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Details for the convict Thomas Cooper (1863)

Convict Name:Thomas Cooper
Trial Place:Gloucester Assizes
Trial Date:2 December 1861
Sentence:15 years
Notes:
 
Arrival Details
Ship:Clyde II
Arrival Year:1863
 
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  • Researcher (8031)
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Biographies

Thomas Cooper was born in the Forest of Dean in 1829/30. He and his father before him were coalminers. He, his brother George, Thomas Gwilliam and a fourth person had been drinking at Speech House and then left to poach hares. When Sgt Beard interrupted their activities, they beat him horrifically and he died a week later, but not before he had identified his attackers. This was in 1861 and Thomas, George and Thomas Gwilliam were sentenced at Gloucester Assize to 15 years penal servitude. They left England in 1863 on the Clyde convict ship, arriving in May. They were in the Freemantle Convict Establishment, under a harsh regieme, and were soon put to work, probably at first on road-building (the North Freemante Way) and later on other infrastructure projects. Thomas's brother George died in 1865 and he hiself was released on a ticket a couple of months later. He seems to have headed for Gwalla Mine, which in many ways was an ideal destination, since the entrepreneur and philanthropist Horrocks was investing in a copper mine and community there. Himself an ex-convict made good, Horrocks believed these former convicts could become good citizens.The Gwalla Mine project did well in the 1860s until it lost it leader Horrocks and his replacement, both in untimely deaths. Thomas himself, however, did not live to see the collapse of the community. In 1867 he was in the miner, waiting for his shot to explode. When it failed to do so, he waited, then approached it; then was killed instantly when it finally did explode. The third convict, Gwilliam had also been released, but was later, aged 50, involved in a case of stealing; he died in 1914.
Submitted by Researcher (8031) on 21 May 2017

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Research notes

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Sources

  • The National Archives (TNA) : HO 11/18, p.520

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