James Davis Smith

From pickpocket to convict to farmer

Birth: 18^th December 1820 in Mile End Old Town, London, England
Mother: Ann Rollins (unconfirmed)
Father: John D. Smith (unconfirmed)

EARLY LIFE IN LONDON

It appears that he belonged to a gang of pickpockets in the Shoreditch area of London, similar to what Charles Dickens wrote in Oliver Twist. In 1834, when James was 13 years old, he was convicted at the Old Bailey, along with Thomas Pickett, 12, for allegedly stealing a shawl, valued at 12 shillings, from the dwelling house of James Carter on the 4^thof February 1834, at St. Leonard, Shoreditch. As this was his second offence, he was sentenced to transportation for life.

TRANSPORTATION TO AUSTRALIA

James spent one month in Newgate before being sent to the prison hulk HMS Euryalus for three months. The Euryalus, a frigate built in 1803, saw action at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 with Lord Nelson, before becoming a prison hulk in 1825 for young offenders and was moored at Chatham on the River Medway. James was placed on the Henry Tanner with another 219 convicts.

Convicted at: Middlesex Gaol Delivery
Crime: Housebreaking
Sentence Term: Life
Departure Date: 27th June 1834
Arrival Date: 26th October 1834
Passenger Manifest: 220 convicts
Cargo: Government Stores

The Henry Tanner was a brand-new 388-ton barque ship built at Sunderland in 1834. Setting sail for Port Jackson NSW on 27^th June 1834, the ship’s Surgeon Superintendent, John Edwards, treated numerous convicts and soldiers during the 117-day journey for fever, disease and injury.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

James was described by authorities as having a ruddy complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, a tattoo of a woman on the inside of his lower right arm and the initials J.D. with a mermaid and anchor above the outline of a Brig on his lower left arm.

ARRIVAL IN AUSTRALIA

Upon arrival in Australia, James was assigned to the property of Alexander Park, called Lewinsbrook, near Paterson NSW. Alexander Park had arrived in Australia on the Prince Regent in March 1826 as a settler and subsequently received a land grant of 2,650 acres on the 8^th of November 1826.

James travelled to Morpeth via Newcastle on the 250-ton paddle steamer, Sophia Jane, and then travelled by wagon to get to the Lewinsbrook property. Alexander Park had over two dozen convicts working on his property, including at least one the same age as James.

*The journey to Lewinsbrook in 1834 via the Sophia Jane paddle steamer to Morpeth via Newcastle, followed by a wagon trip to the property*

Morpeth Wharf – Where convicts were unloaded

The homestead at the Lewinsbrook estate was one of the first in the shire and included a stockyard, vineyard, orchards, kitchen, granary and gardens.

LIFE IN AUSTRALIA

In September 1839, James was sent to Newcastle Gaol and then taken to the House of Corrections (Carter’s Barracks) in Sydney for 4 months on the ‘treadmill’, for ‘absenting, insolence and threatening’. The magistrate who sentenced him was George Townshend of Trevallyn, who came to Australia on the same ship as Alexander Park, most of the landholders were magistrates, but they could not sentence their own convicts. From the book of Graham Seal, Great Convict Stories, most convicts preferred to be flogged with the cat-of-nine-tails than be sent to the treadmill. From his book, a description of the treadmill from a visiting French naval officer;

Inmates on the treadmill at Brixton Prison London, England in 1827

It is a large wheel whose horizontal blades are wide enough to allow a certain number of men to position themselves, each next to the other, on the outside. . . Holding on to a crossbar that is separate from the wheel and attached at the height of the chin, they climb without stopping from one blade to the next. . . this labour continues for forty minutes without a break; the men rest for twenty minutes, then they start up again, and so on, for the whole day . . . It was difficult to imagine an activity more boring and tiring at the same time, by it’s monotony and the care necessary to apply to this task, in the fear of missing the blade and having your legs mutilated.

Granted his ticket of leave in 1845, James was allowed to move freely and work for a wage anywhere within the bounds of the convict colony. Though this required annual renewal and had the potential for being revoked if an employer or person in authority decided to.

In 1849, James was granted a conditional pardon allowing freedom as long as he remained in the colony and would become wholly void if he ever travelled to any part of the United Kingdom.

James Davis Smith and Jane Elizabeth Parker

In 1851, James married Jane Elizabeth Parker, herself the daughter of a convict mother, Caroline Kensett, who was transported to NSW aboard the Lucy Davidson in 1829 for the alleged theft of five handkerchiefs, valued at 8 shillings, 9 pennies. The father of Jane Elizabeth Parker was William Parker, who is believed to have been transported to NSW on the Mermaid in 1830 for the alleged theft of 15 glass bottles, valued at 3 shillings, 9 pennies, and two and a half gallons of wine, valued at 2 pounds.

Marriage: 23rd June 1851 near Paterson NSW
Mother-in-Law: Caroline Kensett
Father-in-Law: William Parker and William Corrie

The First Residency of James Davis Smith “Lewinsbrook” 1860 by Donald A. Readford

James and Jane leased 35 acres from Alexander Park and used the land to grow tobacco. There they raised 9 children before moving to Singleton in 1875 and having 3 more children. James started a tobacco manufactory in John Street, Singleton, They had a final move in 1881, when he received a land grant of 240 acres near Gulargambone, south of Coonamble, which he called Lewinsfield where James died in 1903 aged 82.

Like many former convicts, he never told his children how he arrived in Australia, hinting at a seafaring youth instead and a tale of jumping ship in Sydney.

SINGLETON TO COMBARA

It was Sarah Smith, the fifth child of James Davis and Jane Smith, who recorded the epic journey of the family from Singleton in 1881 to the Coonamble district. Which can be read here.

JAMES DAVIS SMITH DESCENDANTS

PARENT (M) James Davis Smith
	Birth	18 DEC 1820	Mile End, Old Town, London,
	Death	12 AUG 1903	Lewinsfield, Gulargambone, New South Wales Australia
	Marriage	23 JUN 1851	to Jane Elizabeth Parker at Campsie, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Father	John D. Smith
	Mother	Ann Rollins
PARENT (F) Jane Elizabeth Parker
	Birth	30 NOV 1835	Sydney
	Death	9 MAY 1924	Lewinsfield, Gulargambone
	Marriage	23 JUN 1851	to James Davis Smith at Campsie, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Father	William Parker
	Mother	Caroline Kensett
CHILDREN
F	Nellie (Martha Ellen) Smith
	Birth	17 DEC 1863	Lewinsbrook, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	5 MAR 1944	Coonamble, New South Wales, Australia
M	Arthur James Smith
	Birth	ABT 1867
	Death	14 JUL 1939	Gulargambone NSW
F	Emma Smith
	Birth	12 JAN 1853	Lewinsbrook, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	11 OCT 1946	Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia
M	Frederick Smith
	Birth	16 JAN 1855	Lewinsbrook, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	11 DEC 1933	Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia
M	Harry (Henry William) Smith
	Birth	27 APR 1856	Lewinsbrook, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	13 DEC 1937	Singleton, New South Wales, Australia
M	Robert John Smith
	Birth	27 AUG 1859	Lewinsbrook, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	21 JUL 1933	Burwood, New South Wales, Australia
F	Sarah Jane Smith
	Birth	21 OCT 1861	Lewinsbrook, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	15 AUG 1947	Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
M	Alfred L Smith
	Birth	2 APR 1869	Campsie, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	11 AUG 1919	Warren, NSW
F	Ada Smith
	Birth	22 SEP 1871	Campsie, Paterson, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	24 APR 1957	Wellington, NSW
M	Percival Parker Smith
	Birth	24 DEC 1875	Singleton, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	26 JUN 1943	Hurstville NSW
M	Lovell Oscar Smith
	Birth	1877	Singleton, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	12 JAN 1889	Lewinsfield, Gularambone
F	Florence Lillian May Smith
	Birth	18 MAY 1879	Singleton, New South Wales, Australia
	Death	10 APR 1936	Dubbo NSW

TRIAL OF JAMES SMITH AND THOMAS PICKETT

Extracted verbatim from the Old Bailey 1834 archives:

Before Mr Justice Park.

364. THOMAS PICKETT and JAMES SMITH were indicted for feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of James Carter and another, on the 4th of February, at St. Leonard, Shoreditch, and stealing therein 1 shawl, value 12s., their goods.

JAMES ROSE: I live at No. 184, Hoxton Old Town – I am servant to Mr. Perrian, a coal-dealer – I was going out with some coal up the town, on a Tuesday, and saw the two prisoners looking into the coffee-shop window by the side of Mr. Carter’s – then I saw Smith cut the putty of Mr. Carter’s window – Pickett was standing by the side of him – Smith cut the putty – I did not see what he did it with – I was across the road opposite – I heard the glass crack – they pushed in the glass; and Smith took out a shawl, and put it under Pickett’s apron – they then walked away quite fast down Bacchus’-walk – I put down my coals off my back, and went over to Mr. Carter’s, and told what I had seen – Carter went after the prisoners with me- we met them running down Bacchus’-walk – they went into a house, the door of which was open – they were secured – I did not see the shawl found.

JOSEPH CARTER: I live at Hoxton, in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch – I am a linen-draper , in partnership with my brother James – I have no other partner – we live in the same house – the rent is paid jointly – the shop communicates internally with the dwelling-house – on Tuesday, the 4th of February, I heard a sort of crack in the window – I was at the back of the shop – the witness came in – I went out with him down Bacchus’s-walk, and found Smith behind the door, in a house there; and the other boy came running through from the back of the house directly afterwards – I afterwards saw the shawl – my window was broken – it was a small pane, but quite large enough to take a shawl through – the shawl was close to the opening – I asked them where the shawl was – they said they knew nothing at all about it – this was between eleven and twelve o’clock – I had seen the shawl safe at eleven o’clock – the hole was four or five inches square, large enough for a hand to go through – the putty had been recently put in.

Prisoner Pickett. The window was broken before. Witness. I had had it mended about a week before – it was not broken afterwards.

FRANCIS COOK: I live in John-street, Bacchus’-walk – my side door which enters into my yard was open, on the morning in question, and a girl about seven years old, who was playing with my children, brought me a shawl – I saw her pick it up, about two yards from my side door in my yard – I did not see either of the prisoners about there – I afterwards gave the shawl to a constable – this was about half-past eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning.

CHARLES CONSTABLE (Headborough.): On Tuesday, the 4th of February, between eleven and twelve o’clock, I went to the prosecutor’s shop, after the prisoners were brought back – after securing them in the watch-house, I went in the direction they had run – I went to Mrs. Cook, who gave me the shawl which I produce.

JOSEPH CARTER. I know this shawl is mine – I can swear to it – I had seen it that morning. (Richard Forster, jeweller, 6, Weymouth-terrace, Hackney-road, and Lydia Ford, gave the prisoner Pickett a good character.)

PICKETT – GUILTY. Aged 12.

SMITH – GUILTY. Aged 13.

Confined One Month and Transported for Life.

Source: Old Bailey