Religious crimes were common in the 1500s with all the problems between Catholicism and the new religion. JOHN HEBBERDYN was documented as a prisoner in the Tower of London while in 1535 WILLIAM HEBBERDYNE was documented as a priest prisoner.
There seems to have been a family of Heberdens in the Westbourne/East Dean area of Sussex who made regular appearances in court, apparently not averse to a bit of poaching.. In 1581 JOHN HEBERDEN of East Dean, Sussex was indicted for poaching at East Grinstead Assizes and would appear to have been discharged on his own recognisances the following year. In 1582 THOMAS HEBERDEN of East Dean, a yeoman, stood bail for William Hebden at East Grinstead Assizes while William Heberden stood bail for son William Hebden of Westbourne at East Grinstead. That same year William Heberden of Westbourne, yeoman, was indicted for poaching East Grinstead Assizes.
In 1585, mention is made of GODDARD HEPDEN in Grand Jury East Grinstead Assizes Cal Sussex Assizes Eliz I though whether this is sitting on the jury or being tried by, I do not know. Goddard Hepden is of the Burwash Hebdens who can be traced back to Yorkshire.
In 1587 JOHN EBDEN of Southwark, a sawyer, was indicted for grand larceny (stealing a cloak) He was found Not Guilty at Surrey Assizes.
1600s
Whereas there was a Robbery committed on the 25th of June last on the Holland Mail between Colchester and Harwich by one person on Horseback who took out of the said Mail four boxes etc., containing Rough Diamonds to the value of Six Thousand. Seven hundred and fifty pounds. Upon humble applications of the Merchants, owners of the said diamonds to His Majesty to Promise His Gracious Pardon to the Person or Persons Concerned in the Robbery of the said diamonds, in case the same be restored within Thirty Days. His Majesty has been graciously pleased to Grant this request and does accordingly hereby declare that in case the aforesaid Diamonds be restored to the Owners within the space of Thirty Days from the date thereof, he will grant unto the said person or persons so restoring the said diamonds, His Gracious Pardon for said Robbery, besides the reward of five Hundred Guineas already promised and deposited by the owners. Middleton
The person that committed the said robbery had Brown hair somewhat curled . Pock holes in his face. Of a brown complexion, black and blue under one eye. Of a middle stature broad shouldered and lightish colour cloth close bodied coat. And was mounted upon a darkish bay horse about 14 hands high.
No.2272. Thur.25/mon.29th Aug.1687.
Whitehall/Aug.26. Two of the persons concerned in the Diamond Robbery discovered and apprehended in Paris with part of the diamonds. Repeat undertaking of pardon to anyone else involved. One of the persons who committed the robbery on the Kings Mail going for Holland on 25th June last and took thence the diamonds is taken and in prison beyond the sea. He declared that one Nath. Mahew and one Thomas Hebdon were principal actors with him in the said robbery. Nath Mahew is a man of indifferent stature, well sett. Broad shouldered with dark brown hair and blackish eyebrows. A ruddy complexion almost like a flushing with pock holes in his face, long visage with a roman nose rising much in the middle, and was about 35 years of age. Went away with his wife (who is a tall well shaped woman, of a fresh complexion. Light brown hair, and grey eyed) on Sunday Morning. The 21st.instant from Sarston in Suffolk, both on a darkish brown horse about 14 hands high with a white star on his forehead and a white foot behind. Thos. Hebdon is a middle sized man, well sett with pock holes in his face, somewhat swarthy and full faced. His hair inclining to red, grey eyed, and speaks with a broad North Country accent. Whoever shall apprehend either the said Nath Mahew, or Thos Hebdon, so as they be delivered into the hands of Justice, they shall receive immediately One Hundred Pounds for each or either of them from the hands of Mr. Will. Atwell and Mr. Adrian Courtney. Goldsmiths in Exchange Alley in London, and Twenty Pounds for the securing of Nath Mahews Wife, and if the Diamonds are recovered they shall have the reward of ten per cent promised in the Gazette. (Repeated in Nos.2274/5/6/7/and then for Thos. Hebdon only in 2278/9/80)
No.2283. Mon.3/Thurs 5 October.
On Saturday. 11th September last one Thomas Hebdon (being the person who committed the Robbery on the Holland Mail went from Scarborough in Yorkshire with his wife mounted on a dark sorrel chestnut coloured mare. Her mane half shorn and all her feet white, and a white snip down her face and a white foot on her buttock.?? Whoever apprehends the said Thomas Hebdon shall upon delivery or him into the hands of Justice receive from Mr. Attwell and Mr. Courtney Goldsmiths of Lombard St. London. One Hundred and fifty Guineas. Reward.
No.2285. Mon.19/Thurs. 13 October. 1897.
Whitehall. October 12.1687. Wheras His Majesty has been informed by the Merchant Owners of the Diamonds, robbed out of the Holland Mail on the 25th of June last, between Colchester and Harwich. That notwithstanding his Gracious Promise of a Pardon to the persons concerned in the said Robbery. Thomas Hebdon, one of the robbers has not yet surrendered himself nor restored the Diamonds which he had for his share amounting to about 4,000. Upon the said Merchants humble petition to his Majesty praying that he would be Graciously pleased once more to promise His Pardon to the said Hebdon or any other concerned with him, provided And in case he or they do within the space of forty days restore the said Diamonds His Majesty is Graciously pleased to grant the said Merchants humble requests and does accordingly hereby declare that in case the said Thomas Hebdon or any other concerned with him in the said robbery or division of the diamonds do within the space or forty days from the date hereof. Return to the owners that part of the diamonds which he or they had for their shares, His Majesty will grant unto the said Thomas Hebdon or any other person or persons so restoring the diamonds His Gracious Pardon for the said robbery, as also for robbing the coach at the same time besides a reward of ten per cent of the value of the diamonds that shall be restored which the Merchants will pay upon the delivery thereof. Description of Thomas Hebdon, his wife and horse as above.
Newsletter. Nov. 26/1687 MR THOS HEBDON, often mentioned in the Gazette for taking away the Jew’s diamonds, has surrendered, laying hold on the promised pardon and reward.
December 1725
ELEANOR EBDEN of London , was indicted for stealing Gold Ring and 5 s. the Goods and Money of Robert Pretland . Verdict:Guilty fined 10 d and to be whipped..
1782
WILLIAM HEBDEN was charged feloniously stealing 61 pounds weight of worsted yarn to a value of £6, the property of John Smith the elder & John Smith the younger at Threshfield, near Burnsall on Nov 5 1781 – He was found guilty of grand larceny with benefit of statute and having been burnt in hand was to be imprisoned York Castle gaol then discharged ASSI 41/7 @ PRO
1799
This must be the roughest justice of all !
26 year old GEORGE HEBDON was transported to Australia in 1800, following a conviction in London in 1799. He arrived on the Admiral to serve his life sentence. The trial is documented in the PRO and states that George Hebden was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 29th of March, a handkerchief, value 1s. the property of Thompson Bonar. The court transcript is as follows:
THOMAS SEXTIE sworn. - I was coming down Cornhill on the 29th of March in the forenoon, somewhere about ten o'clock; I stopped at the print-shop; I turned round and walked away towards Cheapside; a man told me a person had attempted to take my handkerchief out of my pocket; immediately I looked round, and saw the prisoner take Mr. Bonar's take the handkerchief from him, and we secured the prisoner
THOMPSON BONAR sworn. - I was looking at the print-shop, in Cornhill, nearly opposite the Royal-Exchange; I was touched upon the shoulder, and told to look round, when I saw a gentleman who had collared the prisoner; he told me the prisoner had picked my pocket of my handkerchief, which I took out of his hands; I then secured the prisoner, and carried him before the Lord-Mayor.
CHURCH sworn. - (Produces a handkerchief); it was delivered to me at the Mansion-house by Mr. Bonar.
Mr. Bonar. This is my handkerchief.
Prisoner's defence. I was coming along Cornhill, I had been only five weeks from sea, I was three parts drunk, I do not know whether I took it or not.
Verdict and sentence :GUILTY. (Aged 26.) Transported for seven years.
Tried by the London Jury, before Mr. COMMON SERJEANT. At the end of that court of sessions seven people had been condemned to death by hanging and 17 sentenced to transportation.
1814
Thomas Stanton alias EBDEN was sentenced to seven years at Launceston Assizes. He was transported to Australia on the Broxbornebury, arriving in July 1814. No other details of his person or crimes are known.
1832 & 1840 – Elisha Sinker Hebden & John Sinkler Hebden
Elisha, born around 1800, was one of at least four illegitimate children of Jane Hebden and John Sinkler of Pateley Bridge. Various documents indicate that this was a long-term love affair between a young woman and an older married man. After John Sinkler was widowed he married Jane Hebden in 1828 and the Assizes records show him to be Elisha Sinkler otherwise known as Elisha Hebden.
Elisha, a hatter by trade, was married in Ripon in 1827 to an Esther Moor, though whether Elisha lived in Ripon or Pateley Bridge is unknown. Although, due to his illegitimacy, his name was Elisha Hebden he was known as Elisha Sinkler, particularly after his mother and natural father got married.
Five years after he had married, in 1832 Elisha was committed for trial at York assizes. Two Ripon policemen, Thomas Dinsdale and Samuel Winn, along with others, gave evidence that, at Stone Beck Down and Dacre with Bewerley, Elisha feloniously counselled, aided and abetted John Sinkler of Pateley Bridge, a clockmaker (otherwise known as John Hebden) in "feloniously and maliciously cutting and wounding the said Thomas Dinsdale with intent to resist and prevent the lawful apprehension and detaining of the said John and Elisha Sinkler (otherwise known as Hebden)". It would appear that these brothers were committing an offence for which they were, by law, liable to be apprehended and detained and that that their crimes involved robbery and a knife, which would have allowed Elisha and John to be awarded the death penalty by hanging.
John seemed to live a long life as there is a photo of an old man in Pateley Bridge museum said to him, classed as something of a local folk hero and poacher, along with his old powder bag. Elisha’s sentence was however, commuted to transportation for life and a later record shows that he arrived in New South Wales Australia as male convict No 33-2290 on the ship ‘Lord Lyndoch’. He was 25 (which would put his birth year as 1808) and was married with the occupation of hatter and his religion as protestant. Other descriptions of Elisha show that he had no previous convictions, 5’6”, sallow complexion and brown haired with brown eyes with a tattoo of a flower on the inside of his lower right arm and marks on the inside of his left wrist and back of his left hand. His offence was documented as “cutting & maiming”.
Elisha ran from the penal colony and the service of a Mr R P Jenkins of Furnuish? River in 1841 and would seem to have been on the run for three years, being returned by the Maitland in 1844.
It seems that not only did Elisha make good his escape from Australia but he also managed to return to his native Yorkshire and his family…..but not for long. In 1843 he was charged with having, “at Fountains Earth, feloniously & of his malice aforethought presented a loaded pistol at and against Thomas Robinson with intent to murder him”. Perhaps Thomas Robinson was trying to arrest him? He was found guilty of being at large before the expiration of the term for which he had been ordered to be transported. He was to be imprisoned at the said Gaol [?York] for one calendar month and then to be transported for life….again. He was returned to Australia on the Maitland but where in that continent his final destination lay, is not known, nor whether he made any further bids to escape penal life.
There is however, an interesting twist to his tale. On the wall in Pateley Bridge museum there is a copy of a pardon for Elisha Sinkler who helped quell an uprising in the jail. With his previous determination to return home to his native Yorkshire, one can only hope that he made it back yet again and settled into a law-abiding retirement with his family.
(Personal note: I am rather fond of this particular “scally” as I can trace my fathers maternal line back to the Sinklers of Pateley Bridge making Elisha a few times great-uncle. The Hebden connection is untraceable.
1844
WILLIAM JAMES EBDEN, aged 19, was convicted of a felony at Surrey Assizes. A native of Bermondsey, London, William was transported to Tasmania for seven years on the Marion, arriving at Hobart in 1844. Once out there, he married one of the female convicts, Bridget Enwright. They remained in Tasmania and raised their family who still live there but under the name of Ebdon. William’s name changed slightly during his trial and transportation, leaving England as William James Ebden and subsequently becoming William Ebdon on his arrival at the penal colony.
1852
THOMAS HEBDEN was born somewhere In Lancashire in 1833. He was 18 and working as a labourer when he committed the crime of stealing money and eight pairs of socks. On the 12th January 1852 he was sentenced to 7 years for his crimes and subsequently shipped out to Western Australia on the ship the Runnymede in 1856.
Described as literate, stout, 5 foot 3 and a half inches tall, light brown hair and blue eyes with a fair complexion and round face and a scar on his left hand, Thomas’s sentence expired in 1859 though he didn’t actually receive his certificate of freedom for ten years after that date.
1858
In 1858 in York Assizes a JOSEPH HEBDEN, a weaver aged 23, was convicted alongside John Hainsworth and John Foster for the crime of “burglary and beating”. All three were sentenced to transportation and were duly sent to Western Australia, on the Palmerston, in 1861.
Joseph was described as “middling - stout, 5’4”, dark brown hair, light hazel eyes, fair complexion and oval face with moles below his left arm and on the right of his neck”. Already, at age 27, he was a widower but had no children so perhaps he had nobody to say farewell to as he was sent off to the other side of the world to face a life sentence.
His records in Australia show him to be married so presumably at some stage during the years waiting for transportation or in the time he spent in Australia, he found himself another wife but any details of her are unknown. Other details given about Joseph were that he was semi-literate (presumably could at least write his name), and a protestant by religion.
Joseph served eight and a half years of his life sentence, dying in the depot hospital in Western Australia of an abscess in his lung in 1869.
His fellow criminals, convicted of the same crime sailed to Australia on the same ship but fared better. John Hainsworth, eight years older than Joseph, was a middling-stout carpenter and joiner and was married with three children. Records show him to still be alive in Northampton, Western Australia in 1889.
John Foster, a stout, unmarried gardener with black hair and swarthy complexion died in 1879 in Freemantle invalid depot of acute bronchitis. He was, at date of death, still single and working as a woodcutter and labourer
1861
EDWARD HEBDEN was born in Yorkshire in 1842 and became a stone mason by trade. At the age of 22 he had collected a tattoo of an anchor and cable on his left arm, had grown to 5’10” and was of fresh complexion and slender build. Unmarried, illiterate, protestant, brown haired, grey eyed and with an oval face is the remainder of the physical description made of him at the time of his conviction for stabbing and doing grievous bodily harm. He was convicted at York Assizes in 1861 and sentenced to eight years.
Two years later he was transported to Western Australia on the ship Clyde, arriving in May 1863.
Edward died less than a year after arriving in Australia, on 30th January 1864, in the convict establishment hospital.
FRANCES EBDEN
Frances was sentenced in Middlesex to a nine-year sentence and transportation. Crime and details of the person unknown
VICTIMS