Benjamin Tapp

341

Maureen Withey on 28th April 2023

Report of Case in the Supreme Court, 1 Dec 1835., published in Colonial Times, 8 December 1835. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8648755?searchTerm=Benjamin%20Tapp

341

Maureen Withey on 28th April 2023

Tasmanian Convict Conduct Record https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-42$init=CON31-1-42P99 No 286. Benjamin Tapp, Tried 24 July 1823, 7 years. Sept 20 1834. F.S. Stg one ox or steer ..., committed for trial. Oct 30 1835. F.S. Feloniously stealing an ox … commd. For trial. In margin: S.C. (Supreme Court) 2 Oct 1834, Not guilty. S.C. 1 Dec 1835. Death recorded, commuted to 14 years. (Written sideways in faded red ink) Tranpd for Robbing a Carriers cart of goods value £6 and upwards. Gaol report: Has been confined in the Gaols of Northampton, Hertford & Newgate & confesses, I have been guilty of many Robberies. Hulk report, Orderly. Single. Stated this offence, Stealing from a carrier’s cart, once in Northampton Gaol for shooting deer, gave evidence against five men for a sheep at Herts, once in Newgate as evidence against two men. Wife dead, one child at N.P Potters Pery Stoney Stratford, with F & M at Lewisham in Kent. I have relations at Potters Perry ? With Charles Cowley, Potters Perry, a miller, ?? … last at St Albans out of employ. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Indent Record. https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-2-5$init=CON14-2-5P28 and https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-2-5$init=CON14-2-5P29 Benjn. Tapp, age 24, 5 ft 3. 7 years. Farrier, plough & shepherd. Tried at Bury St Edmunds. Native place, Potterspury near Stony Stratford. This offence, Stealing from a Carrier’s Cart. Shooting a deer, Poaching 6 m. confined at Hertford to give evidence against 5 men. Confined in Newgate to give evidence. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The following case was on when Benjamin Trapp gave evidence to convict the others. Hertford Assizes. HERTFORD ASSIZES. DESPERATE GANG OF THIEVES. George Bracee and Samuel Barby were indicted for burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Thomas Field, at Hertingfordbury, in the night of the 21st of February, and stealing therein three sheets and a great many other articles of property, exceeding the value of forty shillings.-Mr. Jessopp conducted the prosecution. It appeared in evidence that the prisoners were part of a desperate gang of thieves who have long infested this county as trampers, living under hedges in a tent, and carrying their bag and baggage upon donkies. In the night of the 21st of February, at 12 o'clock, the house of the prosecutor, a draper, was broken open and robbed of the property mentioned in the indictment. Next day, suspicion falling on the prisoners, they were pursued and apprehended, about 4 miles from Hertingfordbury, in a house where they had a temporary lodging. Upon being taxed with the robbery, they confessed the fact, and produced produced some of the bundles containing part of the stolen property. One of them had on a pair of shoes which had been stolen from the prosecutor's house. These facts being uncontradicted, the prisoners were found Guilty_ Death. The same prisoners were again indicted for another burglary in the dwelling house of William Draper, of Herttngfordbury, and stealing a pair of shoes, a tea chest, and various other articles of property. To this indictment the prisoners pleaded Guilty- Death. The same prisoners were again indicted for stealing at Wormley, on the 22d of February, a sheep, the property of Sir Abraham Hume, Bart.; and Abraham Cockman was indicted for receiving part of the carcase of the same sheep, knowing it to have been stolen To this indictment, Bracee and Barby pleaded guilty, but they were put, to the bar with Cockman in order that the case might be made out against the latter. It appeared in evidence, that on the 22d of February one of a flock of 227 Southdown sheep was stolen from the park of Sir A. Hume, and slaughtered in the field. The skin and the breasts were left behind. To support the case against the prisoners, Benjamin Tapp, an accomplice, who was admitted approver, and Sarah Haddock, a woman who cohabited with Tapp, were called; and they stated that on the night in question they were in company together and had been drinking at the Valiant Trooper public house, kept by Cockman, after which the men entered the park of Sir Abraham Home, and slaughtered a sheep, carrying away the shoulders and the hind quarters. They then returned to the house of Cockman where they lodged, and dressed part of the shoulders, of which Cockman and his wife partook. The next day one of the legs was dressed, and they all dined off it. These facts were clearly established, the case depending upon the evidence of the accomplice and the woman with whom he lived. The Jury, under the Learned Judge's directions, found all the prisoners Guilty, and Cockman was sentenced to 14 years' transportation. Oxford Journal, 15 March 1823.

341

Maureen Withey on 28th April 2023

Hulk Records Portsmouth. HO 9-8-5 page 18/53. From Bury St Edmunds, 12 Aug 1823. Benjamin Tapp, age 24, Robbing a carriers cart of good value ? tried 24 July 1823, at Bury St Edmunds, 7 years, NSW 25 March 1824. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Benjamin Tapp, (received by habeas corpus from Newgate) he being charged with felony, in stealing a quantity of goods, from the van of Mr Augustine Durrant, in the town of Newmarket. Bury and Norwich Post, 14 May 1823. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Benjamin Tapp, for stealing two trusses from the van of Mr. A. Durrant, jun. of this town ; Bury and Norwich Post, 30 July 1823.

4

Laura Freeman on 28th April 2023

initially convicted for life for poaching a deer from a Carriers cart but reduced sentence for giving evidence about 5 other men. Convicted of stealing an ox in Tasmania and was sent on the Layton in 1836 to Sydney to await transport to Norfolk Island. Benjamin died in 1865 in an asylum in Liverpool, NSW. records from Ancestry, Linc Tas, family records and convict musters. Benjamin had been married in Naorthamptonshire but his wife died in 1821 and his son, Benjamin, was raised by family relation in England