Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Thomas Liddiard was transported on the George The Third, departing 12th Dec 1834 and arriving 12th Mar 1835 with 220 passengers.
Built at Deptford, England in 1810. 394 tons, 114 feet length, 28 feet 3 inches beam. Registered at the Port of London. George III, was wrecked on reefs at the south-eastern entrance to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on 12 March 1835 near the end of a voyage from Woolwich to Hobart Town. 133 of 220 male convicts on board lost their lives, 81 survived, one being a 10yr old boy. Only five of the 88 crew, guards and their families were drowned. Firearms had been discharged to keep the convicts below decks while the latter were being evacuated.
George The Third (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 90, Class and Piece Number HO11/9, Page Number 487 (245) |
| 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 Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
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Convict Notes
Thomas and his brother Aaron were both drowned in the sinking of the George the Third.
Son of Daniel Liddiard and Mary Liddiard ( nee Page) of Ramsbury , Wiltshire , England
Extract of Home Office transportation registers (The National Archives microfilm HO11) Thomas Liddiard; Berkshire Assizes; 25-2-1834; Seven years; Drowned As reported in "The Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette" - Thursday 6 March 1834. Berkshire Assizes, "Aaron Liddiard and Thomas Liddiard were charged with being armed in the preserves of John Pearse esq. the bank director, with intent to kill game. Mr Carrington conducted the prosecution, Mr. Ferard the defence. It appeared that about 11 o'clock on the night of the 28th of November, the gamekeeper Mr. Pearse and two of his assistants, on hearing the report of guns, entered the preserve called Denhills Coppice at Chilton Foliat, and there found the two prisoners and another person armed with guns, and three other persons armed with bludgeons. These six persons drew up in two lines, the men with guns being in front, and they, pointing their guns at the gamekeeper and hios assistants, threatened to shoot them if they dared to advance; the prisoner Thomas Liddiard adding "if you care for your wives or your families, go home, for if you come up to us we will blow your heads off." This prudent advice was taken, and the parties separated." As the prisoner Aaron Liddiard was identified by only by one witness, Mr. Ferard submitted that he ought to be acquitted, as there was but slight evidence against him, and that this being an offence entirely created by statute, unlike larceny, which is an offence at common law, the jury ought to require the strongest evidence to be adduced. Mr Patteson: Since game has been made saleable, I do not see why it is not just as much as an offence to go into a man's preserve in the night and take his game, as it is to go into his poultry yard and steal his fowls. The one is saleable property as much as the other. The jury found both guilty and they were sentenced to be transported for seven years. A convict eyewitness related to George Loveless (another convict & Tolpuddle Martyr) that when the ship struck, the prisoners were all locked below immediately. "the bottom of the ship was fast filling with water; they called aloud to have the hatches opened, but to no purpose; and when they were up to their middles in water, they rushed forward and burst open the hatches and endeavoured to ascend the ladder; the soldiers, however, at the top fired on them and killed many; others had their throats cut with cutlasses. The man who was going up by my side, was shot, but I escaped....only eighty-one of the whole shipload was taken on shore alive, and a great number of them were so emaciated and crippled, that they were obliged to carry them to hospital."