James (The Younger) Wickham

Level 346

Maureen Withey on 5th July 2026

Absconded. James Wickham, No. 27-1492, Manlius, 26, brickmaker, Sussex, 5 feet 4¼, grey to hazel eyes, brown hair, ruddy comp. man and woman, J W H M, &c. &c. on right arm, Britannia, mermaid, and a great many letters and figures on left, Britannia on breast, from Mr. George Rankin, Bathurst. NSW Govt Gazette, 9 Jan 1833.

Level 346

Maureen Withey on 5th July 2026

On the night of the 13th instant, six geese were stolen from the premises of Mr. Pack, of Little Buckland, near Maidstone. On the Friday following, Cork learned that two men,  James Wickham and Edward Mitchell, were hawking some very fine geese about Chatham for sale. He took them into custody. He ascertained that four had been sold by the prisoners to a woman for 13?. ;—they had also boiled and ate one of the geese, in company with some  girls at a public house. Cork sent to Kipping, who went over to Chatham and taking Wickham's shoes, he  compared them with the footsteps that were found near Mr. Pack's house after the geese had been stolen. The shoes and the steps exactly corresponded. The same steps were also traced to the house of a man named Brown in Upper Stone-street, from whence two rabbits had been stolen. It was afterwards discovered that the prisoners sold two rabbits to a person named Notley, at Rochester, for 2?. each, and the skin of one of those  rabbits proved to have belonged to one of those stolen from Mr. Brown. The prisoners were, on Monday, taken before the Rev. Dr. Joynes and the Rev. Mr. Davis, and were by those Magistrates sent in custody to Maidstone.  About a fortnight ago, Mr. Bidingfield Wise, of Thurnham, lost a fat hog, and Kipping, on information that he had received,  on Tuesday last obtained a warrant for the purpose of searching the house of James Wickham, sen. (father of the prisoner Wickham), on the Loose Road. On telling Wickham the nature of the visit, he denied that there was any pork in the house, and Kipping- searched for a considerable time without finding any. At last he noticed an old fashioned carved dresser, the upper moulding of which appeared to be of an extraordinary depth, and, on striking it with his knuckle, it sounded hollow. On pulling a part away, to expose the interior, some dishes, and two legs of pork in salt, fell to the ground: there was also an ovenslice, that had been stolen from a neighbour's house.   There was also found, - lashed to the head-board of a bed, an umbrella that had been stolen from the shop-door of Mr. Battlett, Week.street, Maidstone. Besides these things, there were found between seven and eight pounds of tobacco, three-fourths of a Derby cheese, and a quantity  of honey and bees-wax. Kipping took custody Wickham and a man named Edward Price, whom he also found in the house.  Price subsequently made a voluntary confession that he, young Wickham, and Mitchell, with the old man's knowledge, went to Mr Wise's premises about two o'clock of the morning of the 8th December, and took the hog into a lodge, where they stifled it with brimstone, and then conveyed it to old Wickham's house: the legs of pork found in the dresser were part of the hog. He said the entrails were thrown down the privy, and they were subsequently found by Kipping. Price also confessed the commission of many other depredations--some of them in Sussex. On Wednesday all the prisoners were taken before Jos. Jacobson, Esq., and James Wickham, the younger, and Mitchell, were committed for stealing the hog, and James Wickham, sen., for receiving it, knowing it to have been stolen.—Maidstone Gazette. Morning Herald, 28 Dec 1826  James Wickham, 20, and Richard Mitchell, 19, for stealing, a hog, the property of Bidingfield Wise, at Thurnham ; and James Wickham, 46, for receiving the same knowing it to have been stolen. Verdict, Guilty—James Wickham, the younger and Mitchell, DEATH Recorded; Wickham the elder, Fourteen Years' Transportation. Kent Herald, 11 Jan 1827.  At the Maidstone Winter Assizes, James Wickham the elder, and James Wickham, the younger, his son, were convicted, the latter of stealing, and the former of receiving, knowing to be stolen, a hog, the property of Mr. B. Wise. Sentence of death was recorded against the son, and he was subsequently ordered to be transported for life; the father was sentenced to  to fourteen years transportation. It having since found that the  witnesses were mistaken in swearing to the identity of the prisoners, who were at another place, a considerable distance off, when the robbery was committed; and application having in consequence been made to the Secretary of State for Home Department, the father, who was on board the hulks at Sheerness,  was brought from thence on Wednesday to Maidstone, and immediately discharged. Unfortunately the son had been shipped off for New South Wales, but immediate steps have been taken for his return home. Kent Herald, 14 June 1827. ------------------------ An Earlier offence. Maidstone Sessions  James Wickham was convicted of assaulting John Tarmer, on 7th of January.—One month's imprisonment, Mary Wickham, sister of James, was convicted of an assault on the same day, on Ann Edwards, and received a similar sentence, Kent Herald, 20 Jan 1825.