Roger Haydock

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Jo Crawford on 15th September 2018

Roger Haydock was born on the 1st of April 1831 in Balderstone Lancashire, England. The son of John Haydock and Mary Browne. He died in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia on the 2nd of March, 1901 of a stroke. He was buried in West Terrace Cemetery Adelaide. Sadly, his grave no longer exists as it was sold/given to another person in the 1930’s, so nothing remains of Roger’s final resting place. Roger married Agnes Walsh on 22nd of September 1851 in Blackburn, Lancashire. They had four children; Mary, Agnes, John and William. On 11th of February, 1861 in the early hours of the morning, Roger and four other men, committed armed robbery against an elderly farmer and his daughter at Written Stone Farm, in the township of Dilworth, Lancashire. Roger received a sentence of 14 years and was transported to Perth, Western Australia, Australia where he was incarcerated at Freemantle prison. The other four were also found guilty and received sentences of 12 years. Three of the men, John Jackson, William Mawdsley and Richard Corbridge were also transported on the York. The fourth man John Barnes was not transported to Western Australia. In the York prison ship records Roger is described as an iron moulder, 5' 6 1/2", brown hair, grey eyes, a fresh complexion with a middling stout physique and a cut over left eyebrow. Roger received a ticket of leave on the 20th of May, 1865 and a conditional pardon on the 6th of December, 1870. On the 8th of January, 1870, his first wife Agnes Walsh died in Blackburn, Lancashire where she was a resident of the poor house. Agnes had been implicated in the robbery due to her being found holding the proceeds of the crime but was not convicted. On the 25th of November, 1870, Roger married Elizabeth Kelly, born 1849 in Co Derry, an Irish immigrant, daughter of James Kelly and Mary McCloskey, at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. They travelled to South Australia and lived in Gawler. Roger and Elizabeth had 9 children; Margaret, Henry, Elizabeth, Catherine, Joseph, Daniel, Richard, Thomas and Thomas. Richard emigrated to New Zealand in the early 1900’s. Daniel was killed on the 14th of March, 1917 at Armentieres, France. Elizabeth Kelly had given birth to a son, William James on the 24th of December 1868. William’s birth certificate doesn’t list a father, however Roger may have been William’s father. DNA evidence at this time is inconclusive. There are many documents about Roger, his crime and trial in England and his life in Australia. Through family history research with the addition of DNA, has seen descendants of both of Roger’s families re-united after 150 years.

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Jo Crawford on 3rd March 2015

Roger Haydock, one of 300 convicts transported on the York, 07 October 1862. Details: Sentence details: Convicted at Lancaster, Liverpool Assizes for a term of 14 years on 21 March 1861. Penal Servitude. Vessel: York. Date of Departure: 07 October 1862. Place of Arrival: Western Australia. Married Elizabeth Kelly 25th November 1870, Perth Western Australia Died 2 Mar 1870, Adelaide, South Australia