John Suffolk and Elizabeth Cockshall, convicts

John Suffolk was convicted at the Berkshire Assizes (Abingdon, Berkshire) in July 1818 for receiving stolen goods and transported for 14 years via the Lord Sidmouth following a sojourn on the prison hulk Justicia from the 20th July to about the 25th of August 1818.

On the 15th of May 1821 John married Elizabeth Cockshall, a needlewoman who had been transported for 14 years on the Morley(3), at St. John's church Parramatta. John was 35 and Elizabeth was recorded as 21 but may have been a little younger.





Oddly enough, Elizabeth had received permission to marry another man, Robert Moore who had arrived on the ship Neptune, on the 5th of February. Permission to marry John has not turned up as yet. Convicts were required to ask permission to marry and were often refused.

John and Elizabeth appear on the 1828 census in Windsor, where they were keeping a shop together. I'm very curious about the logistics of this since they were both illiterate.




In 1836 John's son Joseph Suffolk arrived in the Colony with his wife Jane, and they also took up residence in Windsor. Sadly Jane died in 1838, cause unknown, and Joseph married Ellen, Helen or Elen Ferguson the following year (her descendants call her Elen).

John Suffolk died in 1852 at the age of 65 and was buried at the Wesleyan Methodist cemetery near Windsor (now known as the McGraths Hill cemetery) on the 19th of November.

The following year, Joseph Suffolk applied to take on the administration of his father's estate, as he did not leave a will. (The contents of the probate packet will be a future post). Joseph had assistance from his well-to-do brother in law George Walker, and his nephew the solicitor William Walker prepared the paperwork. Elizabeth put her mark on a statement saying she agreed to the arrangement. The exact value of the estate wasn't included, but it was less than £150. Joseph reports that he is John Suffolk's only son, and that there is a daughter still living in England.

Elizabeth Suffolk resurfaces on the 3rd of January 1856 when she spent 2 months in the Bathurst Gaol for 'obscene language.' She is recorded as being born in Lincolnshire, unable to read or write, and currently employed as a needlewoman. The record also helpfully mentions her arrival on the Morley(3) and that she is a freed convict.

An Elizabeth Suffolk married a George Hughes in Bathurst during 1856 but I have not confirmed if this is her.