Convict Histories

Simon Staines (c1821 – ?) (Reg. No. 2750)

By Irma Walter, 2021.

Simon Staines was convicted of larceny on 20 March 1850. It was reported that Simon Staines (27) and John Brown (22) were charged with stealing a coat which was displayed in the doorway of tailor Joel Smart of the Petty Cury, a street in Cambridge. Brown denied that he had taken part in the robbery and claimed that he had only tried to pawn the coat on Staines’ behalf. Staines swore that Brown’s statement was true. As a result Brown’s charge was dismissed, while Staines admitted a previous conviction at Hertford and was sentenced to ten years’ transportation.[1] He was transferred to Millbank Prison on 27 April 1850.[2]

He arrived in Western Australia on the Sea Park on 5 May 1854 and was described as single, 5’10½”, with light brown hair, a long face, fresh complexion, was middling stout and had three moles on his neck.[3]

Staines was issued with his ticket-of-leave on 5 April 1854.[4] It is not known where he was employed over the next few years. He received his Conditional Pardon on 18 August 1857.[5]

On 13 July 1858 Simon Staines was contracted by Marshall Waller Clifton of Australind to work at his Eastwell farm for one month for £1 and rations. On 24 August it was agreed that he should work under [John] Lyons as a shepherd up until 30 September at £20 per annum for the first year and £24 thereafter. By 9 November that year Staines had Igglesdon [Edward Eggleston] working beneath him. Clifton had disagreements with Staines in May and June of 1859. Their final falling out was over the disastrous news that many of Clifton’s sheep had died, perhaps from eating poisonous plants, which Clifton chose to deny in a letter to the Perth Gazette, claiming that the loss of 160 young lambs was more likely to have been from eating rank pasture following heavy rains.[6] On 10 October 1859 Clifton wrote that he had settled with Staines, ‘he leaving me in my debt’.[7]

In 1875 Simon Staines and James Ritchie were accused of stealing six sides of bacon, the property of Robert Piggott of Bunbury, on 30 June. Bunbury storekeepers Ephraim Clarke and John Buchanan said that they had purchased some of the meat from Ritchie, not knowing it was stolen. Clarke said that he had known Staines for about 15 years, he being a shepherd for Robert Clifton. The two accused lived together and more of the meat was found at their house. They were both found guilty, with Ritchie being sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and Staines, due to his previous good character, received a lighter sentence of 12 months.[8] The prisoner Staines produced testimonials of over 20 years’ good behaviour.[9]

Rica Erickson offers a few more details

STAINES. Simon, b. 1821 (expiree). Arr. 11.7.1857 per Clara. Departed for Mauritius on 8.12.1862. Employed 2 T/L men at Australind in 1870. During 1880s made several voyages between Fremantle and King George’s Sound.[10]

There is no record of Simon Staines’ death in WA.

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[1] Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, 30 March 1850.

[2] Cambridge Independent Press, 27 April 1850.

[3]Convict Ships to WA, at members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/conwad12.htm

[4] Fremantle Prison Convict Database, at https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/history/convict-database/

[5] Ibid.

[6] Perth Gazette, 14 October 1859.

[7] P Barnes, JM Cameron, HA Willis, The Australind Journals of Marshall Waller Clifton 1840-1861, Hesperian Press, Carlyle, WA, 2010.

[8] WA Times, 27 July 1875.

[9] Convict Establishment, Miscellaneous, Record of Court Cases 1861-1914, (V23), ancestry.com.au

[10] Rica Erickson, Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, p.2920.