Martin Narey

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

NOTE: Year of Birth is taken from official records but day and month are not known. The latter dates have been entered as 01/01 because the site does not allow those fields to be left empty.

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

NAREY, Martin, inmate #9834, arrived 10 January 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1832 Marital Status: Married Occupation: Hairdresser Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Clerkenwell Crime: Stealing Sentence Period: 10 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 29 July 1871 Certificate of Freedom Date: 27 January 1879 Comments: Labourer, wood cutter, general servant (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --000--

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

IN WA: 1868: On arrival, Martin Narey, 34, was listed as convict #9834; sentenced to 10 years, at Clerkenwell Green, 14 May, 1866, for "stealing in a dwelling house after previous conviction"; hairdresser; married, no children; literate; Protestant; family – wife Catherine, living at Altercliff, near Sheffield; character “good”. Described as 5'6¼” tall, light hair, grey eyes, heavy visage, fair complexion, healthy appearance. Other: Ticket of Leave granted 29 July 1871; Cert of Freedom 27 January 1879 (Convicts to Australia at https://www.perthdps.com/convicts/con-wa42.html; and Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9599-10128 cont. (R16)). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

EMBARKATION: 1867, 30 September: Martin Narey was sent from Chatham to board the Hougoumont for WA (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1867; September; image 115). “The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up, by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn [only two were on the Hougoumont – Thomas Berwick and Lionel Holdsworth, each sentenced to 20 years for fraud], and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank, for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty [not the senior Fenian, Captain Moriarty; rather, this was Bartholomew Moriarty, aged 17]. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271). --00--

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

1867, 20 March: Admitted to Chatham Gaol, St Mary’s, Kent – inmate #8892, aged 29; convicted of larceny in a dwelling house; tried Middlesex Sessions, 14 May, 1866; sentenced to 10 years (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1867; September; image 115). Chatham, Portsmouth, Portland 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) --00--

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

1866, 21 June: Admitted to Pentonville Prison, Caledonian Road, London – inmate #3783; sentenced to 10 years’ penal servitude (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Martin Narey; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1866-1869). “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). Pentonville, Millbank, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

JAILS: 1866: Martin Narey was held at Cold Bath Fields Gaol at Mount Pleasant, Clerkenwell, London, awaiting trial for stealing. Coldbath Fields Prison, named after a nearby well, was formerly known as the Middlesex House of Correction and Clerkenwell Gaol, and informally known as the Steel. In 1850, the prison was extended and changed to take men only. (https://www.prisonhistory.org) --0--

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

Report / 2 ... “The question of identity was also clearly established by Mary Edmunds, charwoman, who said she saw him take a white handkerchief out of his pocket, and cover the cash-box with it. Shortly after Shrove-Tuesday, the Rev. Mr. Gregory, of St. Mary's Parsonage, Princes-road, Lambeth, was leaving his house, he saw in his garden a parcel behind the garden gate, and on its being opened by the police it was found to be an empty cash-box, which had since then been identified by the prosecutor as the one stolen from his premises. The whole matter was put into the hands of Sergeant Brooker, 26 B, and from information received he went Sheffield, and there found the prisoner in custody upon a charge of fighting. He told him that he was charged with being concerned with two others in stealing a cash-box from the ‘Albion’, in Sussex-street, Pimlico, on the 13th of February, and he said that he knew nothing about it; but said he had been frequently at the house, and made bets there. The barmaid was taken to Sheffield, and she identified the prisoner from amongst a number of other men. These facts were made out by a number of witnesses. Mr. Collins then addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoner, contending that the identity of the prisoner had not been established in connexion with this robbery. The Assistant-Judge summed up the evidence. The Jury, after a very brief consultation, returned a verdict of Guilty. A previous conviction, with three years’ penal servitule, in 1862, was proved against the prisoner. Charles Cole, sergeant, 23 C, said he had known the prisoner for many years in the name of Dyson, who was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude for stealing a cash-box from a public-house, containing £35. He was brother of a man who was concerned with a number of others in a burglary at Holford House, Regent’s Park, when one the burglars was shot by the butler. He belonged to a gang of thieves who had robbed licensed victuallers to the extent of thousands of pounds. The Assistant-Judge said that one who had listened to the case could doubt that the jury had arrived at the right verdict, as they had come to that conclusion without any knowledge of the prisoner’s previous character. The Court would ill discharge its duty if it did not pass a severe sentence for the protection of the public, as it was ahown that the prisoner’s gang had plundered to the extent of thousands of pounds by robberies of this kind. The sentence upon the prisoner was that he be kept in penal servitude for ten years.” --0--

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

NEWSPAPER REPORT OF TRIAL: “MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, May 15. (Before WH Bodkin, Esq., Assistant-Judge.) EXTENSIVE ROBBERY OF A LICENSED VICTUALLER. Martin Narey, 29, was indicted for stealing a cash-box containing moneys and various papers, securities, and documents, to the value of £700, the property and moneys of Charles Pearce, in his dwelling-house. Mr. Ribton (instructed by Mr. W. D. Smythe) prosecuted; Mr. Metcalfe and Mr. Collins defended the prisoner. It appeared from the evidence that the prosecutor is landlord of the ‘Albion’ Tavern, in Sussex-street, Pimlico, and the prisoner and two other men had been for four or five weeks in the habit of coming into the bottle and jug department his house in front of the bar, and standing there each day for a considerable time. While the prisoner and the two men were together in the jug department, three other men were always present in the general bar. On the morning of the 13th of February the prisoner was present at the prosecutor’s house, and all the other parties were there at the time. At that time there was in the room at the back of the bar, in a cupboard that was locked, cash-box, £47 in gold, one £10 note, three £5 notes, bank shares, bills of exchange, policies upon life, dock warrants, and other securities, to the value of upwards of £700. About ten o’clock the prosecutur went to the cupboard and placed in it a bag of silver, containing about £8 or £9, and a bag of copper containing £5, and shortly afterwards left the bar in charge of Mary Benson, the barmaid. Shortly after the prosecutor had left, the barmaid observed the prisoner and the other men disposed in different parts of the bar, and she saw a scarf produced by one of the men with the prisoner in the jug bar, and one them handed it to her for examination and asked her to give her opinion to whether it was all wool or whether there was any cotton mixed with it, and she told them that she thought there was no cotton in it. The scarf was then passed to the men in the general bar, and at the same time some beer was called tor the men in the general bar. Her attention was directed to these men for some minutes serving them, but shortly afterwards all the men disappeared from the bar, leaving the scarf on the counter. The very moment after the men had left, Mr. Pearce came downstairs and found the cupboard open and the cash-box and the bags of silver and copper gone, upon which be called in Inspector Howard, who examined the cupboard, and noticed that the bolts of the lock were unshot, and it was evident that the lock had been forced open. Henry Owen, in the employ of Mr. Hall, a butcher, about eleven o’clock on the morning of the 13th of February, saw the prisoner, who was accompanied by two other men, carrying a cash-box under his right arm, and one of the men who were with him told the prisoner to pull his coat over it. He had a good opportunity of seeing the man, and some time afterwards Sergeant Brooker took him to the stationhouse, where he picked out the prisoner from amongst a number of other men.” Cont’d / 2 ...

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Dianne Jones on 22nd December 2023

TRIAL: 1866, 14 May: Martin Narey was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for stealing and a previous conviction [as George Dyson on 25 August, 1862, for felony; 3 years’ imprisonment] (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1866-1869) --0--