Researchers who have claimed this convict
There is currently one researcher who has claimed George Iden
Biographies
George Iden was baptised in Woodchurch, Kent on 16 August 1801, the son of William Iden and his wife Sally Gregory Holyer. (George’s brother Walter was the step father of Robert Caleb Jarvis who was transported for 10 years in 1845).
On 2 September 1824 George was taken into custody at Newgate Prison, charged with stealing a gelding valued £15. At the time he was described as 5’ 8”, fair skinned, with brown hair and grey eyes and stoutish, born at Woodchurch, Kent, a servant.
At his trial at the Old Bailey on 22 September he was found guilty and sentenced to death.
On 20 November 1824 George’s death sentence was commuted to transportation for life and on 15 December 1824 he was being held on the prison hulk Leviathan at Portsmouth.
The following year on 15 August 1825 George was transferred to the Marquis of Hastings which sailed from Portsmouth on the 24th August, a year after his offence. The Marquis of Hastings sailed to Australia via Rio de Janeiro, arriving in Sydney on 3rd January 1826. On board were 152 convicts (none having died en route), guards comprising soldiers from 57th Regiment and also the new Colonial Secretary Alexander McLeay (who George would end up working for) accompanied by his wife and six daughters.
Two years after arrival George gave evidence in a trial where he had helped to apprehend a thief in which he described himself as ‘coachman to Mr McLeay’. In the census, taken in November that year he was listed as a coachman in the Sydney District at the residence of Alexander McLeay Esq so it appears that he was actually working for the Colonial Secretary.
In May 1834, eight years after arriving in Australia George was granted a ticket of leave.
The ticket, originally signed in November 1833, gave George permission to reside in the District of Liverpool an area to the south west of Sydney. His occupation had changed from coachman to miller. In May 1835 residence was altered to Brisbane Water, NSW further up the coast from Sydney and he was still living there under a ticket of leave in 1839.
On 1 Oct 1840 George was granted a conditional pardon with the proviso he "continues to reside within the limits of this Government for and during the space of his original sentence."
George seems to have left few further traces of his life except for a newspaper report of a trial in 1851 where he was a witness to an assault, by which time he was a cab driver, presumably having reverted back to his former occupation of coachman.
Submitted by Researcher (13883) on 8 August 2022
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Disclaimer: The information has not been verified by Claim a Convict. As this information is contributed, it is the responsibility of those who use the data to verify its accuracy. Research notes
There are currently no research notes attached to this convict. Sources
- The National Archives (TNA) : HO 11/5, p.299
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