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Trove Tuesday - What did he purchase for £5?

As I have written a book about my Seabrook ancestors, Crossing the seas to build a future, I have to admit to not continuing my research with the family.

However, since I'm on holidays I have time to spend on Trove and have decided to see what other things I can discover about the Seabrooks and Whites in Tasmania. Previous research involved manual searching of newspapers.

Henry William Seabrook and his brother-in-law Thomas White were at one stage in a building partnership in Hobart. These posts that I discovered relate to Mark Smith, an assigned servant or prisoner on loan.

Hobart Town Police Report, Colonial Times 9 June 1840, p. 7

Mark Smith, a prisoner on loan, to Messrs. 
Seabrook and White, was charged by Mr.
White with felony, in having on Saturday
night last, picked up a £5 note, his property,
which he had lost, and appropriated the same
to his own use. He was remanded. The man
acknowledged to Mr. White, in the presence of
witnesses, that he had picked the note up, and
spent it.


Hobart Town Police Report, Colonial Times, 8 September 1840, p. 7
Mark Smith, assigned to Mr. Seabrook, was
committed for trial for stealing a £5 note belong-
ing to his master.


At this stage I haven't been able to discover what happened to Mark Smith and if these two articles relate to the same incident or not.

I hope he had fun spending he £5. 






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Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2013 at 3:22 AM

    Fascinating story Sharon... Clearly the saying "Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers" didn't apply to this situation back in old "Hobart Town" in the 1840's.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GeniAusJanuary 21, 2013 at 8:32 PM

    Five quid was a fortune in those days - I do hope he enjoyed it too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cassmob (Pauleen)January 21, 2013 at 10:47 PM

    Trove can turn up such wonderful treasures like this one. I can relate to the dilemma about research follow up after publishing. Even if you do more research, there's the question of what to do with it. The blog solves that problem nicely:-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. SharonJanuary 28, 2013 at 7:04 PM

    I've been thinking about what you could buy for £5 in those days. Pauleen I agree that a blog allows us to add further finds. It has also allowed members of the family who I couldn't locate during earlier research to make contact.

    ReplyDelete

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