Lucas Smith - Convicted Felon
Towards the end of the 18th C the agricultural revolution (leading to more food but less employment) caused a rising population to migrate to the cities. Poverty increased, as did crime. The prison population exploded. With Captain Cook’s discovery of the extent of the Australian continent, the British Government looked to secure the continent as a British colony. The overloaded penal system became a cheap source of labour to be used to construct the new settlements of Australia. By the 1830s, HM Government had also realised that the forced emigration of petty criminals (especially those who were skilled and literate) was an excellent method of colonising distant Australia. In some cases wives and children were given leave to accompany the convict into exile. On landing the convict was signed over on licence to the spouse for the duration of the sentence. Their new life in a new land had begun. Information compiled from Cambridgeshire Collection, Oates Collection and censuses from 1841.
c. 1885 Members of the Shepherd’s Club meet at the Bell Inn, Bell Hill.
From reading the Cambridge Chronicle we know that at least four local men were transported to Australia on being convicted of robbery or burglary. Smith Lucas was one such individual. In 1838 he was convicted of the theft of wheat and a brass pot from a house in Waterbeach and subsequently sentenced to seven years transportation. Unlike the others, village records appear to show that that Smith Lucas managed to return after serving his sentence. Thirty five years ago, Aubrey Mansfield, whilst constructing a family tree, discovered that our felon fathered a son two years before his sentence was due to end! Mrs Mansfield sought out Ken Oates and together they unearthed a remarkable story of village loyalty.
On conviction young Smith Lucas was taken to Cambridge County Prison. The gaol records his behaviour as ‘indifferent’. Since he’d left his eighteen year old pregnant wife and two children to face destitution one can understand him being angry and difficult. Within days he was transferred to the hulk ‘Leviathan’ (one of the fleet commanded by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile 1798).
Smith’s fellow villagers were appalled at his sentence. Leaders of the community banded together and with the aid of James Hunt, a Cambridge solicitor, they sent a petition to the young Queen Victoria, appealing for a pardon to be granted.
“To The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty
The humble petition of the undersigned farmers, tradesmen and others resident in the County of Cambridge
Therewith
That your Majesty’s humble petitioners have learned that at the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace held in and for the County of Cambridgeshire on Friday the sixth day of July 1838 before Henry John Adriane Esq. Chairman and others your Majesty’s Justices of the Peace in the county of Cambridge, Smith Lucas late of Histon in the said County of Cambridgeshire, labourer age 22 years was tried and convicted of larceny and was sentenced to be transported for the term of seven years …That your Majesty’s humble petitioners beg to approach your Majesty with humble prayers that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to exercise your Majesty’s Royal Prerogative of a Mercy in favour of the said Smith Lucas in such a manner as to your Majesty may deem meet and just.
That your Majesty’s humble petitioners have known said Smith Lucas for the number of years opposite to the names on your Majesty’s petition and they have found and understood and believed him to have be a man of irreproachable and honest life and conduct up to the time of the commission of the said offence of which he has been convicted. That the said Smith Lucas has a wife (in the state of pregnancy) and two small children who must be left destitute and without means of support if the said Smith Lucas should be sent out of the Country.
Your humble petitioners therefore warmly beseech and pray that your Majesty would be graciously pleased to extend towards the said Smith Lucas your Royal Clemency and Mercy in such a manner as your Majesty may seem meet and just.”
The letter and petition were duly sent.
Six days after being convicted, twenty two year old Smith Lucas had been transferred from the Cambridge County Gaol on Parker’s Piece, to the hulk ‘Leviathan’ in Portsmouth to await transportation. Surprisingly, except for an attack of dysentery on his arrival, he remained healthy throughout his incarceration in the hulk. Transportation was not instant. The authorities would wait for a shipload of prisoners to be sentenced before transferring prisoners from hulks to seaworthy vessels. By this date, though conditions were cramped and the discipline strict, inmates were relatively well fed. Sick and starving labour would be useless in Australia.
In September 1838 a petition from the principal residents of Histon was sent to Queen Victoria through the Secretary of State appealing for a pardon to be granted. While his case was being considered, Smith remained at Portsmouth, which was probably the only indication that he had that his case was being reviewed.
In May 1842 the petitioners were granted their request
“Whereas the following persons are under sentence of transportation on board the Leviathan hulk in Portsmouth Harbour they having been convicted of felony … named viz Smith Lucas … we in consideration of circumstances humbly represented unto us are graciously pleased to … grant them our Free Pardon …”
A copy of the petition survives. There are over fifty signatures of local tradesmen and farmers. The document records their occupations and the length of time that they had known the unfortunate young man. There are many familiar names, ancestors of a significant number of our present day residents.
It says much of the community spirit of these men that they were prepared to spend time and money on a young man lacking in wealth or position, foolish enough to risk so much in order to steal so little.
Smith Lucas returned to his family in 1842. Smith Lucas Jnr was born the following year. He earned a living as a market gardener, inheriting land from his father. The family home at 10, Glebe Road is a brick building encasing a far more ancient dwelling. Smith Lucas had a long life surrounded by his children and died in 1905 aged eighty nine.