MILSON/MILSOM Charles

[suemoo2]

G'day,
I'm from the land downunder and I'm looking for 'any' information on Charles MILSON/MILSOM born c1800 in Berkshire.
He was one of the Berkshire Machine Breakers in 1830.
His trial was in Reading on 27 December 1830 and was sentenced to transportation to Australia for 14 years.
Sailed from Portsmouth aboard convict vessel "Eleanor" on 19 February 1831 - arrived Sydney on 25 June 1831.
In 1837 Charles married Anne ('Annie') Marie Lyons - surname recorded as 'MILLSON'.
The Berkshire Machine Breakers were not criminals.
I would like to know if Charles had/has any family/descendants in the UK.

Regards,
Sue Milson.

[nanny jan]

Hi,


Here's a possibility:

Charles Milson   christening  12th October 1800, Stanford-Dingley, Berkshire, England

Parents;  Charles Milson & Elizabeth


from http://pilot.familysearch.org



Nanny Jan

[suemoo2]

Hi Nanny Jan,

Thanks for that.  It may well be one in the same.
Charles 'was' married before he was chooffed off to Australia.  After he arrived here there was a son named Richard that came here in 1857.
Charles was a very literate man and had kept in contact with 'family' back in the UK.
I have no idea who Charles was married to in the UK or how many children they had.  I also have no details of where he would have been living at the time of his arrest.

Thank you once again.
Regards,
Sue.

[ribbo39]

Hi Sue,

That site that Nanny Jan gave you is very informative. I've just entered Charles Milson into the search
area giving date range of 1780 - 1835 and you get a lot of Charles' children & marriages. If you put your cursor over the name in the left column a popup appears with additional info.

That being so, I think I found Charles Milson's marriage in Bradfield, the parents of Charles Milson/m;
"Charles Milsom, of Stanford Dingley, & Elizabeth Lamb, Lic.   25 July 1793"

Hope this helps.
Alan

[suemoo2]

Hi again,

Gee, Thanks everyone.  I had no idea that site existed and I think I found the same 'Charles' as mentioned above.

Wonderful what info can be found for free.

I would like to be able to find some of the Milson clan that are descendants, who still live in the UK.  What a find that would be!

Thank you for all your help.

Regards,
Sue.

[newburychap]

The Berkshire Machine Breakers were not criminals.

Not sure I would have had that view if I was one of the farmers confronted by Charles and his mates, coerced into passing over cash and then have to listen to them smashing my property.

Jill Chambers' book Berkshire Machine Breakers has quite a lot on Charles Milson.  He seems to have been one of the leaders of a group who tanked up on beer at the Compasses on Burnt Hill Common; after seven hours in the pub they then went on a machine smashing spree round Basildon.

He was sentenced to two terms of 7 years for two convictions of machine breaking, to run consecutively.  He was assigned to a colonist who was a bit peeved when the authorities released the machine breakers - he lost a good carpenter and demanded a suitable replacement.

Charles had two children before he was transported, Martha (b 29 Oct 1829, c 18 May 1828, Basildon) and Richard (b 20 Jun 1829, c 28 Feb 1830, Ashampstead).  So it's quite possible that there are descendents around in the UK.

[suemoo2]

Hello Newburychap,

Well, they weren't 'hardend' criminals...I think they were fighting for their jobs survival, and in times when things were already bad enough.  I'm not sure I would like to have lived in those days.
Though, it does sound a bit like today, when we have robots taking the jobs of men!

And, a Book to get now.  Thanks for the informatiion on that.  I will search for a copy. 
I have been able to get a copy of the book "The Convicts of The Eleanor" which is informative.

And, I understand why they sent him to Australia...."tanked up on beer, and after seven hours in the pub...." lol

This is more than I expected...all this information.  Thank you one and all.

Regards,
Sue.

[newburychap]

Jill Chambers' series of books on the machine breakers are the most comprehensive works on the people involved - she has published them county by county (Berkshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire (2 vols), Dorset, Essex, and perhaps more).  She includes a fair bit of family history - more for some than for others (inevitably) but anyone with an ancestor involved should check them out.

The Berkshire volume will be available via Berks FHS.

[MarksWife]

Hi Sue
 
I see you havent been online here for some time! I have been doing my family history and my Dad's mum was a Millson from Bradfield.  Charles Millson was her grandfather's uncle. I have been looking into Charles Millson and his family.

Please contact me!

Leisa