John Sawyer

342

Maureen Withey on 31st January 2023

HO 17/39/180[1827] 1 collective petition (15 people, including the prosecutor) on behalf of John Sawyer convicted at the Buckinghamshire Lent Assizes held in Aylesbury on 6 March 1827 for housebreaking, property of Robert Warren [Robert Warring]. Grounds for clemency: none. Initial sentence: death, commuted to 14 years transportation. Annotated: 'Char [character] frm [from] Gaol Bad' and 'nil'.

342

Maureen Withey on 3rd August 2022

John Caudle, 28, and John Sawyer, aged 30, were indicted for burglary committed in the house of Robert Warren, at Long Mansion, in the parish of Tring, in Hertfordshire, the 8th of October last.—Mr. Warren went to bed about eight o’clock Saturday, the October, and, hearing a noise got up and found the door at the ? fastened up with? he then got out the window, and found it had been broken open, and a quantity of hats, stolen, the value of £11.; he knew the prisoner; Caudle had been play-fellow with him, and had lived the house fourteen years ago; then about a week after the robbery, Witness went with Emanuel Shrimpton, a constable, to Caudles house, at Long Creadon, the ? of October, and took him into custody. They found hats and a pair of shoes at his house. They told him, at public house, that a young man coming who knew all about ?, on which Caudle, asked him step out, and told him that he took Sawyer and man named Burnham (the bill against whom the Grand Jury threw out) to break the house open, and how it was done. They went and handed the things out the other two. Sawyer was taken the same night, and said should never have gone too but for the others. The rest of the property was found in Sawyer’s wood house.—The prosecutor was called by Caudle to speak to his character, and said he never knew him to have good one.— Another person called for the same purpose said, he had heard some thing against him before, but there never was any charge proved.—Both Guilty.—Judgment of death recorded. Windsor and Eton Express, 17 Mar 1827. ------------------------------------------------- National Archives. Criminal Petitions. HO 17/35/37 Prisoner name: Thomas Caudle or Thomas Cawdell. Court and date of trial: Buckinghamshire Lent Assizes 1827. Crime: Burglary [details not given]. Initial sentence: Death recorded and commuted to 14 years transportation. Annotated: ‘Refused 4 May 1827’. Petitioner(s): Thomas Caudle (the convict). Grounds for clemency: He has a wife and children now in poverty; his previous unblemished character; the family’s poverty and distress caused by injury to his hand leaving him unable to work all the previous summer; when apprehended he immediately confessed and told the police where the stolen goods were and who else was responsible. Additional Information: Held in Aylesbury gaol. Date, 1827 Apr 14. Caudle was also on the same ship.

342

Maureen Withey on 3rd August 2022

NSW Convict index. John Sawyer, per John, 1827, Ticket of Leave, No 34/687. District, Patrick’s Plains; Born, Bucks; Trade, Labourer; Tried, Bucks ass. John Sawyer, per John, 1827, Certificate of Freedom, 10 Sept 1841., No. 41/1243. TL 34/687. -------------------------------------------------- 1828 Census Index. John Sawyer, age 35, G.S. (Ships name not given) 1827, 14 years, protestant, Stockman, G. Rutherford all’d, Luskintyre district. -------------------------------------------------- John Sawyer gave evidence at the trial in December 1833, of five men, who took to the bush and attacked Mr Larnach, overseer to Major Mudie. The men were found guilty and hanged. This trial later led to a Commission later in December 1833, set up by the Governor to enqiry into the ill treatment of assigned government men by Major Mudie and Mr Larnack. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2214954?searchTerm=Poole Supreme Court TUESDAY. DECEMBER 10. (Before the Chief Justice and a Military Jury.) The following extract is John Sawyer's evidence: John Sawyer being sworn, deposed - I am a Crown prisoner ; I was assigned to Dr. Rutherford ; he is gone to Europe; I do not know whether I am lent, or transferred to Major Mudie; I was sheep washing at Castle Forbes, on the 5th November ; I was in the water ; I saw five men coming towards our party ; there might have been more; the prisoners Hitchcook, Poole, Riley, and Perry were there, the other man I did not know ; the first I saw was Hitchcock, getting over the fence, on the top of the bank ; he had a gun in his hand ; he said to Mr. Larnack, come out of that you villain, and stand back you men ; Mr. L. jumped into the river, among the washers; Hitchcook levelled his gun at Mr. L. and fired ; he then swung his hand in a great passion, and said to the washers, why did you not get out of the way; Poole next presented his piece at Mr. L. and fired from the fence, saying '' you villain, I'll make you remember your flogging, I will, you tyrant; Riley said to one of the washers, nick-named Darby, I've a good mind to come down, and blow out your brains, I have you villian ; Mr. L. was moving on towards the other side of the river ; I did not see the third shot fired, but it took place immediately after the second ; I did not know whether there was any shot in the guns : when going away, Riley said, that any person who should move up the bank for the space of two hours, would have his brains blown out; I neither saw Jones, nor Ryan; it was a high bank, on which the prisoners were ; I could see them plainly from where I stood, which was close to the water's edge; there was a fence on the top of the bank. Cross-examined by Mr. Therry - Hitchcock was fifty yards from Mr. Larnach when he fired ; it might be a little more ; I would not believe a man saying it was only ten yards; I cannot say whether there was any shot in the gun ; I did not understand what the prisoners meant by flogging; there was nothing to hindar them if they had liked to follow Mr. Larnack over the river; I have not a ticket-of-leave ; I am a ploughman. Re examined by the Solicitor General.-There is three feet in a yard ; Hitchcock was not near the water's edge when he fired ; I could not observe whether there was any shot in the guns; Poole must have been nearly 70 yards off when he fired at Mr. Larnack. By the Court.- Hitchcock must have been full 50 yards distant from Mr. Larnack when he fired.