Charles Cook

338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 15th December 2021

New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents. Ship; Royal George - 1828 Indent No; 80 Age; 21 years Native Place; London Trade or calling; Farm Servant & Ploughman Offence; Sheep Stealing

71

Robin Sharkey on 31st October 2018

Was it really Charles Cook's brother sitting next to him on the dray at the time Charles died? If so, who was he? The brother may have been another convict. Other Cook men who were tried in the county of Hampshire (whether at Winchester or Southampton) were as follows: Two were tried by the Special Commission commencing 18 December 1830 at Southampton, trying the several hundred men involved in the November-December agricultural protests in Hampshire - commonly known as the Swing Riots: * James Cook, 14 years sentence, was assigned to Rev Samuel Marsden at Parramatta and in 1837 was at Marsden's property at Bathurst. * Rob Cook, per "Captain Cook" arrived 1833. Life. Also tried as part of the Swing Riot trials at Southampton from 18 December 1830. George Cook tried Winchester 28 April 1829 for stealing linen rags, but he went to Tasmania 1830 on 'Sir Charles Forbes'. Michael Thomas Cook, tried 1820 at Southampton Assizes for burglary, 7 years. Arrived NSW per "Larkins". There was another Michael Cook on the same ship. But the Southampton-trial-Michael was living at Hunters Hill by 1828 (married with children) and was a small farmer. It's very likely he was the brother that Charles Cook could have been driving a dray with, loaded with timber, in the Hunters Hill/Lane Cove area.

71

Robin Sharkey on 31st October 2018

Charles Cook got a Ticket of Leave after 8 years, signed by the Parramatta Bench in October 1836 but not issued until February 1837 as T/L no 37/176. The T/L incorrectly recorded his trial place as "Southampton". He was allowed to remain in the District of Parramatta. December 1837 Muster - he was working at Robert Bullock's at Hunters Hill. Age recorded as 29. Based on 1828 ship's indent, he would have been aged 30 years. He died in 1837: NSWBDM death registered no 2198/1837 V18372198 "COOK, Charles, age 28". According to a notation later made on the ship's indent he was killed by a dray. Therefore, the following report of n inquest into the death of Charles Cook, a dray man, is about this Charles Cook who arrived per "Royal George": Sydney Gazette, 2 May 1837, page 3: CORONER'S INQUESTS.-Yesterday an inquest was convened at the " Albion Inn," Market Wharf, upon the body of Charles Cook, a drayman, who met his death under the following circumstances : "While driving a timber carriage on Saturday last, in the vicinity of Lane Cove, heavily laden, he sitting upon the tongue of the vehicle, which came with a heavy jerk against a log of wood, the unfortunate man was thrown from his seat and the wheel passing over his body he was crushed to death; his brother was sitting alongside of him, and witnessed his melancholy end, but was unable to render him any assistance. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death." The Australian newspaper dated 2 May 1837 recorded on page 2 that he was a ticker-of-leave holder, that he was coming down a steep pat of the road at the time of the accident, and stumbled over a root projecting above the ground, then fell directly before the wheel of the carriage. The report sounded like he was walking near the dray.

71

Robin Sharkey on 31st October 2018

ENGLISH CRIME Charles Cook, together with James Baverstock, (another agricultural labourer/ploughman about the same age as Cook), stole a sheep at Andover in Hampshire. The Hampshire Chronicle Journal, Monday 10 March 1828, p.1 “… On Tuesday [4 March]. .... at conclusion of divine service their Lordships proceeded to the Castle and commenced their judicial duties. ... Mr Justice Gaselee tried prisoners at the Crown Bar. [The trial of Moses Shepherd “lasted nearly ten hours.”] ” Sentence of death was RECORDED against the following: ... Charles Cook and James Baverstock for stealing a sheep, the property of John Munday, at Andover ...” U.K. HULK REGISTERS Charles Cook, “age 20”. Received on “York” Hulk on 12th May 1828 from Winchester, Hampshire. Offence: "Stlg a sheep". Convicted "Winchester 3 March 1828", sentence: Life. How disposed of: “16 August 1828 to NSW”. James Baverstock, his fellow-in-crime, was sent to the same hulk and to NSW on the same convict ship. They were taken from the hulk to the convict ship “Royal George” on 16 August 1828 which departed ten days later on Tuesday 26 August 1828. They arrived in Sydney exactly four months later on Christmas Eve, 1828. Charles Cook's age recorded in the hulk registers in May 1828 was 20 years (so born 1808 or 1807), and in NSW indents seven months later he had turned 21 (B 1807) Charles Cook is not mentioned in the Royal George’s Medical Journal, kept during the journey to NSW, so he had a healthy voyage. INDENT of “ROYAL GEORGE”: 38/742 21 yrs, “r” [meaning he reads]; Protestant, Single, Native of Andover. Farm servant and ploughman. Offence: Sheep stealing. Tried: Winchester, 5th March 1828. LIFE. Former convictions: none. Ruddy fair complexion, brown curly hair, hazel eyes. Perpendicular scar on forehead. How disposed of: "R C Lethbridge, South Creek." [Pencilled in: "Killed Newcastle by a dray" “C.P [no. 47?] date 13 August 1845”] Charles Cook was first assigned to R C Lethbridge. This was Robert Copland Lethbridge of South Creek, who had married in England to Mary Gidley King, the Sydney-born daughter of ex-Governor Phillip Parker King. Robert Copland Lethbridge was from Cornwall. his sister Harriet Lethbridge had married Mary King's brother, Phillip Parker King. [i.e two siblings married two siblings]. Robert C Lethbridge and his wife arrived as a married couple in NSW in 1827. Soon after, they built Werrington House on a 790-acre land grant that had been made to his wife Mary when she was a child in the early 1800s. This was located between St Marys and Penrith. [Details from "Horsemen of the First Frontier" by K R Binney, at p. 130.] This was where Charles Cook was assigned. __________________________________________________