James Targett

221

D Wong on 22nd December 2019

James Targett was tried along with his brother, George, for Housebreaking. George Targett died in the General Hospital, Sydney on the 30/12/1839 (Ancestry Convict Indent states 1839 but the ship arrived 18/12/1838 and given there are no physical details on the Indent, most likely the date is 1838). James Targett was 20 years old on arrival. Native place: Wiltshire. James could read, was protestant, single, 5'7" tall, sallow and freckled complexion, brown hair, hazel eyes, lost a front tooth left side of upper jaw, scar on tip of chin, small raised mole on back of right side of neck, another above right elbow, scaron back of left thumb. 25/1/1841: Convict Death Register - James Targett accidently drowned at Port Macquarie. 11/2/1841 Sydney Herald: An inquest was holden on Monday, the 25th ult., on the body of James Target, an invalid prisoner of the Crown, in thc service of John Dillon, Esq. It appeared at the inquiry that the deceased had gone out the previous evening with three or four dogs (one a Newfoundland) belonging to his master, but not having returned at a very late hour, a search was set on foot, and on the bank of a creek, about a mile from the town, his clothes were found lying, and the dogs reposing upon them. It was therefore presumed that he had gone into the water to bathe, and was drowned. Steps were in consequence taken to find the body, which was effected the following morning at an early hour. There is no doubt that the Newfoundland dog had made an unsuccessful effort to save the drowning man, as he had evidently been recently in the water when the clothes were found. As the whole of the evidence went to confirm the conviction that the deceased was accidentally drowned, a verdict was returned accordingly.