George Hardwick

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Fiona Irwin on 15th July 2020

George Hardwick was born in 1810 to parents John and his wife Ann. George grew up in Ashbocking, a small town in the Parish of Ipswich, in the rural County of Suffolk in England. George was one of five surviving children with three siblings having died during their childhood: John born in 1804 died in 1811; Martin born in 1807 died in 1818; and Maria born in 1812 died in 1825. In 1838, when George came in contact with the law for the first time for the offence of stealing fowls, he was already married to Amy with a daughter Cecilia and had another child on the way. Their son, George William Hardwick, was born in the second half of 1838. In 1840 when George was apprehended for the second time, he had a further child on the way and Miriam was born in 1840. For his second offence George was sentenced for 7 years transportation for stealing lead from a Church Yard, and he was held at the gaol at Ipswich from 4 July to 14 July 1840 before being transferred to the prison hulk Warrior which was moored off Woolwich and at Chatham on the Thames. After spending just over 20 months on board the Warrior, George who was found to be in good health was gathered up in leg irons with 279 convicts and transported to Van Diemen’s Land on the Eden which departed Woolwich on 12 March in 1842. For a male convict born in 1810, George’s height measured in 1842 of 70.5 inches was approximately 4.5 inches above the average height of convict men who had grown up in the rural areas of Great Britain. When George was transported on the Eden he was leaving behind his wife Amy and Cecilia, his seven year-old-daughter. The Eden was under the command of Lieutenant Gordon, 29 rank and file of the 99th regiment with the ship’s crew and also four women and three children were on board. Eden’s surgeon, Mr Alexander Neill, indicated in the general remarks section of his daily sick book journal that the general appearance of the convicts was favourable, however, several had been affected by confinement and diet in the hulks and two were returned. By 8 June Neill had written in the journal that serious health problems had arisen during the voyage when they encountered a huge storm off the Island of Amsterdam. During the storm the Eden was damaged, tarpaulins had washed off the hatchways and forty convicts in the prison and their bedding had been drenched by seawater. A week later Neill had noted the air in the prison and in the hospital had become ‘truly oppressive’. He continued to add in his journal the weather remained stormy from 8 June until the day of arrival in Van Diemen’s Land. Fortunately, George Hardwick’s name did not appear in the journal but many of his fellow transportees were struck down by injury or ill health. The life-threatening diseases on Eden’s voyage were related to scurvy and consumption, an old term for what we now know is tuberculosis and Neill also noted one of the convict’s underlying health condition of syphilis had greatly reduced his capacity to overcome scurvy. According to the journal, 20 percent of the convicts required medical treatment for illness or injury. In total Neill treated fifteen soldiers, four sailors, one of the children (a boy) and fifty-five convicts. Convicts Jonathan Brown aged 49 and John Kaye aged 55 had chronic illnesses diagnosed and had been hospitalised prior to the voyage and they made up two of the four deaths attributed to the later stages of scurvy (scorbutic dysentery). Given their age and their previous health problems it is surprising that Kaye and Brown had been selected fit for travel. The fifth convict death was due to tuberculosis. After 105 days the Eden arrived in Van Diemen’s Land on 5 July 1842, and George was sent on 13 July to the Salt Water Creek Probation Station for a twelve-month period during which time his health remained good as was his conduct. Before he received his ticket of leave on 17 January 1846 he worked as a labourer in Brighton and in Glenorchy. By 1849 when he had received his freedom, George had settled in the Derwent Valley and he continued his trade of bootmaker. Though George’s wife and daughter did not join him, he went on to cohabitate and have four children with Elizabeth Purdon until 1854 when Elizabeth died in childbirth. He then married Mary Cary in Richmond in 1855 and went on to have 6 more children. Of the ten children born, only one died in infancy. George, however, did have a further brush with the law and in 1853 a charge of larceny that was brought against him was said to have been ‘ignored’. Perhaps George’s prosperity was underpinned by his good health, farming and labouring knowledge and skills that were in demand, he had settled in Brighton in the Derwent Valley, an area known for its fertile soils, and was able to successfully farm the land whilst still plying his trade as a bootmaker. And after his brush with the law in 1853 he was able stay on the right side of the law. George was able to live on until an old age and he died on 9 October 1889 in Brighton in his 79th year. Many thanks to the Hardwick family for lending me their family history resources.