William Butterworth Sharples

William Butterworth Sharples, one of 219 convicts transported on the Ocean, August 1815

Name, Aliases & Gender

Name:	William Butterworth Sharples
Aliases:	none
Gender:	m

Birth, Occupation & Death

Date of Birth:	-
Occupation:	Brickmaker
Date of Death:	-
Age:	-

Life Span

Male median life span was 59 years*

* Median life span based on contributions

Conviction & Transportation

Sentence Severity

Sentenced to 14 years

Crime:	-
Convicted at:	Lancaster Assizes
Sentence term:	14 years
Ship:	Ocean
Departure date:	August, 1815
Arrival date:	30th January, 1816
Place of arrival	New South Wales
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 220 other convicts

References

Primary source:	Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/2, Page Number 235 (119)
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 Project.

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Community Contributions

Anonymous on 14th June, 2011 wrote:

William Butterworth Sharples was born in about 1780 in Lancashire England. He was convicted in 1815 at the Lancaster Lent Assizes, when he was found guilty of forging banknotes at Blackburn, he was sentenced to 14 years transportation. He arrived in New South Wales on board the "Ocean" early in 1816, and was then transported to VDL arriving later in January 1816 on board the "Chapman" Ref. Archives Office of Tasmania, Conduct Record: 31/1/38 p25 other records: 31/1/3 p4. Convict muster records show Sharples as being an invalid, other records show Emma Groom (my 3rd great grandmother) as being Sharples servant. Henry Francis Groom (my 2nd great grand father) was placed in Queens Orphan School Hobart at the age of 8 years on 14th July 1828 after the death of his mother Emma. Henry as orphan #2246 was listed as being the son of William Sharples and Emma Groom. At this time the fate of William Butterworth Sharples remains uncertain.

Leonie Fretwell on 24th September, 2017 wrote:

Arrival of William Sharples(s) in Van Diemen’s Land
Conduct Record - 3 January 1818 - he had escaped from Sydney on the “Chapman” and was found on board when the vessel called into Hobart for repairs.

Death of William Sharples(s)
The Tasmanian, 8 Oct 1830 p.7
“Accident - On Monday last, a man named Sharpless, a bricklayer, very generally known to the old inhabitants of Hobart Town, was accidentally drowned while bathing at Kangaroo Point”.

The Hobart Town Courier, 9 Oct 1830, p.2
“On Thursday the 7th instant. a Coroner’s Inquest was held before Frederick Roper, Esq, Coroner, at the Golden Fleece public-house at Kangaroo-point, on the body of William Sharpless, who it appeared in evidence on the 4th instant, about 2 o’clock in the day, being in a state of intoxication, went into the River Derwent to bathe, and was accidentally drowned.

Convict Changes History

Leonie Fretwell on 24th September, 2017 made the following changes:

occupation

Iris Dunne on 9th August, 2020 made the following changes:

gender: m