John Wright

Level 345

Maureen Withey on 13th August 2022

EXECUTION. At the appointed hour on Tuesday morning, Mr. Hayes the Under Sheriff, (Mr. Fereday, we regret to say, being indisposed) summoned the eight unhappy men condemned to die, from their cell to the fatal scaffold. He found them in earnest preparation, attended by the Reverend Mr. Bedford, whose blessed exertions in their behalf have been unceasing since their sentences were passed ; and the Reverend Mr. Macarthur and the Reverend Mr, Carvosso also kindly lent their aid to administer the comforts of the Gospel at the trying moment. They were altogether in one of the upper rooms, and having had their irons taken off, were brought down one by one that their arms might first be pinioned. we have never before seen men so penitent, so resigned and apparently so contented to die. John Wright was the first that mounted the scaffold. He was a little dark man, 41 years of age. He had been free about twelve months, and had lived chiefly at Launceston, where he was often heard to refer that he was tired of life. Besides the robbery at Mr. Cassidy's there was an indictment against him for stealing 22 sheep from Mr. Bryant, at Jericho. On Saturday, about 10 o'clock at night, his mind being in a dreadful state of agony and distress, he took Mr. Bedford aside, and confessed to him that there were three things, which he could not rest, until he had disclosed. The first was that his cruel and undutiful conduct to his mother had been such as to drive her to such a state of desperation as to make her drown herself. The crime of matricide was therefore on his head, and he had her death to answer for. The second was perpetrated on the coast of France in 1810, when being in a British ship of war which captured a French gun brig, he was among the number sent on board to navigate the prize. During the midnight watch, he seized an opportunity to commit a most appalling murder. He split the master's head open with an axe, threw the body overboard and run the vessel on shore upon the enemy's coast. The third, which oppressed him the most heavily of all was, that he had made three several desperate attempts upon his own life. ... The painful ceremonies being completed, the rope adjusted and the cap drawn over their faces, the Clergymen and Sheriff descended the ladder, the executioner withdrew the bolt, the platform fell and these eight miserable men, in full possession of their facilities, were almost in a moment suspended lifeless corpses from the beam. Hobart Town Gazette, 7 Jul 1827.

Level 338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 2nd July 2021

Alphabetical Registers of Male Convicts. (CON23/1/3) No; 123 Name; John Wright Height; 5 Ft Hair; Brown Eyes; Blue Age; 32 Trade; Seaman Trial; Surry - 14 July 1818 - 7 years Ship; Surry 1819 Native Place; Wiltham ? / Essex

Level 338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 24th June 2021

Burials in the Parish of Hobart in the County of Buckingham in the Year 1827 No; 290 Name; John Wright Abode; Goal When buried; 3 July 1827 Age; No details Ship’s Name; No details Quality or profession. EXECUTED; for Robbery By Whom Ceremony was preformed; W Bedford John Wright - 3 July 1827 - Hanged at Hobart for robbery at Old Beach Tasmania, Australia, Convict Court and Selected Records. John Wright. Ship; Surrey - 1819. Trial; Surry Q. S. 14 July 1818. Sentence; 7 years Certificate; 1825/229 Noted against name [Source; CORE SERIES] EXECUTED;