Prison Hulk Register

[Wiggy]

Sorry Turfy

 - the ones I'm reading about all ended up being transported and flourishing (or occasionally otherwise) in Australia.  But the book started out with a description of the times in England and why the crimes were committed - many of them were desperation, some against the prevailing times and laws protesters etc, some 'cos they didn't like the way their overlord treated them.  but it surely helps understand the times and the people  of those years.   

Sorry I can't help with disposal of bodies.  How about your local council records.  I am told they are very good down your way - lots of records.

Wiggy - in Aus.   

[PrueM]

Here's my reading of most of it:

Stg a Duck
Married
Cannot read or write
Stone Mason
Convicted and thrice imprisoned.  Bad character, poor connexions. 
Died 29 April 1841

I actually see his name as William Cook.

Cheers
Prue

[mare]

I thought so too Prue, but thought Cork must have been a known fact 

[turfy]

Hi Mare and Prue

Yes, surname is Cork.

We have the extract from his trial book for this case plus other trail appearance's, newspaper clipping (Exeter Flying Post 1839) of his sentencing, occupation details Stone Mason, address etc etc..

Everyone's help has been great (as usual on here) - I'm now going to see if its possible to find out what happened to his body, I hope its not the case but remember reading somewhere that sometimes they were thrown over the side of the ship..

Regards

[Wiggy]

I wondered, but didn't really like to suggest it Turfy!     



Wiggy   

[turfy]

Hi Wiggy

The more we find out about William the more attached and interested I seem to get - he may have been an out and out rogue, we may never know, but as some of your previous comments suggest there may have been many contributing factors / injustices involved... Either way if it does turn out he was simply thrown overboard then it makes his life story even more tragic. He was 50 at the time of this sentence, his wife Elizabeth my 4 x Great Grandmother struggled on her own until she died age 94.

Regards

[Wiggy]

Interestingly he stole the Duck from John New esq. in Uffculme and there is still a John New esq. there today - my Father thinks maybe we should take the [a] Duck back down to him!

Turfy,

Think returning the duck would be an excellent thing to do!!!!   I'd love to see the look of surprise on his face when you told him the history!!!   

Wiggy   

[Greensleeves]

It seems to me that so many of these offences were so trivial that it is clear the people who committed them were not violent criminals but people struggling to survive.  After all, if you were a villain why would you bother to steal a duck when you could probably make off with a whole field of sheep or go and rob a stagecoach?  The majority of these petty thefts were committed by desperate people who were probably hungry themselves and had hungry wives and children at home.  The sentences handed down to them were supposed to act as a deterrent and stop others trying to do the same; I don't really know a great deal about sentences given over that period, but I was wondering what happened to rich people who stole and robbed and cheated people out of their lands/inheritances. Presumably they wouldn't end up dying on a hulk.

[macintosh]

Perhaps the trade is journeyman stone mason, as for the disposal of bodies usually prisoners were buried in a paupers grave or used for research by the medical profession. Gruesome I know but that was early Victorian England.
James