N is for Nottingham

 I have written elsewhere in this blog about convict brothers John (Lord Sidmouth, 1819) and Robert (Adamant, 1821) and shown the contrast in their behaviour and standing in the colony of New South Wales.

This tree, MX68 is the smallest in the Moxon Society.  John and Robert were shown as being the sons of John Mugson and his wife Phoebe Teel from Kings Lynn and all the children were baptised in Nottingham, including a sister Elizabeth who died as an infant.  Elsewhere John Mugson is recorded as Moxon.  No parents for John Mugson or Moxon can be found at this time.  

However, in the well established tree MX01, the Moxons of Cawthorne there is a Mugson or Moxon family born in Derby.  In 1702 a John  Mugson of Derby married Hannah Houghton in St Mary’s Nottingham.  There is a missing generation which needs to be discovered but I would be very surprised if this were not the same family.  Derby and Nottingham are only 14 miles apart. 

More about Robert Moxon, convict, Adamant 1821

Robert Moxon, a butcher by trade, was baptised at St Mary’s, Nottingham on 4 April, 1803, the son of John and Phebe Mugson.  In every other record, his parents were named Moxon.  A John Moxon had married Phoebe Teel in South Lynn, Norfolk in 1794, the only recorded marriage of a John Moxon and a Phoebe.  A son John was born to the couple in 1796 and a daughter Elizabeth in 1805.  Sadly Elizabeth died the same year.

In 1818, his older brother John was convicted of larceny and sentenced to seven years transportation.  He arrived in Port Jackson on the Lord Sidmouth in March 1819 and was assigned to Captain Piper, a naval officer after whom the now affluent Sydney suburb of Point Piper is named. 

Here is more about Captain John Piper. 

John appears to have been highly regarded by his master, who found him “an honest, sober, industrious character, having faithfully served his master” (note 1), and recommended for a ticket of leave in 1823. Being a seaman, he became a ferryman on Sydney harbour and married a daughter of the well-known ferryman William Blue. (See Moxons Down Under Newsletter - May 2013)

The year after John’s conviction in 1818, younger brother Robert came to the attention of the law in Nottingham.  After a sentence of 12 months in October 1819, followed by an acquittal for a second offence, he was again convicted on 11th January 1821 of stealing from a shop (where he worked maybe?) and sentenced to seven years transportation.  He was sent to the convict hulk Justitia moored at Greenwich and on 26th March 1821 sailed for Port Jackson on the Adamant.

Adamant 1821

His behaviour suggests he might have been looking for a sentence of transportation after a positive experience by his brother, but then again maybe he just couldn’t help himself.

Robert was noted in the 1822 muster as also working for Captain Piper, but maybe the latter was disappointed in his work and character. 

By 1825, Robert was re-assigned to a landholder at Bathurst, a Mr Hawkins.  The very same year, he used his brother John’s Certificate of Freedom, and absconded.  Quickly caught, he was subjected to 50 lashes, and returned to his master at Bathurst.  Imagine his scars: by the fourth lash of a leather cat o’ nine tails, his skin would be broken, and by 50 lashes, his backbone would have been exposed.  The punishments were inflicted by other convicts, sometimes the convict’s fellow workers, in order to break loyalties.

Robert would have been expected to go back to work immediately, and his back may not have been washed until the following day. (note 2)

This event did not seem to have extended his sentence, because by 28th January 1828, he too had gained his certificate of freedom.  However Robert seemed not to be able to avoid temptation.  In 1830 he was tried for stealing beef and acquitted, but in 1833, he was gaoled for larceny.

It is assumed that John Moxon died before 1834 because Susannah Moxon married George Lavender in 1834.  No death record can be found.

Robert too, fades into oblivion.  Nothing further is heard of him in either Australia or England.

Notes:

1. Ancestry.co.uk  New South Wales Colonial Secretary’s papers, 1788-1856. Downloaded 20/11/15

2. http://www.convictcreations.com/history/punishments.html. Downloaded 18/11/15

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.