Convict Histories

John Simpson (1832 – 1901) (Reg. No. 1624)

By Irma Walter and Rodney Dilley, 2021.

John Simpson was born c1832 in Staffordshire to Enoch Simpson and his wife Ann Doorbar. He was baptised on 2 May 1833 at Burslem, Staffordshire.[1] At the time of the 1841 Census the family was living in Cobridge Lane, Shelton at Stoke Upon Trent. John was 8 years of age and his father Enoch, aged 30, was employed as a pottery painter.

On 8 April 1851 John Simpson (aged 19) was convicted at the Stafford Assizes of stealing and selling brass engine brakes.[2] Due to a previous conviction, he was sentenced to 10 years’ transportation –

John Simpson, Elijah Barker and Joseph Barker were charged with stealing engine brasses, the property of Charles John Smith of Hanley. All three pleaded guilty. Simpson, due to a previous conviction, was sentenced to ten years’ transportation, while the Barkers earned six months’ imprisonment. A man named George Williams was charged with receiving the goods, knowing them to have been stolen, but was acquitted.[3]

John’s previous crime seems to have been of similar ilk. In 1847 John Simpson, aged 14, in the company of Jacob Edson, also 14, both unable to read and write, were convicted of stealing a fixture, and as a consequence were sentenced to three months in prison and a whipping.[4]

Following his second offence, the 1851 Census for Stoke upon Trent in Staffordshire lists the following prisoners in the lock-up at Penkhull Police Station – John Simpson, along with Elijah and Joseph Barker, all aged 19, single, and all born at Hanley in Staffordshire. They were all pottery workers, with John listed as an oven man, and the two Barker boys as pressers.[5] [Stoke upon Trent was the home of well-known potteries, such as Minton and Wedgwood. The industry developed there due to its fine red clay, and was powered by the local coalfields.[6]]

Also in the 1851 Census, at Cobridge, Stoke upon Trent, were John’s parents, Enoch Simpson, aged 45, a painter of pots, his wife Ann, aged 45, sons Richard, 18, a potter printer, David, 13, a mould boy, and Enoch (jnr), aged 9, ditto. All were born at Cobridge except Ann, born a few miles away at Longport.

In the convict records John Simpson was later described as a collier, able to read and write imperfectly. Where he was held following his conviction is not known. On 14 May 1852 he was transferred to Leeds Prison, where his conduct was recorded as ‘Good’. He spent seven months on the prison hulk ‘Defence’ at Woolwich, where his conduct was described as ‘Moderately Good’, but with a footnote – ‘Attempted to escape’![7]

His Record in WA

On 7 February 1853 John Simpson arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, onboard the convict ship Dudbrook. He was described on the shipping list as a miner, single, aged 21, height 5’4½”, hair light brown, with hazel eyes, a round face, sallow complexion, and of slight build. His distinguishing marks were two dots and a scar on the little finger of his left hand. His convict records in WA are sparse, probably indicating good behaviour –

3/12/53 – Admitted to prison hospital. Treated for pains in his limbs, diagnosis Febricula – treatment – warm bath and Ipecac.[8]

1/5/54 – Received at Fremantle Prison. No details.[9]

1/5/54 – Issued with his Ticket of Leave.

3/10/59 – Received his Conditional Pardon.

28/5/75 – Admitted to prison (under new Reg. No. 5132, with old Number recorded as 1624), after a conviction of breach of contract with JS Harris of Busselton. Discharged after three months, on 18/8/75.[10]

In 1862 John Simpson married an Irish emigrant named Eliza Gaynor (or Gayner) at the Vasse. They had three daughters, raised as Catholics –

Ellen (b.1870, Reg. No.12287)

Ann (b.1867, Reg. No.10430)

Maria (b.1875, Reg. No.16501).[11]

Also in 1862 John Simpson was called upon to give evidence in the Supreme Court trial of a man named George Burgess, charged with stealing over 200 sheep, said to be the property of Charles Lesague, of the Vasse District. It was a complicated case due to confusion over the ownership of the sheep. It was stated that some of them had been identified as belonging to a neighbour, Mr JG Bussell. John Simpson was one of several shepherds called up before the Court, stating that he had been in the employ of Mr Bussell off and on for four years. He gave evidence over the number of sheep owned by Bussell at shearing time.[12]

Little more is known about John Simpson’s employers in Busselton. He is said to have employed three ticket-of-leave men himself between 1869 and 1871.[13] [According to the family, probably in the building trade.]

It appears that in 1889 John Simpson inadvertently became embroiled in a religious controversy at Busselton, when a controversial Belgian Catholic priest named Father Lecaille took it upon himself to order two grave-diggers – one named John Simpson – to remove the remains of two men from the Catholic Cemetery, where they had lain for 22 and 14 years respectively, and place them in unconsecrated ground beyond the boundary of the Catholic Section. The families claimed to have received permission to inter their loved ones’ remains in the Catholic Cemetery, so that their wives could one day be placed alongside their husbands. Once the facts were known, at least 60 community members signed a petition objecting to the action taken by the priest. News of the outrage spread as far as New South Wales –

A Burial Scandal.

DISINTERRED AFTER 22 YEARS. THEY WERE NOT CATHOLICS.

A telegram from Perth, W.A., to the Albany Advertiser, dated September 7, says: Considerable commotion appears to have been caused at Busselton owing to the action of Father Le Caille, the Roman Catholic priest, with regard to the bodies of two men lying in the Catholic Cemetery. It appears that 22 years ago C. Wheatman, and 14 years ago S. Clifford, both Protestants, were, by consent of Bishop Griver, buried in the Catholic cemetery at the wish of their relatives, who were Catholics. Last Sunday week Father Le Caille announced from the pulpit that steps would be taken to exhume the bodies in order to re-inter them in the unconsecrated portion of the cemetery. During the week this was commenced to be done, but the men were stopped when they had partially dug the grave. Father Le Caille then endeavored to obtain permission from the Anglican Church authorities to have the remains buried in the Anglican Cemetery but was unable to get it. He therefore gave orders for the bodies to be deposited in the unconsecrated portion of the Catholic Cemetery. Great indignation at this step has been expressed by many of the Vasse residents, and a memorial has been forwarded to the Governor, asking him to withhold his consent to the exhumation. Archdeacon Le Caille states that he is under express orders from his Bishop to have the removal carried out.[14]

John Simpson died at Busselton on 3 September 1901, aged 65.[15] No record has been found of John Simpson’s grave in the Busselton Pioneer Cemetery.

1901 DEATH An old identity named John Simpson died in the local hospital on Tuesday. The deceased, whose age was between seventy and eighty years, had been in the district for about forty-seven years. He was a handy sort of man, and employed for a number of years by the late Mr. J. G. Bussell. He leaves a widow and three grown-up daughters.[16]

His wife Elizabeth Simpson, died the following year, aged 71, on 29 March 1902. [See headstone below.]

1902 DEATH – Another of our old colonists has passed away in the person of Mrs John Simpson, wife of Mr John Simpson, who joined the great majority on Sunday, 30th March, and was interred in the Roman Catholic cemetery on the Monday following. The deceased lady, who leaves a grown up family of daughters (all married) arrived in the colony over 40 years ago and has been in the district ever since her arrival, where she was married and has brought up her family. Deceased had been ailing for some considerable time, but her near demise was not anticipated. Much sympathy is felt for her sorrowing relatives, among whom are Mrs McNamara, wife of Mr P McNamara, of the Railway Department. Mrs Simpson was about 70 years of age at the time of her decease.[17]

Headstone for Ann Simpson, Busselton Pioneer Cemetery.[18]

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[1] Family Search, at familysearch.org

[2] Convict Department Registers, Convicts Transported on Dudbrook (R33/1-3)

[3] Wolverhampton Chronicle & Staffordshire Advertiser, 16 April 1851.

[4] England & Wales Criminal Registers Staffordshire, 1847, ancestry.com.au

[5] 1851 UK Census, ancestry.co.uk

[6] Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org

[7] Convict Department Registers, Convicts Transported on Dudbrook (R33/1-3)

[8] Convict Establishment, Medical Journal By Patient (M18)

[9] Convict Establishment, Receipts & Discharges, 1872 – 1880 (RD1- RD2)

[10] Ibid.

[11] Birth Index, WA Department of Justice.

[12] Inquirer, 9 July 1862.

[13] Rica Erickson, Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, http://www.friendsofbattyelibrary.org.au/the-bicentennial-dictionary-of-western-australians.html, p.2819.

[14] Evening News (Sydney), 24 September 1889.

[15] Death Index, WA Department of Justice, Reg. No. 2430

[16] Bunbury Herald, 10 September 1901.

[17] Southern Times, 10 April 1892.

[18] Busselton Pioneer Cemetery,  findagrave.com