John Rosier

  General Notes:

On the 15 February 1834 John Rosier was committed by a magistrate for trial at quarter sessions, accused of burglary, having broken into the counting house of messrs Byles and King, corn and coal merchants of Ipswich Street, Stowmarket and stolen a measuring tape, a gauging rule, a brass weighing machine, four memorandum books and other articles. On 7th March he appeared before the magistrates at quarter sessions at the old Shire Hall, Ipswich and was sentenced to be transported for life. At the end of the month he was removed to the hulk "York" in Portsmouth harbour. On 21 July 1834 he was transferred to the convict ship "Hooghley" which sailed on 25 or 28 July with 260 convicts, bound for New South Wales, arriving there with 260 convicts (no Deaths onboard) on 18 November 1834. The ships master was George Bayley, surgeon James Rutherford.

THE YORK - Prison Hulk
In 1802 Duncan Campbell left his position as Hulk master at Woolwich, taking the more seaworthy of his merchantmen with him. Thereafter almost all of the ships converted into prison hulks were decommissioned naval vessels. One of them was the York, which served as a hulk at Gosport from 1820 until 1850. Typically she confined about 500 convicts. Anchored some distance from London, she had not been subject to much scrutiny by reformers or concerned members of Parliament. It is reasonable to assume that conditions of confinement aboard her were lamentable throughout her years of service. In 1848 a serious rebellion broke out on the York. The ringleaders of the disturbance were transferred to a land prison and the hulk was taken out of service about two years later.

Convicts to New South Wales 1830 -1842 The records state:

John Rosier
Could read and write Rel: Protestant 1 son 4 daughters Born Suffolk,
Occ: Brickmaker/Maltster Crime: Robbing counting house
Quarter Sessions" 7th March 1834 Life: No Previous convictions
Description: Brown hair, Hazel eyes, aged 32, born 1802

(his second son with Charlotte had not been born at the time he was initially incarcerated and he may never have known he had this second son)?

John was allocated to work for William Lawson junior, at Prospect.
A muster of 1837 shows John with Lawson at Parramatta.
In 1848 at Bathurst he fathered a child, Henry Hudson Rosier and in 1851 he married the mother Ellen Hudson in New South Wales. They had a daughter Sarah the same year, and later several more children. John was almost certainly involved in the gold rush at Bathurst at that time. He died on 19 April 1854 at the age of 54, however the death records give his name as James rather than John.

John married Charlotte Balaam on 10 Nov 1822 in Combs, Suffolk. (Charlotte Balaam was born about 1802 in Ipswich, Suffolk.)

  Marriage Notes:

James and Sarah Frost (nee Rosier) were witnesses at this marriage.

John next married Ellen Hudson in 1851 in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. (Ellen Hudson was born about 1823 in England.)