William Constable b.1800 Essex England
My great grandfather,William Constable who was born to Abraham and Susannah Constable (nee Hayward) in 1800,originated in or near Colchester in Essex, England. He was baptised at West Bergholt on July 18, 1802.
In 1824 he was arrested along with an accomplice and charged at the Kent Assizes with break,enter and steal silver and gold coins from a certain dwelling house.The penalty was death however,it was later commuted to transportation to the Colony of Australia.
My theory for this is that he got off the hook because of his being related (second cousin once removed)to the artist, John Constable.
The ship William came out on was the "Marquis of Huntley" which with 200 convicts sailed from Sheerness on 16 May,1826 and after 120 days arrived in Sydney on 13 September.
Now this is the sticking point for all of us genealogists who are keen to know what happened to the wife and two children who according to the ship's log, William was supposed to have left behind in Essex.Did this woman remarry? Could she have given her children another surname - perhaps that of their step-father? We've asked ourselves all of these questions and more but still haven't found the answers.
If anyone can help us with this search we'd be extremely grateful. As it is we're all going quietly out of our minds.
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Re: William Constable b.1800 Essex England
di watt 7/04/09