Latest update: 28th December 2008


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  This Edward Baskerville descends from Edward at line #29 on the genealogical chart.
  
  

Edward Baskerville, of Tarrington Herefordshire and Van Diemen's Land

• baptised 19 April 1801, St Bartholemew's Church of England, Holmer, Herefordshire
• died ?
• parents Edward and Mary Baskerville, nee Newman
• married 20 October 1835, at St Philip & St James Church of England Tarrington to Mary Hodges, nee Saunders
• Children
  • John 1836 -

Biography and descendants

Edward is not recorded in any of the censuses for England & Wales, and generally disappears from the English records after his marriage. The 1841 Census contains a record in the village of Tarrington for Mary Baskerville, aged 40, agricultural labourer and her son John Baskerville, aged 5, along with Mary's daughters Mary Hodges (11) and Elizabeth Hodges (9) from her first marriage. Edward's wife and son can be traced through subsequent census (until at least 1901 for John) in Tarrington.

Edward Baskerville, a farm labourer ploughman, appeared before the Hereford Assizes (county court) on 23 March 1848 where he was sentenced to 10 years transportation for housebreaking. He had been apprehended stealing bacon and clothing from the house of John Humphrey of Whithington, near Hereford. His record indicates he had already served a previous sentence of seven years transportation for a similar offence, serving his time in Bermuda toiling on the construction of the naval dockyards.

Edward's was described at the time of his conviction as being 5'7" (170 cms) in height, Church of England, could read and write a little, married with two children, from near Hereford. His family was described as father Edward, wife Mary, brothers Thomas and John, sisters Mary, Sarah and Ann.

Edward sailed with 312 other convicts on the ship Rodney from Portland, Dorset on 23 August 1850. After a voyage of 97 days he was disembarked at Hobart in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) on 28 November 1850, where he was received the number 23194 (Indent Con14/1/41).

His more detailed description was then given as: trade farm labour on the plough, height 5'7", age 52, complexion fresh, head medium, hair brown, whiskers red, visage large, forehead high broad, eyebrows light brown, eyes grey, nose large, mouth medium, chin ditto. He had been vaccinated on his left arm, leaving a stout mark. He had been previously transported for ten years, serving seven years in Bermuda. The ship's surgeon reported his conduct as 'good'.

The convicts of the Rodney already had probationer status by the time they arrived, and Edward was assigned to work for a Mr JW Rout of Fulham, an island in Norfolk Bay south-east of Hobart and near the penal station of Port Arthur. Only one subsequent offence is recorded in his conduct record, for being drunk in May 1852, but this does not seem to have affected his progression to freedom. He was recommended for a ticket of leave on 1 June 1852, and on the 8 June for a conditional pardon. A year later on 14 June 1853 he was granted his conditional pardon, just over five years after his conviction at the Hereford Assizes (Cons 33/1/99, p31).

Edward's subsequent life (whether he ever returned to England, or whether he married and founded another family in Australia) is currently being researched.