Charles Bustard Bostock 1819 - 1884
Charles Bustard’s
Life in England
Charles Bustard was born in 1819 in Cheshire, England, to
parents Margaret and Charles.[1] Manchester was sometimes listed as Charles’
native place but may have been mistakenly used as it was Charles’ last known
residence in England.[2]
Charles also had birth years 1816 and 1817 listed at the beginning of his life
but mainly used 1819 as an adult. An approximate birth year was standard
practice when records were lost or not kept. Record-keeping was not a priority
in the early 1800s, especially in the lower social class. As a result, little
is known about how Charles spent his childhood.
Charles Bustard was only 20 years old when he first appeared
in court for larceny from the person.[3] On 29 August 1836, at the County Sessions in
Salford, County of Lancaster, he received the sentence of 4 months
imprisonment. Charles served his time at the Salford House of Correction and
was kept busy with hard labour.[4] However, this brush with the law was not
enough to scare Charles straight. Approximately six months after regaining his
freedom, he again appeared in the Salford County Sessions for larceny. Despite
noting his previous conviction, Charles was found not guilty.[5]
The industrial revolution was causing widespread poverty in
England at the time, and many people could not find stable employment. Many
resorted to crime as their only option.[6] Salford’s location close to rivers was
instrumental in becoming known for its textile industry, as the mills needed
the water for steam power.[7] Even with Charles’ trade as a silk spinner,
he still may have needed to steal to survive as employment was not guaranteed.[8] Charles’ final date with the British court
system was 2 September 1839. He was once again accused of larceny. However,
this time, his luck had run out, and he was sentenced to 10 years and
transportation.[9]
After his conviction, Charles was moved to the hulk
Justitia.[10] The Justitia was anchored on the Thames
River, London. The hulks were notorious for being overcrowded, which meant
disease and sickness spread quickly.[11] The Justitia was the most despicable, housing
up to 500 convicts on board.[12] In 1846, complaints to parliament caused an
inquiry into the Hulk system. At this inquiry, the Justitia overseer was
revealed to have been a negligent man who
allowed his ship
and his convicts aboard her to become filthy beyond reason over the two decades
of his command. On a number of occasions, he had had prisoners scourged with
the cat without approval. [13]
While housed on the Justitia, a report was prepared by one
of Charles’ guards that did not reflect well of him. The report listed him as
having very bad character, bad behaviour, bad connections, and being tried
seven times.[14] However, in a previous quarterly report,
Charles’ behaviour was recorded as good.[15] While there is no other known evidence of any
other court appearances, in Charles’ later years, he did enjoy going by
different names.[16] However, we can be sure about his appearance.
His convict record shows he was 5’3¼” tall and had a sallow complexion, brown
hair and chestnut eyes. Charles had a small dark mole on the lower part of the
right side of his neck and another on his upper left arm. He also had a scar on
the back of his middle finger.[17] In the absence of photography, such extensive
detail was kept so that if Charles were to end up on the wrong side of the law
again, he would be easily identified.[18] However, it appears to have been in vain, as
it seems Charles never again appeared before a Court. His convict record also
showed that Charles could read but not write, was single, had no children and
was a Protestant.[19]
On 9 March 1840, Charles left the Justitia and was
transferred to the ship Maitland to begin his journey to Australia. The
Maitland then sailed to Sheerness, North Kent, to collect more prisoners.
Finally, the Maitland set sail for New South Wales on 19 March 1840 with 305
convicts aboard. It would have been a rough journey as they did not arrive in
Australia until 16 weeks later, in July 1840. The Surgeon Superintendent
aboard, Phillip Toms, reported no deaths due to sickness during the passage.
However, two prisoners accidentally fell overboard during the journey and
drowned. He also noted that most enjoyed remarkably good health. However, one
poor soul died just hours after arriving in Australia, which was believed to
have been from scurvy.[20] The average sentence of the convicts aboard
was 11 years, with 43 convicts having life sentences.[21]
Charles’ Life in
Australia
After his arrival, Charles was most likely moved to the
penal colony at Port Macquarie soon after coming to New South Wales, as it was
here that he was recommended for a Ticket of Leave on 14 March 1846.[22] Between the time of his arrival and receiving
his recommendation, Charles was most likely employed in some form of hard
labour. Uneducated convicts were often given jobs such as building
infrastructure or working on government farms.[23]
Charles received his Ticket of Leave in 1846 after serving
roughly seven years of his 10-year sentence.[24] Tickets of Leave could be issued to convicts
who had served part of their sentence with good behaviour. His Ticket of Leave
allowed him to remain in the District of Macquarie as a free man. It also meant
he could work for private employers rather than the government, lease land and be
free to move within the district to where the ticket was issued.[25] The following year on 1 February 1847,
Charles was granted his Ticket of Leave Passport on the recommendation of
Commissioner Massie.[26]
It gave Charles more freedom to move beyond the area of Macquarie. This
Passport allowed him to remain in the service of Mr Patrick Mackay at the
McLeay River for 12 months.[27]
Charles
Bustard Ticket of Leave, Retrieved from Ancestry.com
How Charles chose to spend his life as a free man over the following
years remains a mystery until March 1853, when he placed an ad in the newspaper
about his lost horse on the Rocky River Goldfields.[28] It was also around the time that Charles and
his soon-to-be wife, Mary Ann Browning, began their family with the birth of
their first child.[29] They stayed in the region and had 12 children
together in the following years.[30] In 1860, Charles started experimenting with
the family’s surname. Busteard, Buster and Bostock were used at various times,
with Charles reverting to Bustard. In 1873, after moving to Lismore, the family
kept the spelling Bostock permanently.[31]
Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875),
Saturday 12 March 1853, page 2.
According to a family legend in Esme Smith’s book The
Browning Story, Charles’ father owned a factory that manufactured Bostock’s
Boot Polish.[32]
However, on Charles’ death certificate, Charles’s father’s occupation was
listed as a hotel keeper.[33]
Whether one or both are true, I have been unable to prove. But it seems likely he was originally a Bustard who changed to Bostock.
Charles died in Lismore, aged 66, on 2 October 1884.[34] The local newspaper regretfully recorded his
death as someone who was a much-respected man.[35] He was buried in the North Lismore Cemetery
as Charles Bostock the following day.[36] In 1980, the headstones of the cemetery were
moved approximately 200 meters from the original location. This was done to
accommodate a new road. The area was then renamed Pioneer Cemetery Memorial
Park.[37] The inscription on his gravestone reads
And he is gone whom,
We so dearly loved,
Whose
loving kindness,
We
so oft have proved,
Ah
yes he’s gone,
His
happy spirit fled,
And
he’s numbered,
With
the silent dead.[38]
Charles turned his life around from a young convict accused
of having bad character to passing away as a well-respected resident of Lismore.
[1]
Death registration of Charles Bostock, died 2 October 1884, Registry of Births,
Deaths and Marriage, New South Wales, 13263/1884.
[2]
Charles Bustard, Maitland, 1840, List of Maitland convicts, Colonial Office and
Predecessors: Alphabetical list of convicts with particulars 1788-1825;
1840-1842, The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England,
Australia, List of Convicts with Particulars, 1788-1842, List of Convicts with
Particulars 1840 – 1842, Ancestry.com, accessed 17 June 2022.
[3]
Court record for Charles Bustard, Lancashire, 1836, Criminal Register, Home
Office: Criminal Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: Criminal Registers,
England and Wales, The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England,
Series HO 26 and HO 27, England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892,
Ancestry.com, accessed 17 June 2022.
[4]
Court record for Charles Bustard, Lancashire, 1836, Order Book, Lancashire
Quarter Sessions Records and Petitions, 17th–19th Century, Lancashire Record
Office, Preston, England, Lancashire, England, Quarter Session Records and
Petitions, 1648-1908, Ancestry.com, accessed 17 June 2022.
[5]
Court record for Charles Bustard, Lancashire, 1837, Criminal Register, Home
Office: Criminal Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: Criminal Registers,
England and Wales, The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England,
Series HO 26 and HO 27, England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892,
Ancestry.com, accessed 17 June 2022.
[6]
Kieran Hosty & Bridget Berry, ‘Convict Hulks’, Sydney Living Museum
website, n.d,
https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/convict-hulks,
accessed 17 June 2022.
[7]
Andy Phelps, Richard Gregory, Ian Miller, Chris Wild, The Textile Mills of
Lancashire, Oxford Archaeology North, Lancaster, p. 1, https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/textile-mills-lancashire-legacy/textile-mills-lancashire-legacy/,
accessed 17 June 2022.
[8]
Charles Bustard, List of Maitland convicts.
[9]
Charles Bustard, Lancashire, 1839, Criminal Register, Home Office: Criminal
Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: Criminal Registers, England and Wales,
The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England, Series HO 26 and
HO 27, England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892, Ancestry.com,
accessed 17 June 2022.
[10]
Prison registry for Charles Bustard, Justitia, 1839, HO13: Home Office:
correspondence and warrants, The National Archives, London, England, England
& Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935, Findmypast, accessed
17 June 2022.
[11]
Samuel Hadfield, ‘Convict Hulks’, Digital Panopticon website, n.d,
https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Convict_Hulks, accessed 17 June 2022.
[12]
Charles Campbell. The Intolerable Hulks: British Shipboard Confinement 1776 –
1857, Heritage Books Inc. Maryland, 1994, p.182, Retrieved from Esme Smith. The
Browning Story: Tracings from the Past, Self-Published, Alstonville, 2001, p.
150.
[13]
Campbell, The Intolerable Hulks: British Shipboard Confinement 1776 – 1857,
p.182, Retrieved from Esme Smith, The Browning Story: Tracings from the Past, p.
152.
[14]
Charles Bustard, Justitia, 1839, Hulk register, Home Office: Convict Prison
Hulks: Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849, HO9, The National Archives, Kew,
England, UK, Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849, Ancestry.com,
accessed 18 June 2022.
[15]
Charles Bustard, Justitia, 1839, Prison registry, Home Office: Convict Hulks,
Convict Prisons and Criminal Lunatic Asylums: Quarterly Returns Of Prisoners,
The National Archives, London, England. England & Wales, Crime, Prisons
& Punishment, 1770-1935, Findmypast, accessed 18 June 2022.
[16]
Birth registration of Marion Buster, born 1861, Registry of Births Deaths &
Marriages, New South Wales 13439/1861, (Index only); Birth certificate of
Christopher Busteard, born 14 January 1860, Registry of Births Deaths &
Marriages, New South Wales, 12698/1860. Marriage certificate of Christopher
Bostock and Georgina McGuire, married 3 November 1881, Registry of Births
Deaths & Marriages, New South Wales, 5840/1881.
[17]
Charles Bustard, List of Maitland Convicts.
[18]
The Companion to Tasmanian History, ‘Convicts,’ The Companion to Tasmanian
History website, n.d,
https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/C/Convicts.htm,
accessed 18 June 2022.
[19]
Charles Bustard, List of Maitland Convicts.
[20]
The National Archives, ‘Medical journal of the Maitland, convict ship from 3
March to 22 July 1840 by Philip’, The National Archives website,
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4106744,
accessed 18 June 2022.
[21]
Convict Records, ‘Maitland voyage to New South Wales, Australia in 1840 with
306 passengers,’ Convict Record of Australia website, n.d,
https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/maitland/1840, accessed 17 June 2022.
[22]
Ticket of Leave for Charles Bustard, 1846, Ticket of Leave butt, New South
Wales State Archives, New South Wales, Australia, Tickets of Leave, 1810-1869,
Ancestry.com, accessed 18 June 2022.
[23]
State Library New South Wales, ‘The Convict Experience’, State Library New
South Wales website, n.d, https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/convict-experience,
accessed 18 June 2022.
[24]
Ticket of Leave for Charles Bustard.
[25]
State Library New South Wales, ‘The Convict Experience’.
[26]
State Archives & Records, ‘Convict Tickets of Leave’, State Archives &
Records website, https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/convict-tickets-leave,
accessed by 18 June 2022.
[27]
Ticket of Leave Passport for Charles
Bustard, 1847, Ticket of Leave Passports 1835-1869 (Nrs 12204), State Records
Authority of New South Wales, Reel 976, Item number [4/4264], Australia Convict
Tickets of Leave 1824-1874, Findmypast, accessed 18 June 2022
[28]
‘SYDNEY POLICE COURT - FRIDAY’, Empire, 12 March 1853, p. 2,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61322426, accessed 18 June 2022.
[29]
Esme Smith, The Browning Story: Tracings from the Past, p. 162.
[30]
Death registration of Mary Ann Cloghessy, died 12 July 1909, Railway Heights,
Casino, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriage, New South Wales, 08833/1909.
[31]
Birth registration of Marion Buster; Birth registration of Christopher
Busteard; Marriage registration of Christopher Bostock and Georgina McGuire.
[32]
Esme Smith, The Browning Story: Tracings from the Past, p. 167.
[33]
Death registration of Charles Bostock.
[34]
Death registration of Charles Bostock.
[35]
‘Local and General News’, Northern Star, 15 October 1884, p.2,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71709295, accessed 18
June 2022.
[36]
Death registration of Charles Bostock.
[37]
Tope, Andy, The Legend of Lismore’s Glowing Cross, 2014, Retrieved from
https://www.planetandyt.com/legend-lismores-glowing-cross/
[38]
Find a Grave, Charles Bostock Memorial Page, 2015, Retrieved from
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150153073/charles-bostock.
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