Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
Sidney Kay was transported on the Neptune, departing 4th Oct 1837 and arriving 18th Jan 1838 with 359 passengers.
NeptuneReferences
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 90, Class and Piece Number HO11/11, Page Number 164 |
| 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
No one has claimed Sidney Kay yet.
Photos
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Convict Notes




National Archives. Criminal Petitions. HO HO 17/125/58 Prisoner name: Thomas Eastwood, John Elson, Sidney Kaye. Court and date of trial: Lancaster Lent Assizes, Liverpool, March 1836. Crime: [Highway] Robbery of Albert Hudson Royds. Initial sentence: Sentences commuted to transportation for life. Annotated (Outcome): Pardon prepared for John Elson, 20 July 1837 [sent to the Penitentiary]. Petitioner(s): The prisoners and petitions from inhabitants of Salford and Ashton under Lyne. Grounds for clemency (Petition Details): Innocent of the crime, which has since been confessed to by five men tried at Shrewsbury Assizes and convicted of a number of highway robberies. Other papers: Large bundle of correspondence accompanying and supporting petitions and witness statements; relating to the confession of Lawrence Curtis, alias John McGuire, one of the five Irishmen convicted at Shrewsbury; reports from the Penitentiary on Elson; letters from Lord Chief Justice Denman; a printed pamphlet by Mr Taylor, prosecution counsel, A reply to the falsehoods propagated in behalf of the highwaymen Eastwood, Elson and Kay with a map showing the place of the robbery; letters from John Elson to his parents and wife, including a poem, and a letter shared with Sidney Kay; notes and other papers from the trial at Liverpool Spring Assizes 1836; newspaper cuttings. Date: [1836-1839]




Sidney was 27 years old on arrival in VDL, his occupation listed as "Labourer/weaver/milk and reaps". Sidney was 5'4 1/2" tall, sallow complexion, black hair, grey eyes, scar of a blister on breast. 9/3/1846: 'Sydney' Kay, passenger per "Julia" George Town to Adelaide. Death not listed on SA BDM




See also Thomas Eastwood on the same ship. Sidney Kay was wrongly accused of robbing Albert Royds on the highway on September 24th 1835. The actual culprits were captured soon afterwards and , when sentenced to death, confessed to this crime and numerous others. Sidney Kay was sentenced to death, later reduced to transportation for life and despite the confessions of the culprits, the expected pardon was never granted. The father of Albert Royds was Clement Royds, magistrate and banker of Rochdale. See Manchester Guardian from Sept 24th 1835 for a series of articles titled `Robbery in the Rochdale road` Both Kay and Eastwood appear to have received pardons a considerable number of years later. The third man convicted with them: John Elson, has not been traced and it is suspected that he died before sailing from England.