John Gutsell

343

Maureen Withey on 5th October 2020

1828 Census Index. John Gould, age 45, F.S., Fanny 1817, 7 years, Labourer, protestant, King Street, Sydney. Frances, alias, Gutsil, Age 43, F.S. Northampton, 1816, 7 years, protestant, Francis Jun. Age 12, born in Colony. Charlotte, age 8, B.C. Mary, age 6, B.C. ————————————————————————— John Gould was a constable in Sydney in 1829. The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 - 1848) Fri 22 May 1829 Page 3 SUPREME COURT.—(Criminal side.) John Early was indicted for burglariously entering the dwelling house of John Gould, a constable in the Sydney Police, residing in King-street, on the night of the 6th April last, and taking therefrom 23 yards cotton print, 3 shirts, 3 shifts, 1 waistcoat, 1 waistcoat piece, 1 pair trowsers, 2 handkerchiefs, 1 towel, and 1 yard of print. Frances, prosecutor’s wife, deposed that about twelve o’clock on the night of the 6th April last, her husband went out on duty, while she remained sitting up with her three children, who were very ill, and between three and four o’clock laid down to sleep, and awaking between five and six, she opened the shutters, and discovered somebody had been in the room, as the articles already enumerated had departed from it. Gould coming home about seven, ascertaining the disaster, and obtaining information which led him to suspect the prisoner, who had lived at the back of Goold’s dwelling, hastened away Goold with his wife, and a constable named Mullins, to the prisoner’s apartment, where he was in bed asleep, and the stolen articles concealed in a bundle under his head, upon which the lad was secured. Prisoner had been in the habit of practising as a grasscutter, and has two sons, but no wife, and, generally speaking, bore a fair character. The case for the prosecution here closed, and prisoner being called for his defence denied all knowledge of the things, intimating it was all a conspiracy. He was an old man, and put some shrewd questions to the witnesses at various times. He appeared to be considerably agitated during the whole trial — he trembled throughout, and cried a good deal at the conclusion. The Learned Judge directed the Jury at all events to clear the prisoner of the capital charge “burglary,” but if they considered from the property being found with him that he was the thief, they would then find him guilty of the minor offence of larceny. The Jury retired, and shortly afterwards returned their Verdict—Guilty of Larceny. He was to be transported for 7 years.

54

Phil Hands on 30th October 2017

John Gutsell, the eldest child in his family, was named after his paternal grandfather. He was baptised on 3 October 1784 at Frant, Sussex. His parents, Richard Gutsell and Elizabeth Gould, had married on 31 August 1783 at Leigh, Kent, 16 kilometres (10 miles) from where their son John was born. John's parents next moved to Rotherfield, 8 kilometres (5 miles) from Frant. It was here when John was a little over 12 months old that John's younger brother Richard was born in 1785. Then before John's brother Robert was born in 1790 John's parents had moved 32 kilometres (20 miles) to Brede. This was the area where John's father Richard had been born. He had been born at Westfield just 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) from Brede. John's siblings James (1793), Ann (1795), and Elizabeth (1797) were all born at Brede. Before John's brother Spencer was born in 1800 his parent's had moved to his father's home town of Westfield. John's siblings Henry (1801), George (1805), and Charlotte (1806) were also born at Westfield. Then John's father Richard died in August 1809 at Westfield. His mother, Elizabeth, died in Westfield over 40 years later in 1851, and John's siblings all remained in the Brede/Westfield area. John, however, left the Brede/Westfield area and returned the 32 kilometres (20 miles) to Frant where he had been born, an area that his parents had ceased residing in before he was 6 years old. It was at Frant that he married in 1802 at the age of 18. John Gutsell married Frances Tomsett on 20 November 1802 in Frant, Sussex. Frances was only about 16 years old. Marriages at such a young age were uncommon in England at the time, but not unknown. Parents' permission was required for all those who had not yet attained the age of 21. John & Frances Gutsell's first 2 children were born at Frant and named after John's parents. There was Richard who was baptised on 19 Feb 1804 and Elizabeth who was baptised on 9 Mar 1806. Sometime before their daughter Sophia was born in 1811 they moved to the Brede/Westfield area where the rest of John's family was living. Sophia was baptised at Westfield on 12 April 1811. It appears that little Richard, Elizabeth & Sophia did not survive. Before 1814 John and his wife Frances had moved back to the area around Frant. In early 1814, when John Gutsell was 29 years old and his wife Frances Gutsell (using her pet-name of Fanny) was about 27, the couple were arrested. They were taken to Horsham and charged with breaking, entering & stealing, Frances with 3 counts, and John with 2. The first offence for which they were both charged was that on 1 September 1813, in the parish of Mayfield (10 kilometres, 6 miles, from Frant), they had stolen goods valued at 12s 6d (12 shillings & 6 pence), the property of Samuel Saunders. The second offence for which they were both charged was that on 28 September 1813, in the same parish, they had stolen goods valued at 16s, the property of John Garner. The third and final offence, for which Frances alone was charged, was that on 1 October 1813, in the nearby parish of Rotherfield, Frances had stolen goods described as being a tea caddy and an ounce of tea, 3 penny weight of cheese and 1 penny weight of butter, to a total value of 9s 6d, the property of Robert Payne. John and Frances were detained in custody pending their trial, and their charges were to be held concurrently at Horsham, Sussex, on 21 March 1814. John, however, managed to escape from gaol, and Frances faced the Court alone. Frances was acquitted on the first charge, but found guilty of the other two robberies. She received a sentence of transportation for 7 years. After Frances' case was heard in Horsham, Sussex, on 21 March 1814, John Gutsell's case was heard in his absence. A sentence of death by hanging was handed down. A warrant for his apprehension was issued to the Sherriff of Sussex. Written at the bottom of the warrant was the name Gould. This is the first documentary evidence that John Gutsell used his mother's maiden surname as an alias. The warrant for John Gutsell's arrest had been issued in Sussex, but he had escaped into the next county of Kent where he was not known. While there he was arrested for a new offence. As an escaped felon he could not let it be known who he really was, and he used his alias. On 11 July 1814 he appeared before the Court at Canterbury, Kent, was convicted, and received a sentence of transportation for 7 years. By assuming his mother's maiden surname he had managed to escape the hangman's noose. While John sat in gaol in Kent awaiting his transportation, his wife Frances sat in gaol in Sussex awaiting hers. Frances' ship, the Northampton, sailed from Portsmouth on 2 January 1815, while John's ship did not depart the Downs (an area of sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast) until nearly 8 months later on 25 August 1815. After a 5½ month voyage the 31-year-old convict "John Gold" arrived in Port Jackson on 18 January 1816. The only stop during the voyage had been at Rio de Janeiro from 21 October to 30 October 1815. The ship on which John had sailed was, coincidentally, named the 'Fanny', the same as the pet-name for his wife. The Fanny had carried a "cargo" of male convicts. 174 convicts had embarked, 38 of whom (22% or close to 1 in 4) were under the age of 21, the age at which youth were legally regarded to be adults. There were 3 deaths at sea, and 171 convict men were landed at Port Jackson. Of these men some already had convict wives in the colony, and John Gould was one of them. The Master (Captain) of the ship was John Wallis, and the Surgeon Superintendent was William McDonald. The Fanny had a weight of 432 tons, and was built on the Thames River in 1810. The voyage of 1816 was to be the only time that the Fanny was charted to transport convicts. (A different ship with the name of Fanny, built in 1829, carried convicts in 1833.) On Thursday 25 January 1816, a week after having arrived, the prisoners were landed along with those of another ship, the Mary Ann, which had arrived the day after the Fanny. After being clothed and then being inspected by "His Excellency the GOVERNOR and COMMANDER IN CHIEF" Macquarie, the convicts "were appointed to the various occupations they appeared best adapted to". John was described as 5' 8¼" (173cm) tall, of sallow complexion, with black hair & hazel eyes. John Gutsell's wife Frances died on 11 April 1853 at the home that she shared with her husband in (Old) South Head Road, Sydney. John Gutsell died just less than 6 months later in September 1853. Many years before this he had left his convict past far behind, and had ceased using the alias of Gould. John Gutsell died on 20 September 1853 at his daughter's home in (Old) South Head Road, Sydney. His death was recorded under the name of "James" and the age shown was 68 years. Reports in the newspaper of his death recorded his age as 69 years, and in the November 1828 census of New South Wales his age is recorded by the census taker as 45 years. The estimate of his year of birth is about 1784. This agrees with the baptism at Frant, Sussex for the son of Richard Gutsell & Elizabeth Gould. Sydney Morning Herald of Wednesday 28th September 1853 The friends of the late Mr. JOHN GUTSELL are respectfully invited to attend his funeral. The procession will move from his late residence, South Head Road, Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, at 9 o'clock. John Gutsell died as the result of a road-accident between the gig upon which he was sitting, and a horse and dray. An inquest was held into his death, with reports in the newspapers. Empire Thursday 29th September 1853 (with details added from Sydney Morning Herald of same date): An inquest was held on the same day (yesterday) (before the Coroner), at the "Diggers' Arms", South Head Road, on view of the body of John Gutsell. The Rev. W(illiam) Schofield deposed that deceased, who was partially (employed) in his service, accompanied him in a gig to the shop of W. Aland, boot and shoe maker, Market-street, on Tuesday week (20th September) (leaving deceased in the gig); witness (Rev. W. Schofield) went into the shop, and shortly after, (hearing an outcry,) on looking out, saw the gig upset, and deceased on the ground (lying under it) a short distance off; on asking deceased if he were injured, he complained of a pain in his chest; witness (Rev. W. Schofield) observed a horse in a truck (dray) some distance off (at the corner of the street), and understood that the horse was being tried; saw Mr. Martyn, of Pitt-street, who said (told him) that he had had the horse for sale, and that the owner said he (the horse) had been broken into harness. Deceased, who was 69 years of age, was immediately (removed to the Infirmary, and thence) removed to his daughter's residence, on the South Head Road, where he expired. (Jacob Leader stated that he saw the accident which caused the death of deceased. A horse was running away with a dray, and the gig in which the deceased was sitting was upset by the concussion.) The inquest was adjourned (by the Coroner) till Friday (next, to-morrow). Empire and Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 1st October 1853: INQUEST.- Yesterday, the inquest on the body of John Gutsell, adjourned from Wednesday, was brought to a conclusion at the "Diggers' Arms", South Head Road. The deceased came to his death by the upsetting of a gig, in which he was sitting in Market-street, caused by a collision with a horse and dray. The witnesses examined yesterday were Mr. Martyn, of Pitt-street, and a man in his employ, who was leading the horse, at the time of the occurrence. It appeared that the horse in the dray had been left with Mr. Martyn for sale, the owner telling that gentleman that the animal was broken to harness. The horse was being tried at the time of the accident, and had become unmanageable, although he did not run away, bringing the dray into contact with the gig, and injuring the man who was leading as well as the deceased. Verdict - died from injuries accidentally received. The jury appended a rider to their verdict, requesting the coroner to apply at the proper quarter for the enactment of a law against breaking or trying horses on the public streets.