David Poultney, Convict, transported to Tasmania -biography

David Poultney
Convict Number P565
Policeman, Milkman, Landowner
© Richard Carlaw. 2003-2006

Introduction
Under England's penal system, David Poultney and a group of accomplices were transported to Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania) for poaching pheasant on the Earl's land and shooting and attempting to kill the chief Gamekeeper. Aged about 20 on his arrival, David lived out the rest of his days in Tasmania. From an initial 14 year sentence, David received a conditional pardon after 7 years, joined the police force, married & fathered 10 children and became a respectable member of Tasmania society. He died in 1884 aged about 82.

This section is structured as shown below. Click on a link to go directly to a page or use the ¬ ® navigation aids at the top and bottom of each page.

Life Story

Continues on this page

Documentation

Page 1 - Convict
Page 2 - post convict
Page 3 - Death
Page 4 - Related docs

Family Tree

Descendants
Group Sheets

Born: between 1802-1809, Bell Green, Warwickshire, England
Died: 6^th August, 1884, Hobart, Tasmania.

Convict
On the 9^th of April, 1829 David Poultney received a Death Sentence at the Warwick Assizes. The crime involved a gang of around 28 youths who had been out poaching, and the subsequent shooting of John Slinn, principal gamekeeper to the Earl of Denbigh.

Seventeen of the group were tried at Warwick assizes (two others gave evidence against them) and they were found guilty of "shooting with intent to kill" and with aiding and abetting. Later their death sentences were commuted: some received life transportation sentences and some 14-year transportation sentences.

In 1829 David was transported to Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania) aboard the convict ship "The Thames", departing London on 31^st July 1829 and arriving in Hobart on 21^st Nov. There were 158 prisoners on board, including at least 7 of David's accomplices.

Prisoner papers describe David as dark complexioned with brown eyebrows and brown eyes, high forehead, medium nose and mouth, fleshy chin, a round face and as being "pockfilled". His height is given as 5'7", his profession as "common Labourer" (later as "weaver"), originating from Bell Green, Warwickshire.

At time of transportation, David's age is given as 20, making his year of birth around 1808/9, although this conflicts with his age given at death, which puts his year of birth around 1802/3. When transported, David was unmarried and had no children.

On 9^th May 1836, after serving 7 of his 14 years, David was granted a conditional pardon. He would have been aged somewhere between 27 and 32. Conditional pardons typically entitled convicts to earn wages on their own account, to acquire property and to marry, but not to leave the colony.

The following year, 1837, he married Annie Watts. They had 10 children: Sarah (1837), William Bent (1839), George (1841), David (1843), John (1846?), Ann Amelia (1847), Thomas (1849), Margaret (1851), Henry (1853) and Selina (1855), who died in infancy.

Despite the hardships of being convicted and transported to a foreign land, David seems to have made good and became a respected member of the Hobart community - acquiring property and even joining the police force (A true poacher-turned-gamekeeper!)

Policeman
David's career in the police force was set in motion the moment he arrived in Hobart as a convict - appropriation lists show that he and fellow poacher Thomas Perkins were assigned to the police department as "field" police. This came about as a result of a decision earlier in the year by the colonial governor to enlist convicts to help bolster numbers. A posting to the rootsweb website and quoting from "Mounted Police in Victoria and Tasmania" by John O'Sullivan, describes the decision thus:

"In July 1829 the Lt.Gov. of VDL authorized the creation of a second mounted force as part of the field police. The new Police were selected from the better conducted convicts arriving on various transports. The men for the field police were chosen immediately on arrival before they could become contaminated by the old hands. For a three year term of service they were promises [of] a conditional pardon provided they received a good report from the police magistrate in whose district they served. Each man leaving the force with such a report was also given a gratuity for £20 to £30 to set up in life."

The field police appointed in this manner were not necessarily popular - distrusted by the convict population and disdained by the "real" police and landowners. Nonetheless, David progressed in the department and on the 1^st of March 1836, before receiving his conditional pardon, David was appointed to the position of "District Constable", earning 50 pounds per annum. Police wage entries for 1837 and 1838 name David as one of 7 District Constables (for Hobart Town). An extract from the 1838 return is given below:

OFFICE	NAME	DATE OF APP.	BY	ANNUAL SALARY
District Constable	J Spimm?	22nd Nov 1837	Lt Gov.	75 " "
District Constable	D Poultney	1 March 1836	"	50 " "
District Constable	W Simpson	21 Nov 1838	"	50 " "
District Constable	W Smith	13 Dec 1836	"	50 " "
District Constable	B Watkins	12 Jul 1836	"	50 " "
District Constable	W L Watking?	22 Aug 1838	"	50 " "
District Constable	T Perkins	9 Aug 1838	"	50 " "
Division Constable	J Oakley	1 Jan 1834	"	25 " "
Invalid	W Fletcher	-	-	13 13 9
Petty Constables	108 at 1/9 each per Div	-	-	3449 5 "
Do	3 at 1/- " " "	-	-	54 15 "
Constables at Newmarket?	4 at 1/9 " " "	-	-	127 15 "
Constables at Gardew?	4 at 1/9 " " "	-	-	127 15 "

(Under the police department hierarchy established by the Lt-Governor in 1828, the 9 districts of Tasmania were each headed by a Chief Police Magistrate, followed by a Chief District Constable, then District Constables, Division Constable, Petty Constables and Field Police)

In 1839 at the baptism of his son William Bent Poultney, David gives his occupation as District Constable and his later obituary also gives reference to this early time with the police force.

Property
In 1846 David acquired two properties at "Augustus Terrace" in Upper Goulburn Street, Hobart: in May he acquired block 1 of "Augustus Terrace" and in July he acquired block 2. In November he applied to have the two regarded as one. A notice placed in the Hobart Town Gazette in December 1846 describes the property in some detail:

Notice is hereby given, that the following Claims for Grants of Land will be ready for examination, by the Commissioners appointed for that purpose, upon or immediately after the 22nd day of February next, on or before which day any caveat or counter claim must be entered.

~
DAVID POULTNEY. City of Hobart Town.
0A[cres]. 3R[oods]. 19P[erches]

(Part Originally M. O'Brian, remainder to J. Liddy, and respectively conveyed to J. Clair, A. Main, A. Phegan, J. Bodry, H. Melville, and applicant separately.)

Bounded on the north east by 3 chains 93 links or thereabouts, south-easterly along an allotment occupied by or belonging to Lewis Riley commencing at the west angle thereof on Augustus-terrace and extending to Prince's buildings, on the south east by 2 chains 62 links or thereabouts south-westerly along Prince's-buildings to the east angle of an allotment occupied by or belonging to Robert Mulhall, on the south west by 4 chains 2 1/2 links or thereabouts north-westerly along that allotment to Augustus-terrace aforesaid, on the north west by 43 links north-easterly along Augustus-terrace to the west angle of an allotment occupied or belonging to Joseph Ward, again on the north east by 2 chains south-easterly along that allotment, again on the north west by 85 1/2 links north-easterly also along the same allotment, again on the south west by 1 chain 98 links north-westerly also along the same allotment to Augustus-terrace aforesaid, and thence again on the north west by 1 chain 30 1/2 links north-easterly along Augustus-terrace to the point of commencement.

Note on units & measures:
1 Chain = 22 yards (length of a cricket pitch) = 20.117m
1 link = 1/100 chain
1 Rood (R) = 1/4 acre = 0.10117 hectares
1 Square Perch (P) = 1/40 Rood = 30.25 square yards = 25.29 square meters

The Augustus Terrace property, given as 0 acres, 3 roods, 19 perches equates, therefore, to 4204 square yards, or 0.87 acres, or 3515 square meters, or 0.35 hectares.

In his 1848, census return, David gives his residence as 36 Lower Goulburn Street, so possibly the Augustus Terrace residences were acquired for rental purposes. Later, on the 1856 electoral role, and at his death, his address is given as Upper Goulburn Street.

In addition to his service with the police force, unconfirmed sources indicate that David may also have operated a dairy farm, possibly whilst serving with the police. His profession at his death, and on an earlier 1842 document, is given as 'milkman' seeming to confirm this second vocation.

Origins
Little is known of David's origins or ancestry, beyond the "Bell Green, Warwickshire" recorded as his native place on convict documents. His year of birth is placed sometime between 1802 and 1809 - the spread arising out of a discrepancy in ages on various records: 20 given on convict documents in c1829; and 80/81 given at his death in 1884.

The village of Bell Green outside Coventry lies adjacent to that of Foleshill where, according to the article in the Warwick Advertiser, the poachers assembled that fateful night of 20 December 1828. St Lawrence is the parish church and possible christening and marriage entries are recorded on the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and parish records, viz;

DAVID POULTNEY
Male Christening: 17 JUL 1813   Saint Lawrence, Foleshill, Warwick, England
Age at Christening: 6
Father: THOMAS POULTNEY
Mother: SARAH

Siblings CHARLOTTE (2) & JANE (5) christened the same day and possible sibling SARAH (4) christened the previous year. (source: IGI)

MARRIAGE
By Banns 28 May 1792
Poulteney, Thomas (x) of Foleshill, to Warner, Sarah (x) of Foleshill
Witnesses: Thomas Russel (x), William Hutchinson
(Source: parish records, unconfirmed)

The Foleshill christening implies an age of 21 in 1828, which aligns quite closely to the age given on David's convict papers, and two of David's children are named Thomas and Sarah, coinciding with the names of the parents above. Nonetheless, any connection to these entries would seem more circumstantial than factual and it would seem imprudent to pursue David's ancestry further until more substantial evidence comes to light.

Death
David died of heart disease on the 6^th of August, 1884 aged between 75 and 81. He was resident at Goulburn Street, Hobart, at the time.

POULTNEY - On August 6 at his residence Upper Goulburn St in the 81^st year of his age, leaving a large family and circle of friends to mourn their loss. Friends are invited to attend his funeral which will leave his late residence on Sunday August 10 at 2 o'clock to Queenborough Cemetery. Melbourne and NZ papers please copy.
Mercury, Thursday, Aug 7 1884

POULTNEY - On August 6, at his residence, Upper Goulburn St, David Poultney, in the 81^st year of his age, leaving a large family and circle of friends to mourn their loss.
Mercury, Thursday, Aug 7 1884

DEATH OF AN OLD CITIZEN, - After a residence of more than half a century in Hobart, Mr. David Poultney died at his residence, Goulburn street, yesterday, in his 81^st year of age. The deceased was a well-known member of the police, in early times, when he did good service to the state. For 50 years he has lived in the locality where he died, and was universally respected by all who knew him.

A few years after his death, on 19^th Jun 1889, his wife Annie died at Upper Goulburn Street aged 74. Her notice read as follows:

POULTNEY - On June 19 at her late residence 165 Goulburn Street, Ann relict of the late David Poultney in the 74^th year of her age. Vic and NZ papers please copy.

David and Annie were both buried at Queenborough Cemetery, Lower Sandy Bay, Hobart. They were buried at the same site (possibly the same grave) as their previously deceased son, Thomas, who died 6 December 1876 aged 27.

David Poultney. Convict Number P565. Policeman, Milkman, Landowner.
© Richard Carlaw 2003-2004
Last update: 30^th August 2004