Boozy Bill
By Rosemary Davenport
TFHS Inc. Member No. 870
My entry in the GRD for the Piesse name was the beginning of a wonderful friendship with a previously unknown lady in England.1 Her second letter began ...
Dear 4th Cousin
I'm trying to control the euphoria and general hysteria created by the arrival of your letter this morning, but bear with me if I become incoherent. Its not every day one's ancestors are taken back two further generations, to say nothing of all the other information which accounts for the wild whoops emanating from a Hastings bungalow in the sole occupancy of a more than middle-aged, apparently sane, spinster lady. (I don't think the neighbours heard me.)
Unfortunately I didn't keep copies of my early replies but blue airmail envelopes flew back and forth, thick and fast, in which we discussed our illustrious ancestors-and pets, the weather, current relatives and family. I had 'done' my family tree until this correspondence started but she soon had me checking and rechecking. I remember casually mentioning the Wayn Index in the Archives Office of Tasmania, which has a card recording a convict with the name of William Piesse.
I'm sure all this excitement can't be good for me, and it's playing hell with the housework ... but we must get our priorities right, mustn't we?
Convict William:Don't just sit there! ... find out where he came from in England and what he'd done? I just knewwe had to have one ... has to be one of us with that name.
William Piesse, convict number 261, arrived on the Morleyin 1823. He was tried 17 April 1822 at London Goal Delivery and sentenced to life.2 Charged with forgery, it was not his first conviction, having received an earlier sentence of seven years for stealing. His parents lived in London, his father being Francis Piesse, Steward, or butler, to General Henry Pigot. William's conduct record from 7 August 1824 until 29 October 1832, frequently refers to drunkenness-hence 'Boozy Bill', who soon became our most interesting ancestor, although sometimes referred to more kindly as 'dear William'.
So who was this convict and where does he fit in to our very up-market family who were descended from European nobility? There were famous perfumiers and public analysts; a War Office bigwig; a Commissary General of Malta; an explorer who galloped off from Adelaide on expeditions with Charles Sturt and later became a tea merchant in India; the first Colonial Secretary to Western Australia; politicians, solicitors and surgeons, not forgetting the rather bad poet who was forced to leave New Zealand in a hurry. We don't really count the nymphomaniac as she only married into this mostly fine and upstanding family.
Over the next few years, although we uncovered some very confusing material along the way, we were able to piece together some of William's story. Of course this was not his real name but one of several, which caused many problems.
'William' was born 10 February 1786, presumably in Dublin, where his father was working for General Pigot and baptised seven years later in 1793, as Henry Francis Piesse.3 4 By the time we next hear of him he is already 31 years of age and principal clerk in the Navy Pay Office at Portsmouth. But it is not good news. He has 'absconded', charged with having a sum of public money in his possession. Not only has he absconded but taken flight to Dover and thence across the Channel to Calais and on to Paris with Officer Bishop of the Bow Street Runners in hot pursuit. With the 'interference' of Lord Castlereagh and the cooperation of the French Police he was recaptured and escorted back to Portsmouth to await trial at Winchester.5 What had he been doing until this time? How long had he spent in the Pay Office? Had he been fiddling the books for years or was this the result of a one off transgression?
Francis Piesse, alias Francis Henry Parsons was tried and sentenced to seven years transportation on 7 March 1818 for 'stealing diverse pieces of money to the value of £388.4s.lld.and placed on the hulk Yorkat Portsmouth. 6 7 George IV, for reasons unbeknown to us, decided to extend his Royal Mercy and granted Free Pardons to Piesse and several of his companions in 1821.8
At least this had all been as a result of attempting to secure a reasonable sum of money. The following year, nothing daunted, William again unsuccessfully attempted to line his own pockets by passing forged bank drafts in London while impersonating a sea captain purchasing goods for his ship. He had walked out of one shop with the sum of £1.7.0. and soon found himself sentenced to death, later commuted to Life.9
In 1823 William arrived in Hobart Town, having left his father and mother Hannah, a sister, two brothers and extended family in London. He is described as age 36 with dark brown hair and dark grey eyes. Only 5'2½" tall, he had scars on his chin and small dots on his left arm.10
His skill as a clerk no doubt assured him of a good position in the public works and he was assigned to the Lumber Yard as a clerk.11 In August 1824, he was reported for the first recorded time for drunkenness and returned to the Public Works. By 1826, he had been assigned to Maria Island as a clerk to the Commandant, Major Thomas Daunt Lord, who replaced Peter Murdoch in July 1825.12 He may have been there earlier as in a letter to J. Burnett requesting the favourable consideration of his Excellency the Governor towards the Memorial of William Piesse Lord states 'who has been acting as Clerk to the Commandant ever since the formation of the Settlement'.13
Thomas James Lempriere was appointed to the Commissariat Department and arrived on Maria Island in 1826. In his diary, Lempriere mentions his own garden in which he is growing tobacco and refers to William as 'Mr' Piesse.14 It appears that William had his own cottage and like many on the island, kept native birds in a cage.
However, in August 1828, William was in Hobart Town with samples of tobacco he had cultivated and prepared on Maria Island that 'is much admired' by the proprietors of two local newspapers.15 A month later his conduct record states that he absconded from the Prison Barracks and was apprehended in Mr Buchanans at Kangaroo Point (the Golden Fleece?) and was to be sent to the treadmill for fourteen days.
Miss Wayn noted in her index that Piesse had premises on the wharf in 1827 but this seems to refer to goods and or packages that had arrived for H. Piesse per the Hopein January from Portsmouth16 17 Presumably this would be something from his family in England. It was only three months later that the Hopewent aground between the Iron Pot and Betsy Island on a voyage from Sydney to the Derwent.18
In July 1829, while still a clerk in the Public Works, he was found in the St Patrick public house (Harrington Street) and 'getting leave to stay there under false pretences'. The following year, again in August, he was returned to the service of the Inspector of Roads, Mr Roderic O'Connor, as his clerk and it was recommended that the Prison Superintendent should not allow Piesse to be at large in the Town after office hours.
Obviously he had a problem with the drink! He was reported again for being out after hours, drunk in the Prison Barracks and found in Jeffries public house over the next few years.19
I found his burial recorded on 23 March 1833, by Rev. Wm Bedford. Under abode it states 'from Hospital' but it was not until some time later that I was able to send the following newspaper reports to my friend in England.
An inquest was held on Thursday on the body of an unfortunate man named Piesse, formerly employed as a copying clerk in the Inspector of Roads' office, but latterly enjoying a ticket of leave. His body was found below high-water mark on the beach of the Derwent, a little above the Government Garden, in a sitting posture, with all his clothes on except his hat which was lying on the bank. Though he had been missing only one day, the fishes had completely eaten away the flesh of one of his sides, and numerous muscles [sic] had fixed themselves in the folds of his garments. On the Saturday previous he had made a large purchase of furniture and other goods at one of the auctions. He was respectably connected, and was a man of some education. Previous to his being sent out here, he had been employed as a clerk in the Navy Pay office, and while at Maria Island his conduct as clerk to the Commandant was generally commendable. During the intervals of his duty there, he had contrived by industry to cultivate a small patch of ground with the tobacco plant, which he brought to great perfection, and we remember on his first coming up, his leaving some very good specimens of his manufacture at our office.20
On Thursday last, a Coroner's Inquest was held on the body of a man named Pierce, [sic] who previously to his obtaining his ticket of leave, was employed in the office of the Inspector of Roads; ever since Pierce obtained his last indulgence, he has addicted himself to drink, and the numerous warnings given him by his former master, appeared to him nothing in comparison to the delights of intoxication . . . soon after his arrival in this Colony, he was sent to Maria Island, where his conduct was exemplary in the extreme; on a small patch of ground, he cultivated the tobacco plant, and we believe him to be one of the very first individuals who brought that plant to perfection in this Colony It is not known whether Pierce met his death accidentally, or otherwise.21
The Colonist and Independent included the comments that
The unfortunate man, although in bondage, was respectably connected, and a man of some education .... We understand, that some doubts are entertained as to how he came by his death.22
A mysterious death indeed. Did fellow inebriates find him, haul him out of the water and leave him in a sitting position? Or was he found by a convict who didn't wish to get involved? Could he have been left to drown by person or persons unknown who were later filled with remorse and hauled him out to be found by others? The fact that he had bought several pieces of furniture at auction the previous Saturday also had me puzzled but surely he would have been aware that Henry James Marsh, his sister-in-law's brother, someone he had known in London, was due to arrive on the Henry Porcher.The Marsh family duly arrived on 24 April 1833,barely a month later.23 Was William preparing for their arrival?
On 8 November 1833 there was an unclaimed letter at the GPO for Mr Piesse.24 Who was it from? What could it have revealed?
My great great grandfather, Frederick Henry Piesse, arrived free per the Derwenton 17 November 1841at the age of 19.25 Did any of the good citizens of Hobart Town enquire if he was related to the late William Piesse?
1 Johnson and Sainty, Genealogical Research Directory,1985.
2 CON 31/34.
3 CSO 1295/7161.
4 Baptism, St Georges, Hanover Square, London.
5 The Times I5 December 1817; Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 22 December 1817 and FO27/165.
6 PRO PCOM2/418.
7 PRO HO 11/5.
8 PRO HO 13/37.
9 Old Bailey papers 1822, pages 268 and 269.
10 CON 23/3, CSO 1295/7161.
11 CON 13/2 page 64.
12 HO 10/46.
13 CSO l/198/4717pages 152-154. The settlement was established in March 1825.
14 Original held in Tasmaniana Library.
15 The Tasmanian,8 August 1828 and The Hobart Town Courier, 9 August 1828.
16 Archives Office of Tasmania.
17 Colonial Times,26 March 1833.
18 The Colonist,29 March 1833 and The Independent, 6 April 1833.
20 The Courier,26 April 1833.
21 Hobart Town Gazette,8 November 1833. 97MB 2/39/6 page 95.
22 The Hobart Town Gazette,Shipping Intelligence, 3 February 1827.
23 Harry O'May, Wrecks in Tasmanian Waters.
24 CON 31/34.
25 The Hobart Town Chronicle,26 March 1833.
This story was originally published in 2001 by the Tasmanian Family History Society Inc in My Most Interesting Ancestor.
The original introduction to this publication may be found here.