Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
James Toft was transported on the General Hewett, departing 31st Jul 1813 and arriving 7th Feb 1814 with 301 passengers.
The Windham and General Hewett left England the 24th of August, in convoy with the Wansted, Capt. Moore, who sailed from hence last Thursday for Batavia; the General Hewett arrived at Rio the 17th of November, and sailed again the 2d of December. Together with the military detachments, she received on board for this Settlement 300 male prisoners, of whom we are sorry to report the death of 35, whose names we shall endeavour to procure an account of, and publish in the next Gazette, for the information of their friends and families in Great Britain. Sydney Gazette, Sat 12 Feb 1814.
General HewettReferences
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/2, Page Number 119 (61) |
| 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 |
Claims
"Direct ancestor via daughter, Sarah."
"James Toft and Elizabeth Mobbs are my husband's 5x great grandparents via daughter Mary Ann."
Photos
No photos have been added for James Toft.
Convict Notes
James Toft was married to Elizabeth Mobbs in London in 1792, he was born in 1768 Norwich, Norfolk to Peter Toft and Mary Bowman, there is much confusion regarding his wife as there was another James Toft born in Goldaming at the same that is often confused with him
James Toft died en route to NSW (off Rio de Janerio) in October 1813.
James Toft was 45 when he was entered in the English Criminal Registers as being found guilty on 9 April 1813 of embezzling money from his employer. He was a clerk for a London grain Merchant, Thomas Hankis, and worked in his accompting-house in Bishopsgate. James was to sell and receive payment for flour but he had been failing to account to his employer for the payments of some customers and when his employer became suspicious of him on one Friday's accounting day over one particular customer, James admitted to having embezzled a large amount of money and having to settle his account to £320, begging the employer to let him stand it over till the Monday. He would not. James died in October 1813, two months into the General Hewitt's voyage to Australia, one of 34 convicts dying enroute. They were poorly looked after, suffering from dysentery and typhoid, having their salt ration bought from them by the captain and having their wet bedding tossed over board, leaving them nothing in the cold weather. He had at least three sons and four daughters. His wife, Elizabeth, nee Mitchell, had set off to Australia as a free passenger on the Broxbournebury six months after his departure, with their four daughters. She did not know he had already died enroute until she landed in NSW. She and her girls were placed on government charity and registered as such in the 1814 Muster. In 1816 she lived with her family in a hut near Cockle Bay. At least by 1822 (Muster) she was living with William Mannix, but did not officially marry him until 1835 when she was about 55 years old. She died in 1850 aged about 70.