John Rozier

342

Maureen Withey on 2nd February 2021

Convict Index, 1791-1873. John Rozier, per Hooghley, 1834, Ticket of Leave, 42/3130. District, Bathurst; Tried, Suffolk Q.S. John Rozier, per Hooghly, 1834, Conditional Pardon, 31 Dec 1847, 48/460. --------------------------------------------------

22

Keryn Halliday on 8th April 2017

On the 15 February 1834 John Rosier was committed by a magistrate for trial at quarter sessions, accused of burglary, having broken into the counting house of messrs Byles and King, corn and coal merchants of Ipswich Street, Stowmarket and stolen a measuring tape, a gauging rule, a brass weighing machine, four memorandum books and other articles. On 7th March he appeared before the magistrates at quarter sessions at the old Shire Hall, Ipswich and was sentenced to be transported for life. At the end of the month he was removed to the hulk "York" in Portsmouth harbour. On 21 July 1834 he was transferred to the convict ship "Hooghley" which sailed on 25 or 28 July with 260 convicts, bound for New South Wales, arriving there with 260 convicts (no Deaths onboard) on 18 November 1834. The ships master was George Bayley, surgeon James Rutherford. The convict ship Hooghley departed Portsmouth 28 July 1834 and arrived in Port Jackson on 18 November 1834 a voyage of 113 days. 260 male prisoners embarked on the Hooghley. There were no deaths on the voyage. James Rutherford was employed as Surgeon Superintendent. He kept a Medical Journal from 28 June to 4th December 1834. The Guard consisted of 29 rank and file, 7 women and 4 children under orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Woodhouse, Lieutenant Gregg and Ensign Wyatt of the 50th regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Woodhouse became ill in September. The surgeon described the illness in his journal. - The Lieutenant-Colonel was observed to have become remarkably taciturn and retired but on the 13th it was strongly suspected that he was not right in his mind. He talked of his sins and a written confession of them which he had made and he which to make public. On the 14th no doubt remained of his insanity, he having rushed forward among the convicts holding his written confession in one hand and a bible in the other for the avowed purpose of reading to them the former and expounding to them certain texts from the latter. He had a certain wildness of expression which could not be mistaken. The surgeon succeeded in inducing him to take a strong purgative medicine which operated freely and with much persuasion, he allowed a vein to be opened in the arm from which about 20 ounces of blood were abstracted... on the 20th he was removed into a more retired cabin than his proper one and in the night of that day by perseverance in the use of the medicines he enjoyed for the first time since the commencement of his disorder. The surgeon observed that the symptoms of the disease were extremely variable sometimes being agitated and sometimes tranquil generally in proportion to the roughness or smoothness of the sea and consequent steadiness or uneasiness of the ship. THE YORK - Prison Hulk In 1802. Duncan Campbell left his position as Hulk master at Woolwich, taking the more seaworthy of his merchantmen with him. Thereafter almost all of the ships converted into prison hulks were decommissioned naval vessels. One of them was the York, which served as a hulk at Gosport from 1820 until 1850. Typically she confined about 500 convicts. Anchored some distance from London, she had not been subject to much scrutiny by reformers or concerned members of Parliament. It is reasonable to assume that conditions of confinement aboard her were lamentable throughout her years of service. In 1848 a serious rebellion broke out on the York. The ringleaders of the disturbance were transferred to a land prison and the hulk was taken out of service about two years later. Convicts to New South Wales 1830 -1842 The records state: John Rosier; Could read and write; Rel: Protestant; 1 son 4 daughters; Born Suffolk, Occ: Brickmaker/Maltster ; Crime: Robbing counting house; Quarter Sessions" 7th March 1834 Life: No Previous convictions Description: Brown hair, Hazel eyes, aged 32, born 1802 His second son with Charlotte had not been born at the time he was initially incarcerated and he may never have known he had this second son.