Thursday, 2 April 2020

Great x4 Grandfather William Ireland

My Great x4 Grandfather William Ireland (1803 - after 1855) was an agricultural and general labourer and father of three.



William was born around 1803 in Talaton, Devon to William Ireland (about 26), a labourer, and Mary Ireland.

William was baptised on 27th February 1803 in Talaton, Devon.

William was the second of two children (one daughter and one son):


  • Elizabeth 'Betty'  1801 - 1803 (24 months old)
  • William  1803 -


Sadly, when William was only about one month old, his older sister Betty passed away, aged only two years old. Her record of burial lists her cause of death: my hands covered my eyes after reading 'burnt to death'. Little Betty was buried on 21st March 1803 in Talaton.

At some point, either during his boyhood or as a young man, William moved around three miles south-west from Talaton to Whimple. There, with his elderly father of the same name, he lived with and worked as an agricultural labourer for farmer Thomas Elworthy, come the time of the 1841 Census.

1841 Census:


On 17th February 1842, William (about 39), a labourer, married Mary Riggs (about 28), a servant and single mother of one, in Farringdon, Devon. Mary's son John (born 1834) is listed with his step-father's surname of Ireland on the 1851 Census; however, when he married as a young man in 1856, he was once more using his mother's maiden name of Riggs. When William and Mary married, Mary was about three months pregnant with their first child, daughter Mary Ann. On their record of marriage, William and Mary each left only their mark, implying neither could write.

William and Mary had three children (one daughter and two sons):


  • Mary Ann 1842 -
  • William Henry  1844 -
  • Samuel  1848 -


The summer of 1844, when William was about forty-one, his father of the same name passed away, aged about seventy-five. William Senior was buried on 9th July 1844 in Whimple.

Sometime between 1844 and 1848, William and his young family moved from Farringdon about six miles west to Heavitree, near Exeter - there, their youngest child Samuel was baptised in 1848 and Mary and the children can be found in the 1851 Census.

William's wife Mary is listed as the head of the family in the 1851 Census, working and looking after her four children. Where was William? Mary is not listed as a widow, implying William was still alive at that point. Unfortunately William seemed to disappear from record, particularly censuses, after the baptisms of his three children in the 1840's; however, further research revealed why...

In February 1850, William, a married man in his forties with three/four young children, stole one sheep, and had the misfortune of being caught. For his crime, he was sentenced to seven years transportation to Tasmania, Australia! (otherwise known as Van Diemen's Land)

From the North Devon Journal of 21st February 1850:


Though tried at Exeter Castle on 26th February 1850, it wasn't until two and half years later, on 4th November 1852, that William boarded the Oriental Queen in Plymouth for Australia. Over three months later, on 19th February 1853, he arrived in Tasmania.

His Tasmanian Convict Record gives a physical description of forty-nine year old William: he was 5'5 1/2''; with a sallow complexion, dark brown hair and eyebrows, and grey eyes; had a large oval head, a large nose and mouth, and a medium-sized forehead and chin. He also had a scar near his right eye.

He was also described as being Church of England and, touchingly, that he could read a little. For his prison report, he received the mark of exemplary. William's good behaviour must have continued for he applied for and received a ticket of leave on 8th November 1853; and on 17th July 1855, he applied for and received a conditional pardon.

Unfortunately I cannot find out anything about William after 1855. We leave him in Australia, an old Devonshire lad, a conditional pardon in his pocket.

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