William Kefford - Convict
In my research in to the Keffords it was not until recently that I discovered one whose passage to Australia was not voluntary! Upon further enquiry, the realisation rapidly dawned that he was a "missing person" on my own tree.
William Kefford was born at Tempsford, Bedfordshire on 21 February 1821, the son of William Kefford and Sarah nee Roberts who married at Eyeworth on 3 August 1809. He was baptized at Tempsford on 6 October 1822.
William appears at Tempsford on the 1841 Census as a labourer and his first known brush with the Law was on 9 November 1842 when he was sentenced to 2 months hard labour for an offence under the Game Laws.
The offence which ultimately led to his transportation took place either on 27 September at Biggleswade (according to the Bedfordshire Calendar of Prisoners) or 1 October at Tempsford (according to the Bedfordshire Times dated 21 October 1848) when, together with a Richard Hall, also of Tempsford, he broke into the house of a John Bainbridge and stole £17.
William Kefford was aged 27 and was unmarried at this time. His occupation was still given as a labourer. He was committed on 5/6th October by Sir G C Payne, Baronet, and on 17 October 1848 convicted along with Richard Hall. Both were sentenced to 7 years transportation to Australia. The trial took place at Bedford.
He was moved to Millbank Prison on 8 August 1849 but a search of the 1851 Census for the prison (Ref HO107/1479 f985-1021) dated 30 March 1851 did not locate him there. However, it is possible that he was on a prison hulk at Woolwich, as the 1851 Census for the hulks Hebe and Wye (HO107/1589 f463 p18) have a convict whose initials were W.K. He is shown as a labourer aged 27 (3 years understated) born at Tempsford, Bedfordshire. A search of other records held by the National Archives at Kew may well confirm his identity. What is known is that William Kefford departed from Plymouth on the ship "Minden" on 25 July 1851 and arrived at Fremantle Prison, Western Australia on 14 October 1851, as convict number 750. His age at this time is recorded as 25 years, 5 years understated.
Richard Hall arrived in Fremantle on the "Pyrenees" as convict 657 on 28 June 1851.
From Fremantle, it is thought that William Kefford may have been sent to work at the Swan River penal colony. He was granted a Conditional Pardon in April 1854 but it is not known for sure what happened to him thereafter. Presumably he settled in Australia, since he does not seem to appear on subsequent censuses for the UK. Searches of the on-line BMD indexes for Western Australia (commencing 1841) have not found a marriage or death for him there.
It is possible that, along with other ex-convicts he made his way to the Eastern colonies where the convict system had been phased out in the 1840s and where, due to the larger population, it was easier for convicts to make a new start without reference to their past.
POSSIBLE MARRIAGE
A William Kefford married at Orange, New South Wales, on 4 February 1867 to a Bridget Webb. The marriage certificate shows Bridget as a widow, possibly of Thomas Webb who died at Orange in 1866. If this is the case, it seems likely that her earlier marriage to Thomas Webb was as Bridget Hogan on 25 December 1837 at Bathurst. The 1867 marriage certificate sadly gives no other information on this William Kefford's birthplace or parentage. His occupation was as a farmer and place of residence is given as Lewis Ponds. No children have been found for William and Bridget.
There were a number of other Keffords in the Bathurst area at around this time, namely Job and Susan Kefford and their descendants, but this William does not appear to be one of their children. However, he could be the William Kefford baptised at Whaddon on 24 May 1818 the son of William Kefford and Lydia Walland. It is possible that if Job's mother Mary Abby died soon after he was born and his father William remarried to Lydia (on 18 October 1815 at Whaddon), this William might have been Job's half brother. This could explain the presence of an otherwise apparently unconnected Kefford in the Bathurst area, but would not answer the question of what became of William the convict.
POSSIBLE DEATH
No death or remarriage entry has been found for Bridget Kefford, but a possible death for William has been found at Wellington NSW in 1876 under the Kifford spelling. The death certificate gives no clues as to his family or his origins, other than that he was born in England. This William died on about 12 April 1876 at Finch's Flat, Bell River. He was found dead in the bush and probably died of the heat. He was buried on 16 April 1876 at Bald Hill, Finch's Flat and the death was registered at Wellington on 17 April 1876. His occupation is given as a shepherd. The exact location of Finch's Flat and Bald Hill have proved hard to determine, but the Bell River flows north-west from Molong towards Wellington.
This William's age at death is given as "about 45 years" which is 10 years less than William Kefford the convict's true age of 55 by this time. However, we have already noted that his age was already 5 years understated when he arrived in Australia, so he could have lost another 5 years along the way.
The lack of information on both certificates (assuming they relate to the same William and he can be properly identified with William the convict) and the uncertainty of his age, may be due to a desire to conceal as much as possible of his past!
A 1876 NSW Probate record for William Kefford (reference1166 – Series 3 A) has yet to be examined, but appears to be a grant of administration so may not provide many further clues.
Therefore, so far, it has not as yet been possible to prove that this was the fate of William Kefford the convict.
If anyone knows what became of William Kefford, or is descended from him, please do let me know.
For example:
Peter Kefford
Two physical descriptions of William Kefford have survived:
|
|
Bedford Prison 1842 & 1848 |
Australia 1851 |
|
Occupation |
Labourer |
Farm Labourer |
|
Married or Single |
Single |
Single |
|
Children |
|
None |
|
Age |
21 in 1842; 27 in 1848 (both correct) |
25 (5 years understated) |
|
Height |
5'0" |
5'4" |
|
Complexion |
Fresh |
Fresh |
|
Hair |
Brown |
Dark Brown |
|
Eyes |
Hazel |
Grey |
|
Face |
|
Long |
|
Build |
|
Healthy |
|
Other Marks |
Scar on left arm |
Scar on left arm |
|
Read & Write |
R & W |
|