Family history uncovers a Shareshill convict and a Great War gunner

Here at the Bugle we are always pleased to hear from our readers, especially when they tell us that one of our features has touched on their own family history or inspired them to put pen to paper and record the stories of their ancestors. Recently Doug Haynes of Clayhanger, Walsall, contacted us with some of the details he has learnt through researching his own family tree. He has uncovered some fascinating details of his family, one of whom laid down his life for king and country, while two earlier ancestors felt the weight of Her Majesty’s justice. Doug writes:

“Recent articles in the Bugle have proved coincidental in my family history research. The first showed photographs of First World War graves, the other highlighted the difference in punishments for crimes committed today as compared with a hundred and fifty or so years ago. My research has shown that two members of my Haynes family line, born 61 years apart, suffered entirely different fates.
“Like so many people in the Black Country I have relatives who died fighting for their king and country. I also have two great-great-grandparents who suffered the full force of the law for what today would have been classed as minor crimes.
“My great-great-grandfather John Haynes was born circa 1820 in Shareshill; he married Eliza Hill, born c.1824 in Smethwick, in St Martin’s Church, Birmingham, on 8th August 1847. Eliza had a son, James, by an unnamed father prior to marrying John. They were not married long before John was in trouble with the law; he first appeared before Stafford Magistrates in 1850.
“The original court records at Staffordshire archives records the details of John’s criminal offence and magistrates hearing as: stealing twelve garden hoes, the property of Bernard Gilpin and others at Shareshill. Witness and case costs, £23. 8s. 6d. (this may be a misprint as costs in other similar cases were typically £3-4). Case number 94, John Haynes, 27 years, can read imperfectly. Offence date, 4th December 1849. January sessions 1850. The magistrates were C. B. Clough and T. Entwistle, Esquire. Sentence, to be imprisoned and kept at hard labour for twelve calendar months.
“The census of 1851 showed my great-great-grandmother Eliza living with her children, next door to John’s parents in Shareshill. She was listed as a pauper, there being no government benefits in those days. John was shown as a prisoner in Stafford gaol.
“In 1853 Eliza was also in trouble with the law. The court records for October show that Eliza Haynes had been bailed to appear at court on a charge of theft, but had failed to attend.
“The entry states that: The prisoner has failed to appear; her recognizances are estreated (which meant a warrant without bail would have been issued by the magistrates for her arrest).
“The adjourned session for October 1853 state: Offence was stealing six pounds by weight of beef, the property of Joseph Harwick Butler. Witness’s costs, £2. 10s. 0d. Eliza Haynes, 30 years, reads well. Magistrate is Mr R. Well. Sentence, to be imprisoned and kept at hard labour for two calendar months.
“While not seeking to excuse Eliza’s actions, it seems to me that she probably stole to keep the family alive. It may be that John was not a very good provider and she was forced to steal to put food on the table for her children, but we will never know the truth. Whatever the circumstances, the sentence seems very harsh. However, that was the way courts dealt with lawbreakers at the time.
“In 1855 John made his final and most costly court appearance. The court records for January 1855 adjourned sessions records the following: Case number 99, John Haynes the Younger, 32 years, labourer. Can read and write imperfectly. Costs, £7. 3s. 0d. Magistrate committing, J. Leigh, Esq., Tettenhall, Wolverhampton. Date of warrant, 21st February 1855. Offence as charged in the commitment-felony cases, stealing a quantity of Beeswax and other articles, the property of John Frederick Seyde at Willenhall. When tried, 6th March 1855. Before whom tried – Francis Twemlow, Esq. Verdict of the Jury, Guilty of larceny as a servant after a previous conviction. Sentence, 14 years transportation.
“At the time that John committed his offences, the law of two strikes and out existed. This meant that if you were convicted of two separate offences you automatically faced transportation.
“John remained in custody and was transported to Freemantle, Western Australia in 1856, aboard the convict ship Runnymede. The records from Freemantle prison give the following details: Convict No. 4119. Ship name, Runnymede. Ship arrival date, 7th September 1856. Birth date, 1819. Deceased, 15th November 1898. Place of death, Moonyoonooka. Marital status, married, two children. Occupation, carpenter. Religion, Protestant. Sentence date, 1855. Sentence province, Stafford. Sentence country, England. Length of sentence, 14 years. Crime, larceny. Ticket of leave date, 11th December 1858. Certificate of freedom date, 15th June 1869. Certificate of freedom place, Champion Bay.
“As can be seen, John never returned to England, even though he was given his freedom at the end of his sentence. He remained in Australia and married a widow by the name of Rachel Blayney (n e Owen) at Tibradden, Western Australia in 1875. The marriage was a bigamous one, as Eliza was still alive in England; she died on February 8th, 1894, in Lower Penn, Wolverhampton. John Haynes is buried in Geraldton cemetery, near Perth, Western Australia.
“John’s son, my great-grandfather Henry Haynes, married Harriett Banks at St Paul’s Church, Wednesbury, on 24th December, 1882. They lived most of their married lives at 86, Hill Top, West Bromwich and had 10 children: Harry, born 1885 in Darlaston; Thomas William, b. 30th June 1887 in Wednesbury, he was my grandfather; Sarah Ann, b. 20th December 1889; Annie, b. 17th January, 1891; Samuel Richard, b. 10th March 1894, married Elizabeth Lloyd, 22 years, January 27th, 1918, St James’ Church, Hill Top; Albert Edward, b. 20th December 1896, d. 13th September, 1917; Harriet Maude, b. 21st December, 1901; Gladys Mary, b. 6th December, 1903, married George Albert Steventon on the 25th December, 1923, at St James’ Church, Hill Top, West Bromwich, and supposedly emigrated to Australia; Edith Elizabeth, b. 30th June, 1906; and Frederick William, b. 25th March, 1910.
“My granduncle, Albert Edward Haynes, was killed in action in Belgium on Thursday, 13th September 1917, aged 20 years. He was a gunner in the Royal Field Artilery and is buried in Bleuet Farm Cemetery, Yelper, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.
“I believe that my son Stephen and his wife Johanna may be the first and only members of my family to ever visit Albert Edward’s grave. They visited Belgium earlier this year.
“There must be many more descendants of John and Eliza Haynes scattered around the world. I wonder if any of them are aware of our ancestor’s trials and tribulations.”
Transportation as a punishment for criminals was used in this country for a number of centuries. The practice began during the reign of Elizabeth I when the Vagrancy Act first empowered justices to order that certain classes of offenders could be sent beyond the seas. By the time of Charles II convicts were regularly transported to the colonies in North America where they were put to work on the plantations. Around 50,000 convicts were sent to America but the practice came to an end when the colonies won their independence and became the United States of America. A new destination had to be found for the transportation of Britain’s criminals and in January 1788 the first batch of convicts were landed at Botany Bay in New South Wales, Australia.
Botany Bay was found to be unsuitable for settlement and so the convicts and the military and civilian personnel who had come with them relocated to Port Jackson, establishing the first permanent European colony in Australia on 26th January 1788. The date is still celebrated today as Australia Day and the settlement at Port Jackson grew to become the city of Sydney.
By the time that Doug Haynes’ great-great-grandfather was transported to Western Australia in 1856 the practice was drawing to a close. Penal colonies had been established in Tasmania in 1803 and Queensland in 1824 but by the 1830s there were large numbers of free-settlers coming to Australia. It was felt that the convicts sent from Britain took jobs from honest free labourers who had come to Australia of their own free will and that the convicts were a source of crime and vice in the colonies. Transportation to New South Wales ceased in 1840 and the last convicts were sent to Tasmania in 1853. However, transportation to Western Australia didn’t start until 1850. The region had not been claimed and the British were anxious that the area might be seized by the French so they were keen to quickly establish British colonies there and the way to do it was with convict labour. John Haynes was one of 9000 convicts that were sent to Western Australia. Most of these would have spent little time in prison once there. The new colony’s convict prison was the Convict Establishment in Freemantle and misdemeanours were punished by serving time there. Most convicts were sent out to other parts of the colony to work on building up the colony’s infrastructure. The last convict ship sent to Western Australia arrived in January 1868.
Few convicts returned to Britain after they gained their Certificate of Freedom at the end of their sentences. Like John Haynes they remained in Australia, building up new lives thousands of miles away from the loved ones they had left behind at home. John Haynes’ bigamous marriage in Australia was likely far from unusual. To all intents and purposes his family in England must have felt dead to him, many thousands of miles away.
Our thanks go to Doug Haynes for providing these fascinating details form his family’s history.