People Australia

James Osborne was born around 1827 in the village of Kidderminster,Worcestershire, England.[1] His mother died soon after he was born and, after his father left the country, James was raised by his grandmother.[2] The 1841 census found him living in an inn with his uncle and siblings.[3] In 1847 he was tried at the Worcestershire Quarter Sessions for housebreaking and burglary; the trial report described him and two other men as ‘noted thieves’, but Osborne later claimed he was drawn into crime ‘by the inducement of bad associates’.[4] After being sentenced to fifteen years’ transportation, hepetitioned the Queen for remission but was unsuccessful and was sent down to Millbank Prison.[5] He later transferred to Pentonville and then to Portland,arriving there on 1 May 1849 to await a ship to Australia.[6] He was visited in Portland by his brother John.[7] The prison records state that his health and behaviour were good. On 28 February 1850 he boarded the Scindian with his housebreaking accomplices.[8]

The voyage to Fremantle was uneventful and Osborne, like the other passengers, suffered only minor ailments.[9] On 1 June the Scindian arrived at its destination, bringing the first seventy-five of nearly 10,000 convicts who were sent to the Swan River Colony by Britain over the next eighteen years.[10]Osborne was convict number 62. He was described as a ‘middling stout’, fresh-complexioned man, literate, five feet eight inches tall with a long, sharp face, blue eyes, and light brown hair.[11]

When the Scindian arrived it was found that there was no suitable building to house its convict passengers, and the first task for Osborne and his fellow inmates was to prepare suitable quarters for themselves.[12] Work parties from the ship, which remained anchored offshore, were tasked with renovating theharbour master’s property as a temporary prison.[13] Four months after hisarrival, Osborne appeared on a published list of prisoners as being suitable for employment after they got their tickets-of-leave.[14] He was granted a ticket-of-leave on 1 May 1851 and obtained employment as a carpenter with Toodyay farmer J. T. Cooke at a rate of £2 per month.[15] In all likelihood this is where he met Elizabeth Roser, the daughter of William Roser of Toodyay.[16] With the consent of the colonial secretary, they wed on 23 November 1853.[17]

Apart from an early infraction when he and a fellow convict brieflyabsconded from a road party, Osborne’s conduct was deemed to be very good and he progressed rapidly to a conditional pardon, which was granted in August 1854.[18] He took advantage of the pardon’s travel provisions and left the state in 1855 to live in South Australia.[19] Presumably working as a carpenterwhen he first moved there, he was later able to set up a building business inKing William Street, Adelaide, where he advertised seeking carpenters, joiners,and stone masons to work for him.[20] His original sentence would have expired in about 1863, entitling him to a certificate of freedom, but as he was no longer in Western Australia he may not have received it. It is unlikely that Osborne revealed his convict status in South Australia, a state that had never been a penal settlement and had legislated to prevent the infiltration of convicts from Western Australia.[21]

Two sons were born to the Osbornes in Adelaide: John William and ArthurGeorge.[22] It is not known whether they married and had children, but they may have moved to New South Wales.[23] Osborne and his wife revisited WesternAustralia in 1883, and he published an account of the trip on his return toAdelaide, not mentioning that he had originally seen the state when he was a convict.[24] His building business became insolvent in 1886, mainly because of poor mining investments.[25] Osborne returned to Western Australia in 1891, perhaps to follow up mining opportunities, but contracted pneumonia and diedshortly after his arrival.[26] He is buried in the East Perth Cemetery.[27]Elizabeth remained in Adelaide, where she died in 1894.[28]

[1] Baptism of James Osborne, baptised 12 June 1827, England Births and Baptisms 1538-1975(index only), FamilySearch.org, accessed 7 June 2024.

[2] Petition of James Osborne, Criminal Petitions: Series II, 1849, HO 18/262, UK, CriminalRecords, 1780-1871, Ancestry.com, accessed 18 June 2024.

[3] Petition of James Osborne, HO 18/262; Entry for James Osborne, Stourbridge Street,Kidderminster, Worcestershire, 1841 England, Wales & Scotland Census, FindMyPast.com.au,accessed 7 June 2024.

[4] ‘Bewdley’, Worcestershire Chronicle, 10 November 1847, 5;.Petition of James Osborne, HO18/262.

[5] Petition of James Osborne, HO 18/262; ‘Worcestershire Quarter Sessions’, WorcestershireChronicle, 5 January 1848, 8.

[6] Entry for James Osbourne [sic], Prison Registers and Statistical Returns, 1848-1850, HO 24/4, in UK, Criminal Records, 1780-1871, Ancestry.com, accessed 18 June 2024; Entry for James Osborne, Pentonville Prison Registers, Volume 1, HO24, piece number 16, in England & Wales,Crime Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935, FindMyPast.com.au, accessed 17 June 2024; Entry for James Osborne, Criminal Entry Books, 1849, HO 13/96, page 378, in UK, Criminal Records, 1780-1871, Ancestry.com, accessed 18 June 2024.

[7] Entry for James Osborne, Register number 417, Portland Prison, Dorset: General Record ofPrisoners, piece number 383, page number 53, in England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935, FindMyPast.com.au, accessed 2 June 2024.

[8] Entry for James Osborne, Prisoner number 417, Quarterly Return of Prisoners, Convict Hulks, Convict Prisons and Criminal Lunatic Asylums, HO8, piece number 102, in England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935, FindMyPast.com.au, accessed 17 June 2024; Entry for James Osborne, Prisoner number 417, Quarterly Return of Prisoners, Convict Hulks, Convict Prisons and Criminal Lunatic Asylums, HO8, piece number 103, in England & Wales, Crime, Prisons &Punishment, 1770-1935, FindMyPast.com.au, accessed 17 June 2024.

[9] ‘Medical and Surgical Journal of the Hired Convict Ship Scindian for 28 January to 3 July1850’, The National Archives (UK), ADM 101/66/8B, Ancestry.com, accessed 10 June 2024.

[10] ‘Arrival of the “Scindian” with Convicts’, Perth Gazette and Independent Journal ofPolitics and News, 7 June 1850, 2; J. S. Battye, Western Australia: A History From its Discovery to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), 207; R. T.Appleyard, ‘Western Australia: Economic and Demographic Growth, 1850-1914’, in C. T.  Stannage(ed), A New History of Western Australia (Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1981), 212.

[11] Entry for James Osborne, Estimates and Convict Lists (128/1-32), Western Australia,Convict Records, 1846-1930, Ancestry.com, accessed 20 June 2024; Entry for James Osborne, Convict Department, Registers, Character Book, 1850-1857 (R17), Ancestry.com, accessed 21 June 2024.

[12] F. K. Crowley, Australia’s Western Third: A History of Western Australia from the FirstSettlement to Modern Times (London: Macmillan, 1960), 32-34.

[13] Alexandra Hasluck, Unwilling Emigrants: A Study of the Convict Period in Western Australia(Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1978), 32.

[14] ‘Classified Advertising’, Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News(Perth) 11 October 1850, 1.

[15] Entry for James Osborne, Australian Joint Copying Project and National Library of Australiaand Library of New South Wales and Great Britain. Public Record Office, Colonial Office records, 1714-1951 [microform], image 182, National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2033923502, accessed 19 June 2024.

[16] Baptism of Elizabeth Rosa [sic], baptised 2 March 1834, East Grinstead, Sussex, FHL FilmNumber 1041580, item 2 p 73, Ancestry.com, accessed 17 June 2024.

[17] Comptroller-General to Colonial Secretary [letter], 21 November 1853, Letter and Memoranda Books, Comptroller-General to the Colonial Secretary (C19-C21), page 345, Western Australia,Convict Records, 1846-1930, Ancestry.com, accessed 21 June 2024.

[18] Comptroller-General to the Colonial Secretary [letter], 13 December 1850, Letter and Memoranda Books, Comptroller-General to the Colonial Secretary (C19-C21), page 236, WesternAustralia, Convict Records, 1846-1930, Ancestry.com, accessed 21 June 2024; Entry for JamesOsborne, Convict Department, Registers, General Register, 1850-1868 (R21b), Ancestry.com, accessed 21 June 2024.

[19] Margaret Thompson, ‘Elizabeth Roser and James Osborne’ (unpublished manuscript, 2021),typescript, 5.

[20] ‘Advertising’, Evening Journal (Adelaide), 11 September 1876, 1; ‘Advertising’, EveningJournal (Adelaide) 13 September 1876, 1; ‘Advertising’, Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) 3December 1877, 1.

[21] Convicted Felons Act 1857-8 (SA); Hasluck, Unwilling Emigrants, pp 58-59.

[22] Entry for John William Osborne, South Australian Births, Index of Registrations 1842 to1922, Ancestry.com, accessed 21 June 2024; Entry for Arthur George Osborne, South Australian Births, Index of Registrations 1842 to 1906, Ancestry.com, accessed 21 June 2024.

[23] Thompson, ‘Elizabeth Roser and James Osborne’, 7-8.

[24] ‘Cleared’, Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) 19 January 1883, 2; ‘Experiences in WesternAustralia’, Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) 7 June 1883, 2; ‘Experiences in Western Australia’,Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) 12 June 1883.

[25] Entry for James Osborne, ‘Law and Criminal Court’, Evening Journal, 6 April 1886, 2.

[26] Entry for James Osborne, ‘Deaths’, Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) 1 October 1891, 2;‘Deaths’, South Australian Register (Adelaide) 1 October 1891, 4

[27] Entry for James Osborne, ‘Funeral Notice’, West Australian (Perth) 16 September 1891, 4;Entry for James Osborne, East Perth Cemeteries, n.d.,https://eastperthcemeteries.com.au/index.php/explore/burial-search/burialsite/132940, accessed 18 June 2024.

[28] Death registration for Elizabeth Osborne, died 15 August 1894, South Australia – Deaths1842-1915, page number 20, volume number 221 (index only), Ancestry.com, accessed 17 June 2024.