Thomas Richards

218

Dianne Jones on 28th March 2021

Death of Thomas Richards: 1846, 23 October: Thomas Richards, 35, William Keep, 40, and John Gregson, 36, were suffocated in a well at Spring Bank, near Longford, south of Launceston. The Coroner, Charles Arthur, found their deaths were accidental. The story was reported in the Cornwall Chronicle the following day. "Dreadful occurrence and melancholy loss of life.— On Friday morning, some men employed in sinking a well for Mr. David Heath, at Spring Bank, near Longford, went to their work between five and six o’clock, when one of them having descended, he was called to by one of the others, who not receiving an answer, also descended: a short time elapsed when a third was let down; those who were at the top of the well not hearing any thing moving below, became alarmed, and immediately made the matter known to Doctor Wilmore, who lives in the neighbourhood; upon his arrival, a messenger was dispatched to Longford for a well-sinker named Richardson, who also descended with a rope attached to his body, and found the three men lying dead at the bottom of the well. Richardson as promptly as possible fastened the rope to two of them and was with them immediately drawn up. On reaching the top he became insensible, in which state he remained for a considerable time, but on recovering, he again descended and brought up the third man. It is supposed they were suffocated with foul air; the depth of the well is about thirty feet, and the bottom is of a yellow clay without water. A Coroner’s jury had been summoned to attend an inquest on (this day) Saturday. The names of the men whose lives have been thus suddenly lost are Thomas Richards, William Keep, and a man known as “Jack the sawyer”, but whose real name is not yet ascertained." [Jack was John Gregson/Grigson.] Source: The Cornwall Chronicle, Sat 24 Oct 1846, p820.

218

Dianne Jones on 28th March 2021

1831, 18 October: Convicted at the Michaelmas Sessions at Gloucester for larceny - breaking open a tool shed and stealing a jack and 2 bushels of onions. He had a previous conviction for stealing paint brushes (3 months), but a charge of housebreaking had been dismissed (see England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892). 1832: On arrival in VDL, he was 21, single and a labourer. His behaviour on board the KS Forbes was described as "bad". 1833, 29 May: Sentenced to 1 month of hard labour for stealing 4lbs of potatoes. 1834, 23 May: Recommended for removal to Port Arthur for having potatoes in his possession "for which he could not satisfactorily account". 1836, 15 January: Committed for trial for stealing a sheep's carcass valued at 15 shillings, the property of William Hutton. 1836, 17 February: Tried at Hobart and sentenced to a two-year extension of his original sentence of transportation, and recommended to be sent to a road party. 1840, 10 January: Committed for trial for allegedly assaulting George Parkinson with intent to do some grievous bodily harm - there are no details of the outcome on his Conduct Record. 1840: Granted a Free Certificate No.743 (see https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-37$init=CON31-1-37p97).