Thomas Breckenridge

By Carol Titmus

My search for my ancestors took a very interesting turn when I discovered that my great-great-great-grandmother’s surname was Breckenridge, and, searching the local Westbury records, I further discovered a death of Thomas Breckenridge, who was her father.

In an effort to establish his arrival in the colony, I searched the convict records, which revealed he arrived in the colony aboard the convict ship Eden, with 279 other felons on 23 March 1836.  His records indicated that he had been sentenced to life for the culpable homicide of his mother!  You can imagine, then, that I felt compelled to find out more about this man.  The librarian at the Scotsman newspaper office in Scotland very kindly sent me a copy of the report of proceedings that appeared in the Scotsman on 19 March 1836:

Thomas Breckenridge, smith, was charged with culpable homicide in having on the 30th January last, assaulted his mother in a house in Duncan Street and, by squeezing her, fractured nine of her ribs, in consequence of which she died.  The prisoner pleaded not guilty.  It appeared from the evidence that the deceased, an old woman of 84, had left the house of the prisoner, and gone to reside with her granddaughter in Duncan Street, and that the prisoner on the evening of that day, came to the house and attempted to take her back to his house by force, and, for that purpose took her up in his arms to carry her off; and she resisting, they had a struggle on the floor, but some of the neighbours interfering, he desisted, and left the house.  The deceased was much agitated, and was unable to sit upright, and after continuing in that state for two days, she died.  His employers, called in exculpation, gave the prisoner an excellent character for sobriety, steadiness and personable behaviour.

The jury after retiring for a short time, returned a verdict unanimously finding the panel guilty of culpable homicide, but strongly recommending him to the leniency of the court.

He was then sentenced to transportation for life, their lordships at the same time commenting in strong terms on the very heinous nature of the case, and stating that they could not see the grounds on which the jury had recommended the prisoner to mercy.

Application to the Scottish Records Department produced a photocopy of the trial proceedings and evidence given at the trial.  The many pages make very interesting reading, and give a comprehensive background and make-up of family members.  William Inglis (one of the neighbours) stated that he spoke with Thomas’ mother, Jean, and asked her if her son had hurt her, and:

particularly if he had struck her when she said that she was hurt. “He did not strike me but he has crushed me all”, and the declarant having asked her if she thought she was dying and if she blamed her son as the cause of her death, she answered “yes” – that she said he had been a dutiful son once but that he had turned his back upon her and she blamed his wife as the cause.  Then immediately after her death, a report went abroad and is currently believed that she met with her death at the hands of her son all which she declared to be truth.

As part of his defence, Thomas Breckenridge presented a petition to the court signed by 125 persons attesting to his good character.  This is noted on his convict record.

Thomas later had to petition the court following his mother’s death to retrieve her body from the house in which she had died, in order that he could bury her, his brother-in-law having refused to give up the body.

Thomas was sentenced to life transportation, and was detained in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh until he set sail aboard the Eden.  A skilled craftsman, described as a blacksmith, coach and springmaker, his skills would have been much sought after in the colony, and he was sent to work on the property Silwood between Westbury and Deloraine, owned by Mr Ashburner.

In 1839, he made application for his second wife, Grace, and three children to come to Tasmania.  Mr Ashburner undertook to support Thomas’ wife and family, but there is no evidence that this family ever emigrated.

However, his two daughters by his first marriage did come here.  The elder, Ann, married a convict, Thomas Lovatt (also assigned to Ashburner’s estate), and they sponsored Marrion, and her son, James Lowe, to come to the colony in 1855.

Thomas Breckenridge received a conditional pardon on 5 October 1847, and died at the age of seventy-eight in 1857.  Although not a notable man himself, he was part of an unusual story which brought him to Tasmania and which was later written about in an anthology of interesting convict stories.  Throughout his years in the colony, he kept a low profile and always remained a man of good character.

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.