hi Douglas This is a great story - I think you are right Wouldn't it be great to find out more about their early lives in Ireland, they were probably married to sisters, or were cousins, or some such relationship.. Maybe a book of short stories like these could be published - another book like the WAY BACK WHEN northern volume - with perhaps a 12-20 people contributing 1-2 stories each, with references etc ? Julie On 2 January 2015 at 20:10, Douglas Burbury via <aus-tasmania@rootsweb.com> wrote: > I just came across something and I thought I'd share it for the general > interest of List members. It is also an example of some of the > surprising things you can find out with a bit of cross-referencing. It's > a pity one or two people couldn't do it 180 years ago or some innocent > lives might have been saved. > > I have been looking into the robbery of Hamilton's store at Ross in > November 1834. One of the robbers, Michael Rice, turned King's Evidence, > and his evidence led to the conviction and execution of four of his > accomplices (Thomas Kirkham, John Ashton, John Bourke and William > Weston). A fifth accomplice, Charles Nosworthy, received a Life > sentence. It all seemed fairly straightforward. > > However, all of the convicted felons maintained their innocence right up > until the moment they were hanged. They even claimed that the whole > business was a set-up organised by Convict Constable John Lamph, one of > the arresting constables, and the snitch Rice. They said that while in > gaol, Lamph often came to see Rice, and that the two of them planned the > whole testimony in order that Lamph could get a Conditional Pardon out > of the affair. Rice denied this of course. > > Moreover, all six of the robbers who were charged -- Rice, Kirkham, > Ashton, Bourke, Weston and Nosworthy -- were free men at the time of the > robbery. Nosworthy had even arrived free and had no prior convict > record. (All the others were previously convicts who were now free by > servitude.) The only current convict among the lot of them was the > arresting constable, John Lamph. > > In the end John Lamph did receive a Conditional Pardon for bringing the > felons to justice, and Michael Rice -- although confessing to the > robbery -- received immunity for turning Kings Evidence. > > Around the same time, the "Colonial Times" newspaper ran a series of > editorials on the injustice of employing convicts as police constables, > and on rewarding these constables with pardons, tickets-of-leave or a > share in the rewards or fines on offer. The CT editor made a particular > example of Convict Constable Lamph and the Ross robbery. The Editor > lamented how the system invariably led to corruption, and how free > people were at risk of losing their property and even their lives at the > whims of convicts seeking pardons or rewards. > > The CT Editor went on to point out that later on in July 1835, Constable > Lamph brought capital charges of assault against four free men in Hobart > Town -- "capital" meaning that if found guilty, the men would be > sentenced to death. However, the four men were acquitted and Constable > Lamph was subsequently charged with perjury for lying under oath about > the assault. (Apparently the courtroom audience erupted with cheers at > this, and the Judge had a hard time calming them down.) > > I was looking at the various convict records for these people, and I > came across a rather interesting "coincidence", although I don't believe > much in coincidences: > > John Lamph and Michael Rice both came to VDL as convicts aboard the same > transport, the "Castle Forbes". In fact they were both from County > Armagh and had been tried at the same Lent Assizes in 1819, and they > were 3 years apart in age. > > This was never mentioned in the trial of Kirkham et al or even by the > "Colonial Times" Editor. But think about it: if you were an unscrupulous > convict constable with a Life sentence who was prepared to lie and cheat > your way to freedom, and you'd just arrested one of your old comrades > and brother-in-arms who was looking at a death sentence if you turned > him in ... and you had a chance to make the whole thing turn out more > than well for both of you ... than what would *you* do??? > > Hmmmmmmmm .......... > > Douglas > > ------------------------------- > AUS-Tasmania Mailing List Website http://www.rootsweb.com/~austashs/ > Contact Admin AUS-Tasmania-Admin@rootsweb.com > Search the Archive (type AUS-Tasmania in the list box) > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-TASMANIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi, Yes this is a great story, and no doubt there are so many others, they should be put on paper ,I belong to the Devonport Writers group and out of our semesters we publish a book of short stories, poems, its recoding history in our time of our early history. Do put pen to paper Best regards Tas -----Original Message----- From: Julie Gough via Sent: Friday, January 02, 2015 8:21 PM To: Douglas Burbury Cc: AUS-TASMANIA Subject: Re: [AUS-Tas] Corrupt convict constables hi Douglas This is a great story - I think you are right Wouldn't it be great to find out more about their early lives in Ireland, they were probably married to sisters, or were cousins, or some such relationship.. Maybe a book of short stories like these could be published - another book like the WAY BACK WHEN northern volume - with perhaps a 12-20 people contributing 1-2 stories each, with references etc ? Julie On 2 January 2015 at 20:10, Douglas Burbury via <aus-tasmania@rootsweb.com> wrote: > I just came across something and I thought I'd share it for the general > interest of List members. It is also an example of some of the > surprising things you can find out with a bit of cross-referencing. It's > a pity one or two people couldn't do it 180 years ago or some innocent > lives might have been saved. > > I have been looking into the robbery of Hamilton's store at Ross in > November 1834. One of the robbers, Michael Rice, turned King's Evidence, > and his evidence led to the conviction and execution of four of his > accomplices (Thomas Kirkham, John Ashton, John Bourke and William > Weston). A fifth accomplice, Charles Nosworthy, received a Life > sentence. It all seemed fairly straightforward. > > However, all of the convicted felons maintained their innocence right up > until the moment they were hanged. They even claimed that the whole > business was a set-up organised by Convict Constable John Lamph, one of > the arresting constables, and the snitch Rice. They said that while in > gaol, Lamph often came to see Rice, and that the two of them planned the > whole testimony in order that Lamph could get a Conditional Pardon out > of the affair. Rice denied this of course. > > Moreover, all six of the robbers who were charged -- Rice, Kirkham, > Ashton, Bourke, Weston and Nosworthy -- were free men at the time of the > robbery. Nosworthy had even arrived free and had no prior convict > record. (All the others were previously convicts who were now free by > servitude.) The only current convict among the lot of them was the > arresting constable, John Lamph. > > In the end John Lamph did receive a Conditional Pardon for bringing the > felons to justice, and Michael Rice -- although confessing to the > robbery -- received immunity for turning Kings Evidence. > > Around the same time, the "Colonial Times" newspaper ran a series of > editorials on the injustice of employing convicts as police constables, > and on rewarding these constables with pardons, tickets-of-leave or a > share in the rewards or fines on offer. The CT editor made a particular > example of Convict Constable Lamph and the Ross robbery. The Editor > lamented how the system invariably led to corruption, and how free > people were at risk of losing their property and even their lives at the > whims of convicts seeking pardons or rewards. > > The CT Editor went on to point out that later on in July 1835, Constable > Lamph brought capital charges of assault against four free men in Hobart > Town -- "capital" meaning that if found guilty, the men would be > sentenced to death. However, the four men were acquitted and Constable > Lamph was subsequently charged with perjury for lying under oath about > the assault. (Apparently the courtroom audience erupted with cheers at > this, and the Judge had a hard time calming them down.) > > I was looking at the various convict records for these people, and I > came across a rather interesting "coincidence", although I don't believe > much in coincidences: > > John Lamph and Michael Rice both came to VDL as convicts aboard the same > transport, the "Castle Forbes". In fact they were both from County > Armagh and had been tried at the same Lent Assizes in 1819, and they > were 3 years apart in age. > > This was never mentioned in the trial of Kirkham et al or even by the > "Colonial Times" Editor. But think about it: if you were an unscrupulous > convict constable with a Life sentence who was prepared to lie and cheat > your way to freedom, and you'd just arrested one of your old comrades > and brother-in-arms who was looking at a death sentence if you turned > him in ... and you had a chance to make the whole thing turn out more > than well for both of you ... than what would *you* do??? > > Hmmmmmmmm .......... > > Douglas > > ------------------------------- > AUS-Tasmania Mailing List Website http://www.rootsweb.com/~austashs/ > Contact Admin AUS-Tasmania-Admin@rootsweb.com > Search the Archive (type AUS-Tasmania in the list box) > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-TASMANIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- AUS-Tasmania Mailing List Website http://www.rootsweb.com/~austashs/ Contact Admin AUS-Tasmania-Admin@rootsweb.com Search the Archive (type AUS-Tasmania in the list box) http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-TASMANIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com