Joseph Ankers

OCCUPATION: Packing case maker (not listed in the options). --000--

INQUEST: 10 April, 1856: From 'The Manchester Guardian' DEATH OF A WOMAN FROM HER HUSBAND’S ILL-TREATMENT Yesterday at the Royal Infirmary, an inquest was held by Mr. Herford, city coroner, on the body of Martha Ankers, wife of Joseph Ankers, packing case maker, 9 Marsden Square, Homer-street. It appeared that the woman had died from injuries inflicted, early on Sunday morning, by her husband, who was at present in custody. Their son, a boy of nine, slept with them. About three o’clock on Sunday morning he heard them quarrelling. He said: My father took hold of her neck and squeezed it, and said, “I’ll kill you, you ____, before morning.” I thought he did not hurt her much. She shouted “Murder” and said “You’ve doubled me in two” He said, “I’ll finish you before morning.” He kept saying so. He shoved her in a corner. He pushed her off the bed, and when she was on the floor he pushed her into the corner. I had gone to bed with her. She gave me some words, and swore at him first. She was standing after he had pushed her off the bed. The then pushed her into the corner. He took hold of her neck, and then she tumbled. He got into bed again and she lay there. She asked him to lift her into bed, and he did so in about five minutes. Then she kept saying, “You’ve doubled me up.” I told Mrs Morris what my father had done, that he had throttled my mother, and kicked her out of bed. I got out of bed to run away, but I stayed and saw what was done. A daughter ten years old was awoke by the quarrelling. Her father swore. Then her mother said, “Oh, Joe, you’ve doubled me in two,” speaking as if badly hurt; and she repeated it many times. He said, “You are only shamming, to vex me,” which she denied. A woman living next door was also awoke, and heard voices for about an hour. She heard Ankers say, “You _____, I’ll kill you before morning.” Mrs. Morris (mentioned in the son’s evidence) is a widow living at 22, Martin-street. The deceased went to her house about half-past twelve o’clock on Sunday morning and left about half past one, being in her usual health but rather the worse for liquor. About ten o’clock in the forenoon, Ankers fetched the witness in, saying his wife had lost the use of her limbs, which the witness found to be the case. She complained of pain at the back of her neck. He said, “I think it is a stroke;” and when it was suggested to send for a surgeon, he said he thought there was no necessity and he would see how she was in the morning. The witness was not much with the deceased on Sunday; but during the forenoon she went to tell Mr. Harwood, a druggist to call. On Monday morning, having heard the son’s statement, the witness went to see the deceased, who was then afraid that she should not recover,. The witness asked what her husband had done and the deceased said “Hush,” as if afraid that anyone else should hear, and then said that he hurt her at the back of her neck with his hands; adding, “Don’t tell anybody, for it will only make a bother.” The minister of St. Andrew’s having been called in, he gave a “recommend,” and she was attended by a surgeon about seven o’clock but she died early on Tuesday morning. In answer to Ankers, the witness said that he did not tell her that he had asked his wife to have a doctor; and he never told the witness to ask her again. The deceased sometimes got drink at the end of the week, and she was then passionate. She sometime aggravated him; but he often abused her when there was no occasion. Mr. T. Dyson, surgeon, had made a post-mortem examination of the body. Except a depression in the back of the neck, there was no mark of external violence. The brain and contents of the chest and abdomen were in a healthy state. There was a little infiltration of blood amongst the muscles and cellular tissue, deep seated in the neck, near the depression. There was a complete dislocation of the vertebrae, necessarily inducing pressure upon the spinal marrow, and death sooner or later. This must have been produced by extreme external violence. Such injury is generally produced by a fall from a height. He never knew of an instance of its being produced in the manner described, but he could conceive it possible. The symptoms during life, and the falling mentioned by the boy, corresponded with the results which such an injury would produce. There was nothing to indicate habits of intoxication in the deceased. Ankers, when apprehended, made a statement similar to that which he now made, and which was taken down as follows: I went to bed before ten o’clock, having had two or three glasses of ale. Between one and two she came home, and, after some words, she got into bed with her shoes and clothes on. I pushed her out with my hands and she fell heavily. She said, “Oh dear, Joe, Gold Almighty’s struck me this time.” I said, “You should keep sober.” She said, “Oh dear, I’ve hurt my neck.” At daylight I saw that she looked ill, and began to be alarmed. I said, “Had not I better fetch a doctor?” She said, “Oh, no, don’t have one.” She asked me to go for Mrs. Morris. She told me that she could not feel in her legs. She said that if the doctor came she would die. She fell with her head first. After consultation, the jury returned a verdict of “Manslaughter” against Joseph Ankers, and the coroner issued his warrant committing him to take his trial on the charge. (Western Australian Convicts at http://www.perthdps.com/convicts/w4587.htm)

TRIAL: 9 August, 1856: Liverpool Assizes -- convicted of manslaughter; sentenced to 15 years' transportation. --00--

JAILS: 9 April, 1856: Admitted to Kirkdale pending his trial for manslaughter. Following his conviction on 9 August, he served 39 days in separate confinement there; behaviour "good". “After a sentence of transportation was handed down, the prisoner entered into a separate stage where he was placed into an individual cell, isolated from others, apart from brief periods of exercise and attendance at chapel. However, no communication of any kind with other prisoners was permitted at any time. The philosophy behind this penal methodology had its provenances in the religious, monastic traditions; i.e., that in the isolation of his cell the malefactor would be able to contemplate the errors of his way, unadulterated by the negative influences of former contemporaries, and be reformed.” (Edgar, 2018, pp39-40) When first put into practice, the mandated period of separate confinement was 18 months. By the late 1840s, authorities had conceded that such conditions of imprisonment were “injurious to many prisoners’ mental health” and the stint was reduced to 12 months. Periods of separate confinement were reduced further “as a prisoner displayed good behaviour tendencies” (Edgar, p40). Millbank, Wakefield, Pentonville and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. —0—

16 September, 1856: Admitted to Wakefield gaol. Served 8 months 32 days in separate confinement; behaviour "very good". --0--

19 May, 1857: Admitted to Portland jail; inmate #7047. Listed as 45 [when convicted], married with six children, Church of England, able to read and write well, and no previous convictions; next of kin -- son, Richard Ankers of Dryden Street, Homer Street, Manchester. Portland, Chatham, Portsmouth and Spike Island in Ireland were listed public works stations and the second stage in the penal process. After separate confinement, prisoners were “placed on work parties at various locations, most commonly naval stations, where maintenance of facilities was vital for the effective protection of Britain’s far flung commercial and military influences around the world. While there, attitude and behaviour were monitored closely. In theory, only after consistently positive reports was a prisoner moved on to the third stage of his incarceration — transportation.” (Edgar, p40) —0—

10 September, 1857: Sent from Portland to board the Nile for transportation to WA (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875). --00--

IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: ANKERS, Joseph; inmate #4587, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1811 Place of Death: Beverley Marital Status: Married 6 children Occupation: Carpenter Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Liverpool, Lancashire, England Crime: Manslaughter Sentence Period: 15 years Ticket of Leave Date: 17 Apr 1860 at York Conditional Pardon Date: 7 Nov 1862 Certificate of Freedom Date: 23 Aug 1872 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--

DEATH: Ankers, Joseph: 62, died at [not given]; registration no.6784; registration year 1873 (https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au/). --00--