William Sykes (convict)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

William Sykes (c. 1827 – 4 January 1891) was an English convict, transported to Western Australia for manslaughter.

Early life

Sykes was born in

puddler
.

On 10 October 1865, Sykes went

penal servitude
.

Sykes served the first nine months of his sentence in

extant
.

Western Australia

The Norwood arrived at

Fremantle, Western Australia on 13 July. On arrival Sykes was assigned a number, 9589, and recorded as "about five feet six and three-quarter inches in height, with light brown hair, grey eyes, an oval visage of light complexion, and in appearance healthy";[2]: xvi  shortly afterwards he was sent to Bunbury to work on the roads. He worked in the district for seven years. He is then believed to have been sent to Newcastle (now Toodyay) around October 1875.[2]: 84  By 1877 he had gained his ticket of leave, and was registered to work in the Toodyay district. He worked for a short time as a servant to the medical officer William Mayhew before working at various labouring jobs in the district, including grubbing, woodcutting, fencing, and well sinking. He apparently worked well until November 1879, but over the following three years his record indicates that he was often fined for drunkenness.[2]
: 99 

A bout of severe illness in 1883 saw him in the

Newcastle depot
hospital for a month. He never fully recovered his health.

In 1885 he received his conditional release.

Sykes spent the last few years of his life working on the railway from Clackline to Newcastle. Late in December 1890, he was found lying ill in his hut on the Clackline railway; he was removed to Newcastle Hospital, where he was diagnosed as suffering from a hepatitic ulcer and chronic hepatitis. He died five days later on 4 January 1891 and was buried in a mass grave in the Toodyay cemetery.[2]: 111  His few belongings, including an old gun and his dog, were sold to recoup the £2/15/- that it cost the government to provide the coffin.

Legacy

Sykes may have remained a historically insignificant character, if not for the discovery in 1931 of a collection of letters written to him by his wife. The letters were found in a crevice during the demolition of old police buildings at Toodyay, and handed in to the

State Archives of Western Australia. Many years later, the social historian Alexandra Hasluck rediscovered the letters and researched Sykes. The results of her research were published as her 1959 book Unwilling Emigrants
.

Notes

  1. ^ Various accounts give differing birth dates, in 1826,[1] 1827[2] and 1828.[3]

References

  1. ^ Erickson, Rica; O'Mara, Gillian (1994). Convicts in Western Australia 1850 – 1887. Dictionary of Western Australians. Vol. IX. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0195505743
    .
  3. ISBN 0-85564-277-7
    . Retrieved 26 April 2024.
Wikisource has original works by or about:
William Sykes
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Sykes_(convict)&oldid=1220820632"