I wasn't expecting that...

[Lindsay]

I managed to step back another generation in one branch in my tree (hurray!) when I discovered that although they had a common surname, the first name 'Lacey' was used for sons.

So I googled, and came up with...this from the Old Bailey in 1808:

JOEL WARE , GUILTY - DEATH , aged 20.
HOLMIT, alias LACEY THOMAS ANDERSON , GUILTY - DEATH , aged 15.
JOHN FULLER , GUILTY - DEATH aged 22.

Lacey Anderson was my 6xg-uncle.
They'd robbed a pub. I don't doubt they were annoying little b***ers but death? At 15? I knew children were executed, but somehow that really hit home.

So, is there any way of finding out if the sentence was carried out?

[scuda]

It seems he was transported for life instead. He appears in the Convict Transportation Registers on Ancestry - pm me if you need the image. Transported to New South Wales in August 1809 (by the way, the trial was 1809 not 1808, I think)

scuda

[Lindsay]

Ooh, thank you, Scuda, I'd missed that. That's a relief (I think) - but still dreadful for him and his family.

[Nell]

Although the death penalty was used for many crimes, it was commuted in the case of young people, though I do remember reading about an 8 year old boy sentenced to hang for stealing meat. It's so sad/anger-inducing to think that many crimes were because people - children - were starving hungry not because they were morally corrupt.

[marquette]

I am not sure if Lacey Anderson was his alias, or his real name, or whether he had two aliases, Lacey and Anderson.

There is some information here:

http://www.mernick.org.uk/thhol/miscellany03.html

Thos Holmit alias Lacey received a ticket of leave, according to the Colonial Times Hobart, 23 Apr 1833.

http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8646977?searchTerm=holmit+arnot
far right column

Our convicts are usually quite well documented, so you may be able to find out more about him from the various convict websites.

There are hits on Ancestry which might give some better info, but you need a sub. to look at them.


From NSW state Recrods website,

HOLMES, Thomas alias ANDERSON, Tracy

1810 Mar 10 Proceeding to the Derwent per "Union" (Reel 6003; 4/3490A pp.48-9)


But in the Tasmanian Records office he shows arrived in Tasmania per the ship "Ann" on 1 Jan 1820. I cannot find any record of a ship Ann in 1820


Diane

[Lindsay]

Thanks, Diane, I'm pleased to know he survived!

His name was Lacey Thomas Anderson, but he seems to have used the alias Thomas Holmit (his mother's maiden name). Actually, I think he was a bit of a bad boy - it looks like he was arrested for larceny in 1808 (the year before the...ahem...bit of bother that sent him to Australia) but he was released without trial.

But a name like Lacey makes him a dream to trace!