Merevale (Merivale) Poachers

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I have included this section because of the remarkable similarity between the Merevale Poaching incident and the Newham Paddox Poaching incident. These two events are so alike that the reports have sometimes been confused, with poachers being attributed to one group or the other and the stories intermingled. James White, a Merevale poacher, was also transported along with the Newham Paddox poachers and they are listed together on the Thames Indent (a note in the Offences column, barely legible says "not with the others"). Later, the lives of James White & John Mogford (both Merevale poachers) are intertwined with that of David Poultney (a Newham Paddox poacher), further adding to the confusion.

It has not been my intention to research the Merevale incident, but merely to present it here as a means of clarifying the two separate but similar incidents.

The Merevale and Newham Paddox poaching incidents share some striking likenesses: both events took place on the night of 19^th December, 1828 (the Saturday before Christmas) ; the Merevale Poachers were on the land of DS Dugdale Esq and shot at the gamekeeper whereas the Newham Paddox poachers were on the land of the Lord of Denbigh and shot at (and wounded) the gamekeeper ; the trials were heard consecutively at the 1829 Warwick Lent Assizes: the Newham Paddox trial was heard on 9^th of April and the Merevale trial on the 11^th ; Sentences of death were given in both trials, later commuted to transportation.

The conclusion of the Merevale trial was more dramatic in that there was rioting in the streets and soldiers had to be deployed to quell the riots and later to escort the sentenced criminals through to London. Most of the Merevale Poachers were transported to Sydney aboard the "Layton", whereas the majority of the Newham Paddox Poachers were transported to Hobart on the "Thames".

Newham Paddox Poachers
The trial was reported in the Warwick Advertiser of April 1829. Read a transcript of a report on the Newham Paddox Poachers.

Merevale Poachers
The Merevale Incident was similarly reported and, as recently as 1991, an article in the Bedworth Echo summarised the events based on extracts from the Warwick Recorder of April 13th, 1829. Read the article on the Merevale Poachers.

There is also an excellent write-up on Thomas Darlison (Red Tom), one of the Merevale Poachers, including transcripts from numerous other newspaper articles (look for the section on Red Tom).

The fate of the poachers
Most of the poachers in the two parties were ultimately transported to Australia. The Merevale Poachers were mostly sent to Sydney aboard the Layton and the Newham Paddox poachers were mostly sent to Hobart aboard the Thames and the Mary. The table shown below has been knocking around in various forms and although I can't vouch for it's accuracy, it provides a useful summary of the fate of the two poaching parties.

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Convict Tales and Ancestors.  © Richard Carlaw 2006. [email protected]