Hello
I have been researching John Dye who was baptised at Pentney in 1774, moved to Shingham, and later went back to Pentney. He is in the 1841 and 51 census for Pentney, and was buried there in 1852. His first wife was Amy, and his second wife was Ann, and he had 10 surviving children. Everything seemed straightforward until I started searching through the old newspapers, then things got rather interesting, perhaps not for John Dye though!
According to the Norwich Mercury he appeared at the Court Sessions in July 1834 charged with stealing a lamb, and was sentenced to transportation for life. John Dye gets a mention on the National Archives website as his wife Ann got up a petition, and due to that his sentence appears reduced from transportation for life to 14 years transportation in the November 1834. While all this was happening John Dye was being held on the York prison ship, in Portsmouth Harbour.
He didn't serve all the 14 years as he was back in Pentney before the 1841 census, but what I would very much like to find out, if possible please, is whether he was taken to Australia, and later managed to return, or was he set free, for some reason, from the prison ship?
Thank you for reading this.
