Researchers who have claimed this convict
There is currently one researcher who has claimed John Sell
- Researcher (John Gibbons)
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Biographies
My great, great grandfather John Sell was born in Langley, a small village in north west Essex, England. He was christened on 3rd October 1802. He married Eliza Wombwell on 8th June 1825 and had three children. In 1828 he was part of the Elmdon Poaching Gang, was arrested, and sentenced to transportation for 7 years at the Essex Assizes in Chelmsford. He was transferred to the prison hulk 'York' in Portsmouth on 30th May 1829 and then to the convict hulk or hospital ship 'Hardy' (the records are ambiguous) on the same day. He was 'signed-0ff' from the 'Hardy' for Van Diemen's Land on 14th August 1830. He sailed from Portsmouth on 20th August 1830 on the Clyde 1 (1) which arrived in Tasmania on 18th December 1830.
All his conduct reports are 'good' and, on arrival, he mentioned his wife Eliza and the three children and said he was a ploughman. The 1830 muster lists him as as being employed on public works. However the Appropriation List (CON27-1-4) showed he was assigned to Gilbert Robertson. Robertson was one of the more interesting early free settlers and at that time was farming at 'Woodburn' on the Coal River near Richmond. Professor Cassandra Pybus writes: 'On Christmas Eve in 1831 some of his (Gilbert Robertson's) convicts were arrested for drinking and in June the following year there was a Supreme Court case involving the death of a convict in a fight with one of Gilbert's assigned men. Even though Gilbert's servant was acquitted of murder, the Attorney General recommended that he be denied any convict labour for his farms.' (John West Memorial Lecture, 2011).
In the absence of any other evidence, it is, I believe, a fair assumption that it was after these incidents that John returned to being employed on public works and is recorded as such in the Convict Musters for 1832 and 1833. According to that for 1835 he had been granted his Ticket of Leave. Not all the musters have survived (those for 1831 and 1834 are missing) and details of Certificates of Freedom issued to convicts in Tasmania for the relevant period have also been lost. John must have returned to England following the completion of his sentence as the next record we have is the birth of his son Joseph in Langley on 19th August 1839. His wife's uncle was George Wombwell, founder of the famous travelling menagerie, who had contacts with captains of ships on the Australian run and bought rare animals from them. So family influence could possibly have helped to get John back to England.
John and Eliza had a fifth child, Ann, and in the 1841 census the family (apart from their eldest child William) were shown as living on Upper Green, Langley. John and Eliza went on to have four more children - David, Esther, Nathan and Amos.
The family remained in Langley and were recorded in the censuses for 1851 and 1861. John died in in 1868. His wife Eliza survived his and died in 1879.
Submitted by Researcher (John Gibbons) on 11 December 2014
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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 11/7, p.468
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