I would like to thank Noelene Goodwin for the following:

On the evening of 19th November 1830 someone broke into the dwelling house of Henry Marley  (currier and shopkeeper) of Ann Street in the Parish of St. Philip & St. Jacob.   Joseph Wilkes appeared in Court at Gloucester on 30th March 1831 charged with house-breaking.   He was charged and sentenced to death on the oath of Henry Marley on suspicion of having on 19th day of November at the parish aforesaid feloniously and burglariously broken open vent at the dwelling house and stolen, taken in and carried away about seven pounds worth of copper half-pence and penny pieces, one wooden tub, a quantity of cheese, part of a ham and other articles of his property.   Joseph's gaol description records him as having dark brown hair, a wide forehead, very dark eyes, a large scar on left eyebrow and right temple, fresh complextion, long face, irregular teeth, prominent mouth,  large nose, mole under right jaw, small mole on his throat, JW tattooed near the bend of left arm, mole on upper part of right arm, small mole on back of his neck, scars on left and right hand and small scar on his right leg.

Joseph Wilks' mother Mary Ann  had a firm belief in her son's innocence and so engaged the services of Francis Nixon a solicitor of Bristol in the hope of preventing his death sentence being carried out.   In the first of several letters to be exchanged between solicitor Francis Nixon and His Lordship Viscount Melbourne of Whitehall it is claimed that two boys by the name of Bordewick and Hallard were concerned in the robbery for which Joseph Wilks had been tried.  The letter dated 20th April, 1831 claims that'

Wilks is really innocent of the crime laid to his charge, he having been falsely sworn to as the lad committing the robbery, but which from being unable to employ a professional man to defend him, he was unable to substantiate at his trial.

Between the months of May and August many letters were written by Francis Nixon to Viscount Melbourne asking for his intervention in the transportation order against Joseph including one which states Joseph's mother is with Mr. Nixon twice a day to ascertain whether he had heard from Viscount Melbourne.   It is not until September 13th 1831, 10 months after the robbery had been committed that we read an Affidavit from one Letetia Watkins living at Gloucester Lane in the Parish of St. Philip and St. Jacob, who after the usual legal preamble states:

(Joseph Wilks) was to her certain knowledge in his bed at the time of the said robbing was sworn to have been committed, this deponent (Letitia Watkins) having on the night of the 17th day of the said month of November now last past slept in the same room with the said Joseph Wilks from 10 o clock on that night up to 8 o clock on the following morning.”

Regardless of the affidavit and the repeated pleas for clemency from his Mother, Joseph was not acquitted of his crime but an appeal to the King resulted in the Death sentence being commuted to transportation to Van Diemen's Land for 14 years per the vessel ' Elizabeth '.   Joseph does not record any prior convictions on his Convict Indent leaving us to assume that this offence was his first.

A list of transportees from Gloucestershire to Australia during the period 1783-1842 list Joseph Wilkes as a 17 year old youth in 1831 (i.e. born 1814), from the parish of St. Philip & St. Jacob in Bristol.   Upon his arrival in Van Diemen's Land only 7 months later, his Convict Indent records that his age has increased by 3 years thereby born 1811.   However by the time of his marriage in 1839, Joseph's age is nearer to the original date having married in 1839 when he was stated as 27 years of age (i.e. born around 1812).

This lack of accuracy makes for difficulties when trying to trace Joseph's year and place of birth.   Efforts were made by the Bristol Record Office to check the Parish registers of St. Phillip & St. Jacob but no reference was found to the Wilkes or Wilks family.   Although Joseph was not expected to appear on the 1841 Census as he had by that time been transported to VDL, the Census film was looked at on the off-chance that his mother MaryAnn and brother William could have been traced, but the film was of such poor quality that it made identification almost impossible.   Brother William and his 2nd wife Caroline appear on the 1851 Census for St. Phillip & St. Jacob living at Barton Street ,   William is recorded as a labourer born in Bristol in 1817.

The convict transport ship ' Elizabeth ' embarked from Deptford on 19th September with a guard consisting of 2 Officers, 39 N.C.O. and privates, with 4 women and 4 children. The complement of convicts, including Joseph Wilkes, was made up from the hulks at Woolwich, Chatham and Sheerness and totalled 200 male and 20 boys.   Although the ship had begun loading passengers on 13th September, they were not to get under sail until the beginning of November.    'Strong westerly breezes ...obliged...(the vessel) to put into the northern bank for 4 days.'   The weather was generally wet and uncomfortable with ranges in temperature from 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit.   Within 6 days of the vessel's arrival in Hobart Town , the whole of the prisoners were landed in perfect health without the loss of a man during the voyage.

During the voyage the convicts were managed by Surgeon William Martin in such a way as to enforce regularity, cleanliness and ventilation to prevent any unnecessary exposure to the sun within the tropics or to the inclemency of the weather elsewhere.   The convicts were formed into three divisions which every morning were brought on deck, in turn, to store their beds, wash and clean themselves.   They were brought up immediately after breakfast and kept on deck till their quarters had been reported clean and had been inspected. The division were then sent below, one at a time in 2 hourly shifts until 4 o'clock when the whole were brought up and the prison well swept and ventilated.   At sunset they were sent down for the night.   The ship's Journal, which was routinely kept by the Surgeon-in-Charge of each convict transport ship, lists only 4 cases requiring medical attention during the journey of 119 days.

Upon his arrival in Van Diemen's Land Joseph was described as standing 5'4¾", having fair complexion, reddish brown hair, hazel eyes, a long pointed nose, projecting upper lips, with a woman tattooed above his arm.   As the tattoo was not present when he was examined at Gloucester Gaol we can assume that when boredom became too much for the transportees, someone was always available to practice their 'artwork'.  Joseph's first brush with authority in his new environment was in March 1833 when his Convict Indent reports 'misconduct in passing himself off as a Constable' for which he received a sentence feared by most convicts:  5 days on the tread wheel.   It has been suggested that the tread wheel was introduced into the colony's punishment system as a means of having troublesome prisoners contribute towards their keep by grinding produce when the wind was not blowing.   The tread wheel was similar to a waterwheel.   It was forty feet long with wooden treads that measured only nine inches deep.   It could accommodate up to 50 prisoners at a time.  They would hold to a fixed handrail as the wheel ceaselessly turned.   Convicts referred to it as 'the everlasting staircase' , a label which evokes the mind-numbing monotony of the punishment far better than any lifeless description could.   However Joseph's life is full of contradictions.   How believable is the story repeated by one of Joseph's great grandaughters 150 years after this brush with the law, that he was a policeman on his arrival in the colony.

In May of the same year Joe was charged with 'neglect of duty'.   By May of 1834 he appears to have been assigned to Dr. Russell where he was charged with disobedience of orders and reprimanded.  July 1834 sees him, still assigned to Dr. Russell, charged with 'stealing his Masters horse, impudence, disobedience of orders, and neglect of duty' for which he was sentenced to a Road Party for 2 months.   Twelve months later he was again in trouble serving 18 months hard labor in chains for insubordination.   The last entry in Joseph's convict record is a sentence of 7 days on the tread wheel for disorderly conduct in church on 27th June 1836.   It was to be 5 years before he no longer rebelled under the strict, authoritarian management of the colony and received a Conditional Pardon..   In 1839 he married Betsey Carpenter who had also been transported.

At the time of his marriage on 27th March 1839, Joseph Wilkes was still stating his occupation as that of 'labourer'.   In 1840 and 1841 the registrations of 2 children state Joseph was a 'Cook' but by the time of the birth of his next recorded child in 1843, he stated his occupation was that of a 'dealer', an occupation he was to follow until his death.

There are 14 children recorded as being born to Joseph and Elizabeth (as Betsey  became known) Wilkes