All I am looking to identify this Thomas Fothergill who was convicted of manslaughter and deported to Australia He was born about 1806/1807 and at the time of his trial he was married with three children. His deportation papers say that he was a 'bricklayer'. His "Ticket of Leave date" (his release date??) was 14.2.1862 and he died 5.6.1880 Mt Eliza, Australia It would be nice if I could find him on the 1841 or 1851 census or does anyone have any relationship to him. I did some basic research on him some time ago (unfortunatley mislaid) and I seem to recall that there was a possibility that I had found his wife in the Sunderland area on a post 1859 census where I think after his deportation she claimed to be a 'widow'. Can anyone add anything to this story, before or after the incident ? Thanks Mike Fairless >From The Times 30/7/1856 for Northern Sessions held on 28/7/1856. Mr. Justice Willes arrived at this town From Durham this morning, and, having opened the commission, attended Divine service in the parish church, and immediately afterwards sat in the Guildhall for the trial of the towns prisoners. The town calendar contains an entry of six prisoners, one of whom is charged with uttering a forged post-office order, one with murder, and the rest with ordinary larcenies. The grand jury having been charged, his Lordship sat at 1 o'clock for the trial of the town prisoners. Thomas Fothergill, aged 49, was charged with the willful murder of John Smith, on the 14th of May last. Mr. Seyrnour and Mr. L. R. Bayley prosecuted, and the Hon. Adolphius Liddell defended the prisoner. It appeared that the prisoner and the deceased had worked in the same employment as "navvies," at Elswick quarry, near Newcastle, in May last, and that the deceased had been a kind of overlooker over the prisoner. On the 3rd of May last the prisoner and a man named Dunn were excavating a quantity of clay, the deceased wheeling off in' harrows what they dug out. The deceased had before expressed a contemptuous opinion of the prisoner, and on that day complained of the slowness of the work, which he said would not be the case if a better man were in the prisoner's place. This expression; combined with what the deceased had previously said, seemed to have greatly exasperated the prisoner, for he immediately rushed at the deceased, and struck him on the head with the pickaxe with which he was working at the time. The blow knocked the deceased down on the wheelbarrow, and then the prisoner struck him again with the pickaxe on the body.. The deceased was lifted up by a fellow-workman, and after a time was able to walk to his lodgings, from where he was conducted to the Newcastle Infirmary, where he died 10 days afterwards of the injuries ha had received. On examination it appeared that he had received a wound on the temporal. bone, which had driven it in and had lacerated the brain; and the spleen was also found to be torn by external injury. either injury was sufficient to cause death. 'For the defence, it was admitted that mere words were no extenuation of, the violence which had caused death but it was submitted that the blows had been struck in hot-blood when the prisoner had been greatly aggravated by the taunts of the deceased; and evidence was also given that the prisoner bore a character for being a very quiet, hardworking man. It was also submitted that a verdict of "Guilty of manslaughter would meet the justice of the case. His Lordship having summed up the evidence, pointing out to the jury the law. The jury after retiring for a short time found the prisoner Guilty of manslaughter. , His Lordship in passing sentence commented on the use of such a weapon as a pickaxe. If the prisoner in his anger had resorted to the weapons which nature gave him - namely to his fists , no great harm would probably have resulted. But he must mark in this case,, as in all others, the resort to a deadly weapon. The sentence of the court was, that he be transported for life. Deported 26.5.1859 on Sultana to Australia.

Hi Mike How does the family below fit with the info you have? 1841 census HO107/299/9 Folio 53 Sunderland Township South_ Pottery Thomas Fothergill, 30, Labourer N[ot born in county} Mary 30 N Margaret 14 N Jane 9 N John 7 N Mary 5 N George 2 N 1851 Census HO107/2398 Folio 183 p15 Monkwearmouth Shore Charles St Thomas Fothergill Hd Mar 43 labourer born Westmorland Horton Margaret do wife 43 DUR Monkth John do son 17 Shipwright (apprentice) Cumberland Ainstestable? George Gibb son in law 8 DUR Monkth Shore 1861 Census Sunderland RG9/3783 Folio 95 p30 Sunderland, Monkwearmouth Shore, Ecc district - St Peters 68 Dock St Margaret Fothergale Hd W 56 born DUR Monkth George Gibb son Un 18 Shipwright born do There is a Margaret Gibb on the same page as a Thomas Fothergill on FreeBMD marriages for the Mar q 1846 and some earlier deaths that could tie up with this family. Ingrid On 24/11/2009, at 5:56 AM, Fairless, Michael wrote: > I am looking to identify this Thomas Fothergill ... > It would be nice if I could find him on the 1841 or 1851 census or > does > anyone have any relationship to him. I did some basic research on him > some time ago (unfortunatley mislaid) and I seem to recall that there > was a possibility that I had found his wife in the Sunderland area > on a > post 1859 census where I think after his deportation she claimed to > be a > 'widow'. >