Charles
Maddock/Maddox of Dunstable, Bedfordshire appeared at the Bedfordshire
Quarter Sessions of 2nd January 1844 charged with stealing a prayer
book from the Dunstable Church. Found guilty he was sentenced to transportation
for seven years. Charles' convict record shows that he had been convicted
twice previously for assault, he had served sentences of one month
and two months imprisonment for these offences.
He departed
Portsmouth aboard "London" on 23rd March 1844 and arrived
in Hobart 10th July 1844.
On arrival
he was described as a native of Dunstable, labourer, able to read and
write. Charles' identifying marks included tattoos of an anchor and
"Sarah Ann Taylor". He stated that two brothers, John and
Edwin, and a sister Elizabeth remained at Dunstable.
The authorities
decided that Charles would serve a probation period of one year at the
Southport convict depot.
On 2nd January
1847 Charles was assigned to Edward Terry of "Askrigg" at
Macquarie Plains.
In St. Mary's
church at Gretna on 26th January 1849 Charles Maddocks, farm servant
married Susan Plunkett a domestic servant aged 27.
Susan had
arrived in Hobart aboard the "Arabian" as a convict
on 25th February 1847 having departed from Dublin on 12th October 1846.
She had been tried in County Down on 6th April 1846 and sentenced to
transportation for 7 years on a charge of stealing £50 her record
shows a previous conviction for stealing towels.
Susan was
described as a housemaid of 5ft. 4 ins., with fresh complexion, brownhair
and hazel eyes. The only offence shown on Susan's record occured on
20th July when she was sentenced to two months hard labour at the female
factory for being drunk.
The land
valuation records for Gretna show that my 1860 Charles and Susan were
the occupants of a house on 10 acres of land on the property of Edward
Terry at "Askrigg", Gretna.
It was at
"Askrigg" that their children
were raised. .
Charles was
a committed member of the congregation of the Church of St. Mary
the Virgin in Gretna, He served as a witness of more than a quarter
of the marriages performed in this church between 1848 and 1871 .
Susannah
died, aged 58, at "Askrigg" on 17th April 1879, she was buried
at St. Mary's, Gretna.
Charles died in Portland
on 17th May 1896. His son Abel had moved to the Portland district
some years earlier.