William Dean

Story

William was born on about 7 November 1778 possibly at St Mary-le-bone Middlesex.

On 1 July 1795 William was indicted for stealing a ₤20 banknote from his Master James Massey in his dwelling house in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square. William allegedly took the banknote from James Massey’s pocket book in his coat pocket while brushing the coat. William confessed to taking the banknote when apprehended. He was tried at the Old Bailey and found guilty by the Jury of stealing “money, goods or chattels, wares or merchandises, of the value of forty shillings” which carried a mandatory death sentence! William’s counsel argued a point of law that banknotes were not “money, goods or chattels, wares or merchandises” and therefore that William should not face the death penalty (money at this time included coins but not banknotes which were considered to be like promisory notes). Therefore William’s trial was respited so that the full 12 judges could consider the point of law. William was probably kept in Newgate Prison in the interim.

In September 1796 the court reconvened and told William that the full bench of 12 judges had considered the point of law but had found unanimously that banknotes did fall within the meaning of “money, goods or chattels, wares or merchandises” and therefore that he had been properly convicted and faced the death penalty. This case was widely reported in the law books of the day in both Britain and the United States as it was the first time that a full bench of judges had unanimously determined that banknotes were “money, goods or chattels, wares or merchandises”.

William would have been moved to the bleak death row cells of Newgate Prison. After another year on death row, in September 1797, William received the King’s mercy and his sentence was commuted to transportation to New South Wales for the term of his natural life.

On 28 September 1797 William was moved from Newgate Prison to the Fortunee Hulk which was moored in Langstone Harbour. The hulks were old, often rotting and disease ridden, ships hulls which were anchored in a harbour and used as convict prisons. The prisoners were often given short rations and sometimes had to wear rags and no shirts. William, while waiting to be transported, would have been employed doing hard labour working on Cumberland Fort in chain gangs of 2, 3 or 4 convicts.

On 24 November 1798 William was moved from the Fortunee hulk to the Hillsborough convict transport ship. The Hillsborough became known as “The Fever ship” because of the huge number of deaths on the voyage caused by typhoid or gaol fever brought on board by the convicts from William’s hulk. Out of the 300 convicts boarded onto the ship 95 of them died during the voyage and many more after the ship landed in Port Jackson. Typhoid fever is characterised by a very high temperature, delirium, diarrhea and abdominal pain which can last for a month.

On 23 December 1798 the ship left Portsmouth Roads and at once ran into heavy weather. The convicts’ quarters were deluged and their bedding soaked. When the weather eased there were rumours of convicts out of their irons and plans to murder the officers. Those convicts out of their irons were flogged with 1 to 6 dozen lashes, were shackled and handcuffed, some with iron collars round their necks and their rations of food and water were cut. The typhoid spread through the ship. All the convicts were kept double ironed (2 convicts ironed together) and closely confined, were short of water and half starved. When on deck they were kept ironed and could not move around but had to stand or lie down. The weather was so stormy between the Cape and Port Jackson that the prison was continuously damp and airless and the convicts’ bedding seldom dry. The Hillsborough reached Port Jackson on 26 July 1799. Governor Hunter described the survivors of the voyage as “the most wretched and miserable convicts I have ever beheld, in the most sickly and wretched state”. Almost every prisoner required hospital treatment after landing.

Later 81 of the convicts from the Hillsborough including William Dean were taken by boat up to Parramatta. William was possibly assigned to the Reverend Samuel Marsden who had a large contingent of convict workers.

William Dean must have enjoyed finally being free from close confinement after five years in stone prisons, dank hulks and leaky ships. He worked hard, obtained grants of land at Eastern Creek, married Elizabeth Hollingsworth (another convict) on 25 December 1806, had 8 children with Elizabeth, established a pub and half way house (the Bush Inn) where the Eastern Creek crosses the Great Western Highway, & travelled around the new colony.

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