Samuel James was born at Theydon Garnon in 1784. On the 26th of November 1797 he was accused of stealing 6d in money and a banknote, value £10, the property of Samuel Miller of Theydon Garnon.
He appeared at the Lent Assizes held at Chelmsford on the 5th March 1798. He was found guilty and was sentenced to death. He was only 14 years of age. However as often the case with young offenders, the trial judge at the end of the Assizes commuted the sentence to transportation to Australia for 7 years.
Held in the prison hulks for 4 years he was on the 12th February 1802 put on the Prison ship PERSEUS, which left Portsmouth, sailing via Rio de Janeiro and the Cape, arriving in Port Jackson, Australia on the 4th August 1802, a journey of 173 days.
In 1808 he married Anne Bean, another transportee and they had 12 children. After he had served his 7 years he was given 80 acres of land and 4 head of cattle. In the 1828 census for New South Wales, Samuel shows his employment as ‘Constable.’
Prison Hulk
An interesting note concerns Samuel’s father, also named Samuel who died at Theydon Garnon in 1829 and was buried in All Saints churchyard. The burial register gives details of the burial, but in the margin there is an entry ‘this body was disinterred, but the shroud was not taken.’
Samuel died in Australia in 1833, aged 49 years.
It was not an offence to steal a body. Theft occurred if the shroud was also taken – hence body snatchers left the shroud to avoid conviction.