Edouard Boudet

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Dianne Jones on 13th June 2022

From the JERSEY ARCHIVE REGISTER contd: "Convicts' records Edward Boudet Edward Boudet may have been baptised Edouard, because there is a baptism record for Edouard Jean Boudet in St Helier on 7 September 1828. This Edouard was the son of Edouard Boudet and Therese, nee Beaudrie. Boudet's 14-year sentence, the maximum, was very unusual. Only two others among the 300 had a sentence this long. Most of those on the ship had been sentenced to terms of seven or ten years. The fact that his co-accused, Walker's, sentence was commuted to seven years, would suggest that Boudet was considered to have been the ringleader, but in the absence of a full report of their trial, that can only be supposition. The Nile took its cargo of convicts to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Convict records from there show that Boudet (his name was recorded as Edouard Boudett) arrived on 3 October 1850, over two years after his conviction, and was given his ticket of leave on 31 January 1854, just under four years into his 14-year sentence. His record shows that at the age of 19 he was only 4ft 11½ inches tall. His time as a member of a convict gang was not without incident. Only weeks after his arrival he was found to be absent from his gang on 9 December 1850 and sentenced to hard labour. The following year he was twice recorded as having absconded. His ticket of leave in 1854 would have released him from the convict gangs and given him the freedom to find paid work elsewhere in the community. The ticket of leave had to be carried at all times and the convicts had to remain in a specified area, report regularly to local authorities and attend divine worship every Sunday, if possible. They could not leave the colony. It was unusual for someone serving a 14-year sentence to be given a ticket of leave as early as Boudet - six to eight years was more normal. A certificate of freedom was issued at the completion of a convict's sentence, as proof that they were free to travel anywhere, and could return home, if they could afford it. They had to save to pay for their passage. We have not yet been able to discover what happened to Boudet/Boudett after the issuing of his ticket of leave. The name does not appear in further Australian records under either spelling."

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Dianne Jones on 13th June 2022

From the JERSEY ARCHIVE REGISTER contd: "The men: Details of the men, convicted of burglary and theft and having entered the house armed and put two ladies who occupied the same in bodily fear, appear in the register as follows: Edward Boudet (17) - One previous conviction for theft; Parents respectable but poor; shoemaker, single; reads well, writes imperfectly; of a taciturn disposition but imperfectly acquainted with the principles of religion. Edward Quenault (20) - parents poor, brother and sister bad characters; brickmaker, single; reads and writes well; of a taciturn disposition but imperfectly acquainted with the principles of religion. James Walker (17) - parents respectable but poor; single, barber; reads and writes well; seems to be well acquainted with the principles of religion. Temper rather sullen. John Lancaster (20) - father dead, mother respectable but given to drinking; single, printer; Reads and writes well; seems to be well acquainted with the principles of religion. Temper seems to be good. The Australian Convict Transportation Registers show the names of those arriving in the country as convicts between 1791 and 1868. There are only 66 men and three women convicted in Jersey who appear in these registers, and among them are Boudet and Walker, who were among 300 men sent to Australia on the convict ship Nile on 27 June 1850. UK records show that they were given prisoner numbers 15586 and 15588, respectively, and that soon after their conviction they were transferred on 14 October 1848 to Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, to await transportation. It seems that they remained there for nearly two years until the Nile sailed." --0--

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Dianne Jones on 13th June 2022

From the JERSEY ARCHIVE REGISTER contd: "Jersey Times report: The Jersey Times report described the events of the night as a 'diabolical deed - one of the most daring and audacious robberies ever committed in the Island ', and continued as follows: 'On Tuesday morning last, at about two o’clock, Mrs Cloak, residing with her mother, Mrs Anthoine, in a cottage near the Tapon in the Parish of St Saviour, fancied she heard a noise in the house, and by way of precaution got up and barricaded the door of their bedroom. Shortly afterwards, the door was tried and Mrs Cloak, opening the window, jumped out into the garden, but had hardly stepped in when she perceived a man approaching her having his face blackened. She instantly drew back and returned into the room, where three fellows, having all their faces blackened, entered after her, and drawing out their pistols, threatened to shoot both mother and daughter if they uttered the least cry. They immediately asked the alarmed inmates for money, plate and other valuables in the house, which was complied with, and Mrs Cloak was allowed to go alone and fetch the plate which was kept in an adjoining room, they knowing that she could not escape, as one of the robbers had been left outside in charge of the other door. Mrs Cloak, taking advantage of this moment of liberty, hid her gold watch and a small quantity of money in the ashes under the grate. On her return, she gave the money and the plate to the villains, but they, being provided with a dark lantern, perceived some rings on her fingers and demanded them. Not being able to remove them fast enough, one of the brigands threatened to cut off her finger if she did not hurry herself, and drawing a razor out of his pocket compelled her to fall on her knees and, unfastening the strings of her cap, told her he would cut her throat if she made the least noise. The lady, nothing daunted, cried out: ‘Kill me, if you wish, but for the love of God, spare the days of my old mother.’ Mrs Cloak, having given up her rings, the three robbers bound the two ladies together with cords and proceeded to ransack the house, from which they abstracted, besides the money, six silver soup spoons and twelve teaspoons. They then left the house, taking with them a bundle supposed to contain linen. On leaving they ordered the ladies not to stir or utter the least cry, for if they made the least noise for the next hour and a half they would return and shoot them like dogs. The individuals spoke in English and seemed to be under the command of a leader. The unfortunate ladies remaining in this situation until nearly five o’clock in the morning, in the greatest dread of the return of their barbarous visitors, when Mr Thomas Filleul, passing by, seeing the door open, and hearing the cries, entered the house and liberated them. Mrs Anthoine was most dreadfully frightened and was so ill in consequence that her friends have been compelled to call in medical aid. The police of St Helier and St Saviour have been in active pursuit ever since, and we understand that very strong suspicious are entertained of certain parties as being the probable authors of this diabolical deed." -- Whether or not those suspicions were well-founded, the four men were apprehended and appeared before the Royal Court in August, being found guilty and sentenced on the 8th of the month. The Court's Transportation Register, which is now held by Jersey Archive, records the judgment, which was confirmed by Bailiff Sir Thomas Le Breton three weeks later. --0--

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Dianne Jones on 13th June 2022

From the JERSEY ARCHIVE REGISTER contd: "14 years' transportation: They were soon captured and found guilty of robbery with violence by a Royal Court jury in August the same year. Each was sentenced to 14 years' transportation. Two of them were sent on a convict ship to Australia, one with his sentence reduced to seven years, and the other two were sent to a prison hulk in Bermuda, eventually to return home. The robbery was reported in the Jersey Times of 19 May 1848 and was the lead story in the fourth edition of our digest of that newspaper's content in December 2019. Their conviction and sentence was reported in a very brief item in the eighth edition in January 2020. Since then we have been trying to piece together more details of the lives of the robbers, both before their shocking attack on the mother and daughter, and after. They were 17-year-olds Edward Boudet and James Walker, and 20-year-olds Edward Quenault and James Lancaster. The two teenagers were sent to Australia, the older men endured the much harsher conditions known to have faced convicts sent to Bermuda. The house they broke into was occupied by 65-year-old Elizabeth Anthoine, nee Payne, the daughter of Philippe and Jeanne, nee du Fresne, and her daughter Ann Cloak (43). Elizabeth was the widow of Nicolas Anthoine, who died in 1827." --0--

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Dianne Jones on 13th June 2022

From the JERSEY ARCHIVE REGISTER (https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Transportation_Registers): "In the early hours of 16 May 1848 four young men armed with pistols broke into a cottage on St Saviour's Hill and terrorised the occupants, a mother and her daughter, making threats to kill them if they did not hand over their valuables. After tying their victims up with cords, they ransacked the house and then escaped with money, a silver plate and spoons, and the rings the women were wearing." --0--

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Dianne Jones on 13th June 2022

TRIAL: 4 August, 1848: Tried, convicted and sentenced at St Heliers with three others for robbery with violence. He received a term of 14 years' transportation (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai06064). --00--