Convict Thomas Moxon IS related!

We've just discovered, thanks to a Moxon Society member in the UK, that Thomas Moxon, the first Moxon convict to arrive in Australia is connected to the Joshua Middleton Moxon family.  Thomas was Joshua's great uncle.  He'd probably never heard of Thomas since it would have been a scandal to have a convict in the family.  Joshua's grandfather was Joshua Moxon, born 1751, baptised in Silkstone, and Thomas was his younger brother born 1759.  They were two of the many sons of John Moxon or Moakson of Silkstone born 1717.

W.E. & T.F. Moxon - arrived 1887

William Ernest Moxon, born in Ramsgate Kent in 1863 and Thomas Frank Moxon, born in Charlton, Kent in 1865, followed their elder brother Robert Julius to Australia in 1887.  Initially, William and Thomas worked together, establishing a service of small steamers along the Queensland coast.  However, William was headhunted by the Adelaide Steamship Company in 1890, and  became its first Queensland manager and inspector.

He moved with the company to Western Australia and raised a family there, returning to his former position in Queensland in 1918.  He took an active interest in industrial, commercial and shipping interests in both states, and in the days preceding Federation, he worked hard in Western Australia for the formation of the National Parliament.

In his younger days, he played cricket, soccer and hockey and was an enthusiastic fisherman.

He died at his home in Southport, Qld in 1946, aged 82.  He was survived by several children.  His children were Philip, Janet, Thomas and Nora.

Meanwhile, Thomas Frank Moxon, having served time as a seaman since 1880 when he was 14, joined the AUSN Co Ltd as a first officer and then ship's master on steamships plying the east coast.  He and his brother joined forces in 1891 and established Moxon & Co, working on their own account.  But after 1893, he carried on the shipping business on his own, and increasingly became attracted to the timber industry.  In 1903, Moxon & Company Pty Ltd was incorporated.

At the time of his death in 1936, he was the chairman of a prosperous group of companies based in Cairns, Brisbane and Sydney.

The family lived at Camden, Toowong in Brisbane.

R.J. Moxon - Archdeacon of Grafton - arrived 1883

Robert Julius Moxon (1861-1910) was the first of three brothers from Kent and India to migrate to Australia.  He was born in Bangalore, India, the son of a British Army Officer.  He was educated in England, as were his brothers and migrated to Australia aboard the SS John Duthie in 1883.  He was ordained an Anglican deacon in 1886, priest in 1889 and was married to Hilda Brunskill Moran in 1888.

They had seven children - Hilda D (1889), Robert W.G (1891), Thomas D.B. (1893), Marjorie May (1897), Clifford J.M. (1900), Violet F.E. (1903) and Patricia E. (1908).

He worked in the Parishes of the Lower Clarence, Tenterfield and Inverell (all in NSW) before being created an Archdeacon in Grafton.  He died at the age of 48 in 1910.

Sadly, his daughter Hilda's husband Archibald Tindal was killed at the Battle of the Somme in World War 1, and their son was the first person killed by the Japanese in Darwin in World War 11.  Tindal RAAF base is named after the latter.

His son Thomas D.B., known as Doug, had one son T.W.G., known as Glen.  Glen Moxon, born in 1922 passed away in 2010 in Byron Bay (northern NSW).  His son Geoff Moxon wrote a long obituary which was published in the Moxon Magazine in April 2011.

Joshua Middleton Moxon - Samarang, 1867

Joshua Middleton Moxon 1840-1894

Joshua Middleton Moxon was a stonemason, born in Grenoside, near Sheffield in 1840, and grew up in Barnsley, Yorkshire.  He pursued work in London in the 1860s and married Louisa Mary Wilkinson in 1865 in Chelsea.  Their first son George Joshua was born in 1866, one of seven sons and one daughter to survive childhood.

Joshua, Louisa and baby George arrived in Moreton Bay - near Brisbane - in August 1867 on the Samarang.  Family stories suggest that he was advised to leave England after he knocked off Prince Albert's nose whilst working on the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, and tried to cover it up.  However, there is no documentary proof - as yet - that he even worked on the Albert memorial.  The dates are right.  Who knows?

They settled initially at Balmain, but by 1871-2, Joshua had purchased and named Hailey Farm at Bankstown, on the site of present day Bankstown Station and Bankstown Mall.  The farm was named after Hailey Hall farm where Louisa grew up with her uncle. (See 1861 census)

The family imploded in 1883, with Louisa having left the marriage (whilst pregnant), second son Henry running away from home and his apprenticeship, and Joshua having been imprisoned for three months for cruelly beating his six year old son. A toddler, Alfred (born 1880) was kidnapped by a nanny and taken to New Zealand for many years before being identified as a Moxon by his older brother Henry (Harry) Percy.

During the time he was farming at Bankstown and for the following decade, Joshua was contracting for large stone masonry works including the Pitt Street facade of the General Post Office, the Darlinghurst Court and other well known buildings.  He was also purchasing properties.  He was not much of a father, with three of his sons - Herbert, William and Arthur being put into the care of the Randwick Institute for Destitute Children for 2-3 years.

Despite his entrepreneurial streak - he held mining leases as well as property - he was active in labour politics.  He died intestate in 1894 at the age of 54 of pneumonia, resulting in much anxiety for his estranged wife, his son George Joshua who became the estate's administrator, and his only daughter Edith, who appeared to be in dire straits, according to the probate papers.  The estate took at least 12 years to wind up, and like Dicken's Bleak House, most of the money went in legal fees.

His surviving children were:

1. George Joshua (1866-1940) - died Liverpool, NSW
2. Henry (Harry) Percy (1869-1950) - died Haberfield, NSW
3. Herbert Middleton (1872-1934) - died Merrylands, NSW - no living descendants
4. Edith Emma Chiffens (1874-1958) - married Charles A. Langford, died Balmain NSW
5. William Thorpe (1876-1952) - died Auburn, NSW - no living descendants
6. Arthur Frederick (1878-1959) - died Ryde, NSW
7. Alfred John (1880-1966) - died Stuart Town, NSW
8. Mary Susan (1887-1969) - died Little Bay, NSW - not the daughter of Joshua, although she took his name.

Six other children died either at birth or in childhood - mostly before they were 12 months old, but one died after falling into a quarry, aged eight in 1892.

Middleton was Joshua's mothers maiden name; Thorpe and Cheffins are surnames of Louisa Wilkinson's mother and grandmother.

There are a great many descendants of Joshua Middleton Moxon living throughout NSW.

Margaret and John Moxon have found descendants of four of the sons - two lines have died out - as well as of Mary Susan, and are yet to contact descendants of Edith Emma Cheffins Langford.

A group for descendants of Joshua Middleton Moxon has been set up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoshuaMiddletonMoxon/ and a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joshua-Middleton-Moxon-Family-History/179837275465183

Just search on Facebook for Joshua Middleton Moxon and you will find both.

John Bruce Moxon has written a story about Joshua's life, based on research undertaken through Australian newspapers and other source material.  If you are interested, contact John on (02) 9636 7752 or johnmoxon1@gmail.com.  The story is never finished of course, as more information comes to light.

Robert and Sarah Moxon of Bathurst NSW - 1849

Australia Mary Moxon (1873-1935) daughter of John & Mary Moxon

Robert and Sarah migrated to New South Wales in 1849 on the Sarah.  It is said that Robert was the brother of William Moxon who was transported to Van Dieman's Land in 1842.

Robert Moxon was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire in 1811, the son of John and Rebecca Moxon.  He died in 1894 in Wattle Flat, NSW.

On 14th September 1834, he married Sarah Crawley, born 1815 in Stewkley - she died 1876 in Bathurst.

They had the following children:

• Eliza b 4 July, 1837 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, d 5 August 1901 in Sydney, NSW (married Thomas Nixon in 1853 in Bathurst)
• John Moxon b 31 March 1839 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, d 8 May 1904 in Camperdown, NSW
• George Moxon, b 20 July 1842 in Clapham, London; died  15 August, 1867 in Bathurst
• Jane Elizabeth Moxon, b 7 April 1847 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, d 13 May 1897 in Molong, NSW (married Alfred Goodman in Bathurst, 1864)
• Sarah Dublin Moxon, b 12 November, 1849 at sea  -V18492258 34A/1849
• Thomas Henry Moxon b 9 June, 1853 in Bathurst, NSW -  V18533705 39A/1853
• Frederick Jesse Moxon b 12 April 1855 in Bathurst, NSW; died 21 Dec 1947 in NSW - V18554716 42B/1855

At least three other children died in infancy in England, prior to Robert and Sarah emigrating.

Members of the Moxon Society can view and print full descendancy reports of this family, which has descendants all over Australia.

William Moxon, convict on the Tortoise, 1842

William Moxon, born about 1801 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire was convicted of sheep-stealing at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on 9th March 1841.  He was the son of John and Rebecca Muxeon.  He married twice in Stewkley, the first time in 1821 to Elizabeth Emerton who bore him 8 children, three of whom died in infancy. After her death in 1839 he married a widow, Hanna Chandler who already had four children.

William was sentenced to transportation for 10 years for stealing a sheep on 6th January 1841.  It was his second conviction. He stated that he had been convicted and sentenced to one month's imprisonment for stealing a turnip about 18 years earlier.

He arrived in Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) in February 1842. on the Tortoise.

In 1853 William married Mary Hurst, another convict who was born in Meltham, Yorkshire.  They had had a son William born 1852.

The family sailed from Launcestonto Port Phillip District (Melbourne) in 1855 under the name Moxom and settled in the Kingower area, where Henry, Alfred, George and Mary Ann Moxom were born. The descendants have all taken the name Moxom.  Earlier William was known variously as Moxham and Moxon.

William died in 1869 and is buried in the Kamarooka Cemetery (Victoria).  Mary remarried after his death to John Piggott and she died in 1879.

Further information about their descendants can be found at The Moxon Society's website (MX01 family tree available for members only).

In 1849, William's younger brother Robert Moxon (b1811) migrated to Bathurst, NSW with his wife Sarah.  There is no record of the brothers ever having met again.  Both brothers have many descendants, with the NSW branch retaining the name Moxon.

Much of this information can be found at foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/om24153 .  The Founders and Survivors website is a

"partnership between historians, genealogists, demographers and population health researchers. It seeks to record and study the founding population of 73,000 men women and children who were transported to Tasmania. Many survived their convict experience and went on to help build a new society."

Jacob Moxon, convict on Heber, 1837

Jacob Moxon was born on 18th May 1807 in Badsworth, Yorkshire, the son of Samuel Moxon and  Ann Brook. He married Sarah Beale in Badsworth on 16th January 1826 and had two children, a son and a daughter Mary Anne born in 1827.  He is listed in the Moxon Society tree MX06.

Jacob enlisted with the 82nd Foot Regiment in Sheffield on 22 September 1826 and saw service in was convicted of desertion at Dublin Barracks in 1836.

He was transported for 14 years on the Heber in March 1837.  He is mentioned in a surgeon's journal which can be found at http://www.jenwilletts.com/ConvictShipsH.htm :

"The Surgeon reported that the Heber had a remarkably fine run out of the channel and the prisoners who were not suffering from sea sickness were able to go on deck. For those who suffered sea sickness their health was extremely reduced and some remained convalescent for the remainder of the voyage. 

Alexander Neill's first patient Jacob Moxon was treated on the very first day at sea.  Jacob Moxon, a 31 one year old former soldier from Dublin who was court-martialled for desertion had been held in Kilmainham gaol for some time without shoes or stockings and complained much of the cold. He was suffering from fever and a cough which the surgeon successfully treated. Other patients suffered from bilious complaints, rheumatism and fever."

According to the Convict indents (Ancestry) 166964, he was described as:

Age 31. Reads and writes, Married with two children. Labourer and soldier, native place Yorkshire. Tried for desertion at Royal Barracks Dublin (court-martial) on 15 September 1836 and sentenced to 14 years transportation. No prior convictions. 6ft 3 in, Dark sallow and freckled with grey hair and eyes. Long visage. Tattoos - woman, SM inside lower left arm, anchor back of left hand, scar ball of left thumb. 

He did not see out his term of imprisonment. At some stage he was sent to Newcastle where he probably worked on a property or in the coal mines.  It is unlikely that Jacob had been sent to prison for additional punishment since the military prison closed in 1822.

He was buried as Jacob Moxan on 26th March 1844 aged 40.  He died in hospital in Newcastle.  The burial record is listed in the Burial Register of Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, page 13.

Sadly, it is unlikely he saw his family again after his imprisonment in Ireland in 1836.

Robert Moxon, convict on the Adamant 1821

Robert Moxon was convicted at Nottingham Town Assizes of shop robbery on 11th January 1821 and transported for seven years.  This was his second conviction.

He arrived on the convict ship Adamant on 8th September 1821, and worked for GLM Hawkins in Bathurst.  In April 1824 he was listed as returned to Government and assigned to settles in the district of Appin (south west of Sydney).

He received his certificate of freedom on 28th January 1828 and worked as a butcher.

John Moxon, convict on the Lord Sidmouth, 1819

Two years after the first John Moxon to be transported, another arrived.  He was John Moxon, a seaman born about 1798.  He was convicted at the Nottingham Assizes on 13th March 1818 and transported for seven years.  He arrived in 1819 on the Lord Sidmouth, and was later described as a basketmaker in Sydney.

In March 1823 he was listed as a servant of John Piper, a naval officer, who gave testimony as to his character for a ticket of leave. (Reel 6026; 4/1715 pp 534-5 - Colonial Secretary Index 1788-1825)

This John Moxon married Susannah Blue, at St Philip's Church of England, Sydney in 1827.  She was the daughter of Billy Blue, a convict who gave his name to Blues Point. Billy Blue was probably born in Jamaica, and was described in the Minorca (ship) records as a Jamaican Negro sailor but was living in Deptford in London.  More information about him - and a photo - can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Blue.

I cannot find a record of John Moxon's death, but in 1834, Susannah Moxon (nee Blue) married George Lavender who gave his name to Lavender Bay at North Sydney.

Billy Blue, John Moxon and George Lavender were all ferrymen on Sydney Harbour.

John Moxon, convict on the Larkins 1, 1817

John Moxon of Ferrybridge in Yorkshire, born about 1795, was convicted of highway robbery at the York Assizes on 8th March 1817, aged 22.  He was sentenced to death, but like many others at the time, this sentence was commuted to transportation for life.

There is a query about his place of origin, since the conditional pardon states he was from Thorpe.  There is a Thorpe-on-the-Hill near Leeds and Carlton.

In November 1818 he was on the list of prisoners sent to Newcastle per "Lady Nelson".

Early records have him working for the well-known Throsby family at Liverpool.  He was given a ticket of leave in 1838, meaning he could work for himself under strict conditions.    In 1842 he was in Darlinghurst gaol, so it seemed he could not keep out of trouble.

He was described as 6 feet tall, sallow complexion, hazel eyes, Catholic and a farm labourer.

He was given a conditional pardon in 1849 - NSW State Records New South Wales, Australia,Convict Registers of Conditional and Absolute Pardons 1791-1867.  A conditional pardon meant that he could not return to any part of the United Kingdom or Ireland.

Ferrybridge is just north of Pontefract and the intersection of the M1 and M62 motorways.  No doubt it is much changed since his birth in about 1795.  I wonder if one of our Moxon families has claimed him?


More research needs to be undertaken for this convict.  It is fortunate that convicts were usually described by the ship on which they arrived in the colony, since it is otherwise difficult sorting out all the John Moxons!  A popular name even in the early nineteenth century.

Thomas Moxon, third fleet convict, 1791

There were no Moxons on the first or second fleets which came to Port Jackson (also now better known as Sydney Harbour) in 1788 and 1789.  However, a Thomas Moxon, convicted at York Assizes in March 1788  was transported on the Matilda, part of the Third Fleet on 1st August 1791.  His term of seven years expired in 1795, but he settled in New South Wales.

In 1809, Lieutenant Governor granted Thomas Moxon, by now an emancipist, 50 acres of land along Salt Pan Creek, now Punchbowl, NSW (a Sydney suburb).  Thomas was described as a "hurdle-maker to the Government" - a fencing contractor in other words.  The land was mostly mangrove swamp, and although he may have cleared some of the land, he soon left.  However, his heritage is the name of a street - Moxon Road, Punchbowl.

More information can be found in The history of Punchbowl.

By the time of the 1824 muster, he was a land-holder at Wilberforce, near Windsor on the Hawkesbury River.

In the 1828 census, he is listed as a lodger at Jane Peacock's at Lower Portland.

There is an infant named Thomas Moxon buried in the old Sydney cemetery, located on the site of St Andrews Cathedral in 1798.  Was he the convict's son?  It certainly seems likely.

In the muster of 1828, there are two records for children of Thomas Moxon - their names are Edward born 1816 and Catherine born 1820.

There is no record of either Edward or Catherine Moxon marrying in NSW.  There is also no record of a death for either child.

In the 1828 census, there is also a John Moxon, aged 22 (born in NSW), a carpenter.  He is most likely a son of Thomas Moxon.  Again, there is no record of a marriage in NSW, or of a death.