - but now in a new land. Less than a year later, the brothers were told that they had a free pardon. Joseph and Matthias decided to remain in TAS. They moved to Table Cape, near Wynyard, on the bank of the Inglis River. Matthias died in 1865. His property passed to his five sons.
Mathias Alexander and Joseph Alexander were brothers and were both on the Eliza, they were convicted for being involved in the swing riots in Wiltshire