JOHN RUSDEN One of 240 Convicts Transported on “Canton” 1839 Sentenced to Life at Assizes Transported to Van Diemen’s Land

NAME: JOHN RUSDEN AGE: 28 – born about 1811

BORN: About 1811 BAPTISED: 10 May 1811, St Gluvias MARRIED: 29 December 1833, St Gluvias; spouse: Grace Provis Martin

DIED: 17 October 1882, aged 71 years, Launceston-Tas (Reg No 887)

TRIED: 1 August 1839, Cornwall Assizes SENTENCE: Life CRIME: The wilful murder of his wife, Grace Rusden

GAOL REPORT: Previous character good

CRIMINAL REGISTER: John Rusden, 28, Cornwall County Assizes 1 August 1839, Manslaughter, Transportation for Life

HULK REGISTER: No 8715 - John Rusden, 28, born about 1811, convicted at on 1 August 1839, received onboard prison hulk “York” moored at Gosport on 23 August 1839 and transported for Life; married with 3 children, can read and write, shoemaker, previous character good, Transported 14 September 1839 to Van Diemen’s Land (HO 9/15)

HULK REPORT: Good

SHIP: Canton – departed Spithead 22 September 1839, arrived Hobart 12 January 1840, a voyage of 112 days, carrying 240 male convicts (230 landed). Master John Mordaunt, Surgeon John Irvine

SURGEON’S REPORT: Well conducted

SURGEON’S REPORT ONBOARD:  Folio 2 - Case no 20, John Rusden, aged 28, convict; sick or hurt, ulcerated leg; put on sick list 30 October 1839, discharged 27 November 1839 cured.  Folio 5 - Case no 129, Edward Rusden, aged 28, convict; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list 8 January 1840, discharged 16 January 1840 cured (note: there was no Edward Rusden on board, name incorrectly entered by surgeon)

SURGEON’S GENERAL COMMENTS: (Folios 28-29) - After the surgeon received an appointment to the convict ship Canton at Somerset House on 24th August 1839, and joined her at Deptford on 27th, he reported of his joining the ship to Lieut Wentworth (the agent of Transports). He did not report himself to the Captain Superintendent at the first instance, in which the surgeon personally expressed to Captain Sherriff [Captain Superintendent] of his regret in not having reported to him [Captain Sherriff] on joining the ship. Afterwards the surgeon went on board the Leviathan hulk and arranged with the officer in command to inspect the convicts (in conjunction with Doctor Williams). On 5 September 1839 the Guard was received on board consisting of two commissioned officers and 40 rank and file of the 96th and 80th regiments. On the 14 September 1839, 240 male convicts were embarked on board from the Leviathan hulk. During the voyage there were no cases of scorbutus on board, as a result of the surgeon issuing lemon juice regularly to the convicts during the earlier part of the voyage.

FAMILY – Marital status: Married, with three children / Widower, with three children Wife: Grace Provis Martin Children: John Martin Rusden, Joanna Provis Rusden, William Martin Rusden Father: William Rusden, born 1771, St Gluvias Mother: Anne Marriage: 18 January 1796 at St Gluvias, William Rusden of Penryn married Anne Escott of Penryn Children: 16 July 1797 – Nancy Rusden (aged 4 weeks) 18 August 1799 – William Rusden (aged 1 month) 22 January 1802 – Joanna Rusden 9 August 1805 – Thomas Rusden 4 March 1808 – James Rusden 10 May 1811 – John Rusden; mother Anne 31 December 1813 – Johanna Rusden (of Penryn, father a barber; mother Anne) 4 August 1816 – Richard Rusden (of Penryn, father a hairdresser; mother Ann) 11 June 1820 – Mary Rusden (of Penryn, father a barber; mother Ann) (There are other children baptised at St Gluvias with father shown as William Rusden, a barber, but with mother’s name shown as Philippa – no burial found for Ann Rusden or remarriage of William to Philippa – possibly the marriage of William Rusden junior?)

OPC: Marriage - 29 December 1833, at St Gluvias, John Rusden bachelor otp married Grace Provis Martin spinster otp, by Banns; he signed, she marked X; witnesses James Rusden and Johanna Rusden Baptisms of John and Grace’s three children, all at St Gluvias – 24 August 1834 – John Martin Rusden (of St Gluvias, father a cordwainer) 26 February 1837 – Joanna Provis Rusden (of Ponsanooth, father a shoemaker) 26 February 1837 – William Martin Rusden (of Ponsanooth, father a shoemaker) Burial of his wife – 2 July 1839 – Parish of – Grace Rusden, aged 28, of St Agnes, Manslaughter by her husband 1841 Census – Joanna is living with her mother’s brother and his family (HO 107 137/2 11) St Gluvias, Cornwall – William Martin, 30, labourer Mary Martin, 30 John Martin, 9 William Martin, 7 Edward Martin, 4 George Martin, 2 Joanna Rusden, 4 By 1851, Joanna is still living with her uncle and his family, but is shown as his servant – (HO 107 1911/15 and 16) St Gluvias, Ponsanooth – William Martin, head, married, 40, gunpowder maker, b.St Gluvias Mary Ann Martin, wife, 41, b.St Gluvias John Martin, 19, agricultural labourer, b.St Gluvias William Martin, 17, shoemaker, b.St Gluvias Edward Martin, 14, agricultural labourer, b.St Gluvias George Martin, 12, scholar, b.St Gluvias Joanna Rusden, servant, 15, general servant, b.St Gluvias John Tenhail, visitor, widower, 65, ag.lab, b.Feock

It is not known if this is Joanna’s brother, or another William Rusden born the same year; and not know what became of the eldest son John Martin Rusden - (HO 107 154/3 11) High Street, St Gluvias, Cornwall – Francis Rusden, 38, shoemaker Mary Rusden, 35 Elizabeth Rusden, 16 Thomas Rusden, 12 Mary Rusden, 10 Ellen Rusden, 7 William Rusden, 4 Sarah Rusden

DESCRIPTION – Trade: Cordwainer Height: 5’ 5 ½“ Age: 28 Complexion: Sallow Head: Round Hair: Black Whiskers: Brown Visage: Broad Forehead: High Eyebrows: Black Eyes: Hazel Nose: Small flat Mouth: Large Chin: Broad Native Place: Cornwall Remarks: Scar right arm; scar left thumb

TASMANIAN CONDUCT RECORD –

Crime: Transported for the manslaughter of his wife – stated “manslaughtering his wife, I was drunk and came home and struck my wife several times with my fist – 5 weeks after she died”

Probation: 17 Jan 1840 – Two years probation Appropriation List – No 1408, John Rusden, 5’5½”, 28 years of age, shoemaker, Cornwall, Life, native place Penryn-Cornwall, 2 years Probation

Assignment: 30 July 1840 – Bridgewater 9 Jan 1841 – New Norfolk 31 May 1842 – Westbury 19 Aug 1842 – Oatlands 16 Sept 1842 – BR (?) – Brown’s River 24 Jan 1844 – Chief Police Magistrate 9 Feb 1844 -

Offences and Sentences: 19 Feb 1841 – Watchman, Bridgewater – Misconduct in taking improper liberties with a child 7 years old – Removed from his situation as watchman – Not again to be employed as Billet Man (?) 1 June 1842 – Constable – Misconduct in allowing prisoner in his charge to get drunk, and being drunk himself – 3 months hard labor and recommended to be dismissed from the Police – Approved he be sent to Oatlands, vide Lieut-Governor’s Decision 24 June 1842 23 Jan 1844 – Bacon – Insolence – 48 hours solitary confinement and returned to Government 17 May 1844 – 3rd Class 16 Dec 1844 – Corrigan – Assaulting John Hawkins – 7 days hard labor

1841 Convict Muster: No 1408 – John Rusden, Canton, Police Constable (HO 10/51)

1846 Convict Muster: John Rusden, Cornwall, 1839, Life, Canton 1840, 3rd Class Pass, Mr Page at Oatlands

1849 Convict Muster: No 1408 – John Rusden, Canton 1840, Cornwall 1839, Life, Ticket-of-Leave holder, C. Robinson

Ticket of Leave: Not known

Convict Pardons: 1852-53 – John Rusden, Canton, Cornwall Aug 1839, Life, 11 years 11 months, 2 years 8 months

DEPARTURES INDEX: None found

TASMANIAN NEWSPAPER REPORTS –

LAUNCESTON EXAMINER, 2 DECEMBER 1882 – LAUNCESTON GENERAL HOSPITAL – The following deaths have occurred in the Hospital during the month of November : John Rusden, aged 71, native of , from heart disease. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/38278158?searchTerm="johnrusden"&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

UK NEWSPAPER REPORTS –

ROYAL CORNWALL GAZETTE, 26 JULY 1839 – CORNWALL SUMMER ASSIZES – The Commission will be opened on Thursday next; and on Friday morning the learned Judges will take their seats – in the Crown Court at nine o’clock, and in Nisi Prius Court at eleven. The business is not likely to be very heavy. The calendar, so far, contains the names of no more than 16 prisoners; namely Charlotte Galloway, 19, for murder; John Hancock, 23, for rape; John Rusden, 38, for manslaughter; Thomas Wills and Zacharias Cann, for horse-stealing; John Gill for assault; Felix Lovell for embezzlement; John Martin and George Bastian for assault; Thomas Rowe, 11, for stealing in a dwelling-house; Hannah Thomas for stealing wearing apparel; William Henry Stevens for stealing a jacket; Phillip Oppy for stealing a piece of wood; John Dinner for stealing a cock and hen; Samuel Glisson for assault on a constable; and Edward Tucker for an assault.

ROYAL CORNWALL GAZETTE, 16 JUOY 1839 – CORNWALL LAMMAS ASSIZES – CROWN COURT, Monday, August 5 - CHARGE OF MURDER AT ST AGNES – John Rusden, 28, was indicted for the wilful murder of Grace Rusden, his wife. Mr Smith appeared for the prosecution, and Mr Cockburn for the prisoner. ALICE TRUAN sworn. The prisoner and his wife lived near me. I have seen the prisoner beat his wife. On the Monday after Whit-Monday, between nine and ten o’clock in the evening, I heard the deceased crying murder in her house. A man broke open the door, and I went in and found the prisoner knocking his wife’s head with his fists, and beating it against a piece of wood that projected from the wall. I saw him from the window beating her before I went in. Tonkin, who went in with me, pulled the prisoner away. I then took the deceased into the air; she complained of her head. She had fetched the prisoner from a public-house; he said that he was in liquor, and that Tonkin had taken advantage of him. He said that his wife had pulled him by the hair of his head. The deceased slept at my house that night, she had a bruise on the forepart of her head. She died in about five weeks afterwards. I saw her every day till she died, and she complained of her head. During the night, the prisoner came and called for his wife, and said he only wanted to put his hand upon her once more, and he would see her blood. Cross-examined: She returned to her house the next day, and remained there till she died. I do not think that I mentioned the prisoner’s threat before the Coroner; I did not say that because I thought it was a bad circumstance, but I had mentioned it to several others before. I persuaded her to go back to her husband the next day. I did not suppose that he intended to take her life. JOSEPH TONKIN, a miner, living near the prisoner:- I was at Mrs Truan’s on the night in question, when we heard the cry of murder. I looked in at the window, and saw the prisoner beating his wife with both fists. I then broke open the door, and went in; he was still beating her in the same manner. I stepped in between them, and said, “Rusden, do you mean to kill Grace?”; and he swore he would, and he struck her twice over my shoulder. I laid hold of him, and he struck me with his fists in my face. I then overpowered him. I afterwards went out and saw the wife lying on the bank with her hands to her head crying “Oh, my head”. She did not appear to be in a passion. I saw her frequently before her death, and she always complained of her head. Cross-examined: I did not hear him say, “Yes, I will kill her, and she has been dragging me by the hair of my head”. He said he was in liquor, and that I was taking advantage of him. I believe he had a little drop too much, but he was not a drunken man. MR HENRY DOBLE examined:- I am a surgeon, and was called upon to attend Grace Rusden on the 21st of June. She was in bed, and complained of violent pain on the back of her head. I examined her head. I did not find any external injury, she was in a very low state, and labouring under delirium. I was of the opinion the pain arose from external violence. I attended her until her death on the 29th of June. Sometimes she appeared to be a little better. After her death I opened her head – on moving the skull there was a thickening of the pericranium, an effusion of the watery part of the brain, a slight extravasion, and a considerable quantity of pus on the brain. There was an abscess occasioned by compression; the result of some external violence – similar results have been occasioned by a fall on the ice. These things in my opinion were the cause of her death. Cross-examined: I do not remember saying that she died a natural death. She had fever. I might have said she had typhus fever. Water on the brain might have produced the symptoms I saw. She had been confined of a still-born child sometime before. Such an abscess might have been without external violence. I have heard the wife was a quarrelsome woman. I never heard anything against the prisoner. MR RICHARD DOBLE, brother of the last witness, and also a surgeon, gave similar testimony. MR COCKBURN addressed the jury for the prisoner; and the learned judge having summed up, the jury found a verdict of manslaughter. Transportation for Life.

WEST BRITON, August 9, 1839 Assizes, Part Two - MONDAY, August 5 - CHARGE OF MURDER – John RUSDEN, 28, was indicted for the willful murder of Grace RUSDEN, his wife. Mr. SMITH conducted the case for the prosecution, and Mr. COCKBURN defended the prisoner. Alice TRUAN I knew the prisoner and his wife, they lived near me. I have seen the prisoner beat his wife. On the Monday after Whit-Monday, between nine and ten oclock in the evening, I heard the deceased crying murder in her house. I went to the house, and a man broke open the door, and I went in and found the prisoner knocking his wifes head with his fists, and beating her head against a piece of wood that projected from the wall. I saw him through the window beating her before I went into the house. TONKIN, who went in with me, took the prisoner by the collar and pulled him away. I then took the deceased into the air; she complained of her head. She had fetched the prisoner from a public-house; he said that he was in liquor, and Tonkin had taken advantage of him. He said his wife had pulled him by the hair of his head. The deceased slept at my house that night; she had a bruise on the forepart of her head. She died in about five weeks afterward. I saw her ever day till she died, and she complained of her head. During the night the deceased was at my house, the prisoner came and called for his wife, and said he only wanted to put his hand upon her once more, and he would see her blood. Cross-examined: She returned to her husbands house the next day, and remained there till she died. I dont think that I mentioned the prisoners threat before the coroner; I did not say that because I thought it was a bad circumstance, but I mentioned it to several others before. I persuaded her to go back to her husband the next day. I did not suppose that he intended to take her life. Joseph TONKIN, a miner living in St. Agnes, near to the prisoner: I was at Mrs. Truans on the night in question, when we heard the cry of murder. My wife came and fetched me; I just looked in at the window, and saw the prisoner beating his wife with both fists. I then broke open the door, and went into the house he was still beating her in the same manner. I stepped in between them, and said, Rusden, do you mean to kill Grace? And he swore he would, and he struck her twice over my shoulder and said he would kill her. I laid hold of his collar, and he struck me with his fists in the face. I then overpowered him. I then went out and saw the wife lying on the bank with her hands to her head crying oh, my head. She did not appear to be in a passion. I saw her frequently before her death, and she always complained of her head. Cross-examined: I did not hear him say yes, I will kill her and that she has been dragging me by the hair of my head. He said he was in liquor, and that I was taking advantage of him. I believe he had a little drop too much, but not to be a drunken man. Henry DOBLE examined: I am a surgeon, and was called upon to attend Grace Rusden on the 21st of June; she was in bed; she complained of violent pain on the back part of her head. I examined her head. I did not find any external injury, she was in a very low state, laboring under delirium. I was of opinion that the pain arose from external violence that she had received. I attended her until her death on the 29th of June. Sometimes she appeared to be a little better. After her death I opened her head moving the skull, there was a thickening of the pericranium we found an effusion of the watery part of the brain there was slight extravasation we found a considerable quantity of pus in the brain. There was an abscess occasioned by compression; the result of some external set of violence similar results have been occasioned by a fall on the ice. These things, in my opinion, were the cause of the death of the woman. Cross-examined: I dont remember saying that she died a natural death. She had fever. I might have said she had typhus fever. Water on the brain might have produced the symptoms I saw. She had been confined of a still-born child sometime before. Such an abscess might have been without External violence. I have heard the wife was a quarrelsome woman. I never heard anything against the prisoner. Richard DOBLE, brother of the last witness, and also a surgeon, gave similar testimony to that of the former witness. Mr. Cockburn then addressed the jury for the prisoner, after which, the learned judge summed up, and the jury found a verdict of manslaughter. The judge immediately sentenced him to be transported for life. The court then rose. [Regarding the Rusden case, in the Charge to the Jury, the Judge had said on Friday:- The last of these cases is that of John Rusden, committed for killing his wife. It appears they had previously quarrelled, and struck each other. On the night in question, the man went to a public-house, and his wife went to fetch him. He had probably been drinking to excess. On their coming home they quarrelled, and the witnesses found the man beating the head of the woman against a post, with violence. On their rescuing her she began to cry, and died shortly thereafter. I should add that when the witnesses interposed, the man said I will strike her again and again, for she has been dragging me round the room by the hair of the head. I cannot but observe and the fact must have struck you also that there is a dangerous laxity growing up in the country as to the question of murder or manslaughter. Case after case we find decided to be only manslaughter which a few years ago would have been murder, and that according to all the authorities of the text-books. In a matter of this grave consequence, it is a very sad thing that the distinction is not clearly understood.. The law of England makes no excuses for the unjustifiable indulgence of violent passions. There is the same law for the man of colder disposition. It would be a monstrous thing if the passionate man had a law for himself.

REFERENCES –

Convict Records – http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON31-1-36,233,187,L,80 http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON18-1-5,232,212,L,80 http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON27-1-8,202,22,L,80

Monthly Register of Patients and Attendants June 1841 (HSD104/1/1) available at Tasmanian Archives June 1841 – http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/default.aspx?detail=1&type=I&id=HSD104/1/1

Medical Journal – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=-826182&CATLN=7&accessmethod=5&j=1

UK Newspaper Report - http://searches2.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CORNISH-GEN/2005-11/1132117263

Mention of John Rusden’s trial made in the book “Men of Blood” by Martin J. Wiener “Cornishman John Rusden’s 1839 wife murder trial, the defence that he had been struck first by his wife allowed the Jury to convict him of manslaughter” http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511511547&cid=CBO9780511511547A013

Another baptism reference for Joanna Probes Rusden, born 23 August 1836, baptised at Chapel, Ponsanooth, St Gluvias – http://gwennap-opc.com/carharrack_chapel.htm

Cornwall List, family member researching Rusden of St Gluvias – http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/RISDEN/2003-05/1052428935

Last Updated: 18 February 2011

Compiled by Trish Symonds