Researchers who have claimed this convict
There is currently one researcher who has claimed Robert Paveley
Biographies
Robert is my 4xgreat grandfather. He was baptised on 22 April 1782 in All Saints church, Cranham in Essex, the son of John and Ann (nee Lloyd) and the eldest of their 13 children.
On 25 October 1802 Robert married Ann Sandford in that same church in Cranham. They had four children, Elizabeth born 6 May 1803 who sadly died 4 months later, Ann born 22 March 1805 who married William Cumbers in 1829 (the same year Robert arrived in Australia), another Elizabeth who married Joseph Savill in 1827 and my 3 x great grandfather John, baptised 12 Jan 1812 in South Ockendon, Essex.
Sadly, Robert's wife, Ann, died in October 1818 in Brentwood in Essex and was brought back to Cranham for burial on the 16th of that month. Robert was left with three children aged 9, 11 and 13. He did not remarry and I can only presume that he continued to bring the children up himself.
In 1828 when Robert, along with two other men,Thomas Harris and John Marchant, committed the offence of stealing a ram lamb, the property of Jeremiah Reynolds, farmer of Cranham, there would have been just John and Ann left at home with Robert, as Elizabeth was now married.
The three men were sentenced to death on 21 July 1828 at the Essex Summer Assizes held in Chelmsford. However, as was quite normal at the time, the sentence was commuted to transportation for life on the prisoner's petition and a collective petition by six people on Robert's behalf to the crown.
On 2 Oct 1828 Robert is found on board the prison hulk "York" in Portsmouth harbour in Hampshire awaiting transportation. I have a copy of a print from 1829 showing the "York" in Portsmouth harbour about to take on board a boatload of prisoners which brings the whole picture vividly to life. The York was made of wood and its superstructure had been removed and replaced with a canopy to provide yet more space for the hundreds of prisoners the ship would have contained.
On 14 November 1828 Robert was transferred to the "Lord Melville" which sailed from London on 5 January 1829 for New South Wales. He was one of 170 prisoners on that voyage which included his two partners in crime. Miraculously there apparently were no fatalities on the voyage and the ship arrived in Sydney Cove on 6 May 1829.
Robert is described on arrival as aged 45, a widower with a family of three, being a gardener by trade. He is 5' 5.5" tall, red faced with sandy to grey hair, blue eyes and his right knee is contracted (whatever that means). Immediately on arrival he is assigned to a master, Robert Johnstone in Annandale.
He was lucky in that he did not have to suffer the conditions prevailing in the stockades and camps at this time and that he must have been lucky with the allocation of master because in 1838 as prisoner 29/956 he is given a ticket of leave to remain in the district whilst still in the service of the same Robert Johnstone.
I have not managed to find out what eventually happened to Robert in Australia, but I do have one ongoing matter of research. I am trying to obtain a copy of a letter written by the rector of All Saints, Cranham at the time of Robert's appeal for clemency in 1828, which, according to the catalogue description in the National Archives, states that Paveley's character is notoriously bad, he has a reputation as a thief and that the signatories of the collective petition were coerced in signing - whereas Robert's version of events was that he was driven to the crime by need and that it was his first offence!
Dora Kewin
15 March 2021
Submitted by Researcher (Dora Kewin) on 16 March 2021
|
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 11/6, p.520
|
