Wikipedia:WikiTown/Toodyaypedia/stage II worksheet/William Sykes (convict)

[additions/changes to fit in with Wiki entry - 19 Nov 2015]

William Sykes (convict) William Sykes (c. 1827 – 4 January 1891) was an English convict, transported to Western Australia for manslaughter.

Early life
William Sykes was born in Wentworth, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, England in c.1827.[1] As a member of a poor family, he received no formal education, and took on paid work from an early age. In 1851 he was recorded as unmarried and working as a coal-pit trammer. In 1853 Sykes married Myra Wilcock, and over the next ten years they had four children. He was later employed as a puddler.

On 10 October 1865 Sykes went poaching with six other men. Evidence suggests that Sykes had often poached in the past, but he had never been caught before. On this night the men were challenged by a group of gamekeepers, and in making their escape Sykes and a number of other men assaulted one of the gamekeepers. The gamekeeper died from his injuries and a reward was offered for information about the attack. Eventually, the government offered a free pardon to anyone willing to give evidence, and this had the desired effect: one of the seven men, Robert Woodhouse, a man with a known criminal record, gave evidence against the other six. Four of the men, including Sykes, were found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to penal servitude. Sykes and the three men received life sentences with a minimum of twenty years. This finding went against the judge’s summing-up of the case. The fact the men were not convicted of murder was due to a sympathetic jury. Not only did the jurors suspect Woodhouse was guilty of the murder, they also had a strong dislike for the harsh Game Laws that were increasingly denying men their traditional rights of access to land for hunting.[2] Sykes served the first nine months of his sentence in solitary confinement at Wakefield prison. He was then transferred to Portsmouth prison.

Transportation to Western Australia
On the 2nd April 1867 he boarded the Norwood for transportation to Western Australia. His brief diary of the voyage is extant. The Norwood arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia on 13 July 1867. Sykes was assigned a number, 9589, and recorded as ‘about five feet six and three-quarter inches in height, with light brown hair, grey eyes, an oval visage of light complexion, and in appearance healthy …’.[3] Sykes spent seven years in Bunbury working on roads in the Wellington district before returning to Fremantle in September 1874. It is believed he was then sent from Fremantle to Toodyay, or Newcastle as the town was called at that time, arriving around October 1875.[4] As a prisoner on probation it is possible Sykes was one of two prisoners in Toodyay at that time who worked as a general servant to the Resident Magistrate. [5] After receiving his ticket-of-leave on 14 September 1877, he worked for a short time as a servant to the medical officer Dr William Mayhew, before working at various labouring jobs in the district, including grubbing, woodcutting, fencing, and well sinking. During these years Myra, who was barely literate, was sending anguished letters to her husband asking if it was possible for the family to join him. Her letters, which include touching notes by the children, indicate Sykes rarely responded to her pleas to write to her in return. With the ability to work and earn an income Sykes had a good chance to make something of his life. However from late 1879 Sykes fell into a pattern of drunkenness with regular reports of his being cautioned and fined for his behaviour.[6] A bout of severe illness in 1883 saw him in the Newcastle depot hospital for a month. He never fully recovered his health.

Conditional release
In 1885 Sykes obtained his conditional release, which meant he was almost a free man. He spent the last years of his life working on the railway from Clackline to Newcastle. During December 1890 his health rapidly deteriorated, then on Christmas Day word reached the police that he was lying sick and helpless in his cot. He was moved to the depot hospital in Newcastle where he was diagnosed as suffering from a hepatitic ulcer and chronic hepatitis. On 4 January 1891 Sykes died aged 63. His few belongings, including an old gun and his dog, were sold to recoup the £2/15/- that it cost the Government to provide the coffin.

Legacy and letters
William Sykes may have remained a historically insignificant character, if not for the discovery in 1931 of the letters written to him by Myra. The letters were found in a kangaroo skin pouch in a crevice during the demolition of old police buildings at Toodyay and handed in to the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, which lodged them with the State Archives of Western Australia. Many years later, the social historian Alexandra Hasluck rediscovered the letters, and decided to research Sykes. The results of her research were published in her 1959 book Unwilling Emigrants. Where Sykes is buried remains a mystery. Hasluck’s book suggests he was buried in a nameless grave in the cemetery at Toodyay in a part reserved for convicts, paupers and suicides.[7] However, subsequent research by Graham Seal suggests Sykes was buried in the Anglican section of the cemetery. The source for this is not given, and as there are no surviving records this somewhat happier ending for Bill Sykes can neither be confirmed nor denied.[8]

Sources – further reading
Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians Cromb, Alison, The History of the Toodyay Convict Depot. A tale of the convict era of Western Australia, published by Alison Cromb, Dianella, 2010. Erickson, Rica, Old Toodyay and Newcastle, Toodyay Shire Council, 1974. Erickson, Rica & O’Mara, Gillian, Convicts in Western Australia 1850 – 1887. Dictionary of Western Australians, Vol. IX, UWA Press, Nedlands, 1994. Hasluck, Alexander, Unwilling Emigrants. A Study of the Convict Period in Western Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1959. Seal, Graham, These few lines, A convict story. The lost lives of Myra & William Sykes, ABC Books, 2006.

LINKS Clackline railway England’s Game Laws Dame Alexandra Hasluck

PHOTO: Former convict depot building (old Police quarters) where the pouch was found with letters. OTN, p. 53

________________ [1] Birth dates given for William Sykes differ in various accounts (1826, Erickson & O’Mara; 1827, Hasluck; and 1828 Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians). [2] Graham Seal explores this in his book about Sykes, These Few Lines: A convict story (2006). [3] Hasluck, A., Unwilling Emigrants. A Study of the Convict Period in Western Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1959, p.xvi. [4] Hasluck, p.84. [5] Hasluck, p 98. The Resident Magistrate may have been William John Clifton who served from 1865 to 1875, or Robert Fairbairn from 1876 to 1880. [6] Hasluck,, p.99. An ongoing record was kept for each convict at the Fremantle Establishment. Hasluck cites Register R15, Fremantle prison. [7] Hasluck, p.111. [8] Searl, G., p.174.

Category:1827 births Category:1891 deaths