John Deacon

343

Maureen Withey on 5th January 2023

Robert Deacon and John Deacon were indicted for having killed and stolen wether sheep, the 8th May last, the property of Anthony Notley. It appeared that both the prisoners were seen. near the field in which the sheep were on the 8th May. The sheep was lost on the 9th May ; it was traced across some fields, and the cottage in which the prisoners resided was searched, and the carcase of a sheep was found, and a skin which corresponded with it, and had on it the marks of the prosecutor, which skin the Prosecutor stated to be his, from the marks upon it. The Jury found the prisoners guilty, judgment of death was recorded. Dorset County Chronicle, 5 Aug 1830. ---------------------------------------------------- Dorsetshire. The following prisoners were removed on Tuesday last from the county prison, Dorchester, to put on board the Captivity bulk, Devonport: John Deacon, Robert Deacon, John Cole, Robert Potter, under sentence of transportation for life- James Swyre, James Baker, William Hooper for fourteen years; Sherborne Mercury, 11 Oct 1830. ------------------------------------------------- Both John and his brother Robert Deacon were transported on the Argyle. --------------------------------------------------- Tasmanian Conduct Record https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-10$init=CON31-1-10P58 No 681. John Deacon, Argyle, Aug 5 1831. Tried Dorset 20 July 1830, Life. Transported for sheep stealing Gaol report. Bad in gaol. Hulk report Good. Singled. Stated this offence, Sheep stealing. Run. Indent https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-1-2$init=CON14-1-2P13 and 681. John Deacon, 5ft 4 ½, age 23, Ploughman , can milk. Dorset Ass, 329 July 1830, Life. Native place, Storbridge, Dorset, single protestant, neither read nor write. Relations: F & M, Jno Deacon a Lab. At N.P. 2B, Elias a miller at NP, & B at NP. This offence, Sheep stealing. -------------------------------------------------- PIRACY. " We have had reported to us the escape of the Badger, a Government Colonial vessel, stated to have been, entirely manned by convicts— as such a fact would envolve a charge which must cost Colonel Arthur his commission to govern this Colony any longer, we postpone observation, till due enquiry has been made." Thus speaks The Colonist of last week.— The loss of this vessel is confirmed by the demi-official journal of Friday last. It appears, that she left the port of Hobart Town on Tuesday week, with provisions for some military station at East Bay Neck ; at which place she was seen (by the signal-man from Mount Nelson) to pass without putting in, on the following day. No suspicion of her being taken away took place till yesterday se'n-night, when a signal man, stationed at Mount Nelson, was missing. The master and the whole of the crew are crown prisoners ! The signal-man at Mount Nelson, is a person named George H. Darby, who, it is said, was formerly a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and distinguished himself at the battle of Navarino. Besides this man, the following prisoners are officially advertised in last Friday's Gazette as missing :— William Philp, (formerly the master of a merchant vessel), John Venton, John Nicolas, Isaac Haines, and Lauglan Macintosh. The Clergyman, named Roberts, who was recently transported to this Colony, and who it was supposed had been sent to Port Arthur, is also gone. Several other convicts, used to the seafaring life, are likewise missing. The Badger is well fitted out for a long voyage, with plenty of provisions, muskets, ammunition, and nautical instruments, which the runaways procured. She is nearly a new vessel, about 25 tons, a good sailer, and newly coppered. She had, it is said, a fair wind out of port ; and whatever means may have been used by the Government to discover or overtake her, we fear, they will prove abortive. We have heard a great deal about Colonel Arthur's system of prison discipline. What will the Home Government think of His Excellency manning a Government vessel, thus provisioned and equipped as the Badger, with Crown prisoners, like the above-named runaways, all sea-faring men ? The Colonist, (Hobart Town) 6 Aug 1833. ---------------------------------------------------- A report in the English Press lists all the nine convicts who escaped in the Badger: Piracy by Convicts. Information was received at the different Police establishments yesterday, that in the month of August, 1833, the Colonial Schooner, Badger, belonging to the Government of Van Diemen’s Land, was piratically seized and carried off {it was believed) by the following nine convicts, viz., George Harding Darby, convicted at Somerset in March, 1830, and transported for life, reported from the Hulks to have behaved very badly there and headed a party designing to mutiny; Wm. Phillip, convicted Cornwall, August, 1830, of setting fire to vessel, and transported for life ; John Nicola, convicted in London of robbery from the person, and transported for life; John Veaton, tried at Devon, March, 1829, and transported for life; Isaac Haines, tried in Sussex in July, 1832, transported for seven years; Lochlan Mackintosh, transported for life from Edinburgh July, 1831; John Deacon, tried Dorset in July, 1830, for sheep-stealing, and transported for life; Dowson, transported from London in 1830, for seven years ; Joseph Ward, tried at Leicester in March 1831, transported for life; and John Roberts convicted in Middlesex in September, 1830, of forgery, and transported for life. They arrived with the schooner at Lifutta one of the Friendly Islands, in September, 1833, and were known to have afterwards reached Macao, China, from whence it was supposed some of them would find their way back to England. Morning Advertiser. 5 June 1835.

338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 4th June 2021

1846 - New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters. Year; 1846 ABSCONDED