Showing posts with label Bates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bates. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Thomas Bates b1766
THOMAS BATES - From common thief to an honest industrious character.
I wonder how Thomas felt, standing in the dock, when he was sentenced to Death at the Old Bailey. A common enough sentence in those days. Fortunately, transportation was
often used as an alternative to hanging or imprisonment for criminals in
England. From 1787-1868, criminals from the United Kingdom were
transported to the British colonies in Australia as the American War of
Independence had made it impossible to continue to send them to
America. Thomas Bates was one of them.
I am quite lucky that we know a lot about Thomas after he was
transported to the Colony. Several documents exist, and they paint a
story of survival, and the beginings of the colony. The Clark branch of
my family centred around the Parramatta & Auburn areas of NSW, and
Thomas owned land in what is now Auburn. He is just one of the several
people in the family that appear to have been on the wrong side of the
law. Fortunately, Thomas seems to have become an upright person in
society (with one significant slip up!) and future generations did the
same.
His Beginnings
Thomas Bates was the son of John Bates and Elizabeth Wood who married on 28th February, 1746 at All Saints Church, Canterbury, England. The family lived in the
London area, which is where most of their children were born.
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All Saints church
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Thomas was born on 14th August, 1766 in London, and baptised at Saint Luke Old Street Church, Finsbury, London in September the same year.
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St Luke Old Street church
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The Old Baily and Transportation
This is all I know of him until he was committed for Trial in 1796 at the Old Bailey for stealing clothing and cloth.
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Old Bailey C1808
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As often was the case, the sentence of death was commuted to
Transportation, and records show Thomas Bates was on a hulk until it
was carried out, although no hulk record has been found so far. Convicted
criminals like Bates, who were sentenced to transportation, were
punished with imprisonment in prison hulks to work at hard labour prior
to their transportation. Life in prison hulks was hard, and death
rates were high.
Thomas was transported in 1798 on "The Hillsborough" The
death rate on the journey of the Hillsborough was one of the highest of
any convict ship, 95 of the 300 convicts died on the journey, and many
more were ill when they arrived in Sydney in 1799.
When he arrived in Sydney, the Governor was John Hunter. Hunter was a
naval officer and was recalled to England just after, in 1800.
Hunter handed over to Lieutenant-Governor Philip Gidley King, who
established Australia's first welfare institution (Female Orphan School)
in 1801. The school housed abandoned and orphaned children who were
supposed to be educated, but were often put to work as servants and
making clothing.
Life in Australia
Thomas Bates' early life in NSW, Australia
as a convict was quite successful, he became a land and livestock owner
and farmer and was given conditional emancipation in 1803 and a pardon in 1804.
Thomas Bates was one of the first people who owned land in what is
now the Centre of Auburn. An Heritage Study into the history of Auburn gave me quite a lot of information about where Thomas had his land.
Thomas married Mary Ann Katesby on 6th February, 1804 at St Johns Anglican Church, Parramatta, NSW, Australia.
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St Johns Parramatta
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Mary was also a convict, transported on the Earl Cornwallis in 1798 she had previously married a convict, John Johnson in 1802, but he died the next year in 1803. They had one child, Mary Ann Johnson.
In April 1809, Lachlan Macquarie was appointed Governor of New South
Wales. Macquarie was Australia's longest serving governor, and led the
penal colony to a free settlement through policies of economic and
social development. He is also remembered, however, for mistreatment
of the aboriginal population.
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Gov Macquarie
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In the early years of their marriage, Thomas became a constable in Parramatta. The
family had 4 children (Margaret, John, James and Elizabeth) and owned
50 acres in what was then Greater Parramatta. There are several reports
of a Thomas Bates being a road repairer in Parramatta, as well as being
granted a publican licence in Parramatta, but it is difficult to
confirm the latter is the right Thomas Bates.
In 1815, we do know that Thomas apprehended the bushranger, John Fitzgerald at
Concord, and he was given 10 pounds reward. Fitzgerald was infamous
for his exploits in the Hunter region and for escaping from gaol on
several occasions, he died in notorious circumstances.
An insight into Thomas Bates can be found from a 'memorial' letter he wrote to Gov. Macquarie in 1820, where he describes himself as being of honest, industrious character.
The family were still landholders in Parramatta in 1822 when Thomas and his wife were charged with assaulting Maria Haslem
(Maria & her husband appear to have owned land near to the Bates').
He fell from grace, and was dismissed from his position as
Constable. However, the situation is unclear, as he is still listed as a
constable in 1823 & 1825, and still on the Colonial Secretary papers, being paid as a Constable in Parramatta.
What else is known?
That is the last we know, with any certainty, of Thomas Bates. There is family information that he was involved int he uprising of Vinegar Hill and that he was buried at the Devonshire Street Cemetery. The Devonshire Street Cemetery was eventually closed and the graves exhumed and moved to other cemeteries to make way for the Construction of Central Station in Sydney.
"Thomas Bates (1825)". Thomas was buried in the Church of England section. His remains were re-interred in Bunnerong Cemetery (Botany), Church of England Section 4S, plot 102. Johnson & Sainty transcribed the headstones back in 1969-1970. Gravestone Inscriptions NSW Volume 1, Sydney Burial Ground by K.A. Johnson and M.R. Sainty.
His wife, Mary Ann Bates is in the 1828 census, living in the household of John Thompson (her son in law), she is listed as Widow by this time, she died in December the same year.
More Information? If you are researching Thomas Bates and would like the sources for this story, please contact me or comment below. I would be happy to collaborate with you.
The trial of Thomas Bates at the Old Bailey
I am lucky that the whole trial [3] of Thomas Bates at the old baily is online and quite easy to read (see below - note that often f is used instead of s).
He was accused of stealing cloth and clothing from the house (and workplace) of one Jonathan Hewitt, a tenant in Ratcliffe Court, St Lukes parish, London. Jonathan Hewitt was a ribbon weaver. The robbery was committed by Thomas Bates and John Everitt, who worked together. John Everitt told the court it had been Thomas Bates idea, and he had been bullied into carrying the robbery out. He said that a man called Benjamin Goddard had paid 3 guineas to Bates, and he and been paid a guinea from it. Much was made at the trial about Bates changing a guinea with the owner of a public house next to where the robbery took place. Thomas said the guinea was Everitt's wages, and pleaded that if he had committed the robbery where was the money for the goods? He had only been found with a few shillings. Another lodger in the same house as the robbery, testified that she had seen 2 men, one tall, on the night, one with a blue coat. Everitt had a blue coat. .
John Everitt does not appear to have been charged and tried, but he does appear in other trials as a witness for the prosecution.
The trial was also reported in the London Gazette of January 14th 1797 as follows:
Yesterday 12 prisoners were tryed at the Old Baley, two of whom were capitally covicted, viz. Tate Cohert, for burglariously breaking open the house of Henry Moses, and stealing a woman's shoe; and Thomas Bates, for felonious stealing in the house of Jonathan Hewitt four cloth coats etc value 40s and upwards. Four were convicted of felony, and six acquitted.
Back to the main story of Thomas Bates
He was accused of stealing cloth and clothing from the house (and workplace) of one Jonathan Hewitt, a tenant in Ratcliffe Court, St Lukes parish, London. Jonathan Hewitt was a ribbon weaver. The robbery was committed by Thomas Bates and John Everitt, who worked together. John Everitt told the court it had been Thomas Bates idea, and he had been bullied into carrying the robbery out. He said that a man called Benjamin Goddard had paid 3 guineas to Bates, and he and been paid a guinea from it. Much was made at the trial about Bates changing a guinea with the owner of a public house next to where the robbery took place. Thomas said the guinea was Everitt's wages, and pleaded that if he had committed the robbery where was the money for the goods? He had only been found with a few shillings. Another lodger in the same house as the robbery, testified that she had seen 2 men, one tall, on the night, one with a blue coat. Everitt had a blue coat. .
John Everitt does not appear to have been charged and tried, but he does appear in other trials as a witness for the prosecution.
Yesterday 12 prisoners were tryed at the Old Baley, two of whom were capitally covicted, viz. Tate Cohert, for burglariously breaking open the house of Henry Moses, and stealing a woman's shoe; and Thomas Bates, for felonious stealing in the house of Jonathan Hewitt four cloth coats etc value 40s and upwards. Four were convicted of felony, and six acquitted.
Back to the main story of Thomas Bates
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