Swing Rioters Beneath the Southern Cross

Agricultural labourers transported to Australia after the 1830s rural riots

Pre-transportation History

359: RICHARDSON, Simeon
Born: about 1807Died: 1893
Family Relationships: Brother, No. 358
Group:Home Counties ( Essex, Herts, Kent, Sussex)
Where tried : Kent CountyNative Place: Babington, Somerset
Occupation: Farm labourer
Crime: Robbery (i.e. Receiving)Sentence: Life
Prior Offences: 0*Hulk: ?
Order of Loading: 460Transport: Lord Lyndoch, to Van Diemens Land

Post-transportation History

*Police Number: R0759
Times charged: 0Times punished: 0
Granted Ticket of Leave: Date of Pardon: 07 May 1843
Type of Pardon: Conditional pardon
Post-sentence History: Van Diemens Land resident
Marriages: Van Diemens Land, 7 May 1844
Place of Death: Tasmania
Married Elizabeth Dewer, 22
More Information: See also Chapter 5

Notes:

*Hulk Numbers
Four figure numbers refer to the York Hulk, others, the Leviathan.  No number means either unknown or not held in a hulk
*Police Number
This is shown when known.  In Van Diemens Land the initial letter was the first letter of the convicts surname.

This article was contributed by Hobart Branch member Beverley Richardson

On 14 March 1831 Simeon was charged, with his brother Isaac, for obtaining money by threats from Ann Edmeades.1 It is interesting that the two men charged with Simeon and Isaac, Thomas Parker and George Heaver, were possibly the only swing-rioters who were transported to Bermuda. Simeon and Isaac were sentenced to life but, after a petition signed by forty-seven people was presented to His Majesty, the sentence was reduced to fourteen years.2 They embarked from the hulk Retribution to the convict ship Lord Lyndock on 14 July 1831 along with 266 male convicts 3

When Simeon arrived in Van Diemens Land, he was assigned to J Pearcehall at Clarence Plains where he worked as a ploughman. On 7 May 1843 he was granted a conditional pardon. When he was free, he applied for permission to marry Elizabeth Dewer who was transported on the Garland Grove, and they were married 21 May 1844 at Longford.4 They had no children.

On 14 November 1854 he was tried in the Launceston Quarter Sessions and convicted of stealing posts and nails. He was sent to Port Arthur and discharged to freedom on 29 February 1856.5

In 1858 he was the occupier and owner of a house in Longford.6

Simeon died at Longford 6 October 1893 of heart disease.7 The Examiner stated that Simeon, ‘Old Sam’, had been confined to bed for 2 years.8 His wife died five years later.



1. ASS1/35/270/3 PFF; Chambers, Jill, Kent Machine Breakers Vol 1: The Riots and Trials p 158, self-published, 2006.

2. HO17/94.

3. Chambers, Jill, Kent Machine Breakers Vol 1: The Riots and Trials p 167 self-published, 2006.

4. Marriage of Simeon Richardson Tasmanian Archives, RGD 37 3 882. Longford.

5. Tasmanian Archives, CON 37 8

6. Cowley, Trudy, 1858 Valuation Rolls for Northern Tasmania.

7. Death of Simeon Richardson, Tasmanian Archives, RGD 35 62 382.

8. Index to Launceston Examiner 189-1893 Vol 10.

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