Researchers who have claimed this convict
There is currently one researcher who has claimed Jonathan Wardley
- Researcher (Peter Wardley)
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Biographies
Jonathan Wardley was born a protestant in Nottingham, England in 1811, this was the year that the Luddites became active which continued until 1816. The earliest Luddite violence broke out between March 1811 and February 1812 as machinery was attacked and destroyed throughout Nottinghamshire and Lancashire. Although machine breaking had been made a capital offence in 1721, special legislation was passed in an attempt to restore order to Nottingham. In March 1812 seven Luddites were sentenced at the Nottingham Assizes to transportation. Jonathan would have grown up during this violence in Nottingham.
Jonathan gave his trade as a stocking weaver. This was a person who ran one or more looms to weave cloth for stockings which were a popular article of clothing for men and women. Weaving was a very noisy operation, leaving many weavers deaf, most learned to lip-read since this is the only way to hold a conversation in the weaving shed. Jonathan had probably worked in the mills as a child and grew up learning little else.
By the 1820's the fashion was changing and men were preferring trousers to stockings and the steady was falling away, this created poverty and hopelessness for those trapped in the industry.
Jonathan at 5 feet 4½ inches (164 cms) was 20 years old when he fell foul of the law and was charged with assault and stealing. He was tried and convicted at the Notts Town Quarter Sessions and on the 19th October 1831 was sentenced to 7 years transportation to NSW. He was fortunate that this court dealt mainly with minor crime and being given the death penalty would have been unusual.
From Nottinghamshire, he was taken to Chatham in Kent to be held in one of the hulks on the river Medway, the "Cumberland". These decomissioned vessels were used by Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries to house prisoners of war and those awaiting transportation to penal colonies.
Jonathan would languish for 7 months on the "Cumberland" and would be required to work up to 10 hours a day on shore generally as a labourer. The mortality rate in some of the hulks was as high as 30%, so he was lucky to see out his time.
On the 27th April 1836 the Clyde a vessel of 490 tons which was built at Greenock, near Glasgow, Scotland in 1819 began loading 200 transportees including Jonathan and seventeen prisoners under fifteen years of age. The youngest were Henry McCourt (12), and George Beare(12), with the master Captain Daniel Munro and the ship's surgeon George Fairfowl. The Guard consisted of 2 sergeants, 1 corporal and 30 privates of the 4th regiment, 7 soldiers wives and 10 children, these men were being transferred to the colony for a five year attachment. There were also a number of private passengers. The Clyde departed Portsmouth on 9 May 1832 enroute to New South Wales.
The Clyde arrived in Port Jackson on 27 August 1832 and one hundred and ninety-nine prisoners were landed on 6th September 1832 only 1 had died on the way.
Jonathan was sent to work at Patrick Plains a newly developed farming area near Singleton in New South Wales. He must have been a good worker and there is no evidence of any misdemeanours which would have received severe punishment. He was granted a Ticket of Leave on 19th November 1836 and at the end of his sentence at the age of 28, he received a Certificate of Freedom on 6th August 1840. He now had almost as many rights as a free man.
In the same year Jonathan applied for permission to marry Mary Ann Berry who was also a convict. Permission had to be given and the banns read at the local church as it was not uncommon for convicts to be still married in England.
There is no evidence that Jonathan and Mary had any children and neither of them came to the notice of the authorities until 1st July 1847 when at the age of 39, Jonathan was recorded as having died in Sydney Hospital. Mary went onto marry another convict named John Wilson that same year.
Submitted by Researcher (Peter Wardley) on 30 April 2019
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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 11/8, p.322
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