Roaming Towards Myself

I went to The National Archives hoping to find more on John Savage, my great-great-great-grandfather.

The day was mostly frustration, wrong records and dead ends, and at one point it took about ten minutes just to decipher a single line of handwriting that was more than 200 years old.

But one of the staff told me I already had more than most people do, and that stayed with me.

John Savage was an iron moulder from Lancashire. He was tried at Lancaster on 7 January 1835 for stealing shoes.

For that, he was sentenced to life.

He was transported on the Mary Anne, leaving on 6 July 1835 and arriving in New South Wales on 11 November 1835 after a 128-day voyage with 307 passengers on board.

In Windsor he was assigned to a master, W. Jones, as part of the convict labour system. In 1843 he received his Ticket of Leave, meaning he was free to find work for himself and free to marry.

He married Margaret Gordon in Pitt Town in 1845. He was granted a conditional pardon on 15 February 1849, but died of typhus fever in Pitt Town aged just 44, when the youngest of his seven children was only three years old.

A pair of shoes. A life sentence. A 128-day voyage. Seven children. A short life.

I’ve now contacted Lancashire Archives, as recommended by staff at The National Archives, because the Quarter Sessions records may be held there instead. They were local court records, and may be where the original details of his trial were recorded.

The search continues.