The Barnes of Bilsby, a family divided

To Constables and Others Runaway and left his wife and family chargeable to the parish of Bilsby … West Barnes By trade a wheelwright and carpenter; he is 34 years of age, stands about 5 feet 5 inches in height, and rather a brown complexion; he is partial to a violin and a song, and is supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, – Whoever will apprehend the said West Barnes, and bring him to the Overseer of Bilsby, shall receive One Guinea reward.

West Barnes was transferred from Lincoln Castle to the Justitia Hulk on 17th May 1843 to await transportation.

The Barnes were a family divided, West having attacked his wife and threatened two of his sons was about to be removed from their lives. Mary Ann must have felt some relief but she had been unable to protect all of her children.

Young Mary Ann Barnes did not leave the workhouse. She lost her fight for life on 3rd May 1842, her death certificate records that she died from ascites – fluid in the abdomen – likely due to tuberculosis.

On May 12th 1842 the marriage of West Barnes (jnr) to Eliza Johnson both living in Alford formed part of the Spilsby Union notices for the board. The boys had most likely all been apprenticed out via the parish overseers and remained under Union scrutiny. Albert appears to have been determined to follow in his father’s footsteps while several of his brothers were working hard to build better lives. Mary had got away from West but her family had more to face.

Edmund Barnes

In 1841 Edmund (15) was working as a junior blacksmith in Toynton alongside Henry Cavil. Despite having no previous convictions Edmund’s fall from grace was swift and decisive.

Despite the July 1845 conviction it would be some time before Edmund Barnes reached Van Diemen’s Land.

Part II: The Fate of the Convicts

Thomas Barnes

The name Thomas Barnes litters local petty sessions records for setting snares and poaching on Dashwood’s land. In March 1825, aged 28 he found himself held on a charge of highway robbery. Thomas admitted Kings Evidence to obtain his release but within two years he was charged again, this time for sheep stealing. Committed to Lincoln gaol on 11th January 1827, 30 year old Thomas had three children. In March he was sentenced to death, commuted to life, transportation. Ann Chapman Barnes, daughter of Thomas and Frances, was baptised in his absence one month later.

Thomas Barnes arrived at the Chatham Hulks on 7th June, a gaolers report recorded on The Dolphin prison hulk reveals a little more …

A very notorious character; has been in gaol many times; he admitted Kings Evidence in 1825 at the Lent assizes against two accomplices for highway robbery; has several times been in the House of Correction. This imprisonment for felony; belonged to an extensive gang of thieves at Alford.

The convict ship The Maitland left Deptford in July 1843 also collecting prisoners from hulks at Woolwich, Chatham and Portsmouth. West Barnes voyage finally began on 1st September sailing with 199 other convicts, the guards being accompanied by wives and children. The journey was broken at Simons Bay on the Cape of Good Hope, 17th Nov. Many were suffering from Synochus, Opthalmia and Scorbutus and two were left behind for treatment. The Maitland paused again at Sydney Cove on 12th Jan 1844. The convicts were finally disembarked and transferred to the notorious penal colony on Norfolk Island on 8th February.

The brutal punishments and harsh conditions on Norfolk Island had resulted in convicts mutinies and riots prior to 1844. Despite investigations, reports and various system changes by the British Government conditions remained dire. In 1844 Reverend Naylor and Robert Pringle Stuart, a magistrate, wrote to authorities in London stating that conditions on the island were so bad that anarchy was likely. Riots took place again in 1846.

West Barnes’ records show him arriving at Norfolk Island on 8th February 1844 but scant information exists beyond that. Various notes on his records suggest his fate:

• Ships’Surgeon report: of unsound mind
• sent to lunatic asylum at Sydney – no date – notification dated 8th Aug 1849, with death certificate.
• struck off strength 31th December 1853

There are also reports of an unnamed 60 year old convict with mania aboard ship being sent directly to Sydney Asylum. The exact details of West Barnes demise cannot be substantiated at the moment but are being pursued. At this stage, suffice to say, it seems likely that he ended his days in an asylum in Sydney, Australia.

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes sailed for Van Diemens Land on the convict ship The Sir Robert Peel, leaving England on 9th September 1844, close to one year after his father.

The surgeon noted five cases of cholera on board, one fatal in the child of a guard. ten cases of synochal fever were also reported to be exclusively among the guards families, “depending on their indolent and untidy habits … [their beds] being converted into recepticles for filth”. Ships surgeons received additional pay for keeping the convicts alive, their annoyance at the slovenly behaviour of guards is often remarked upon in this and other ship diaries.

Albert arrived on 26th december 1844, on 25th January 1845 he was sent to Impression Bay. Albert’s record is peppered with notes regarding his misconduct and related punishments, often solitary confinement and sentences of hard labour.

• Disorderly
• absent without leave, frequently for several days at a time
• indecent laughter in a public street
• refusing to work
• disobeying orders
• visiting a public house on a Sunday
• drunk, out after hours and disturbing the peace

In December 1851 Albert was granted a ticket of leave, only to have it revoked for bad behaviour in November 1853. In July 1854 having served his 10 year sentence Albert Barnes gained his ticket of freedom. A final note reveals that Albert’s records were sent to the Inspector of Police in Sydney, April 1868.

The probation colony had done little to rehabilitate Albert Barnes.

On 25th April 1868 the Bathurst Circuit Court opened with the trial of Albert Barnes for murder.

[The Crown prosecutor] said a barbarous murder had been committed by somebody. The body had been found near Hassan’s Walls, and after the jury had heard the evidence they would not have a shadow of a doubt that the prisoner committed the murder. The deceased was an old man, and had been in the Benevolent Asylum at Liverpool. The deceased and the prisoner left that establishment together, and, journey by journey, stage by stage, and step by step, they would be traced to the spot where the murder was perpetrated. It would appear that the old man had been a benefactor of the prisoner, as he had money and the prisoner had none. It would appear also that the murdered man had paid all the expenses on the road, and the prisoner knew the old man had money. _{Bathurst Times, April 28}

The Liverpool Benevolent Asylum was under colonial control to provide a place of refuge for the infirm and destitute, particularly to relieve Sydney.

The newspaper proceeds to report extensive testimony from police and witnesses who knew the victim James casey and the prisoner, Albert Barnes. Their route to the area of the murder together was substantiated, along with Barnes sole return after the event and his sudden wealth.

Jane Kitt deposed : I am employed at the Weatherboard public-house ; I saw the prisoner there on the Wednesday after St. Patrick’s Day ; he was drinking with others ; I saw him bring a person in and pay for his supper; he also paid for his own food and bed ; he stopped two nights and one whole day ; he was drunk all the time he was at the Weatherboard. _{Bathurst Times, April 28}

Thomas Symons deposed : I know the prisoner ; I saw him at the public house at Blackheath, but I cannot, say whether it was before or after St Patrick’s Day ; he was going towards Sydney; I got a person to give him a lift towards the Weatherboard, and lifted him into the vehicle; the prisoner changed a sovereign, and spent, what I thought to be, a good deal of money for a man of his class ; be treated everybody who came into the house. _{Bathurst Times, April 28}

In 1844 Albert Barnes was sentenced to transportation to the end of the earth, twenty four years later he stood on trial there for the murder of a man known to have looked after him, money being his most likely motive. By the time Barnes left the Liverpool asylum he required crutches and the marks left alongside the murder victim’s body were said to be a match for the marks he left when walking.

After a summary by the judge the jury, after a short deliberation, returned a guilty verdict.

His Honor said, that the prisoner had been found guilty on the clearest evidence, and proceeded to pass sentence of death in the usual solemn manner. The prisoner seemed wholly unmoved, and after receiving sentence, hobbled out of the Court on his crutches. _{Bathurst Times, April 28}

On 27th May 1868 Albert Barnes was hanged for the murder of his one time friend at Bathurst Gaol. The gaol was demolished in 1880.

Edmund Barnes

In 1845 Edmund Barnes was sentenced to transportation for robbery with violence, he was 22 years old, the same age as his brother Albert when he was sentenced in July 1845, one year after his brother. The following November Edmund left Plymouth on the convict ship The Asia arriving in Gibraltar on the 6th December, the prison hulk Europa would be his place of confinement for the next five years.

The convicts provided the hard labour in the dockyards and were employed building houses for imperial requirements. Frequently working alongside the Navy there are reports that they occasionally received the same daily allowance of grog when working up to their waist in water all day constructing docks. Discipline was harsh, one convict had murdered an overseer in May 1845 so it may be expected that the regime was particularly tight upon Edmund’s arrival.

He eventually left for Van Diemens Land on The Cornwall in March 1851, his character reference on the Ganymede prison hulk stated that Edmund Barnes previous behaviour had been very bad, while reports from Gibraltar reflected good conduct.

May 31st to June 12th 1851 27 year old Barnes appeared on the sick list of the Cornwall for Vulnus (wound) during the voyage from Gibraltar to Van Diemens Land. The surgeon’s report reveals a fall from the prison hatchway into the ships hold wounding the eyebrow area and the scalp.

Edmund Barnes records reflect some misconduct and drunkenness but he fared better than the rest of his family, allowed a ticket of leave in August 1854. In July 1855 Edmund received a conditional pardon, he married Margaret McCrane, a free woman, on 18th of that month and was finally discharged 8th March 1857.

Mary Ann Barnes had lost three of the men in her life to transportation, her husband West in 1843, Albert in 1844 and Edmund in 1845. She had given birth to ten children those who remained behind also deserve some attention.

Part III: The Fate of Those Left Behind

In June 1836 West Barnes was present at the wedding of his elder daughter Ann. Her husband Dover Place was from Aby, an agricultural labourer he had served time for poaching in September 1835 and appeared on a local sessions lists at the same time as West Barnes. Dover was on a Louth list and West a Spilsby one, their sentences overlapped and they may have served time in prison together.

By February 1846 Ann and Dover had 3 children, the family were in Louth Workhouse. The Union granted permission of leave to Dover in order that he could go to Alford to be sworn as to his place of settlement. His family were not allowed to leave until this was resolved. In January 1847 Melissa was born to Ann and Dover in South Reston but 1848 was not kind to the family. At just over a year old Melissa lost her life at Broadbank in Louth, a nurse was present and registered the death. Ann followed her daughter in late April that year, Ann lost her life to typhus, she died at home in South Reston. Dover continued to bring up St. John, Mary Ann and Susannah with the help of his sister.

West Barnes (Junior)

In 1841 Mary was living with West (Jnr) in Alford, listed as a coachmaker which raises the question whether or not he was one of the two sons that West (Snr) claimed he would have killed had they been with their mother when he attacked her.

The following year the young coachmaker married Eliza Johnson of Alford, 11 years his senior. The couple lived in the South end of Alford, initially with Eliza’s father Jeremiah, her step-mother Ann and his grandaughter Eliza. Jeremiah was a retired carpenter, the young Eliza was born in Wrangle her mother was recorded as Hephzibah Johnson. West appears to have led a quiet life without children in the South End. He died in 1877 aged 60, newspaper notices of his death still referred to him as a coachmaker. The younger Eliza- later widow Eliza Boultsby – was just seven years old when West Barnes married into the family she was his sole heir.

John Barnes

John Barnes married Sabrina Hewson of Alford in 1845, he had already left the area and was working as a machine maker in Kingston upon Hull. By the age of 42 John had specialised as a railway waggon builder. The family had travelled widely as attested by the birthplaces of his children in 1861:

Eliza (12) Rugby, Sabrina (10) Camden Town, John Hewson (7) Bletchley, Ann (4) Long Eaton and William (1) Sandiacres.

By 1881 his sons John Hewson and William had joined him in his role at Langley Mill, both John and his elder son John Hewson having the role of foreman. John Barnes died in 1882 at Langley Mill, Robert Pender a founder member of GR Turner manufacturing at Langley mill is listed as his executor on John Barnes probate records.

William Barnes

The whereabouts of William prior to his marriage to Ann has been hard to pin down. Baptised in 1825 when his father first began to leave his family William is likely to have been apprenticed out by the parish from a young age. In 1849 he married Ann Chapman of Somercotes, daughter of farmer Edward Chapman and his second wife Susannah. Like West Junior their marriage was also announced to the Spilsby Union Board.

The couple were living in Skendleby in 1851, William recorded as a labourer. They had returned to Saleby by 1852, Ann remained at Saleby bringing up their children, William worked as a machine man and travelled the countryside. In 1861 he was working at Great Steeping, Ann had a house servant to help manage their 5 children, they went on to have another four children.

Ann died in 1884 aged 55 she had been diagnosed with heart disease some years previously, Lucy was present at her death. William was recorded as a threshing machine proprietor, he died in late April 1888 aged 62. The circumstances of his death were widely reported in detail and are summarised below.

George Barnes was living with his brother West (Jnr) and his mother in 1841. Unlike his siblings the 14 year old boy seems to have escaped the workhouse and apprenticeship at that point. In 1851 the census captured him working as a groom at Haugh. He married Mary Ann Maidens from Sutton in 1852, they lost their first born son in December of 1853, burying the baby on Christmas day when he was just a week old.

By 1861 the couple had three children, Mary Ann stayed at home in Markby, a grocers wife, while George worked where he was needed, the same census captured him at Fulletby. Agricultural Society reports in the 1870s frequently included George among the list of prize winners for shearing, and thatching. Occupied as a grocer and a labourer with 7 children living at Markby the following ten years led to an increase in shops and the addition of a Post office at Markby. Mary Ann ran the Post office, their son Richard (13) was the post boy.

In 1901 George , Mary Ann and their youngest daughter Harriet were recorded at the post office in Markby. George , now 71 years old, was the Sub-postmaster and a thatcher Harriet ran the shop and grocery business, working on her own account. George passed away in 1906, his daughter and wife continued at the Post office.

In 1958 a long write up appeared in the Louth Standard referencing Mr William Eastgate of Markby, who at 88 they suspected was the oldest sub-postmaster in the country. William Eastgate had married Harriet in 1904, in 1911 he remained a cottage farmer and she ran the Post Office.

Elias Barnes

Unlike his poor sister, Mary Ann, Elias survived Spilsby workhouse he did not remain in Lincolnshire and by 1861 was lodging as a journeyman joiner in Hull. A couple of years later he married Eliza Ann Burrill, the daughter of a coachsmith there. The couple remained in Hull with their growing family, by 1881 they had six children, three boys and three girls, two of the boys had followed their father working as joiners by 1891. Elias died in August 1893 he did not quite reach 60 years of age.

Elias and Eliza had returned to Alford for the census in 1871 with two of their [then] three children. They are recorded at the home of Mary Anne Barnes, mother to Elias, who had been living in the Almshouses at Alford for over twenty years. Having lost so much it is nice to see confirmation that Mary saw some family.

Mary Ann Barnes died in 1876, she was buried in Alford on February 2nd aged 83. Thirty three years following his conviction and transportation for her attempted murder the newspapers still reported her death as that of Mary Barnes, wife of West Barnes, how disappointing.

Part IV: Additional notes for those researching the Barnes Family

The descendants of West and Mary Ann

Researching the details of this family has involved quite a bit of family history research on some families. The idea being to see how those who remained in the care of the parish had fared. The information gathered during this process is below for those who are interested. These should not be treated as a full and comprehensive details – although some are – of each family as full baptism and burial records have only been consulted where relevant to this post. The lists below have been compiled from source documents, and may differ from publicly posted family trees where inadvertent errors quickly become widely repeated. Dates are primarily baptism and burial rather than birth and death.

Martin Barnes

The years below are approx. year of birth from various census returns

Maria 1839, Ann 1841, John 1843, Joseph 1845 William 1847, Jesse 1850, Jane 1852,
Frederick 1859

Ann Barnes ( Place)

• 1838 St John bapt Woodthorpe
• 1840 Mary Ann bapt. Aby
• 1843 Susannah bapt. Aby
• 1847 Melissa Place – died in Louth 1 year old.

West (Jnr)

None identified

John Barnes

Ages as per the 1861 Census)

• Eliza (12) Rugby,
• Sabrina (10) Camden Town,
• John Hewson (7) Bletchley,
• Ann (4) Long Eaton
• William (1) Sandiacres

Herbert / Albert Barnes None identified to date