Thomas Denham ( circa 1812 - 1866) A Lancashire Lad
By Lyn Staite
Thomas Denham was tried in Lancaster, Lancashire, on 19 October 1831, for stealing a watch and money. [1] He had two convictions for larceny, and was under sentence of seven years for each, hence his sentence of transportation for fourteen years. [2] His behaviour, when on the prison hulk, was described as 'orderly'. [3] Twenty-years-old and single, Thomas was a labourer by occupation. He stood 5'5½" tall. His head was small, his visage long, and his forehead medium-high. He had a long nose, a medium-wide mouth, and a small chin. His complexion was sallow, his eyes dark grey, and his hair and eyebrows were dark brown. He had no whiskers. [4]
Transported on the Katherine Stewart Forbes, Thomas Denham arrived in Van Diemen's Land on 16 July 1832. [5] The following eleven and a half years of his life of servitude as a convict were punctuated with punishments, mainly for minor offences.
On 12 July 1833, he was sentenced to labour on the treadwheel for fourteen days for being found in a public place after hours. On 15 December 1834, he was reprimanded for being drunk. On 24 August 1835, he received twenty-five lashes for being absent from his station. On 3 February 1836, he was found in Murray Street at about 12.15am. For this offence, he was sentenced to ten days on the treadwheel, but this sentence was not to be executed until further orders were received: Thomas seems to have escaped punishment-this time. He was reprimanded for neglect of duty on 23 March 1836. [6]
On 30 September 1836, Thomas applied for permission to marry Hannah Matthews, [7] the forty-one-year-old widow of Robert Matthews, and already the mother of six daughters. [8] Thomas was then aged about twenty-four years. On 23 November 1836, Thomas and Hannah-for some reason, she gave the alias 'Henrietta Mather'-were married in St George's Church at Sorell, with the permission of the Lieutenant-Governor. [9] The witnesses to the marriage were William Smith of 'the Carlton', and Elizabeth Willis of Sorell. William Smith was the husband of Hannah's eldest daughter, Margaret; they were married in Hobart on 14 April 1834. [10]
It is probable that Thomas was not burdened with his wife's unmarried daughters. Hannah and Elizabeth remained in the Queen's Orphanage at New Town until December 1838, when they were discharged 'to their sisters Mrs McArthur and Smith'. [11] On 11 December 1837, Jane married John Scott McArthur, [12] captain of a whaling ship. [13] Elizabeth probably went to live with them, [14] and, on 2 February 1848, she, too, married a mariner-widower James William McClymont. [15] Hannah lived at 'the Carlton' in the household of her sister, Margaret (Smith), and, on 8 August 1842, at the age of seventeen, she married twenty-two-year-old farmer, William Cooper, [16] the owner of Margaret and William's stone dwelling. [17] Hannah's other two daughters-Sarah Elizabeth and Charlotte Eleanor-might or might not have survived.
Orphanage records reveal that, after the admission of two of her daughters, Hannah married Thomas Denham and they were 'living with Captain Glover [of] Pittwater'. [18] Glover had a property named Horsecroftat Pawleena. [19]
As the birth of Mary Maria, the first daughter of Thomas and Hannah Denham, was not registered, and she does not seem to have been baptised, it is impossible to ascertain her date of birth. When Mary Denham married twenty-two-year-old Thomas Free, on 31 March 1854, she claimed to be nineteen years of age: if so, she would have been born prior to her parents' marriage. [20] When her death was registered in November 1895, her age was given as fifty-eight: this suggests she was born in 1837. [21]
Marriage did not immediately 'reform' Thomas Denham. On 17 February 1837, he stole a £1 note and was committed for trial. He was 'to be returned to his service otherwise Green Ponds'. On 16 May 1837 or 1838, he spent four days in a solitary cell-for insolence. He was given a ticket-of-leave on 4 January 1839. By 31 March 1840, he was in trouble again: this time he was guilty of misconduct for being in a public house after hours, an offence that earned him a week on the treadwheel. On 9 April 1840, his latest misconduct was being in a public house dancing with a common prostitute. For this, he was kept to hard labour on theroads for six months in the New Norfolk Bridge Party; his ticket-of-leave was suspended during that time. [22] One wonders how his wife and child fared during these difficult times.
On 15 March 1843, Thomas was recommended to the Queen for a conditional pardon. In January 1845, he received Free Certificate No. 927. [23] There are no further entries in Thomas Denham's convict conduct record.
Thomas and Hannah were living at 41 Brisbane Street, Hobart, in September 1844. [24] On 25 January 1846, Hannah became the mother of another daughter. By then, Hannah was almost fifty-one years old! Thomas Denham, drayman of Bathurst Street, Hobart, registered the birth of this baby on 5 February. [25] Her name and fate are unknown. Thomas gave her mother's name as 'Anna Denham, formerly Hedge', thus illustrating his regional English use of aitches. As only his signature appears to be in his own handwriting, it is not certain where he would have written the aitches-he probably wrote as he spoke.
Hannah Denham died of breast cancer on 14 July 1861, aged sixty-five. [26] Thomas, then a labourer, was the informant. As both had been living in George Street at the time, it seems that Hannah was not deserted in her illness. By this time, Thomas would have been aged about forty-nine. Some twenty-five years later, on8 December 1886, Thomas 'Denholm', a labourer, died at the New Town Pauper Establishment, aged seventy-three. [27] He was buried in a pauper's grave at Cornelian Bay Cemetery. [28]
Thomas and Hannah's daughter, Mary Maria (née Denham) Free, gave birth to Jane (1855), Rosetta (1857), Thomas William (1859), Edward (1860), John (1862), Charlotte Emeline (1864), Edward (1866), Sophie Anne (1868), Milford (1870), Milford Almer (1872), Mary Ann Alice (1874), George Benjamin Joseph (1877) and Benjamin Oscar (1883). Some of these children died young; at least five of them married. On 24 November 1895, Mary Maria Free, aged fifty-eight, died of 'General Paralysis of the Insane' in the hospital at New Norfolk. [29] Her husband, Thomas Free, died in the district of Clarence on 26 January 1896, aged sixty-three. [30]
[1] AJCP, HO 26/41, Reel No. 2782, p.449: Criminalregisters, series I, offenders for Lancaster.
[2] AOT, CON 31/10, Convict conduct record.
[3] AOT, CON 31/10. [Please note that some details in this record were difficult or impossible to read.]
[4] AOT, CON 18/10,Convict description list.
[5] AOT, CON 31/10.
[6] AOT, CON 31/10.
[7] AOT, CON 52/1, p.34, Applications for permission to marry.
[8] See article on Robert Matthews in this book.
[9] AOT, RGD 36/3 1836 (Sorell) No. 3544; AOT, NS 432/1, St George's Church, Sorell, 23 November 1836, p.36, No. 150.
[10] AOT, RGD 36/2 1834 (Hobart) No. 2472; AOT, NS 349/9, 'The new church' [Holy Trinity], Hobart, 31 April 1834, p.10, No. 37. Margaret was married as 'Margaret Catherine Matthews'-she signed her mark.
[11] AOT, SWD 28/1, p.6.
[12] AOT, RGD 36/3 1837 (Hobart) No. 3755; AOT, NS 349/9, Holy Trinity, Hobart, 11 December 1837, p.99, No. 395. Jane's surname was spelled 'Matthew' and signed 'Matthews'.
[13] W. Lawson and The Shiplovers' Society of Tasmania, Bluegum clippers and whale ships of Tasmania, printed by the Book Printer, Maryborough, Victoria for D. & L. Book Distributors, Launceston, Tasmania, facsimile copy 1986 (1949), pp.52-53, 55-56, 70-71, 80, 116a.
[14] AOT, CEN 1/141, pp.235-236: 1842 Richmond parish, No. 12, Return 34, records a female born in the colony, aged between 14 and 21 years, living in the household of William Smith. This would have been Hannah because she married the owner of that house. Hannah's marriage was witnessed by William Smith, husband to her sister Margaret, and William's sister Elizabeth (Morris), their neighbour at the Carlton. Elizabeth Matthews, therefore, would have been the sister who was discharged to her sister, Mrs McArthur. Perhaps she was able to assist Jane with her children.
[15] AOT, RGD 37/7 1848 (Hobart) No. 1543; AOT, NS 349/12, Holy Trinity, 2 February 1848, No. 49. Elizabeth was married as 'Elizabeth Eliza Matthews' but signed her surname with only one 't'.
[16] AOT, RGD 37/2 1842 (Hobart) No. 1712; AOT, NS 432/5, St George's Church, Sorell, 8 August 1842, p.17, No. 50. Hannah signed her name with only one 't'.
[17] AOT, CEN 1/141, p.235.
[18] AOT, CSO 5/93/2074, pp.60-61, Nos. 317, 318.
[19] AOT, CEN 1/40, pp.217-218: 1842, Richmond parish, No. 9, Return 76.At the time of the census Hannah and Thomas Denham would not have been living in the household of William Henry Glover as no married couples (and no females other than a visiting mother) were recorded as living there.
[20] AOT, RGD 37/13 1854 Hobart No. 815; AOT, NS 499/172, Wesleyan Chapel, Melville St, 31 March 1854, No. 161. Mary's surname was indexed in the Tasmanian Pioneers Index as 'Dinham' but appears to be 'Denham', particularly in the original church record. She signed her mark.
[21] AOT, RGD 35/64 1895 New Norfolk No. 527.
[22] AOT, CON 31/10.
[23] AOT, CON 31/10; Hobart Town Gazette, 14 January 1845, p.54.
[24] AOT, RGD 33/2 1844 Hobart No. 492. Thomas was informant at the registration of the birth of a daughter of Margaret and William Smith. Thomas identified himself as the 'father-in-law' when he was the mother's step father-in-law and the baby's step-grandfather. Thomas and William were close in age and, at times, both were draymen.
[25] AOT, RGD 33/1 1846 Hobart No. 1472.
[26] AOT, RGD 35/6 1861 Hobart No. 2860. Cause of death: 'Carcinoma Mammae'.
[27] AOT, RGD 35/11 1886 Hobart No. 334. Cause of death: 'Senilis'.
[28] Southern Regional Cemetery Trust: http://mail.srct.com.au/search_details.asp?RecordID=6014
[29] AOT, RGD 35/64 1895 New Norfolk No. 524.
[30] AOT, RGD 35/65 1896 Clarence No. 74. Thomas Free, born Rokeby, a wood-carter, died of heart disease and dropsy. Informant was his son, William Free, of Bellerive.
This story was originally published in 2004 by the Writers Group of the Hobart Branch of the TFHS Inc. in the publication PROS and Cons of Transportation A collection of convict stories.
Not only does this publication celebrate the cessation of transportation of convicts to Van Diemens Land, it also celebrates the work of the Family History Writers Group. This group was formed in 2003 to assist members who wanted to write their family histories. The monthly meetings stimulated great interest and enthusiasm.
The original introduction may be found here.