Researchers who have claimed this convict
There is currently one researcher who has claimed Patrick Joyce
- Researcher (Brooke Wooldridge)
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Biographies
THE CRIME
Three boys loitered around the door of a grocery shop on Flat Street, Sheffield, on 18 February 1835. While cheese factor, Mr Matthew Furniss, had his back to the door, one of the boys furtively entered the shop and lifted a twenty-pound wheel of cheese off the top of a cask. His accomplice stood in the doorway, holding a sack open, and the boy threw the cheese into it. The boys ran off, chased by witnesses. They didn’t get far before they were caught and turned over to the authorities.
Patrick Joyce was nicked.
CONVICTION
Patrick Joyce and his erstwhile getaway man, Isaac Saynor, were brought before a magistrate at the Yorkshire Quarter Sessions, Sheffield, 26 March 1835. Charged with larceny, the justice made out the elements of the offence thus:
“That Patrick Joyce late of Wakefield in the West Riding of the County of York Labourer and Isaac Saynor late of the same place Labourer on the eighteenth day of February…at the Parish of Sheffield in the West Riding of the County of York one cheese of the value of ten shillings and twenty pounds weight of cheese of the value of ten shillings of the goods and Chattels of one Matthew Furniss then and there found and then and there feloniously did take and carry away aforesaid…”
Patrick was sentenced to transportation for a term of seven years.
Joyce’s convict life began at York Castle. He remained there until 12 May 1835, when Joyce and other prisoners under sentence of transportation were moved from York Castle to the hulk Leviathan.
CONVICT SHIP LEVIATHAN
The HMS Leviathan was moored in Portsmouth Harbour.
The officers and guards, watching Patrick Joyce parade along the quarter deck, would have seen a boy of fifteen, five feet three and a half inches tall. He had a short, pugged nose, and his complexion was ruddy. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. For a boy, he had a surprising number of distinguishing marks; mark of a burn near right elbow, woman and MN inside lower right arm, mark of a burn on upper arm, man, JJ inside lower left arm. Figures of men and women as tattoos sometimes referred to loved ones or family members. Did Patrick’s parents have the initials JJ and MN?
Some prisoners might remain on a convict hulk for many months, but for Patrick, in a fortnight, he was on the move again (“disposed of” 1 June 1835). The convict ship that transported Joyce to the colony of New South Wales was the England. A square-rigged sailing ship, this was its third voyage as a convict transport. Leaving Portsmouth on 8 June 1835, it had an uneventful voyage of 112 days – no deaths - arriving in the colony of New South Wales on 28 September 1835 with its main cargo of 230 male prisoners.
CONVICT LIFE
Patrick Joyce was assigned to William Henry Broughton, near Yass. In 1837 the Yass Plains and Boorawa were on the very edge of the settled counties of the colony of New South Wales. It must have felt like the end of the earth to a boy from the bustling Manchester area. Its little wonder that Patrick Joyce absconded. He was missing from 9 October 1838 to 26 December 1838.
From 1839 onwards, Patrick Joyce is strangely missing from the convict records. There is no ticket of leave, pardon, or certificate of freedom to be found for this Patrick Joyce who arrived on the England. He did not die in this period. He appears to have just dropped out of the convict system. Much later, 1867, he appears in Goulburn gaol records (his distinctive tattoos are a match), but is listed as a native of NSW.
Patrick Joyce married the daughter of a convict in 1847. Over 28 years they had 12 children and moved many times. He was fined for sly grog selling near Goulburn, hunted by police in Victoria for assault, and gaoled for burglary in Deniliquin.
DEATH
In 1883, the coroner’s finding was that he died from “suffocation through lying on his face whilst drunk.” This short statement glosses over the truly tragic nature of Patrick’s death, witnessed by his 12yo boy.
Submitted by Researcher (Brooke Wooldridge) on 28 August 2018
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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 11/10, p.78
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