Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
Richard Jose was transported on the Nile, departing 18th Sep 1857 and arriving 1st Jan 1858 with 271 passengers.
Nile (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/18, Page Number 233 (118) |
| Source Description | This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
Claims
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Photos
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Convict Notes
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: JOSE, Richard; inmate #4600, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1819 Marital Status: Married 1 child [no mention of a living child on his UK prison records] Occupation: Tanner Literacy: Illiterate Sentence Place: Bodmin, Cornwall, England Crime: Manslaughter Sentence Period: Life Ticket of Leave Date: 3 Mar 1862, Perth Conditional Pardon Date: 20 Aug 1866 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
10 September, 1857: Sent from Portland to board the Nile for transportation to WA; listed as #7100, 35, a tanner, illiterate, married, convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to life (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Convicts Transported Per Nile (R32). --00--
20 May, 1857: Admitted to Portland prison; inmate #7100; aged 35 (when convicted), married with no children; Protestant; tanner; illiterate. Next of kin -- his wife, Mary Jose of Meadows, Saint Teath, Cornwall (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875). Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham and Spike Island in Ireland were listed public works stations and the second stage in the penal process. After separate confinement, prisoners were “placed on work parties at various locations, most commonly naval stations, where maintenance of facilities was vital for the effective protection of Britain’s far flung commercial and military influences around the world. While there, attitude and behaviour were monitored closely. In theory, only after consistently positive reports was a prisoner moved on to the third stage of his incarceration—transportation.” (Edgar, p40) --0--
15 September: Admitted to Pentonville prison; served 8 months 5 days in separate confinement; behaviour "good". --0--
15 August, 1856: Admitted to Millbank; inmate #3314. Served 1 month in separate confinement; behaviour "good" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners to 1885). “After a sentence of transportation was handed down, the prisoner entered into a separate stage where he was placed into an individual cell, isolated from others, apart from brief periods of exercise and attendance at chapel. However, no communication of any kind with other prisoners was permitted at any time. The philosophy behind this penal methodology had its provenances in the religious, monastic traditions; i.e., that in the isolation of his cell the malefactor would be able to contemplate the errors of his way, unadulterated by the negative influences of former contemporaries, and be reformed.” (Edgar, 2018, pp39-40) When first put into practice, the mandated period of separate confinement was 18 months. By the late 1840s, authorities had conceded that such conditions of imprisonment were “injurious to many prisoners’ mental health” and the stint was reduced to 12 months. Periods of separate confinement were reduced further “as a prisoner displayed good behaviour tendencies” (Edgar, p40). Millbank, Pentonville, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--
JAILS: 3 April, 1856: Richard Jose was committed to stand trial. He was held at Cornwall County jail. There he served 17 days in association with other prisoners. --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORTING of the trial: From the 'News of The World', August 10, 1856, p.7: "The Assizes Western Circuit BODMIN.- Charge of Murder. Ann Matthews, aged 32, James George, aged 19, and Richard Jose, aged 35, were indicted for the wilful murder of an infant, born of Matthews, at Truro, on the 27th March. From the statements of counsel it appeared that Matthews was a widow with three children. About twelve months ago she met with prisoner Jose, an intimacy arose between them, and soon afterwards he came to lodge at her house. In the same house were living the prisoner George, and a young woman named Eliza Burns, 19 years old. The intimacy that subsisted between Matthews and Jose led to its natural consequences. That fact was known to scarcely anyone. The greatest secrecy was maintained, because she had an allowance from the parish for herself and her children which she was afraid would be withdrawn if she had a natural child. On the evening of the 26th March, Matthews complained of being very ill, and retired early to bed. Jose came home from his work but did not go to bed that night. George and Burns went to bed, leaving Jose sitting up in the kitchen. About four o’clock in the morning Matthews went down into the kitchen, and was there delivered of a female child. Jose also was down stairs, and he called the girl Burns and asked her to come down to assist Matthews. Burns soon went down, but found the kitchen door fastened. She asked Jose to open it, but he said he could not leave Matthews. During the time she was standing at the door she heard Matthews groan and a child cry. She at length got into the room, and saw Matthews, Jose and a baby. George came down and then Jose asked George to help Matthews upstairs, which he proceeded to do. As Matthews was going out of the room, she told Jose to stop the child’s crying. After George and Matthews had left the room, Jose thrust his finger down the throat of the child with great violence, but that did not destroy its life. He did this for five minutes. He then said that would not do, and he went into another room and fetched a pan, into which he poured a quantity of water from a pitcher then he put the child into the water and drowned it. The body was placed in a cupboard in the kitchen, but Burns said she would not work in the room if the body remained there, and Jose then took it upstairs into Matthews’ room and put it in a box. Burns went up to Matthews, who asked if the child was dead. At a subsequent period of the day Matthews told Burns not to tell, for if she did, Jose would be hung, and she should get into trouble. The two men went to their work, and returned in the evening; a conversation then arose as to how the body should be disposed of, and Jose asked George to go with him to a certain pond, and he took down a basket and put the body in it, and he and George took the child from the house, and carried it to a pond, about a mile or two from Truro. Jose attached a stone to the body by a cord, and threw it into the pond. Some days afterwards a boy named Truscott was fishing in the pond, and observed the appearance of the hand of a child in the water. He gave an alarm, and a man named Snell, took up the child. A coroner’s inquest was held, and a verdict of “Wilful Murder against some person or persons unknown”, was returned. On that evening Burns went to see Matthews. As they were talking Matthews’ little child came in, and said the body of a child had been found in the pond. Matthews said she was sure it was her child, and begged Burns not to say anything about it, or Jose would be hung. Inquiries having been made by the constable, Mr. Painter and another surgeon went to the house of Matthews, and found she had been delivered within a few days. An inquiry took place before the magistrate, and Jose then said the child had been destroyed by poison. The body was then disinterred and again examined, but it was evident that that had not been the case, but that it had been suffocated, although the injury to the mouth and throat was sufficient to have caused death very speedily. All four were then committed for trial, but Burns was admitted Queen’s evidence. Of course the chief witness was the girl Burns, who supported the above statement, adding that, when Jose had his finger down the child’s throat, it struggled and that she begged Jose not to kill the child. She also said the child was alive when Jose put it in the pan of water, and that she again begged him not to kill it. In a very severe cross-examination by Mr. Cole, the girl stated that she did not endeavour to prevent Jose from killing the child, because a man is stronger than a woman, but she implored him not to kill it. The jury found Jose guilty of manslaughter; George guilty as an accessory after the fact; and Matthews guilty of concealing the birth. The Judge sentenced Jose to be transported for life, and Matthews and George to 12 months' imprisonment. Everyone was struck with the gross absurdity of the verdict. If they believed the girl, a more horrible murder cannot be conceived; if they did not believe her the man was entitled to an acquittal." (http://www.perthdps.com/convicts/w4600.htm) --0--
TRIAL: 28 July, 1856: Convicted and sentenced at Bodmin Assizes to transportation for life for the manslaughter of a newborn child (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875). --00--
Newspapers.com - The Royal Cornwall Gazette 8 Aug 1856. Report on the trial for killing a new born child and concealing her body.