Thomas Hudgell

Life of Crime

Thomas Hudgell born 28^th November 1819, in Duck Lane, North Weald Bassett at his parents home Thomas Hudgell and Sarah Buck.

In the 1841 census which is the first one he appears in he is stated as lodging with Charles and Ann Lowen at Coopersale Common in Epping. Also in the household were 2 female servants both 15, one of them being Emma Radley who was from Little Laver in Essex.

Shortly after the 1841 census Thomas and Emma despite their age difference were married on the September 5th of 1841. She gains 3 years on her age but the grooms age remains the same, but during this early census the ages are calculated up and down.

Thomas Hudgell had had run ins with the law for a number of years for different offences before he appeared at the Old Bailey in London

Thomas did a number of crimes before he was tried at the Old Bailey, but we cannot really know if he was a bad one, or in desperation just trying to fend for his family, the law was so much different then, stealing a couple of sheep could get you deported to Australia for life or death, even if it was your first offence.

He had been committed for trial at the Old Bailey, London Central Criminal Court for fraud and Deception

Source: Old Bailey on line

www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18420228-1079&div=t18420228-1079&terms=hudgell#highlight

1842

Offence: Deception / fraud THOMAS HUDGELL was indicted for obtaining 3 sovereigns, off Ann Jones, by false pretenses, on the 28th of January 1842; to which he pleaded GUILTY . Confined One Year. He was aged 23

Verdict: Guilty

Punishment: Imprisonment

1844

1844 Herts. Quarter Sessions Epiphany

Hertfordshire Mercury

24^th February 1844

Crime: Obtaining money by false pretences - 2 gold sovereigns, a half crown and 5 shilling and sixpence property of Mary Rix

Thomas Hudgell aged 21 labourer, North Weald Essex, pleaded guilty to an indictment, charging him with having fraudulently obtained from Mary Rix, in the parish of St Andrew, Hertford, the sum of £2.8s. (equivalent 2005 £168.86) by falsely representing that her son, Henry Rix was in the station house at Ponders End for some offence he had committed, and had sent him (prisoner) for the sum mentioned, for the purpose of procuring his release. The Court were informed that the prisoner had been convicted for a similar offence in Essex.

Sentenced to seven years transportation for the crime of fraud

After being dealt with by the law for quite a number of years he was in the end transported to Tasmania, in Australia in 1844, but never made it alive. Just a matter of days out from his destination he died of a terrible fever which made his tongue turn black, not a very nice ending.

Transportation to New South Wales stopped in 1840, then between the years of 1841 and 1853 a total of 150 voyages to Tasmania took place .Thomas was part of this era, and unless someone dies on land then there is no official death certificate in the registers. Thomas would not have had a death certificate and it would have been unlikely that his body was kept on board until they reached Hobart. So obviously he was buried at sea.

https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/maria-somes/1844

The Maria Somes set sail from Woolwich London for Hobart Australia on 25^th April 1844 with 264 convicts on board. The journey was to take 96 days and was expected to arrive there on the 30th July 1844, but on the 27^th June Thomas became ill and spent the rest of the journey in the hospital and on the 27 July 1844 he died 3 days before the end of the journey.

It is not possible from the surgeons report that I have a copy of to make out what Thomas actually died of but he complained of aches and pains in his hips and knees, headaches and his tongue turning black. Only 262 of the 264 convicts landed in Australia. The master of the Maria Somes was John Baker and the Surgeon whose report I have was James Osborne. He died aged 22!

For more information please see the Australian convict records

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/hudgell/thomas/62838

Bound for Tasmania

14 June 1825 – the colony of Van Diemen's Land is established in its own right; its name is officially changed to Tasmania on 1 January 1856. The first settlement was made at Risdon, Tasmania on 11 September 1803 when Lieut John Bowen landed with about 50 settlers, crew, soldiers and convicts. The site proved unsuitable and was abandoned in August 1804. Lieut-Col David Collins finally established a successful settlement at Hobart in February 1804 with a party of about 260 people, including 178 convicts. (Collins had previously attempted a settlement in Victoria.) Convict ships were sent from England directly to the colony from 1812 to 1853 and over the 50 years from 1803–1853 around 67,000 convicts were transported to Tasmania. About 14,492 were Irish but many of them had been sentenced in English and Scottish courts. Some were also tried locally in other Australian colonies. The Indefatigable brought the first convicts direct from England on 19 October 1812 and by 1820 there were about 2,500 convicts in the colony. By the end of 1833 the number had increased to 14,900 convicts of whom 1864 were females. About 1,448 held ticket of leave, 6,573 were assigned to settlers and 275 were recorded as "absconded or missing". In 1835 there were over 800 convicts working in chain-gangs at the penal station at Port Arthur which operated from 1830 to 1877. Convicts were transferred to Van Diemen's Land from Sydney and, in later years, from 1841 to 1847, from Melbourne. Between 1826 and 1840, there were at least 19 ship loads of convicts sent from Van Diemen's Land to Norfolk Island and at other times they were sent from Norfolk Island to Van Diemen's Land.

https://www.geni.com/projects/Bound-for-Tasmania/18816

From the Maria Somes Log - the death of Thomas Hudgell

Newest update 22/12/2021 12:11