Thomas Cochrane

218

Dianne Jones on 12th January 2024

FOOTNOTE: NEWSPAPER REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF THOMAS COCHRANE AND JOHN SCHORA: "MANCHESTER ASSIZES. CROWN COURT. BEFORE MR. JUSTICE LUSH. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14. RAPE CASE.-John Schora, aged 23, and Thomas Cochrane, aged 22, were indicted for rape on Ellen Wait, at Manchester. Wait is a married woman, but separated from her husband. On the night of the 12th February she had been working with a friend as a seamstress, and was returning home at nearly twelve o'clock, when in Chapel-street, Ancoats, she was seized by two powerful men, one of whom (Cochrane) threw her down and held her while the other committed the offence. Schora afterwards held her while Cochrane committed a similar assault. They stopped her mouth, but immediately they left her she screamed, and several policemen were soon on the track of the offenders. There was a third man present aiding part of the time in the assault, but he was not in custody. The two prisoners were taken at a public house, soon afterwards, and identified there. The police had previously seen Schora near the place where the offence was committed. Verdict, guilty. Sentence, twelve years' penal servitude each." (Liverpool Mercury, Friday 16 March 1866, p6 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000081/18660316/016/0006)

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Dianne Jones on 7th October 2021

CRIME: RAPE Thomas Cochrane, aged 22 years and 8 months, a labourer, was admitted to Millbank Prison – along with John Schora, 23 years and 4 months – both men having been convicted of rape (the same crime) and sentenced to 12 years’ penal servitude by the Manchester Assizes on 10 March, 1866. Prisoner #863, Thomas Cochrane was single and could neither read nor write. His behaviour was described as “good”. He had not been in jail before and when admitted to Millbank had served a total of 1 month and 16 days in solitary confinement at Salford jail. His next of Kin, his mother Bridget Cochrane, lived in Long Street in Manchester. Three extra notations appear on his Millbank record: “Not to receive any letters while here and no visit allowed”; “No visit allowed see B40”; and “Same case” – the latter being a reference to the two men’s conviction for raping the same victim. --0-- 1866, 24 December: Both men were sent to Portsmouth prison. Thomas Cochrane, prisoner #646, was sent from Portsmouth to board the ship Hougoumont on 15 October 1867. Two months later he was dead (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1866-1868). John Schora is listed as having been sent to WA on the Norwood on 2 April 1867. He arrived in WA on 13 July, prisoner #9561 at Fremantle jail, and served just under 5 years of his sentence before receiving a Ticket of Leave (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/history/convict-database/).

218

Dianne Jones on 7th October 2021

1867, 16 December: Death and burial at sea of convict #9689 “The saddest day of the voyage was Monday 16 December. It was a rough morning, dark, wet and cold, rather like a winter’s morning in Ireland. A poor Irish Convict named Thomas Corcoran died at 6.15am. He was not one of the Fenians. He was buried at sea that evening.” (Ormonde D. P. Waters, "The Escape of the Fenians, Western Australia, 17 April 1876", in Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1996-97), p98). --0-- And, from Thomas Keneally, “The great shame and the triumph of the Irish in the English-speaking world”, p568: “One convict died, a man named Corcoran. [Fellow transportee Denis] Cashman wrote [in his diary], ‘I saw the poor fellow smoking on a hatch a few days since.’ Corcoran was committed to the sea by Father Delany, and a choir Delany had trained sang the Miserere and a Te Deum. Corcoran had the honour to be the last transportee of all to die aboard ship in this extraordinary phase of British penal transportation to Australia.” --0-- And from the Diary of John Sarsfield Casey [Fenian transportee]: 16 December 1867 "Morning dark wet and cold like a winter’s morning in Ireland. Good breeze speed 8 knots. We had the first death on board. A poor Irishman, another victim of Dr rather Cardinal Cullen’s ‘special dispensations’. It was raining and exceedingly cold. The corpse was moved on deck where a procession formed from the hospital to the forecastle. It was as cold as I ever felt, and I cannot get a glimpse of the sun. The ship is rolling, very much preparing to throw the corpse overboard. The funeral procession formed with Mr Joseph Noonan as cross bearer, two acolytes and the priest in robes reciting prayers for the dead. The corpse was borne on the hatchway and covered with the ‘Union Jack’ and proceeded between two rows of passengers, along the lee side of the vessel, to the porthole. The Union Jack was removed, and he was slowly launched overboard. He sank immediately in consequence of the weights attached to his feet. I cannot but meditate on Death and the uncertainty of life. I cannot think without the emotion of dying in a far distant land far away from friends, home and kindred without a single hand to sooth and comfort me in my last moments. I hope the Almighty will preserve and spare me till I tread once again the hallowed soil of my dear old country. As the body sank beneath the waters, it called to mind the sublime lines of ‘Monstrous de Naturaleza’ by Lope de Vega*: “What is life? Tis but madness What is life? A mere illusion Fleeting Shadow Fond delusion Short lived joy that ends in sadness Whose most steadfast substance seems But the dream of other dreams.” *Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (1562-1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, novelist and mariner. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century of Baroque literature. It is worth remembering that Casey was 19 years old at the time of his arrest and had spent months in solitary confinement in English prisons. He was clearly a well-educated, intelligent and sensitive young man." (https://fremantleshippingnews.com.au/2017/12/20/voyage-hougoumont-entry-6/)

174

Iris Dunne on 9th January 2018

Convicted: 10 March 1866, from Prison Portsmouth Died near Africa on voyage out - aka Corcoran The ship Hougoumont passed the Cape of Good Hope December 12 as per the book "Voyage of the Hougoumont and Life at Fremantle: The Story of an Irish Rebel" by Thomas McCarthy Fennell, page 266 Australia Convict Index states: Died c.15 Dec 1867 nr Africa on way out

5

Ryan John Guilfoyle-Rowe on 27th January 2013

Thomas died on the journy to australia, the only one of 280 passengers