Portrait of George Bustard Greaves (1758-1835) of Elmsall Hall and Page Hall, Yorkshire, painted by George Romney in 1786.

Sarah has been unable to find any records of Samuel before his conviction. His Australian death certificate states he was born in Whitechapel, London to Samuel Dean, a butcher, and Susanna Duck but Sarah is unable to find any records of his parents nor of how Samuel came to be in Totley. She says that Samuel's birthdate is uncertain. His age at the time of his conviction in 1832 is variously described as 13, 15 and 16 giving birthdates ranging between 1815 and 1819 but his death certificate says he was 88 years old in 1899 giving the much earlier date of 1811.

We have subsequently found two further newspaper entries which add a few more details about the incident. 

On 13 June 1832 the Derby Mercury reported, "Committed to the County Gaol since our last, Samuel Dean and Edward Connelley, charged with stealing a quantity of lead out of a Rolling Mill at Totley, the property of George Bustard Greaves, Esq, [William Shanley was also apprehended for being a confederate, but escaped from custody.]" 

On Wednesday 18 July the same newspaper reported, "Removal of Convicts. Since our last the following prisoners convicted at the late sessions for this county have been removed to the Justitia Hulk at Woolwich, where they are to remain until their several sentences of transportation can be further carried into effect, viz. Henry Barker, for life; Philip Roberts Bentley, William Falconer Good, William Spencer, James Gee, Samuel Dean, Edward Connelly, Peter Evans, and Francis Dunnicliff, for seven years each; and William Gratton, under sentence of transportation for seven years, has been removed to the Penitentiary at Milbank."

We have now traced prison records which confirm the details given in these newspaper reports. Samuel was convicted on 3 July 1832 at Derby and taken to Woolwich on 9 July. Convicts were kept on board prison ships often for months awaiting deportation to Australia, whilst performing hard labour at the adjacent Woolwich Warren. The Justitia was a 260 ton prison hulk that had been originally moored in the Thames when the American War of Independence put a stop to the transportation of criminals to the former colonies.

    The Mangles

Samuel Dean was one of 236 convicts that were put aboard the Mangles, captained by William Carr, which sailed from London on 8 December 1832 and which arrived at Port Jackson (Sydney), New South Wales on 19 April 1833. The Mangles Convict Indent describes Samuel as aged 15, a Protestant, able to read but not write, 4ft 11¼ins in height, of ruddy complexion with brown hair, grey eyes and no distinguishing marks or scars. He had been an errand boy, a native of London, convicted of housebreaking [?] and with no previous convictions. The website Yesterday's Journey refers to "Samuel Dean of Dronfield labourer, theft of 6 stone of lead and 1 iron chisel belonging George Bustard Greaves 1832." We do not know where these extra details came from. Totley was, of course, a hamlet within the Parish of Dronfield in 1833.

After his arrival in Australia the Settlers Indent reports that Samuel was 'disposed of' to William Cox of Clarendon. William Cox was an English soldier, explorer, road builder and pioneer in the early period of Colonial settlement of Australia. You may remember the Who Do You Think You Are programme in which Jason Donovan traced his maternal ancestry back to the same William Cox. The Clarendon estate, near Windsor, "had all the appearance of a self-contained village. Over fifty convict servants acted as smiths, tanners, harness makers, wool sorters, weavers, butchers, tailors and herdsmen." William Cox died in 1837.

Samuel and Catherine Dean

According to the 1837 New South Wales Convict Muster, Samuel Dean, now aged 20, was working for Robert Williams at Penrith, in the Sydney area. On 11 October 1838 Samuel married Catherine Hanlon Mary Kinsella. Catherine had arrived with her mother Ellen (nee Hanlon) on the Caroline from Cork in 1833. Her father, Martin Kinsella, a ploughman from Wexford, was already in Australia having been sent there on the Ann and Amelia in 1825. He had been convicted by a court in Dublin and sentenced to seven years transportation for stealing glue.

On 13 January 1840 Samuel Dean received his Certificate of Freedom. He and Catherine went on to have at least 14 children. In the 1860s, Samuel and Catherine with most of their family settled on a farm at Greghamstown near Blayney, New South Wales. Samuel died on 4 November 1899 and was buried at Millthorpe Cemetery in the same plot as his wife who had died on 11 July 1896, aged 77.

Try as we may, we have been unable to trace Samuel's origins in England. Not only have we looked on Ancestry, FindMyPast, FamilySearch and The Genealogist at recorded births, baptisms, marriages and deaths but we have also looked at census returns, education records, prison records, wills, newspapers archives etc. There are people called Samuel Dean(e) and Susanna(h) Duck in London but nothing that puts them living together. There are baptisms of a young Samuel Dean in the period 1811-19 but not with the right parents' names. There is no trace of a Samuel Dean in our area. We have images of the records for the Overseers of the Poor for the period. They employed constables who would escort prisoners to trial but there's no mention of Samuel Dean and his accomplices.

June 2019

                                                                                                                     Samuel and Catherine Dean