A Glutton for Punishment
A former resident of Binsted, one Isaac Rawlins, was found guilty of crimes which would hardly warrant a mention in the Neighbourhood Watch News today. It was at a time during the early nineteenth century when, following the Napoleonic wars and the return of ‘demobbed’ soldiers and sailors, employment in agriculture had slumped because of the rise of imported food with a devastating effect on the population of the countryside many of whom were desperate, and rioting and civil disobedience worried the aristocracy and harsh measures were adopted to rid the country of undesirables and co-incidentally colonise partially-mapped Australia before the French could do so.
We do not know if Isaac Rawlins or his family were starving. He was born in Slindon in 1785 and appears to have married there although his indictments clearly state that he came from Binsted. He was probably a woodman and if he was working in woods at Binsted he might well have lived there in a ‘bivvie’ (short for bivouac) of hazel sticks with bracken cover. There was no affordable transport to work and this practice was still used up to the 1950s. It was essential for instance for charcoal burners to live by their ‘pits’ to damp down if the pile burst into flames in order to avoid finishing up with a pile of ash instead of charcoal. We know he was 5’8’’ tall, of stout build with hazel eyes and a long face.
His first crime was the theft of a grub-axe (mattock) value 1 shilling in 1819.
His first 7 year transportation sentence at Petworth quarter sessions was in 1822 for stealing 11 gallons of wheat worth 5 shillings belonging to Francis Newland the Younger witnessed by Newland and Joseph Apps. Seven years were enough for most convicts and few risked the return journey and made a life in Australia but our ‘hero’ felt the urge to come back to England and is listed as crew (type ‘C’ for convict) on the Newcastle in 1823.
How he managed this is a mystery – possibly a pardon - but his bitter experience did not prove a deterrent because he was seen, in November 1833, taking away ‘one foot of timber value 9d’ in Rewell or Binsted Woods by Charles Sherwin who was wood-reeve for the Countess of Newburgh and lived in the cottage north of the A27 opposite the end of Binsted Lane (recently converted to a large house.) He also took a similar amount belonging to the Howard family. He was tried at Petworth on 30th December 1833 and in spite of his plea
“I did not cut the timber off. I hope you will give me my punishment in Petworth gentlemen, if you please.”
he was sentenced to another seven years transportation and, at the age of 48 in those days would have been quite an old man with little hope of return. He spent a 132 day journey on ‘The Surrey 1’ with 260 other convicts during which, unusually, no-one died unlike a previous, notorious voyage of this ship when 56 died from typhus including the captain and both mates. The prospect of 3 weeks stay in
Having spent his 7 years working hard in a form of bondage he received his ‘ticket of leave’ - a kind of probation – in October 1841 aged 56 whereby he could work for himself but must remain in the colony and we can only guess how he survived. I could find no record of his death.
John Heathcote
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