Daniel FOWLER The National Archives (England) have a petition lodged in respect of the conviction and sentence of Daniel FOWLER convicted in 1831 in Somerset for the offence of housebreaking for which he had been sentenced to death commuted to transportation for life: HO17/89/QP/16, Criminal Petitions, Series I. He was convicted with three others of the crime but, in his petition, he states that he was a hawker travelling about the county and met by accident his co-accused and says he is otherwise innocent of the crime. He says he has a wife and four small children and was now pregnant with the fifth. A note in the file states that his father was one Wm Fowler of Bristol. His age at the time of the petition appears to be 23. A lengthy report of his trial in the Sherborne Mercury of 4 April 1831 confirms that age. A birth of Daniel around 1808, his marriage say between 1824 and 1830 and the birth of his five children might be found in Bristol (where his father resides in 1831), Gloucestershire generally, Somerset (where he traded and was convicted) then widening to South West England would be my next step. Regards

  Hello Daniel (or anyone else), Has anyone found any documentation as to how such petitions were treated, please? The wife of my ancestor exiled to Sydney (wherever on Earth that was?), after the 1798 failed war of independence in Ireland, also wrote to the Lord High Protector of Ireland (and head of all His Majesty's forces in Ireland) that her husband really loved the Government/King of England and hence it was all a mistake to be shipping him off from Ireland to the other side of the world.  She prayed that he instead be returned to his "small" family (she and six children I think) - especially as she was "bedral". Bedral is an old Scottish (Scots-Irish) word I think, meaning confined to one's bed (due to illness?). I doubt that Lord Castlereagh, the nobleman to whom it was addressed, would ever have read her petition to set her husband free (?). I have a copy but I also cannot find where the original now resides.   (I suspect that all such petitions at that time were stored at Dublin Castle - but probably later moved from there ?). I have not yet read how any of these petitions of appeal from relatives were treated or assessed - or indeed if any effort at all was routinely made to assess the claims that might be made in some of them .. of the genre of 'my relative is innocent' etc. Whether my ancestor was innocent or otherwise of harbouring ideas injurious to Britain's majesty and power, and ownership of Ireland (by conquest centuries before), I still have no idea. He was almost certainly a Protestant, like the English themselves - yet Protestants (Presbyterians) in Ireland were central to the uprising of 1798 whence that alone means but little I think. The name was Burns, or Byrnes -- and seeing they themselves who bore the name could not write or spell it made little difference to them which it was(?). Best Regards,   John Byrnes ( we are still in Sydney - having never returned to the old country)     ----- Original Message ----- From: aus-pt-jackson-convicts@rootsweb.com To: Cc: Sent:Tue, 19 Nov 2013 12:04:34 +1100 Subject:Re: [PJ] Daniel Fowler Daniel FOWLER The National Archives (England) have a petition lodged in respect of the conviction and sentence of Daniel FOWLER convicted in 1831 in Somerset for the offence of housebreaking for which he had been sentenced to death commuted to transportation for life: HO17/89/QP/16, Criminal Petitions, Series I. He was convicted with three others of the crime but, in his petition, he states that he was a hawker travelling about the county and met by accident his co-accused and says he is otherwise innocent of the crime. He says he has a wife and four small children and was now pregnant with the fifth. A note in the file states that his father was one Wm Fowler of Bristol. His age at the time of the petition appears to be 23. A lengthy report of his trial in the Sherborne Mercury of 4 April 1831 confirms that age. A birth of Daniel around 1808, his marriage say between 1824 and 1830 and the birth of his five children might be found in Bristol (where his father resides in 1831), Gloucestershire generally, Somerset (where he traded and was convicted) then widening to South West England would be my next step. Regards ---------------------- To send a message to the Port Jackson Convicts List, send an email to AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Jordan and John. I am overwhelmed and speechless re the information below on Daniel Fowler ......am I dreaming or is this true that his father is named as William Fowler of Bristol, you wonderful person thank you and please which ever one of you pulled this out of the past please please rec contact me. Laraine -----Original Message----- From: Jordan Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 11:04 AM To: aus-pt-jackson-convicts@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PJ] Daniel Fowler Daniel FOWLER The National Archives (England) have a petition lodged in respect of the conviction and sentence of Daniel FOWLER convicted in 1831 in Somerset for the offence of housebreaking for which he had been sentenced to death commuted to transportation for life: HO17/89/QP/16, Criminal Petitions, Series I. He was convicted with three others of the crime but, in his petition, he states that he was a hawker travelling about the county and met by accident his co-accused and says he is otherwise innocent of the crime. He says he has a wife and four small children and was now pregnant with the fifth. A note in the file states that his father was one Wm Fowler of Bristol. His age at the time of the petition appears to be 23. A lengthy report of his trial in the Sherborne Mercury of 4 April 1831 confirms that age. A birth of Daniel around 1808, his marriage say between 1824 and 1830 and the birth of his five children might be found in Bristol (where his father resides in 1831), Gloucestershire generally, Somerset (where he traded and was convicted) then widening to South West England would be my next step. Regards ---------------------- To send a message to the Port Jackson Convicts List, send an email to AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message