by Graham Seal
10 This information comes from Hasluck, p. 155, note 65. According to Young, J. (comp.), ‘Toodyay Cemeteries 1857–1940’, Battye Library Typescript PR2640, 1983, p. 17, a W. Sykes, aged 63 years, TOL 9589, was buried in the Anglican section of the cemetery on 4 January 1891. There is some controversy about the exact location of the grave.
11 This letter incorrectly states that Sykes was tried at York. Possibly as a consequence of this mistake the bureaucrats had been unable to locate the trial depositions. Despite lack of access to these they obviously had fairly detailed information about the trial from another source.
CHAPTER 13
1 Rotherham & Masbro’ Advertiser, 4 May 1895, p. 6.
2 Fletcher, J. S., A Picturesque History of York.
3 Fletcher.
4 The quality of the water supply was an ongoing problem, especially in and around Sheffield. A Short History of Sheffield, Sheffield Libraries and Information Services, 1995, n.p., p. 4. The issue often featured in local papers.
5 Reports of the campaign appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph from July to November 1868, and, rather less floridly, in the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent.
6 Myra’s always shaky spelling seems to have had the better of her that year, or perhaps someone else filled in the census form. The name was often spelt this way by the newspapers.
7 Entry of Birth No. 224 in registration District of Rotherham, subdistrict of Kimberworth, York.
8 It is just possible that Frederick was not Myra’s child, but that of the then 14-year-old Ann. Mothers would sometimes claim such illegitimate births as their own in order to protect the daughter from possible censure. But there is no evidence of Ann being pregnant and the only extant documentation names Myra as mother.
9 The 1891 census, Class RG12, Piece 3853, Folio 98 also records the presence of a Thomas Wilcock, 21, and another coal miner.
10 Rotherham & Masbro’ Advertiser, 22 December 1894.
11 Taylor, D., William Sykes website at
12 West Australian, 6 June 2000.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Alexandra Hasluck’s book contains many of the primary source documents known to her at the time of her research and writing in the early to mid-1950s. Since then, significant additional documentation has come to light, including the surgeon’s and religious instructor’s records of the Norwood’s voyage to the Swan River and the materials relating to the family’s efforts to have the ageing William repatriated. Also previously unexamined or unknown were the details of the trial of Booth and Savage for night poaching and the existence of William Sykes’s letters to his family. Genealogical research, assisted by Mr Howard Gibb, revealed the birth of a fifth child to Myra, providing some – though far from all – answers to a number of puzzling aspects of William’s behaviour. The information on poaching and social and political protest in the period also adds a new dimension to the story of Myra and William Sykes. The present book is based on all known sources of information, the most important of which are included below and in the Appendix, ‘These Few Lines: The Toodyay Letters and Related Documents’.
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the following individuals and institutions to the research, writing and publication of this book.
Angelo Loukakis
Australian Studies Centre, Curtin University
Battye Library of Western Australian History
British Library
Brotherton Library, University of Leeds
Dennis Taylor
Institute of Dialectology and Folklife Studies (former), University of Leeds
Helen Littleton and staff of ABC Books
Tony Lynch, for drawing the maps
Maureen Seal
National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, Sheffield University
National Maritime Museum (UK)
Professor J. D. A. Widdowson
Public Records Office of Western Australia
Gillian O’Mara
Rotherham Central Library, Local Records and Archives
Sheffield City Library
Sheffield University Library
State Library of Western Australia
Western Australian Folklore Archive, Curtin University of Technology
Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo, for fine editing
Copyright
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First published in 2006
This edition published in 2012
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Copyright © Graham Seal 2006
The right of Graham Seal to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
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Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Seal, Graham, 1950–.
These few lines: a convict story: the lost lives of Myra & William Sykes.
Bibliography.
ISBN 9780733324468 (pbk)
ISBN 9780730496670 (epub)
1. Sykes, William, 1827-1891. 2. Sykes, Myra.
3. Convicts – Western Australia – Biography.
4. Prisoners’ spouses – England – Sheffield – Biography.
5. Convicts – Western Australia – Correspondence. I. Title.
994.102092
>
Graham Seal, These Few Lines