: Hundy Country 1563 – 1833

Worcestershire is a county located in the south- of . The county is dominated by the city of Worcester and features several smaller towns and villages such as Kidderminster, Dudley, Droitwich, , , and Great Malvern. It was established as an administrative area in its current form when the Saxon kingdom of Wessex was established in the 7th century.1 The Hundy family name is a locational name of Anglo Saxon origin being derived from pre- 7th century English with ‘hund’ meaning dog and a piece of firm land in a fen or marsh. In modern English, this translates to an ‘island frequented by dogs’. It probably identifies a now lost village or unrecorded location.2 The original place is probably in the Worcestershire area due to the prevalence of the name in that county. The parish and public records particularly link William Hundy’s immediate family to Worcester, Defford, Pershore, and Crowle. It’s at these four locations we have records showing marriages, baptisms, employment, and, ultimately, William’s trial and sentencing. The locational derivation of the Hundy name is itself rooted in the Anglo-Saxon period of rule in England prior to the 11th century. It gives no indication of the genetic origins of the Hundy family as some names more closely aligned with specific cultures (such as the Celtic name McDermott i.e. son of Dermot) do. It is probable the family’s lineage reflects the cultural and racial diversity arising from England’s history of invasion and the integration of native Iron Age Celtic populations with successive waves of Romans, Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons), Norseman, and the Normans from today’s France. Whilst the county of Worcestershire was established in the 7th century under Saxon rule, its history of occupation goes back to the time of the Britons of Celtic ancestry, with the Cornavii tribe occupying the lightly wooded landscape of the Neolithic period post 9000 b.c..3 Gradually, the landscape was cleared with the development of hill forts and round houses, enclosed grazing lands, and the farming of crops through to the commencement of the Iron Age around 800 b.c.. After the Roman invasion of 55BC, and ultimate colonisation in 43AD, the Britons were either pushed westward into Wales or co-existed, usually as a subjugated population, with the Roman occupiers.4 The Roman occupation of England was to last for another four centuries until approximately 400AD. The Romans established the province of Flavia Ceasariensis in the area of modern Worcestershire. It is thought that during this time there were only two Roman towns in the area: Worcester (known as Wigorna Castra), a small settlement in Roman time, and Droitwich. Both were important industrial and market centres for the region with Droitwich important for its salt. The rest of the surrounding countryside appears to have been populated by subjugated Britons farming their land, with Roman villas sparsely interspersed around the countryside.5 The Romans suddenly withdrew from Britain in the fourth century in response to internal political disputes and pressure from European tribes in the empires heartland around Rome. The vacuum created by their withdrawal and subsequent loss of stable government and administration was eventually filled in the 6th century by the northern European tribes of the Angles, Jutes, Saxons, and Danes. The Saxons occupied most of the south and east of England whilst the Angle Hwicce tribe overran the lands to the north including the Worcestershire region.6 The Hwicc established the Kingdom of Mercia based on the Worcestershire area. It was then absorbed into the West Saxon Kingdom of Wessex which was to continue to battle invading Norseman and Danes until the successful establishment of Danish rule in the second half of the 9th century.7 The Danish invader, Canute, was to then rule as King of all England, which became part of a larger Empire including modern Denmark, Sweden, and part of Norway. In an important strategic move, he married the previous Anglo-Saxon King’s widow thereby continuing the Anglo-Saxon rule over England.8 He also created Wessex as an earldom preserving Worcestershire’s status as a discreet administrative area. The Anglo-Saxon rule over Worcestershire, and wider England, was to be swept away in the Norman invasion led by William of Normandy fifty years after Canute took the throne. The last Anglo-Saxon King was to be King Harold. He led an army against William’s army at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 where his famous death from an arrow through the eye brought down his kingdom.9 The rule of the Anglo Saxons was over. They had established a stable and effective democratic administrative system for modern England and contributed many of the enduring cultural and legal legacies adopted by the Normans still visible today in the language, customs, and place names of England and its former colonies. Over the next four years, Norman rule led to wholesale replacement of the Anglo-Saxon ruling class and traditions including replacing the native language with the use of French and Latin in aristocratic circles. Positions of power were given to Norman supporters as King William set about replacing the existing system and rewarding his allies. The earldom of Wessex was abolished by the Normans along with other administrative areas created by the Anglo-Saxons. This created enormous unrest as England was treated as a province of Normandy and a source of revenue for continental conquests. The English were ruthlessly subjugated under William’s rule amid famine, misery and dislocation. The feudal system introduced under King William meant all land was owned by the state with tenants of the land owing military service or payment of duties, labour, or goods.10 During this time, the Doomsday Book of 1086 was written revealing 28 tenants in chief in Worcestershire with the four major holdings of the church left relatively undisturbed. The church of Worcester was in control of 50,000 acres within which two major manors and their lords are recorded at Crohlea, in the location of modern Crowle. The Abbeys of Evesham and Pershore held about 30 000 acres between them. Medieval Crowle (Crohlea) consisted of the two manors described in the Doomsday records and was occupied by a total of about 80 to 90 people living as a loose community in and around the present- day site of the village. It was comprised of little more than fifteen families and eight slaves with cultivated land, woodlands, and a mill to support them and pay the duties levied by the Norman King William. The main towns of Worcestershire were now Worcester itself along with the smaller towns of Bromsgrove, Droitwich, Halesowen, and Kidderminster. The town manors passed down to various families mentioned in official records throughout the next three centuries. The area enjoyed relative peace and conditions gradually improved with the growth in organised agriculture and an increase in the population. The 14th century however heralded a period of poor harvests and wet summers, resulting in economic downturn and famine. In 1348/49 the ‘Black Death’, or Bubonic Plague, struck England arriving in the Midlands by mid-1349. Whole villages were lost to the ‘Black Death’ as between a third and a half of the total population perished.11 The result was a breakdown in agricultural production due to the loss of labour and expertise, and subsequent famine, social disruption, and poverty. The demand for agricultural labour and the need to bring now vacant lands back into production resulted in a lessening in the feudal ties and obligations of labourers to the lord of the manor. Enclosure of lands for the grazing of sheep increased in response to a lack of labour, further alienating the poor from common lands and exacerbating poverty levels.12 The next six centuries cemented the changes wrought under Norman rule. The throne of the English Kingdom from 1066 to the 18th century was occupied by Plantagenets (1154-1399), the House of Lancaster (1399-1461), House of York (1461-1485), Tudors (1485-1603), and the Stuarts (1603- 1714). These monarchs came from the royal courts of France, Germany, Wales, and Scotland. While the political machinations of England’s monarchy continued to unfold over the centuries, with wars fought over legitimacy to the throne and religious fervour, little was to change in Worcestershire for the labourers and rural workers until the 1500s with the rise to the throne of the Tudors. King Henry VIII’s religious reformation which followed led to upheaval and civil war. Monasteries were disbanded and their wealth and lands re-distributed to benefit the state. Religious persecution of those practising the ‘papist’ beliefs of the ‘Roman church’ increased as the Church of England was established.13 Worcestershire was not immune to the upheaval having considerable lands held in the control of monasteries. In 1535 Henry VIII dismissed the Bishop of Worcester for neglecting his duties leaving the Prior of Worcester the highest-ranking cleric in the area. The dissolution of the monasteries resulted in the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral of Worcester becoming the Lords of the Manor of Crowle Court leaving the lands in the control of the monarchy rather than the Catholic Church.14 Records of the Hundy name first appear towards the end of the Tudor period in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I with the marriage of Joyse Hundye to Richard Pengrye at the Church of Brendon in Worcestershire on the 26th of January, 1573.15 A spelling variation, ‘Hundey’, also appears around this time with the baptism of Elizabeth, daughter of John, in Urchfont in 1563.16 The name is variously spelt as Hundy, Hundey, Hundye, Handey, and Handy, in the public record. The variations are most likely a consequence of changing spelling conventions and phonetic recordings of the name that became distorted due to time, accents, and poor literacy. Barry Price, in his Hundy family history compiled in 1984, further identified the occurrence of the Hundy name in 16th century Worcestershire with the baptism of four children of Richard Hundy. Thomas, Sara, George and John were baptised in Defford in 1581, 1582, 1586 and 1592 respectively.17 There are other records of baptisms and marriages over the following centuries registered at Holy Cross Church in Pershore, Saint Clement’s, and Saint Swithin’s in Worcester, , Defford and . Other towns and villages in which the Hundy name occurs include , Feckenham, , Stoulton, Eckington, , Throckmorton, Bromsgrove, Claines and Kidderminster in Worcestershire, and Buckland and Tewkesbury just across the county boundary in Gloucestershire. William’s father and grandfather were both called William.18 His grandfather was married in Defford in 1774 to Mary Archer (also recorded as Anchor), and his father was also baptised there in 1778. Defford is a small village in the Avon Valley about 16km south east of Worcester and 16km south of William’s home, the village of Crowle. The village sits on the floodplain of the River Avon and historically produced crops of wheat, beans, and turnips. William’s father was the eldest of seven children with Sarah (1776), Elizabeth (1779), Robert (1781), Richard (1783), Samuel (1787), and Kesia (1796), all baptised in Defford. Littlebury’s Directory of 1879 records a Kezia Hundy as being a shopkeeper and Sub-Postmistress in Defford.19 The 1881 Census also records Kezia living in Defford with her niece and assistant, Mary, living with her. Whether these are William’s aunty and sister, or later descendants is not known; however, their recorded ages in the census, 64 and 18 respectively, would suggest the latter. The name Kezia (pronounced Ke-ZYE-ah) is extremely rare, so perhaps the ages in the census may be inaccurate. William’s parents, William Hundy and Elizabeth Churchill, were married at Saint Clements (Church of England) in Worcester in 1807 and were residing in the parish at the time.20 Over the course of the next year or so they had relocated to the small village of Crowle just 1km to the north of his mother’s home town of Churchill. Crowle is a small village just over 10 kilometres north east of Worcester, with a population at the dawning of the nineteenth century of approximately 350 people.21 William was baptised in Saint John’s church at Crowle in 1813. He had two older sisters, Martha and Mary Ann, who were also baptised at Crowle in 1808 and 1811 respectively.22 There is also the suggestion of another sibling. The south-east of the County of Worcestershire is general undulating with small hills interspersed with very fertile low lying agricultural land. Traditionally, the area has been associated with orchards of plums, apples, and pears with other crops such as grains, hops, and vegetables also grown. In 1801, the Parish of Crowle had 500 acres under cultivation consisting of 239 acres of wheat, 33 of barley, 35 of oats, 39 of peas, and about 150 acres of beans.23 Pigot & Co.’s Commercial Directory of 1831 describes the soils in the south-east of Worcestershire as being “generally rich and fertile” producing bountiful crops of grain and fruit on the deep red soils and strong loamy clays.24 Pershore, a market town on the banks of the River Avon in the south east of Worcestershire, features strongly in the history of the Hundy family. During William’s time it was an important centre for commerce with the transport of goods along the rivers and canals. Pigot & Co. describe the town in 1831 as being prosperous with considerable local trade whilst also enjoying the benefits of being on the main thoroughfare to London.25 The countryside was considered picturesque and productive, and was renowned for the abundance of pears in local orchards among pleasant hills and fertile valleys.26 It was here that at the age of just ten, William found employment as a labourer and waterman in the employ of a coal merchant, Thomas Milton, of Bridge Street.27 Scrutiny of parish records, civil registrations, and census’ reveal a continued Hundy association with Worcestershire from at least the 16th century through to modern times. Later censuses and business directories continued to reveal the presence of Hundys well into the 19th century in Worcester and villages such as Fladbury, Pershore, and Kidderminster. The association remains with entries in local directories of the seemingly uncommon Hundy name still found to this day and other descendants along the matriarchal line living in the area. Further investigation of parish records around Defford, Worcester, Crowle, and Pershore may yet yield even more information on the Hundy family in England. Born in 1813 in an English kingdom under the reign of King George III, William Hundy would witness the continued unfolding of a new era that would have far reaching consequences for the world and are still being felt today. William’s England was undergoing enormous economic, political, and social change that continued well past his transportation to Australia. It was a time of nationalistic fervor, political reform, social upheaval, and economic growth. The British monarchy at the time, belonging to the House of Hanover, was almost entirely German in its ancestry. The death of the unpopular King George IV in 1830 led to the ascension to the throne of his younger brother, King William IV. King William the Fourth was to rule the , Ireland, and the German province of Hanover until 1837 when his niece Victoria, who was to be the last Hanoverian monarch, ascended to the throne. England was a colonial power which, though it had lost the American colonies, had established the New South Wales colony at Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) in 1788. By the time of William’s birth, the transportation of convicts to that colony had been going on for nearly twenty- five years. In that time a penal colony had been established at Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) in 1803, land at Port Phillip had been settled, and Hobart was also in Van Deimans Land (Tasmania). Other colonies to be added included the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Georgian England’s economic changes fuelled the development and adoption of new technologies changing the way jobs had been done for centuries. This was particularly the case for work carried out in industrial towns and the agricultural countryside around south-east England in counties such as Worcestershire. The main industries in Worcestershire, and the countryside surrounding Crowle at the beginning of the 19th century, included orchards of pears, plums, apples, and cherries. Cereal crops such as wheat, oats, and barley were also grown around Crowle, along with peas and beans. In total approximately 500 acres of “stiff, cold clay” is recorded as being cultivated.28 The growing Industrial Revolution was leading to increasing migration of the rural population to areas of industrial activity in the towns and cities. A large growth in rural populations also occurred during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This led to overcrowding in towns unable to cope with the influx of people who were often left to live in crowded conditions with inadequate sanitation. In addition, most people were relatively poor with comparatively little formal education by today’s standards. The economic downturn of the 1820’s, rapid population growth, enclosure of previously public lands, a slump in rural wages, and de-mobilisation of thousands of soldiers after the Napoleonic Wars are attributed as contributing factors in the deterioration of living standards among the rural population. The effects of this were most notably felt in the south east counties dominated by cereal growing, particularly corn. Those in rural areas in the Midlands and northern counties with ready access to industrial centres were less impacted due to less reliance on agricultural employment and jobs growth in the industrial sector.29 Wages for rural workers had continued to fall whilst those of workers in the industrial areas were relatively better off. Most rural workers were below the poverty line earning just a shilling a day, with some only earning three shillings a week.30 William’s parents lived in Worcester, and later, nearby Crowle. They would have almost certainly been directly affected by the widespread unemployment, mass migration and changes to traditional rural village life. Employment opportunities were significantly different to those available to previous generations of his family and would have impacted on the prosperity of his family, and expectations of a young boy from the rural working class. William’s father, also William, was married in the Church of England’s St. Clements parish of Worcester in 1807. The register was signed by him, indicating a level of literacy that may have given a great advantage over a significant proportion of the local population at the time.31 William’s father is said to have been a ‘sea captain’ on his own death certificate of 189931 and a labourer at the time of his baptism32 whilst another source gives his occupation as carpenter33. Both his and his father’s occupations would have been affected directly and indirectly by the changes in the way jobs were done with machinery and mechanisation replacing manual labour and traditional craftsmanship. Unrest was building in the rural villages and countryside and would ultimately lead to widespread rioting during a time when William was entering the workforce. William’s future must have seemed increasingly uncertain to him as traditional employment became increasingly difficult to find and a poor education an increasing obstacle. The mass migration of populations and changing employment landscape added to fomenting social unrest among displaced workers replaced by new technologies. Mechanisation of jobs carried out in traditional ways for hundreds of years gave rise to organised resistance in the form of riots and the destruction of machinery used in the newly developed industrial processes. It didn’t take long for the unrest to find voice in organised dissent among like-minded groups of men particularly the disaffected rural workers of south east England. Famous examples include the Bristol Riots, Tolpuddle Martyrs, and Swing Rioters. The Bristol riots led to the creation of the Bristol Riots Act 1831 in a bid to prevent the growth of unions and political organisations causing civil unrest. Worcester also saw similar rioting along with Bath, Warwick and Coventry. The Swing Riots were mainly confined to the eastern Counties with few incidents occurring in Worcestershire at the very north western extent of the unrest.34. The British Government responded with a show of force by arresting nearly 2000 protesters across 34 Counties. Of those arrested, 252 were sentenced to death with the majority of those having their sentences commuted to transportation for either seven or fourteen years. In total, some 481 people associated with the Swing Riots were to be transported to Australia.35 Substantial legislative reform was undertaken by the English Parliament during the early 1800’s in response to the changing economic and social conditions. Among the legislation enacted was the Corn Laws (1815) and the ‘Six Acts of 1819’ hastily drafted in response to concerns over unrest from those pushing for parliamentary reform. The push for reform was led by Prime Minister Earl Grey in recognition of the growth in the middle classes resulting from the new-found wealth and power from the Industrial Revolution. Grey believed England faced the threat of revolution and needed to reform from within rather than face the prospect of being overthrown through civil insurrection as was occurring on the European mainland. The Gaming Act of 1816 represented a further imposition on age old freedoms enjoyed by the people of rural and village England. The Act sought to protect the recreational pursuits of the landed classes. Wild animals and birds became the private possessions of landholders and man traps and spring guns were often installed to enforce this new ownership. Many poor families had traditionally relied on catching wild game or birds for augmenting a limited diet. Hunting which had previously been done on freely accessed village commons or woods. These commons were often now alienated by the enclosures of these lands for the benefit of private landholders and game within them was now also alienated from them. A consequence of this was an increase in poaching offences which were punishable by goal terms, flogging, hanging and transportation. In the period between 1827-1830 government figures show as many as 8752 were convicted of offences under the Game Laws.36 Rural crime rates in general between 1824 and 1830 increased by 30%.37 The isolation of lands and game previously available to landless rural people was another blow to those leading meager existences in increasingly changed and uncertain times. The restrictions on Catholics holding public office and parliamentary positions, in place since Tudor times, were lifted in 1832. The Whig Reform Bill (1832) provided for parliamentary reform by redistributing seats in industrial cities and expanded the vote to all middle-class citizens. The legislation further weakened the influence of the monarchy and House of Lords and saw the electorate in England grow by over 50%. The working classes responsible for igniting the cause of parliamentary reform did not benefit greatly, however, as the new laws only gave political rights to those with land.38 Other reforms included the Slavery Abolition Act (1833) and The Factory Act (1833), which limited work hours for women and children and provided for central inspectors.39 The parliamentary reform process undertaken by Grey and his political allies was to provide the platform for the Victorian era characterised by industrial growth and political stability at home and the growth of the Empire’s influence abroad. 1832 was also notable for a cholera outbreak that swept across England after ravaging continental Europe for the past eight years. Cholera was first observed in Sunderland in October 1831 and spread across England eventually killing 52,000 people. Cases of Cholera began appearing in Worcestershire in July 1832 and continued until August by which time it had run its course killing 729 people. By 1832, at the height of the epidemic in Worcestershire, William’s family were living in Pershore where he had been working for Thomas Milton, coal merchant, as a servant for nearly six years. Two years later, Sir Charles Hastings tabulated the toll it took on villages and towns of Worcestershire publishing the numbers killed and total population of each centre. The table below lists just 6 deaths out of a population of 2336; however, William’s family had the misfortune of being counted in its number when his father contracted the disease and died probably in either July or August 1832.

Source: Illustrations of the Natural History of Worcestershire, Sir Charles Hastings, 1834.

The epidemic was generally deemed to be an affliction of the poor as it was noted to be concentrated in the newly industrialised and over-crowded urban areas often to be found in low-lying country subject to poor drainage and sanitation. In 1832, the causes of cholera were unknown with various fantastical theories advanced including the spread of miasma through clouds of poisonous gases in the air. Patients were treated with hot and cold baths, dosed with a variety of tinctures and colognes or bled strategically to attempt cures. None of these were useful in curing a bacterial affection spread through water supplies contaminated with bacteria-ridden feacal matter and patients continued to die of dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea. Those who died were buried in anonymous mass graves to strict specifications designed to limit the spread of the disease. William’s father’s death from cholera in the 1832 epidemic provides insight into the circumstances of the family at the time. From descriptions of those afflicted in accounts of the time, it’s likely the William’s family lived somewhere down near the river in the poorer quarter of town and would’ve been part of the growing urban poor in early industrial England working and living in appalling conditions well-suited to the spread of diseases like cholera. William’s father is likely buried anonymously on the outskirts of Pershore in a grave site reserved for Pershore’s six victims of the 1832 epidemic. Against this background of uncertainty and change, William was finding his way in life in rural south-eastern Worcestershire among the agricultural lands, waterways and canals around Crowle, Pershore, Evesham, and Worcester. The public record provides little information on William’s experiences as he grew up between 1813 and 1833; however, the times in which he lived would have impacted on his family significantly as it did all others in rural England. It would also ultimately play a large role in determining his future. The loss of his father would’ve placed an additional burden on William to be the sole bread- winner at just 17 years of age; the straightened circumstances in which the family now found itself in the absence of whatever income William Hundy senior was earning perhaps leading to events just six months later that would forever tear the family apart. In 1833 William was described in the Worcester courts as being employed as a Labourer40 and a Waterman.41 Both descriptions are given at this time and probably indicate the complimentary nature of the tasks carried out in the two occupations. Watermen and Lightermen were responsible for the movement of passengers, goods, and materials on boats and barges along the canals and rivers and would have been expected to load and unload cargo. Aged around 20 years, though, described as 17 by Berrow’s Worcester Journal on the 7th of March 1833, William had been in the employ of a merchant named Thomas Milton at Pershore since he was ten years old.42 Thomas Milton and his son, Thomas Junior, are described in Pigot & Co.’s Commercial Directory of 1928/29 as having warehouses on the Avon River at both Pershore and Evesham, where they traded in bricks, coke, tiles, and coal.43 Their businesses were located on Bridge Street at Milton’s Wharf in Evesham and Bridge Street in Pershore. There were many similar businesses in the towns along the river Avon in the 18th and early 19th centuries supplying the needs of new factories amid the burgeoning Industrial Revolution.44 In 1833, William’s way of life was to change forever and to an extent he could probably never have imagined. His conviction on felony charges catapulted him into a period of English history in which thousands of his countrymen were being shipped overseas to a distant penal colony called New South Wales on the other side of the world.