Valentine Austin

338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 3rd December 2020

New South Wales Certificate of Freedom. [NRS 12208] Register of Certificate of Freedoms No; 1/1307. March 1814 Name; Valentine Austin. When and where tried; Middlesex G D - 2 July 1806 Sentence; 7 years Ship and arrival year; Sydney Cove - 1807 When time expired. 2 July 1813 Date of Certificate; 7 March 1814 Description and Remarks; Native County; London Trade; Seaman Age; 22 years Height; 5 ft. 4 3/4 in Complexion; Dark Sallow Hair; Dark Brown Eyes; Hazel

221

D Wong on 10th April 2016

Valentine Austin was 12 years old when convicted. Old Bailey: VALENTINE AUSTIN, Theft > grand larceny, 2nd July 1806. Reference Number: t18060702-60 Offence: Theft > grand larceny Verdict: Guilty Punishment: Transportation VALENTINE AUSTIN was indicted for feloniously stealing on the 18th of June , a hair broach, value 3 s. the property of Joseph Swain . JOSEPH SWAIN sworn. I am a jeweller , I live in Anderson's Building's, City Road , I keep a jeweler's shop. On Wednesday the 18th of June last, about one o'clock in the day, an alarm was made that my shop was being robbed, I run out immediately and saw the prisoner at the bar running away, I followed him and brought him back to my own house; on my return I found a square of the window had been cut; I cannot exactly ascertain the articles taken, nor the amount, but they are chiefly gold articles; the article found upon him is in court. Q. Did you find it upon him. - A. No, he threw it down upon the spot where I took hold of him. Q. How far did he run from your shop. - A. About two or three hundred yards; I asked him how he came by the broach, he said the other Jew boys gave it him. MARY ANN HOLDEN sworn. I am going on fifteen, I work at tambour and satin stitch; I was going up the City Road with two pair of shoes for my mother, I saw three boys standing together at the corner of a little alley next to Mr. Swain's shop, I went up to the Jew boy and asked him how he sold his lemons, he said a penny a-piece, I heard the Jew boy say he helped the woman up with the curtain (that is the sun shade), I have watched the window but I cannot be positive whether he said hay or straw you have got in your hat, and that will do. Q. Had he hay or straw in his hat. - A. Yes, one had; I walked about a yard further, and all the three boys went to the window, and the Jew boy stood in the middle, and the other boy and the prisoner on each side of him, the Jew boy took something out of his pocket, and cut the window, and pushed the glass through with his finger, and the prisoner took out a little stick with a hook at the end of it, and took the things out, I called to Mr. Swain, and the boys all three run away. Mr. Swain ran after them. Q.Is that the same boy that you saw pull the things out with a stick. - A. It is. (The broach produced and identified by the prosecutor.) The prisoner said nothing in his defence; called three witnesses, who gave him a good character. GUILTY , aged 12. Transported for Seven Years . Colonial Secretary Papers: AUSTIN, Valentine. Per "Sydney Cove", 1807 c.1820: On list of convicts sentenced to transportation, 1805-6 (Fiche 3289; 4/2772.2A p.2) Free Pardon – no date Certificate of Emancipation – no date 3/10/1809: Absolute Pardon cancelled. 30/6/1810 Sydney Gazette: About to depart the Colony per the ‘Endeavour’ – Valentine Austin (boy). 12/3/1814: About to depart the Colony per ‘Trial’. 16/11/1816: About to depart the Colony per ‘Queen Charlotte’. No further mentions of him after 1816 on the NSW BDM or ‘Trove’.