Stotfold
The Swing Riots
The Stotfold Riot by Mr Bert Hyde
Places > Stotfold > Agriculture
Australia
Before the convicts disembarked at Sydney the authorities took their particulars. These showed that both Henry Gentle and William Saunderson were married. The former had a family of 3 sons and 2 daughters and the latter 1 son and 3 daughters. Saunderson's was a very young family indeed his youngest daughter had not been born until after the riot. This shows the harshness of a sentence of transportation. Here they were in a country many miles from home, separated from their families for 14 years. But that was not all. For what ever reason not many transported convicts ever returned. So in all probability they were parted from their families for life. 1
The 'particulars' also said that Henry Gentle was aged 37, a stout man, 5'6" tall. Of sallow complexion with no marks, brown hair and grey eyes. That he could not read or write but was able to plough, reap, milk and sow. Of William Saunderson they said that he was 27 and was 5' 4" tall. That he too was of sallow complexion which is hardly surprising considering they had just completed a long journey as prisoners. That he had brown hair, hazel eyes, a scar on the centre of his upper lip, a mole on his left eyebrow and that he had lost one front tooth in his upper jaw. That he could read, plough, reap, milk and sow. Saunderson's appearance may have been against him but both men's agricultural skills would no doubt be useful in a new country such as New South Wales.
After leaving the ship the prisoners were straightway assigned to work either for the colonial government or private employers. From details on documents issued for both men on lOth May 1838,i.e., six years after they arrived in Australia, it appears that they were allocated to two different private employers in the Maitland district of New South Wales which is about 80 miles north of Sydney. How they fared we do not know. Potter Macqueen who lived at Ridgemont and who owned Grange Farm, Stotfold, told members of Parliament in 1831 that he considered the condition of convict labour in New South Wales to be infinitely superior to that of labour in this country.2 He spoke with authority as he was a landowner in the colony and it was relevant to the situation of Gentle and Saunderson since he owned property in the Maitland area. In view of this it may be that the two men did not do too badly.
Henry Gentle's wife Letitia is shown in the 1851 Stotfold census as a widow. Despite this it seems likely from an Australian source that he died in West Maitland in 1864 aged 69. It is said that William Saunderson came back to Stotfold 44 years later but that he did not stay long.
1. Hobsbawm and Rude, op.cit., p.271
2. Eric Stockdale, "Law and order in Georgian Bedfordshire", p. 74, B.H.RS.voI61, 1983.Rev John Lafont had a somewhat similar opinion. He wrote that it was his experience that seven years transportation was not disliked by many single men. For evidence' to the contrary see Stocklake,op.cit.p.74.
Page last updated: 4th February 2014