Genealogy Chat

Thomas Cheshire was sentenced to 10 years transportation in 1852 at the Leicester Assizes, but I can find no record of him actually being transported. Does anyone have any idea what records there are which may help me find out what happened to Thomas. Does anyone know if there are any records of prisoners sentenced to transportation in 1852 when transportation was not being used very much :-)

For background - Transportation
http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/archive-collection/collection/convict-records

Hopefully someone who knows their way around the Australian Archives can point you in the right direction.

Have you considered that he may have died before his embarkation?

Name: Thomas Cheshire
Registration Year: 1855
Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration district: Leicester
Inferred County: Leicestershire
Volume: 7a
Page: 122

A tree on Ancestry says he was born c1811

There are two Thomas Cheshires on this site
http://www.convictrecords.com.au/
but both much earlier than 1852.

Thank you for your responses. I have had the Australian records searched and there is no sign of Thomas being transported there. I will have a look at the 1855 death, but his wife, Sarah Ann, did not remarry until 1862 although she had been living with William Fall since at least 1851.

An article in the Leicestershire Mercury - Saturday 29 May 1852 describes his capture- he was recognised as Thomas Cheshire (age 50) of Calton, near Market Bosworth who was charged in 1848 with breaking into the dwelling house of John Pratt of Sheepy Magna. He was committed to trial at next assizes

Leicestershire Mercury - Saturday 24 July 1852 gives a detailed account of the trial where Thomas was found guilty and sentenced to 10years transportation.

I don't see anything else for him after this time either.

The death certificate posted above would be a last ditch investment.
I think it's quite unlikely that he was transported as late as 1852. There is no record of him in Fremantle prison which is where the later transportees ended up (transportation to NSW ended before that in 1850 I think).

Thanks Gritty for the newspaper references, but it was those reports where I found out about Thomas' sentence of transportation.

If Thomas was not transported why does he not appear in the census after 1841, he was in hiding from the law in 1851. It is possible that he had died.

Did Sarah marry in 1862 as a widow?

Edit I answer my own question.
Married in 1862 in Birmingham
William Fall, 48, widower
Sarah Ann Cheshire, 46, widow

One of the witnesses is an Eliza Cheshire.

Maybe they couldn't marry before because his wife was still alive.

or maybe Thomas' wife wasn't certain that he had died?

it looks as though William Fall was married to Maria Linnell, a Maria Fall died in 1842 ......... so doesn't look as though they had to wait for her death