James Rosier

  General Notes:

An account of James Rosier's Life and Crimes:

On the night of 17 October 1820 four men, Samuel Grimwood, James Almond and James Rosier of Benhall and Thomas Last from Snape broke into Bentrees Hall, Easton, the home of William Cotton, a seventy five year old bachelor farmer and his sister Ann. Grimwood had been Mr. Cottons manservant. All four men had been in Gaol before and appear from later court evidence to have been a very determined gang of burglars.

They arrived with a cart to carry away their plunder. They broke in damaging the dairy windows and wash house door and then went to a garret where they woke Mr. Cottons servant Stephen Capon. They then broke into Mr. Cottons room where they stole his money and watch. Ann Cotton heard the noise and came to her brothers room. They took her money and ransacked the house for food, clothing, coins, bank notes and other valuables. After an hour they made their escape.

William Cotton acted swiftly, and on the following day his solicitors drafted a poster advertising a £50 reward for the apprehension of the thieves. A copy was sent to the Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth who caused a proclamation to be printed in the Kings name, in the London Gazette of 21, 24 and 28 October offering a pardon if any one of the men would uncover his accomplice or accomplices. The poster would also have been displayed throughout the country.

In late November, William Fisk, the village constable of Great Glemham was at an Auction and saw Grimwood buy goods to the value of £20. Although he was out of work at the time. Grimwood was also seen to pay for his drinks at a public house in Saxmundham with a guinea piece.

Constable Fisk arrested Grimwood who was lodging at Almonds house, where a search revealed a silver seal with the Cotton arms on it, and also a tea caddy belonging to the family. Grimwood and Almond went before the magistrate Samuel Kilderbee on 27 November and were committed for trial.

James Almond, in order to save his own skin, (they risked the death penalty for burglary), agreed to give evidence for the prosecution and named both Rosier and Last, who likewise appeared before another magistrate the Rev George Turner on 15 December. All four men were lodged in the county gaol at Ipswich to await trial. On 27 January William Cotton died, his health and spirits having been impaired by the incident. Sarah Rosier gave birth to a son James who was baptised at Farnham (or Benhall) on 4 March.

The Suffolk assizes were held at Bury St Edmunds, beginning on 31 March. The judge from London was to be the 77 year old Sir Robert Graham, Baron of the Exchequer. After hearing civil cases, the Judge turned his attention to the criminal cases on 6 April. There were 60 prisoners, involved in 42 cases. They were dealt with in two and a half days, such was the speed at which these trials proceeded in those days.

In the case of Grimwood, Rosier, Almond and Last, who all pleaded not guilty, the witnesses included Ann Cotton, Stephen Capon and William Fisk, with Almond giving evidence for the crown and thereby securing his freedom. The law did not permit the accused to have a lawyer to speak for them. A Mr. Cooper appeared for the prosecution. Grimwood, Last and Rosier were found guilty by the jury and sentenced to death by hanging. The execution was fixed for 28 April at Ipswich.

There was no court of appeal in those days, but a Judge was at liberty to refer difficult points of law to his fellow Judges in London. Sir Robert Graham had some doubts about the evidence against Rosier, since he and Last had apparently made a confession only after having been told by a constable that it would be to their advantage to do so. This might have invalidated the confession. Last and Rosier were accordingly granted a stay of execution until 30 May.

Grimwood was hanged in full view of the public, on the top of the Turnkeys Lodge of Ipswich Gaol on 28 April. Before dying he admitted his guilt. On 22 May Sir Robert Graham wrote to the Home Secretary stating that the Judges recommended Rosier and Last to the Kings Mercy on the terms of transport for life. A further postponement of their execution was followed by a Royal pardon granted by King George 1V on 31 May.

On 26 September the newspaper reported the removal of Rosier and Last from Ipswich to the convict hulk "Leviathan" floating in Portsmouth harbour. They remained on board seven weeks, until 10 November, when they were transferred to the convict ship "Phoenix". The master of the ship was Thomas Weatherhead, who was assisted by a naval doctor, Evan Evans, as surgeon superintendant. The ship sailed on 20 December 1821 but bad weather delayed her in the channel.

The voyage began in the Atlantic, running down past the Canaries and then across to Rio De Janeiro where they arrived on 1 March. Here they remained for one week. Then set off for the Cape of Good Hope, which they rounded in the first week of April. Next they crossed the Indian Ocean along the fortieth parallel and by 20 May they were in sight of Van Diemans Land, now called Tasmania. On the 20 May 1821 the "Phoenix" anchored at Hobart. The voyage had lasted a record 196 days. (151?) with 184 male convicts onboard, of which 182 arrived at Hobart, two convicts having died en route.

The convicts were now transferred to the custody of the Lieutenant Governor of the island, Colonel William Sorrell. A Muster was taken and the record shows that James Rosier born at Finbory (Finborough), was now aged 33, 5ft 4 ins tall, with light blue eyes and brown hair, a farm labourer experienced in ploughing.

In due course James was assigned to work for William Talbot of Oyster Bay. This involved him in a further journey in a small boat around the coast and up to the bay, a distance of about a hundred and ten miles. Talbot belonged to an Irish family from Malahide Castle, North of Dublin. He immigrated in 1819. Talbot subsequently moved to a new estate inland, near the town of Fingal, and Rosier went with him. The new estate was named "Malahide".

Convict records show that in December 1825 James was accused of being drunk, disobeying his masters orders and grossly neglecting his duties and sentenced to work in irons for three months. He most likely spent that time working in the chain gangs building roads and he was later assigned to the public works department for a time. Early in 1826 he was sent to work for Theodore Bryant Bartley, a settler born in Gloucestershire, who lived at Kerry Lodge, Breadalbane, South of Launceston on the road to Hobart.

In 1828 James made a formal application for his family to join him in Van Diemans land. In support of his application it was mentioned that he had "apprehended Thomas Saunders, who had absconded from the chain gang' James seems to have now moved to the right side of the law. The documents were sent to London, to the Home Secretary Robert Peel, but no records of a decision has been found and in appears that Sarah and the 3 children did not join James. By November 1828 James was working for John Sinclair of Clairville, Breadalbane, superintendant of convicts at Launceston. He was issued with a pass to travel to Sinclair's sheep run at Break O' Day plains.

On 5th May 1830, no doubt with Sinclair's support, James gained a ticket of leave, a first step in the rehabilitation of a transported convict. This removed him from under the control of the Superintendant of convicts and placed him under the supervision of the Police, to whom he had to report for a muster once a month. Six months later the ticket of leave men were conscripted into a military operation against the Aboriginal natives of the island.

In 1835 James received a conditional pardon. He made his application through Lieutenant Governor Arthur to Lord Glenelg, secretary of state for the colonies, who passed it on to Lord John Russell, the Home secretary. King William IV approved a batch of pardons including Rosiers on 24 September 1835. This pardon granted James a conditional remission of the rest of his sentence, provided that he remained in Van Diemans land.

On 2nd February 1836, James married a second time, in St Johns church, Launceston. It was of course a bigamous marriage, since Sarah was still alive in Farnham, Suffolk, but the chances of detection, let alone conviction, were very remote. His new bride Maria Pokeweed was an assisted immigrant selected by the refuge for the destitute, in London, who had arrived at Launceston on the brig "Charles Kerr" on 21 November 1835 and had probably been assigned as a servant to the wife of James Gilligan, a neighbour of John Sinclair's near Ormley.

At the time of their marriage she was twenty three and James about forty six. She may well have been a widow who had passed herself off as single in order to get an assisted passage, since when her children with James were born, her maiden name was given as Maeder.

James and Maria made their home in the area near Fingal, which he had known from his days with William Talbot. Their first son James Gaspard was born on the 3 March 1837 and a daughter Martha Jane on 21 February 1838. Thus his first two Australian children were given the same names as two of his children he had left behind in England. At this time they were living at Break O'Day, but by late 1838 they were back at Avoca, on the banks of the South Esk River. On 5th December James received a grant of land, 2 roods, 26 perches, in Avoca, between Churchill Street and Grey Street. He probably used the land for grazing a few sheep, but he did not build on it.

On 14 May 1841 the Hobart Town Gazette announced the award of a free pardon to James Rosier and others. This time, the grant was from from Queen Victoria. In theory he could now return to England, but he chose not to. At the time of the 1842 census James was living at Ormley in a house owned by Mr. Sinclair. The house was shared with other employees. On 24 November 1842 a daughter Sarah was born and baptised at Avoca parish church on 5th December. Another dauhgter Celia was born 13 September 1843. A second son John Frederick Ferdinand arrived in 1845 and a daughter Fanny Olivia on 3 December 1847.

Between 1846 and 1848 James left the employment of John Sinclair at Ormley and moved with his family to a neighbouring estate "Grayfort", the home of Mr. James Kingsley (Kinksley) Gray, a settler from Ireland. James was already in his sixties when a son William was born on 11 September 1852. Another son Henry Albert, appears to have been born in 1854. But his birth may have been as early as 1847.

The last twenty years of James Rosiers life seem to have been spent in comparitive obscurity in the Fingal Valley. In 1854 he sold his piece of land on Churchill Street for £150. He was still illiterate and signed the deed with a cross.14

Noted events in his life were:

• Newspaper Story: 7 Apr 1821, Ipswich, Suffolk, England. A search of the Ipswich Journal Newspaper from late 1820 until early Spring led eventually to an account in the issue dated 7 April 1821 of the opening of the Suffolk Spring Assizes, when in the list of those accused there appeared:
Samuel Grimwood, Thomas Last and James Rosier, for the burglary at Mr Cotton's of Easton.

Convicts listed by Researchers
BRADFORD William, HOWARTH James ROSIER James, STURGEON George´
• Convicts to Tasmania: 1821, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Tasmanian records state that
Rosier James aged 30 ( ie:born 1791) ? TL Phoenix [1]

James married Sarah BATLEY-[8528] [MRIN:446], daughter of Samuel DAVIES-[8552] and Elizabeth BATLEY-[8553], on 1 Mar 1813 in Benhall, Suffolk, England. Sarah was born about 1786-1788 in Great Finborough, Suffolk, England.

Marriage Notes:Witnesses to this Marriage were James Rosier ( In all probability the Grooms father and Sarah Bovil. They moved to the adjoining village of Farnham. Their first daughter Martha was born there on 15 Oct 1815.

Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage: 1 Mar 1813, Benhall, Suffolk, England. Married by Banns
• Witnesses to Marriage: 1 Mar 1813, Benhall, Suffolk, England. witnesses to this marriage were another James Rosier (probably his father) and Sarah Bovil. Of these four only the latter was literate: the others signed the parish register by mark.Both bride and Groom were described as living in Benhall.The ceremony was perfomed by the vicar the Rev John Mitford.an extraordinary man who James and sarah came to know sufficiently well for James to try touse him later as a character reference.

Birth Notes:Sarah Batley an illegitimate child of Elizabeth Batley and Samuel Davies.

Research Notes:Since the descent of the English Rosiers is through James and Sarah (nee Batley) rather than through James and Maria (nee Maeder/O'keefe), we should record how Sarah fared after James had been transported.

Sarah was left with a new born son, James, a daughter Martha and son David. In the early months she received financial aid from the overseerers at Benhall and a measure of support from them continued until 1834. Eventually she began to appear in the records as the 'widow Rosier'. She was occasionally employed on road making work. In 1829 there are references to "Rosiers Girl" (Martha) receiving relief in her own right. Farnham parish register has a note on 21 December 1829 of the burial of Thomas Rosier aged 3 months, though whether this was a reference to Sarah's child or Marthas is not clear. In 1832 is an obscure reference to "Rosiers girl; coach hire" which suggests that Martha was removed to another parish, perhaps in trouble with the law, or perhaps assisted to emigrate, under one of the many schemes that existed at that time. In 1838 Sarah was living in Farnham.

The Tithe map and apportionment made in that year show her as the tenant of a house and garden owned by Elizabeth Garrett. It was one of a row of cottages on the left of the main road going north to Benhall from the river bridge, where old cottages still stand. Evidence suggests that she and James might have been living there

James married Sarah Batley on 1 Mar 1813 in Benhall, Suffolk. (Sarah Batley was born about 1786 in Great Finborough, Suffolk.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Witness, 1 Mar 1813, Benhall, Suffolk. James Rosier & Sarah Bovil.