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Facts and Events
James Studman was baptised on 3rd October 1798 at Luton in Bedfordshire, son of John and Elizabeth Studman. The family lived at Chiltern Green, a hamlet on the eastern edge of the parish, right on the border with the neighbouring county of Hertfordshire.
On 12th October 1820, aged 22, James married Sarah Swallow at Wheathampstead, about five miles to the south-east of Chiltern Green. They do not appear to have had any children.
The 1841 census finds James and Sarah living with Sarah's sister Susannah and her family at Darley Hall in the parish of King's Walden, a couple of miles north of Chiltern Green. James was working as an agricultural labourer.
On a number of occasions through the 1840s James was tried and convicted of various crimes: stealing hens, stealing money, and stealing straw plait. Newspaper reports described him as a 'notorious character'. His prison records tell us that he was 5'4½" tall with brown / grey hair but nearly bald on top, and that he was stout and had a long nose.
In 1845 James and a man called John Deacon together stole strait plait worth £80 from a company in Luton, which was therefore worth about two years' wages for a labourer.[11] For this offence, both he and John Deacon were sentenced to be transported to Australia for fifteen years.
James was put on a ship bound for Van Diemen's Land (as Tasmania was then known) on 10th December 1845. The voyage took over five months, and he arrived there on 20th May 1846. James spent the rest of his life in Tasmania. Back in England, James's wife Sarah remarried in 1854, presumably relying on the convention that she could marry again after seven years' desertion.
James died at the town of Longford in Tasmania on 19th September 1856, aged 57.
References
- ↑ Bedfordshire Family History Society. Luton Parish Register Transcript. (Bedford).
ch. 3 Oct 1798: Jas s Jn & Eliz Studman, Chil[tern] G[ree]n
- ↑ England. 1841 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
Class HO107; Piece 445; Book 10; Folio 26; Page 6, 6 Jun 1841.
Address: Darly Hall, Kings Walden, Hertfordshire
William Lovell, male, 30 [1806-11], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county
Susan Lovell, female, 30 [1806-11], born in county
William Lovell, male, 9 [1831/2]
Thomas Lovell, male, 7 [1833/4], born in county
Sophia Lovell, female, 5 [1835/6], born in county
Samuel Lovell, male, 1 [1839/40], born in county
~ [second household in same house]
James Studman, male, 40 [1796-1801], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county
Sarah Studman, female, 35 [1801-6], born in county
Richard Potton, male, 50 [1786-91], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county
- Hertford Mercury and Reformer, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
Page 3, 8 Feb 1843.
LUTON.-On Monday the 13th inst. James Studman, a notorious character, was committed for trial, by the Rev. W. Mc.Douall, and Levi Ames, Esq., charged with having broken into a hen house, belonging to Mrs. Davis, of Faulkner's-hall, in the parish of Luton. It appeared by the evidence, that Mrs. Davis' shepherd was sitting up, attending to his ewes, lambing, when he thought he heard some one in the hen house, upon which he went there, and found that the lock was broken; he then fastened the door of the hen house, and got assistance; and upon returning to the hen house and opening the door, out marched the prisoner, whom they immediately took into custody. The prisoner's defence was, that he was passing by the farm, and thought there was somebody in the hen house; he went in to look, and had not been there a minute, before he was penned in.
- Bedfordshire Record Office. Bedfordshire Gaol Register. (Bedford)
BLARS QGV11/2.
ID: 5906
Name: James Studman
Age: 41
Height: 5 feet 4½ inches
Hair: Grey
Eyes: Grey
Complexion: Fresh
Identifying features: Stout, scar on the right hand
Occupation: Labourer
Marital status: Married
Birth town: Luton, Bedfordshire
Offence: Felony
Committed by: Court of Assizes
When committed: 11 Mar 1843
Type of Gaol: Bedford, New House of Correction
Sentence: 9 Calendar Months Hard Labour
Prison work: Mill
Discharge date: 9 Dec 1843
General remarks on prisoner: Good
- Hertford Mercury and Reformer, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
Page 4, 19 Oct 1844.
HERTFORDSHIRE
Michaelmas Quarter Sessions,
MONDAY, October 14, 1844.
HARPENDEN.
James Studman (46), labourer, Luton, Beds., was charged with stealing, on the 5th of September, a small canvass bag and some copper money, the goods of Richard Freeman, of Harpenden.
Elizabeth Freeman, wife of the prosecutor, who keeps the Marquis of Granby public house at Harpenden, deposed that on the 5th of September the prisoner was at her house; that she went to the cellar to fetch a pint of beer for him and two other persons in the tap-room; on her return she observed the cupboard door open where the bag and copper was kept. She then asked how the cupboard door came to be open, by no one made her any answer; at length she discovered the bag through the prisoner's fingers, and snatched it from him; the bag then contained fivepence in copper, but she could not tell how much was in it at first.
William Brown, a labouring man, who was in the house at the time, corroborated the testimony of Mrs. Freeman, as to her taking the bag and money out of the prisoner's hand.
Verdict, Guilty. Sentenced to be imprisoned for three months with hard labour, one week in each month solitary confinement.
- Northampton Mercury, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
Page 3, 26 Jul 1845.
EXTENSIVE PLAIT ROBBERY AT LUTON.-On Friday last, two labourers named James Studman, and John Deacon, were brought up, for final examination, before the Revds. Dr. Bowes, Dr. Bland, and W. M'Donall, upon a charge of plait stealing. The case occupied nearly half a day, and a great number of witnesses were examined. The facts adduced in evidence were as follow: - On the 2d June the bleaching-house of Gregory, Curtis, & Co., was broken open, and about £80 worth of straw plait was taken therefrom. Shortly afterwards it was found that Studman had a quantity of plait in his possession, and he asked some parties to take it in to dry for him. The plait stolen was wet, and would soon become mildewed and destroyed if not properly dried. This fact, in connection with his previous bad character, caused his apprehension. Deacon's house was searched, adn about £40 worth of plait was found, which was identified as part of that which Gregory & Co. had lost. The prisoners were twice remanded, and whilst they were in prison some parties observed that the mails in the floor of Deacon's bedroom had been lately removed; they, therefore took up the boards, and discovered the remainder of the lost plait. Studman admitted to a pearson that Jack Deavon, and he had committed the robbery. To one of the persons whom he asked to take in the plait to dry, he said he would give £5 to £10 to do so; the man asked him how much there was of it, and he said about £100 worth, and in reply to the question how he came by such a quantity, he replied, "That's no business of your's; you shan't get into any trouble if you'll take and dry it." At the conclusion of the hearing the Bench committed the prisoners to take their trial at the next sessions.
- Bucks Gazette, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
Page 3, 2 Aug 1845.
Commitments to the Bedford County Gaol.-
John Deacon and James Studman, of Luton, by the Rev. Dr. Bland, and W. McDouall, charged with stealing a quantity of straw plait, the property of Messrs. Gregory Cubitt & Co.
- Bedfordshire Record Office. Bedfordshire Gaol Register. (Bedford)
BLARS QGV10/2.
ID: 1967
Name: James Studman
Age: 45
Education: Neither
Offence: Examination stealing straw plait
Committed By: Rev. W. McDonall
Comments on Commital: received 2nd July fully committed 18th July
Gaol: Bedford County Gaol
Sentence: 15 years transportation
How disposed: Taken to Millbank
Discharge date: 29 Oct 1845
- Cambridge Independent Press, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
Page 3, 1 Nov 1845.
Bedford
County Gaol....The following convicts who were sentenced to transportation at the last sessions, were removed on Wednesday, to the Milbank prison:- James Studman, John Deacon, James Chambers, Reuben Tansley, Thomas Davies, and Joseph Dunton.
- ↑ Convict Conduct Record, in Libraries Tasmania
CON33/1/77.
Summary
Studman, James
Tried: Bedford Q.S. 14 Oct 1845
Embarked: 10 Dec 1845
Arrived: 20 May 1846
Trade: Labourer
Height: 5/3
Age: 45
Complexion: Fresh
Hair: Brown to Grey - Nearly Bald on top of head
Eyes: Hazel
Nose: long
Native Place: Looton [sic] Bedfordshire
Died at Longford 19 Sep 1856
- ↑ [http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/a04value.htm Relative Value of Sums of Money: Daily Money Wage Rates of Building Craftsmen and Labourers in Southern England 1264-1954, Brown & Hopkins, 1955
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