William Searle Westaway

Level 72

Robin Sharkey on 21st February 2017

DEATH OF WIFE & DAUGHTER SUSAN GRACE - William’s wife Grace died in 1863 at Exeter, her burial recorded at St David’s between January and March. In the Census two years earlier she was reported as being aged 80 and a laundress, living with Susan. So she was aged 82 or 83 when she died, a very old age for the times. SUSAN who had been living with her mother and was a 44 yr old laundress in 1861, was now alone. Thirty years later, she was still single - on the Census night of 5th April 1891, Susan was aged 76, Single, a retired laundress living at 8 West View Terrace in St David’s parish, Exeter. Living at the same premises was Mary Ann Hole, a 69 y.o. widow, also a laundress. But Susan died very soon after, her death being registered in Exeter between April and June 1891.

Level 72

Robin Sharkey on 21st February 2017

SON WILLIAM – STEALING CHARGE 1841 Son William appears to have gone back to his father’s old village – Ashburton, where he married and had a child by 1840. In Ashburton in May 1841 several men, including William Westaway, were taken into custody and charged with stealing wool and serge. A few weeks previously, William MacDowell of Ashburton had been found guilty at Exeter Assizes of wool stealing at Ashburton. Just before the May arrests, MacDowell had been moved from Exeter jail to the Devonport hulk, on his way to life transportation to NSW. This seemed to have been the trigger for the man’s wife Ann MacDowell to tell the authorities all she knew about other wool robberies involving other Ashburton men, over the previous two years including William Westaway. Western Times (Exeter) Sat 22 May 1841 p3, Col 4 and then Col 5. All five of them were: Thomas Connibeare (45), a gunsmith; William Westaway, William Howes (35) a mason; Andrew Bauclark (40) shoemaker, William Major (65) agricultural labourer. William Westaway tried to escape: “ About five o’clock on Wednesday the prisoner Wm Westaway made his escape by getting out the window of the room in which he was confined, but almost immediately the town crier gave notice of £10 reward for his apprehension and great many went in pursuit of him. He was overtaken and apprehended by three persons and brought back in safe custody.” Western Times (Exeter) Sat 22 May 1841 p3, Col 4 “Thomas Connibeare, William Westaway and William Harris [this should be “Howes”] have been committed for trial at the next sessions. One very melancholy fact connected with this robbery is that four of the thieves were great church and state men (!!) and staunch supporters of the old Constitution. Toryism loses n them four good votes.” William and the other two men were recorded in Exeter Jail on the night of the 1841 Census, 6th June. However there was no report of their trial in later newspapers, and none of them arrived in NSW. Therefore it is likely that the Grand Jury when examining the indictments found there was no evidence sufficient to put them to trial. __________________________________________________________________

Level 72

Robin Sharkey on 21st February 2017

FULL REPORT OF HIS CRIME From the Western Times 9 April 1831 p 3, we learn that the Grand Jury had to first skip over Wm Searle Westaway’s matter “in consequence of the absence of a witness.” Perhaps this got William’s hopes up. However, witness must have then arrived because after the first case was dealt with “a true bill having been next returned against [Westaway] … he was placed at the bar and pleaded not guilty.” Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Saturday 9th April 1831 page 1-2 EXETER CITY SESSIONS “William Searle Westaway was indicted for burglariously entering the dwelling house of Mrs Prestwood Love Bellew in the parish of St David and stealing therefrom one silver teapot, a silver cream-jug, 3 silver ladles, 6 silver desert [sic] spoons, 5 silver teaspoons, 3 silver skewers, and several other articles of plate, together with table linen, wearing apparel &c, &c. The articles when produced in Court showed from the space they occupied that this had been one of the most extensive “cracks” of the neighbourhood. Mr Praed conducted the case for the prosecution. The prisoner was undefended. “SUSANNAH PERKINS examined. ‘I am a servant of Mrs Bellew. I remember the day in question. I went to bed a few minutes past eleven; Sarah Smith, my fellow servant, went to bed together, having fastened the house as usual. I shut the front door and window, I bolted one of the back doors, I went out of it after it had been bolted and bolted it again on my return, I did not notice the other door particularly, the key was hanging up as usual after it was fastened; I do not know what state the kitchen window was in when I went to bed, the fastening of the window had been broken before. “I was called up at six, but did not see nothing particularly until I went into the pantry where the plate was kept, where I saw a waiter fallen along on the shelf, it had been upright when I went to bed. I then examined the drawer where the plate was kept, and found the plate all gone. I generally locked the drawer and took the keys up to bed with me. [Witness here enumerated the articles which she discovered to be missing]. I then went and examined all the doors and found them all to be bolted; the kitchen window was not bolted but in the same state I left it overnight. As far as I know all the windows were in the same state. I had seen the plate about six or seven the same evening, the cream pot and milk jug as late as ten. No-one could have got at the plate without being in the house. [Questions] by the Court – Did not know whether the back door was locked when she went to bed, her fellow servant came out last, had to come into the front passage before could go to bed, when she saw the cream jug and observed the drawers to be in the same state as when witness had put the plate away; did not know that her fellow servant went into the closet after witness, discovered a cloak of her own gone in the morning, had seen it in the kitchen at ten at night. “SARAH SMITH – ‘Was also a servant living with the prosecutrix, she deposed to having fastened all the back doors, the garden gate, and the passage door of the house. Her evidence differed in no material respect from that of the other witness. “ROBERT DAY – ‘I am a pawnbroker, residing at Taunton [i.e Somerset]. On Tuesday last, the prisoner came to my shop about seven in the evening to pledge some spoons, he had them in his hand, I asked him how much he wanted on them, and whether they were his own, he said they were, and were left him by his father. He told me he came from Dawlish in Devonshire. After a short interval had elapsed I again asked him where he had come from, he then replied from Bristol. The spoons appeared in a very rough state as if their initials had been erased from them; I enquired if he knew of the initials had been rubbed ut, he replied he supposed his children had done it. I told him it was an odd thing for children to have spoons to play with; he said he supposed that was how it was done; after some further time I believe he said he had done it hiself, that the family might know nothing about it. He had a bundle with him. “I detained the spoons and the prisoner and went for a constable, there was nobody in charge of him, but some of my people [i.e. witness’ family] were there; I retrned with the constable and gave him in charge. Witness stated that his wife was present with the prisoner, and several other persons. [Questions] by the Court – There was nothing to prevent him going out. “HENRY JARVIS – I am a constable of Taunton. I took the prisoner into custody on Tuesday night last, took him to the town clerk’s, who was not at home, but had gone to the Institution. Witness then stated that he and Mr Day and the prisoner went to the Instituion, and whilst witness went upstairs, prisoner walked off. They immediately went to the Bear, where they ascertained that he had just entered. They then waited till he went to bed, when they went up and found him in bed, with the same bundle (in appearance) lying on the bed. Witness then asked him whose bundle it was and prisoner said it was not his(prisoner’s), witness then searched the bundle and discovered the teapot and other articles. Witness took the prisoner before the Rev Mr Gale, a magistrate of the town, the following morning. “MR DAY, Recalled. – ‘The prisoner left me at the Institution; I went up to see after the constable because the magistrate’s clerk said there was not sufficient evidence to detain him. That is the mode of doing business in Taunton. “JOSEPH MANNING – keeps the Bear Inn at Taunton, the prisoner came there in the course of Tuesday last, with another man in a cart, he had a bundle with him. He afterwards went out for an hour or two, taking the bundle with him. He returned again and took some supper and went to bed at about nine o’clock. Jarvis and Mr Day were there. I led the prisoner to bed and Jarvis and Day, as previously concerted, followed us. Witness [i.e.Manning] then deposed as to the identity of the bundle. “JOHN TAYLOR – ‘I am a police officer of this city; I was at Taunton; on Tuesday last I saw the prisoner come in to the town; I came back on Thursday. I know where the prisoner lived in Exeter, I went to his house, I had a search warrant. I found a table cloth, a pair of stockings, shoes, and some other things, some upstairs, some down. (The witness Smith was here called, she identified the shoes as her own, but could not positively swear to them as the lining was taken out; they had been worn a good deal since she had lost them; witness also identified the stockings). “Prisoner then put several questions to Taylor, of no material import to the case, from which it appeared that when Taylor charged him with the robbery, he said “he was never nigh Mrs Bellew’s house in his life, but he had no doubt somebody knew something about it.” “Mrs Bellew hen identified the spoons, she believed the initials on them to have been erased. She also identified the teapot which had her arms upon it. “A receipt to ‘quiet a dog’ was found on the person of the prisoner, by Const Jarvis, was read by the clerk of the court. It formed a most effectual compound, as far as we were capable of judging, for effecting its object, as if duly administered no dog could ever rise again to disturb the midnight plunderer. “Prisoner, when called upon for his defence, told a rambling story about his having been to South Tawton, and endeavoured to set up the inference that he could not have been in Exeter at the time of the robbery. He stated that he found the articles. “The jury returned the verdict of ‘guilty of entering the dwelling house and stealing in the amount of five pounds’. “The Recorder then sentenced the prisoner to transportation for life, remarking that he had no doubt that he had been engaged in many robberies of this description lately. [A VERY BIASED THING TO SAY ON NO EVIDENCE!] “The prisoner has the appearance of a decent labourer, and has not long been out of prison, having before been tried for His life, but his sentenced was commuted to twelve months’ imprisonment on account of his previously good character. It is very fortunate for himself and this neighbourhood that he has now been stopped short; for there can be but little doubt, from his desperate character, that his career, if prolonged, would have terminated fatally.” ____________________________________________________

Level 72

Robin Sharkey on 21st February 2017

DEATH William Searle Westaway died a sad death in 1854. He was aged 64 years. Here is the report in the Maitland Mercury of Wed 5th July 1854, p2 of the inquest upon his body, conducted by Mr Parker on Monday 3rd July 1854: “The second inquest held on Monday was at the Northumberland Brewery, West Maitland, on the body of William Westaway, an old man. From the evidence it appeared that Westaway was formerly a bricklayer, well known in Maitland, and had got injured some years ago by entering an oven to repair it while it was too hot, so much so that his mind had been impaired ever since. “ Mr. Tinson had for some time maintained him, out of charity, and had noticed a peculiarity in Westaway, no doubt arising from his impaired mind, that he always swallowed his food ravenously; and indeed Westaway was nearly choked in this way some weeks ago. “ On Sunday, while Robert Harris (a cooper in Mr. Tinson's employ) and Westaway were taking their dinner together, Harris noticed that Westaway was more ravenous than usual, filling his mouth with piece after [piece] of meat; Harris cautioned him not to eat so fast, but the caution made him only worse, till suddenly he rose, tottered, and fell, evidently choking. Harris ran out for Mr. Tinson, who was on the spot immediately, and pulled out several pieces of meat from Westaway's mouth, but too late to save him for he turned black in the face and died instantly. The jury returned a verdict of death from suffocation, from eating his food too fast.” HIS FAMILY of ORIGIN William Searle Westaway had been born in 1790 at Ashburton, a village on the south edge of Dartmoor in Devon, 24 miles from Plymouth. Westaway families all originated from the South Tawton/Okehampton village areas on the north side of Dartmoor. Dozens of William Westaways were born in the 18th and early 19th centuries; this William is easily distinguished by his middle name “Searle”, after his mother’s family. His father, Benjamin, was born in Devon’s South Tawton in 1756, and was one of six surviving children born to Benjamin Snr and his first wife Mary Garland. Benjamin jnr and most of his siblings were poor, and their own families a generation later were also raised in poverty, some more so than others. It is not surprising then that three of the four Westaways transported to Australia were cousins within this Benjamin/Mary Garland branch of the family. Robert Westaway, convict in 1854, was the son of William Searle’s first cousin Robert. Mary Westaway was married to James Westaway, first cousin in another family. Ashburton was the home village of his mother, Susannah Searle, who had married Benjamin in 1787. William Searle Westaway was the second of their six children, (2 boys, 4 girls). The family was not well off because his father Benjamin jnr was listed in South Tawton’s Poor Law records during the 1790’s as receiving assistance, although they lived at Ashburton - the Poor Laws only allowed a person to receive assistance from the parish of a person’s ‘settlement’. Therefore he had never “settled” under the Poor Law meaning, in Ashburton - rented a house over £10 p.a, assisted in church, or had an agreement to be employed for at least a year in the parish (Short term work contracts did not count, even if a person worked continuously for years under them) All William’s five siblings appear to have remained in Ashburton: * His brother John was respectable, a woolcomber, who married twice and had accumulated enough property to leave a will (dated 1838) for his 2nd wife and all six surviving children and provide a specific legacy of £30 for a daughter from the first marriage and £50 for a daughter from the 2nd. [2ndry Source: Westaway one Name Study /Early Wills] [UK Census on line]. The wife and family lived in a smart Exeter terrace in 1841 – no John, so probably dead, but by 1851 were back living in Ashburton. * One sister (Anne Mugridge or Mogridge) was married to an Ashburton cabinet maker, * his elder sister (Mary Meers) was married to an AShburton woolcomber, sister Elizabeth was also married (to Henry Hawkings, not much known). * His youngest sister Susan had several children out of wedlock, determinedly remaining unmarried (officially). She maintained her independence by being a shopkeeper in AShburton (1841, 1851 UK Census returns). Her first illegitimate child, a son, was baptised in 1818, when she was aged only about 13 yrs. _____________________________________________________________ William Searle Westaway’s MARRIAGE and CHILDREN In 1810, on 6th May, William aged 20 mfarried Grace Willis at Charles Church {Charles the Martyr] Plymouth. [www.Family Search.org online - UK Parish Marriage Registers]. Based on later UK census information given by Grace, she was ten years older than William and born in another Devon village, Ermington Ivybridge (14 miles south of Ashburton). At Holbeton parish, 3 miles from Ermington Ivybridge, Grace Willis was baptised in June 1779. Therefore she was indeed ten years older than William. There were quite a few Willis’s in this parish. [www.Family Search.org online - UK Parish Baptism Registers]. When her husband was transported at age 41, Grace would have been aged 51 or 52, and was left with their six children aged from 20 to 5 yrs, who were: 1. William, 20 (B 1811 in Plymouth, Devon), 2. Susan 18 (B.1813 in Cardiff, Wales) 3. John 17 (B 1814 in Monmouthshire), 4. Maryanne 11 (B 1820 in Exeter 5. Elizabeth, 7 (B 1824, Exeter) 6. James, 5 (B 1826, Exeter) [2ndry Source: Westaway one Name Study /William Searle Westaway] In the 1841 Census, ten years after William was transported, his wife Grace lived at Exeter, in Exe St, where she shared a house with one other family (both Folio 18 of page 30, 1841 UK Census). She described herself as a widow, working as a laundress (therefore lived in poverty). Her family remained around her: *her three daughters, aged 17, 20 and 24, lived with her, and 15 year old James. No occupation was listed for any of the young adult children, they probably did not have jobs. *Next door was her son John Westaway, then a bricklayer, and his wife Charlotte with their two children Elizabeth aged 2 and baby John (5 months). Also living with john & Charlotte was John Willis, a 40 yr old Coachman and presumably the brother of Grace (nee Willis). This little family appeared to share a house with three other family households (all on Folio 17/Page 29 of 1841 Census). * Her eldest son William, who seems to have gone off to Ashburton where his father had grown up, and was a woolcomber there, was on a criminal charge and awaiting trial in the Devon County Gaol, not far from Exe Street. Grace must have been sick with worry that he would be transported like his father. SEE BELOW. In 1851 Grace was still in Exe St, but only daughter Susan, also a laundress, and son James now a mason, lived with her. And poor Grace in 1861 was still a laundress at age 80 living in the same street in Exeter with 44 yr old single daughter Susan who was also a laundress. CHILDREN: William (jnr) B 1811 at Plymouth, was the eldest and aged 20 when his father was convicted in 1831. The “Westaway One Name Study” identifies this son as being the William who married at Ashburton in 1840 (so, aged 29) to Ann Emmett and had a son named Albert William Searle Westaway baptised at Ashburton on 13 Feb 1840, and later had a daughter named Keturah baptised at Ashburton 6 Oct 1846. This implies William jnr went to Ashburton, probably after his father was transported, to live or work with his Ashburton uncles/aunts; although he himself had never lived there. He had Westaway male first cousins in Ashburton, sons of his uncle John, but none was named William. JOHN, B 1814, aged 17 when his father was convicted in 1831, he got a job as a mason and remained living in Exeter. He named his eldest son William. In 1841 he lived next door to his mother with his first wife Charlotte, (nee Back, MRRD St David’s Church Exeter, 23 Nov 1843). Their family was: *Marianne, baptised at St David’s on 12 March 1837, but died as not recorded in 1841 * Elizabeth B 1839, as aged 2 in 1841 Census * John B January 1841 since aged 5 months at Census on 6th June 1841. * William B abt about 1843 (aged 18 in 1861 Census) A 56 year old William Westaay died at Exeter in July - Sept 1899 * Jane B abt 1846 (aged 15 and a servant in 1861 Census) Possibly baptised as Mary Jane Westaway in 1845. * Charles b abt 1845 (aged 5 in 1851 Census, baptism St Davids in 1845). Charles died in 1853 (St Davids Death register) His first wife Charlotte Westaway died in 1847 (St David’s death register). John remarried in 1849 to Elizabeth Carnall who produced: * James 1849; * Charlotte Back Westaway (B 1851) named after the deceased first wife. * Maryanne 1854 * Henry 1858 in 1851 John was a Journeyman Mason In 1861, aged 46, John Westaway lived on Exe St, still not far from his mother, with second wife Elizabeth a 35 y.o. tailoress, and son William, 18, also a mason probably working with his father, Jane, 15, was a servant, James was 11, MaryAnne 6 and Henry 3. Children Charles and Charlotte had both died since the 1851 Census. JAMES, the youngest, 15 in 1841, no occupation. But by 1851 he was aged 25 and a mason like his older brother John, living with his mother, Exe St Exeter. In 1861 James was mason living at North Bridge in St David’s which was just a few streets from his mother’s. His wife was Emma (age 34) and they had two young children of their own (Elizabeth age 4 and William J age 1) and looked after a 5 month old baby “in keep”. In 1891 Emma was a widow living alone as an employee charwoman at Iron Bridge, St David’s, Exeter. Only William Searle Westaway from among all his siblings seems to have lived on the shady side of the law. Unlike his siblings who stayed in Ashburton, he moved around in the first decade of his marriage, witnessed through the different birthplaces of the first three children, probably highlighting his search for work. As the Napoleonic Wars ended, times got very tough for ordinary English people as jobs dried up and costs of living increased. A six year gap from child no 3 to no. 4 suggests something happened … he was very likely the William Westaway at the 1818 Exeter Quarter Sessions at the Guildhall in July charged with stealing two pillows and a bolster. (Truman’s Exeter Flying post Thursday July 9th 1818, p 4) This might have landed him a short stint in jail (Maryanne was born in Exeter in 1820). After this William remained living in Exeter until he was transported (from children’s birth years). _____________________________________________________________

Level 72

Robin Sharkey on 21st February 2017

William Searle Westaway, of Exeter, was tried April 1831 for breaking into a house in Exeter and stealing silver plate. Transported for Life to NSW on “Isabella”. Arrived NSW 15 March 1832. *Assigned as convict servant in the Hunter Valley, NSW to Mr William Harper at his property “Oswald” near Lochinvar. John Dean, stableboy, was also assigned off “Isabella” direct to Mr Harper. 1837 Muster –assigned to Mrs Harper (William Harper had died in 1836). His master, William Harper, had arrived in 1821 as a young man, with money and property in England he decided to sell and invest in NSW. He was quickly made 1st Assistant Government Surveyor. The Governor would give him land, but not as a Grant, so harper set about purchasing his own. In 1825 he had 1,000 acres of his property and in 1834, after WS Westaway had arrive purchased another 900 & 680 acres. He was losing his sight and by 1831 had given up his post and moved to “Oswald” completely. When Wm Westaway arrived in March 1832, Harper had built himself a magnificent house on the slopes of the Hjnter rRiver with a beautiful garden. In 1836 he died, leaving his wife Catherine to run “Oswald with 15 year old eldest son down to six year old girl. William got his TL in 1840; he may have left or may have been able to stay on for a small wage. * Received Ticket of Leave 3 June 1840. This meant he could now work on his own account. * In SMH 22/6/1850 at page 6, he was listed as one of hundreds of convicts who had failed to collect their Conditional Pardon documents from the office of the Superintendant of Convicts, or from the Clerk of Petty Sessions in his area. This put him at risk of being gaoled if he was picked up and could not show the document to prove his freedom. Indicates he probably did not care about having it or not, he was probably well enough known in his own district. * From 1854 inquest into his death he had become a bricklayer in NSW and in that capacity had suffered a terrible work injury from being burnt inside an oven, affecting his mind ever after. [the Maitland Mercury of Wed 5th July 1854, p2] * In his last years he was supported by the charity of William Tinson. Tinson had lived at St Aubin’s near Scone as an innkeeper, and also had the “Burton Brewery” in West Maitland High Street until 1849, then he was at Newcastle in 1850 -51 but commenced a cordial manufactory at West Maitland in 1853. [See Maitland Mercury 1 Oct 1853 p1.] It was probably this business through which W S Westaway was looked after by Mr Tinson, at West Maitland. William left behind a wife and large family in England; when he died in 1854 at Maitland NSW he had never seen them again - they never joined him in NSW and he could not return on his 1846 Conditional Pardon. __________________________________________________ *Before his 1831 crime for which he was transported, William had committed an 1827 crime, getting him 18 months in Exeter gaol. 1831 CRIME - TRANSPORTATION The Exeter house where he was found to have committed his crime was owned by a widow of the landed gentry, named Mrs Prestley Bellew. The Bellew family’s estate was Stockleigh Court, near Exeter, which Mrs Bellew’s son inherited in 1827 so her house may have been elsewhere in Exeter. The jury found him guilty of stealing to the value of £5, based on six silver spoons he tried to pawn 35 miles away at Taunton (in Somerset), and a silver teapot found on him there. The evidence given included finding a large array of silverware at his Exeter home, all stolen from Mrs Bellew’s. William was unrepresented at his trial and in fact there was no evidence presented that he was the person who had broken into the house, only that he had been found with some of the goods upon him. With the aid of a lawyer, he may well have avoided transportation. [SEE: Detailed newspaper report of trial below]. Sherbourne Mercury, 2 May 1831 page 3: On Tuesday, W. S, Westerway, under commuted sentence of transportation for life, W. Broom transported for14 years and E. Broom and W Carrington for 7 years each at the Exeter Sessions, were removed from the city-prison Exeter prison to the hulks at Devonport. 1818 CrIME? He may have also been the person accused back in 1818 at Exeter: The Exeter Quarter Sessions commence, at the Guildhall, on Monday next. The following prisoners are for trial: … “William Westaway for stealing two pillows and a bolster.” EARLIER 1827 crime: According to the Recorder (judge) in the 1831 trial, William had “not long been out of prison having before been tried for His life”. • -May 1827 trial and 18 months in Exeter gaol, 1827 – Early 1829. It is most probable that this was the burglary at Stoke Canon in 1827, (BELOW). His accomplice got off but he got “Death recorded” which meant the death sentence was given but some circumstance caused the judge not to apply it. The Recorder in 1831 tells us this was because of his prior good conduct. Exeter & Plymouth Gazette Saturday May 19th 1827, p 3 A dwelling house at Stoke Canon was, on the night of Wen’day sn’night robbed of hams, bacons, boots, shoes etc. Two men residing this city named Joseph Johnson and William Westaway were taken into custody by Taylor and Howard and, after an examination before justice Ellicombe, committed to the County Gaol. Soon afterwards, one of the officers (Howard) missed three silk handkerchiefs and a piece of silk, and ascertained that Johnson, while in temporary custody in one of the rooms at the Guildhall, had broken open three cupboards and, having abstracted the above articles, had sold them to prisoners in the City Gaol where he was placed previous to his examination before the County Magistrate. The money he obtained for them was found concealed in his clothes. Exeter & Plymouth Gazette Saturday August 11th 1827, p 2: “The business of the Assizes commenced on Tuesday morning” “J Jonson and Wm Westaway were indicted for burglariously entering the dwelling house of Mr John Mudge of Stoke Canon and stealing wearing apparel, bacon, tongues, and ham etc. Jonson pleaded guilty and the evidence brought home the charge to his accomplice. Death recorded.” EVEN EARLIER CRIMES? He may have also been the person accused back in 1818 at Exeter: (1) Exeter Flying Post, Thurs 9 July 1818 , p4 The Exeter Quarter Sessions commence, at the Guildhall, on Monday next. The following prisoners are for trial: … “William Westaway for stealing two pillows and a bolster.” (2) Exeter Flying Post, Friday 14 March 1811 page 4 “Exeter, Wednesday March 13 The assizes for the County of Devon ended on Friday last, at the Castle of this city, when the following prisoners were tried and received their sentence: “… William Westaway for stealing 54 lbs of lead, … to be imprisoned twelve months ...” ___________________________________________________________

Level 4

Anne Bothwell on 6th August 2014

Convicted of stealing silver plate. This was a second offence. In Australia he was assigned to Mrs Harper at Maitland, NSW, and on the 1837 NSW Return of Convicts states his age is 35. He obtained a Ticket of Leave 3 June 1840 which allowed him to remain in the district of Maitland and was recommended for a Conditional Pardon in 1844. The New South Wales Government Gazette shows that he received a Second Class Conditional Pardon dated 2 March 1846 and had to pay 5s. 6d. for it. Second Class signified that he was never to return to England. However when he died on July 2nd 1854, his age was stated as 64 and his occupation bricklayer He was buried the next day having served the whole of his life sentence. From Westaway Family Study