The Butler Family of Munster

William Davis Middlesex. Williams complexion was fair, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, 5.7. William was lodging or living in vine Street St Martins lane, Evidence was given y the list of people below in regards to Williams Honesty.
william was doing his apprentise to Richard Custon he lived Crofs Street Hart Garden he had known William for 3 years.
William Davis Uncle Andrew Thompson, James Thompson lived at Aldgate High street his trade was a Tailor, James Thompson was no relation to William's Family but he had known William's family almost 50 years as his daughter lived with William's Uncle Andrew Thompson.
Gaol Delivered for the County of Middlesex held at Justice Hall in the Old Bailey on Wednesday 25 October 1786. William was 25 when convicted, William was to Sail on the Scarborough Second Fleet - finally the Scaborough arrived in the County of Sydney. The conditions were Diabolical for the Convicts, the few that were left alive after the terrible sea voyage to Australia were that ill they were unable to walk, those that weren't carried onto the beach cerebrally strong enough crawl ashore. A small town of tents were set up as a temporary hospital - the colony was barely 2 years old and on the verge of starvation now they had to look after and care for 759 starved, abused & near to death individuals. The ship's contractors for the Second Fleet were Camden, Calvert & King and were previously involved in the transportation of slaves to America. As these ships were chartered, not owned by the British Government, they were ordinary merchant ships hired at the lowest rate and usually small and fitted out by the navel agent. A lot of these transports were "wet" ships with musty, dark prison areas that were wet due to water seepage. When passing through the tropics the stench aboard must have been indescribable, the nauseating smell of disease, of stagnant bilge water, rotting timbers and the foul reek of unsanitary conditions. The contractors supplied their own agent, the guards, the surgeon and the ship masters and crew. Most of the crew was hard drinking, brutal, illiterate and often recruited from taverns and other such places. The naval agent and the commander of the guards were officers of His Majesty Service. The British Government did have regulations in place for the treatment of prisoners. These regulations stated that prisoners should be fed and given access to the deck daily for fresh air and exercise and that they should also be cleaned and fumigated regularly. But these precautions were frequently neglected either through ignorance or inefficiency of the officers on board the ships. These regulations did not appoint responsibility to any Officer/rank to ensure that these tasks were undertaken and, as a result, conflicts of interest between the various officers on board arose. This left the convicts entirely at the mercy of the officers and contractors agents once they were at sea. As the fleet sailed from Portsmouth on the 19 January 1790 a total of 939 male convicts and 78 females embarked, and only 692 males & 67 females landed at Port Jackson, of those landed more than 500 hundred of them were sick or dying. The mortality rate on this fleet was to be the highest in transportation history to Australia. The journey from England to the Cape of Good Hope took 84 days and 46 convicts would die aboard the Neptune (the final toll for this ship would be 150 men and 11 women), Scarborough lost 85 convicts and Surprise 38 convicts. The death of 46 convicts, between England & the Cape of Good Hope - exactly double the combined death rate of the Scarborough & Surprise was proof that the convicts were not only mistreated during the final stage of the journey but right from the start, with the naval agent being aware of it. Convicts must have been dying around him, but, Shapcote in his reports, stated that the soldiers and convicts aboard the ship were ill with scurvy, and said nothing adversely regarding the conduct of the officers or crew towards the mistreatment of convicts. John Shapcote sailed on the Neptune, possibly because there were female convicts aboard that ship and it was on this ship, his ship, the highest mortality rate occurred.
There is no evidence to suggest that Shapcote was a party to the inhumane treatment and brutality dished out by the ships masters, but there is ample evidence of incompetence and the inadequacy and gross negligence of the navel agent. The evidence given at a later inquest showed that the prisoners were starved to death, despite taking on fresh provisions at the Cape of Good Hope, chained to one another constantly below deck, in irons that were barbarous and used previous for slave transportation, refused access topside and were stapled to the deck.
Floggings with the cat-o'-nine-tails were very brutal, excessive and also very common.The fleet remained at the Cape of Good Hope for about 16 days. Perhaps due to the naval agent's conflicting interests (his duty to complete the voyage with minimum delays but also his responsibility for convict health), it didn't seem to occur to the naval agent that a longer stay in port might have been beneficial for convicts. John Shapcote died soon after leaving the Cape, it was during this part of the voyage to Australia that the deaths rate of convicts increased, and the contractors surgeon Augustus Jacob Beyer aboard the Scarborough, did nothing to protect the convicts.
In reality the health & welfare of convicts during the voyages came second, the first consideration was the emptying of the gaols & hulks. Aboard the Surprise, when the weather turned rough the ship took on water, the convicts were waist deep in water at one stage, scurvy and other diseases were raging unchecked through the holds, and through all this the prisoners were being deliberately starved to death, as were the convicts aboard the Neptune. On board the Scarborough, due to a reported mutiny, the prisoners were closely confined below decks which contributed to their deaths, but food was not deliberately withheld from them. The ringleaders of the attempted mutiny were flogged and beaten while the more dangerous of them were stapled to the deck. When the Second fleet landed at Port Jackson it must have been a sickening sight. When the officials boarded the three transports they were confronted with the sight of convicts, most near naked, lying where they were chained. Most were emaciated with a lot dead in their chains or very close to death.
The majority of the convicts were unable to speak, walk or even get to their feet. All were degraded, covered in their own body waste, dirt and infested with lice- and all exhibited the savage brutality of beatings or floggings as well as the visible signs of the starvation they had endured.those guards aboard the Scarborough - It seems that all the Guards managed to avoid or escape prosecution for their brutal treatment of convicts on voyage of Second Fleet to Australia.
An inquest into the treatment of the Second Fleet convicts was called upon the return of the ships to England. Charges were laid against the Ships masters and their surgeons. Not one person stood trial - all of them disappearing into obscurity before arrests could be made, or a trial held.
Sad is it that William could have been on a different Fleet but he would not agree - he said death would be better as he had bought so much shame to his family. *It has to be realised that the English soldiers were plucking trades people off the streets as they walked home charging them with crimes they did not commit as the English needed trades people in Australia to teach the people skills (the English did the same to the Indians sending them to Fiji to work the sugar cane). we have not search deep enough yet (someone might take on that task other than myself as to finding William being innocent - which I believe he was to this day)...William went on to become a wealthy landowner but he died young most probable due to the dreaded trip - my heart goes out to him & all those poor suffering soles that had to endure that horrendous voyage at the hands of monsters who were never punished. I would also like to bring to your attention also that you have to remember that lots of the younger convict children ages starting from 10 years old (imagine your child or a friends child arriving in Australia as a convict) such a young age for stealing food or even a dress, one must ask themselves why are these children out running around in the streets of London stealing food, clothing etc why!! As history would tell us, there were lots of Wars dating back as far as one can remember so many fathers were killed while away fighting for England leaving a wife at home with her children could be say anywhere from 5-25 children to support - what is a mother to do - she has to let her children go fend for themselves while she goes to the poor house where she will be give food and work to survive (no government payments back then) such a price to pay...

William Davis was sentenced to death at the 25 Oct 1786 Old Bailey sessions for the highway robbery of a man and woman walking home to Islington along City Road at night and had been arrested as a suspicious character in the vicinity.

Davis told the judge he was an apprentice enameller, going on 19, he had served three years of a seven year apprenticeship with William Bowdler, an enameller of Brook Street Holborn. Bowdler told the court that the young man boarded with him and had been 'honest and industrious...I did not in the least suspect he went after any of these kind of courses.' He had been 'regular in business' occasionally absenting himself 'of an afternoon without leave, but not very often'.

Another witness was Davis's uncle, Andrew Thompson of Kingsland (London). Several family friends appeared as character witnesses, mentioning that Davis had come to London from his family home in Scotland.

In Sep 1789 after three years in Newgate under a temporary respite from hanging, Davis was among more than 100 capital convicts called to the bar of the Old Bailey and offered a reprieve to transportation for life.

He was one of eight convicts who caused a sensation by refusing to accept the reprieve, preferring execution to transportation to Botany Bay. When Davis said he would not accept the sentence the judge lectured him severely, warning him 'not to throw away that life which you have now an opportunity of saving...the administration of the justice of this country will not be sported with by men of your description..if you do not accept the terms of the King's pardon, I shall order for your immediate execution..you will not exist perhaps two days, perhaps one, after your refusal'. To this Davis replied bleakly 'Death is more welcome to me than this pardon'. The judge asked once more 'Will you accept it?'. Davis replied 'I will not'. The judge said 'Take him back to the condemned cells, and I shall sign a warrant of execution'.

After counselling from the Newgate chaplain, Mr Villette, five of the eight convicts who were offered a reprieve to transportation over death, accepted their sentence. Davis, Edward Crowder and Thomas Chaffey persisted in their refusal. The executions did not take place however, because of doubts raised by the Recorder of London over the appropriateness of executing a prisoner at his or her own wish. The three later relented and were reprieved to transportation for life at the end of the October sessions. Davis was embarked on the Second Fleet ship 'Scarborough' on 10 Nov 1798.

He married Jane Reid in Sydney on 30 July 1790 and the day after their marriage they were among 194 mostly female convicts emarked aboard the ship 'Surprize' and sent to Norfolk Island, arriving 7 August.

From early 1791, William was allowed to cultivate a small piece of land at Charlotte Field (Queensborough) and by 1 Jul the couple had cleared 112 rods. In Feb they were issued with a sow which they shared with the First Fleet convict Thomas Finicy. Two Reid children were born ont he island: Mary in 1792 and Euphemia in 1795.

In Feb 1797 William was granted a conditional pardon and 1 May 1800 joined the NSW Corps (102nd Regiment aka the "Rum Corps") at Queensborough on Norfolk Island on 1 May 1800. By 1802, Jane Reid had disappeared from the island's victualling lists; as Mary and Euphemia were still there in 1803, it seems likely that Jane had died in the period 1797-1801 for which few records survive.

William Davis had returned to Sydney from Norfolk Island by 1806 and was living with Amy Burke (also known as Emma or Amelia) and one child.

In Sep 1808 William was described as aged 39 years and 10 months, born in Kircudbright (in SW Scotland west of Dumfries), five feet seven and a half inches tall, with dark brown hair, green eyes, and a round, fair complexioned visage.

When the Corps were recalled to England in 1810, William decided to settle in the colony and took his discharge from the army at Sydney NSW on 24 April 1810.

William Davis and Ann Burke were married on 6 Sep 1811 at Parramatta.

William was granted land in the Airds district and was recorded as a landholder there in 1814.

In 1822 William was mustered as a landholder with 210 acres held by grant (60 cleared, 24 in wheat, 4 in barley, 2 in orchard and garden). He had achieved a comfortable level of prosperity with a horse, 36 cattle, 70 hogs, 80 bushells of wheat and maize in store. Ann was still with him in 1822 and the two un-named children aged 13 and 19 listed after her (as Ann Daniel) in the 1822 muster were almost certainly his daughters by Amy.

William left a will mentioning a wife, his dear son William and two daughters