William Garrard

2

Shane Hines on 11th February 2020

Excerpted from a long account of the trial in "The Suffolk Chronicle; or Weekly General Advertiser & County Express", Saturday, 6 August 1859: "Wednesday [3 August 1859] The Court resumed this morning at nine o' clock....THE CANVAS ROBBERY AT IPSWICH. Daniel Joiner, 56, was charged with stealing 147 yards of canvas, the property of Jonathan Pickess, sail maker, St. Clement’s, Ipswich, on the 14th March, 1859. The prisoner was further charged in another count with receiving the canvas. Zachariah Chaplain, 25, labourer, pleaded guilty to stealing, and William Garrard, 37, boat builder, to receiving it well knowing it to be stolen....[His Lordship:] The sentence of the Court on you Garrard is, that you be kept at penal servitude for the space of six years. Upon you Daniel Joiner and Dan Button, who had been previously convicted of felony, penal servitude for four years; and upon you, Chaplain, that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for the space of 18 calendar months."

7

Bruce Stafford on 28th September 2015

William Christie Garrard was born in St Clements, Suffolk, England on 4th July 1821 and on 16th December 1846 married Emma Chaplin, daughter of Joseph & Mary (nee Carr) Chaplin also of Suffolk, England. William and Emma were married at the Tackett Street Meeting House in Ipswich UK in 1846. They went on to live at 207 Lower Orwell Street Ipswich, next door to William's family. Lower Orwell Street must have been one of the poorer streets in Ipswich, as it was described in books as having an open sewer down the middle. William was a Shipwright in Suffolk England and in the period between their marriage and 1858, William and Emma had four children - Emma, Sarah, William & Anne. At the Summer Assizes at Ipswich in 1858 William Garrard was found guilty of stealing 90 yards of sailcloth and 92 yards of rope. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 6 years transportation to Australia - 4 years for stealing and 2 years for receiving. Also sentenced on the same day was a Zachariah Garrard. William arrived in WA on the Norwood, an 849 ton ship built at Sunderland in 1854. The Norwood was employed twice as a convict transport for Western Australia and left Portland, England on March 16, 1862 bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the twenty fifth of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. On this voyage the Norwood took 85 days and arrived in Fremantle on June 9, 1862 with 92 free passengers and 290 convicts. Garrard was described as being semi literate, aged 40, 5' 8 3/4" tall, light brown hair, grey eyes, round face, fair complexion and stout build with scars on the thumb of his left hand. His behaviour on the voyage was described as excellent. On 11 July 1862 he was granted a Ticket of Leave on the recommendation of the Surgeon Superintendent of the Norwood on account of his good behaviour on the voyage from England. The recommendation contained special mention for "extra exertions at a fire at the Comptroller General's Office". After William received a conditional pardon on 16 March 1864, he brought his wife and 4 children to join him in Australia. They arrived on the Strathmore on 12 June 1864 after which William and Emma had two further children, Walter in 1865 and Alice in 1867. The Garrards at some stage bought a block of land at Lot 118 Marine Terrace in Geraldton and there they built the cottage in which they raised their family. After obtaining his Ticket of Leave, William Garrard went to work as a shipwright for Sam Brakes at Fresh Water Bay where he built the “Perseverance”, which was later sold to George Shenton and Lionel Samson. On 1st January 1863, the ship “African” was lost in Champion Bay after leaving port with a load of copper and wool. The boat was salvaged and the timbers were sold to Lionel Samson. William Garrard, with financial support from George Shenton commenced shipbuilding with the timbers taken from the African. Those ships included the cutter “Albatross”, along with the “Lass of Geraldton” and the “Mary Ann”. During their construction William employed 9 ticket of leave boat builders. All three ships were eventually to be lost at sea. In 1868 during the rescue operation of a whaler, the Albatross was caught in a storm and was lost. Only 2 crew members survived, the remainder, including William Garrard, perished.