Stephen May born in Wiltshire i 1800 (?) or 1804 (Atworth) - Reference CO 31/29?

[andrewwarland]

An ancestor on my mother's line, Stephen May, was sentenced to death in the New Sarum Assizes on 8 March 1823 (reference ASSI 23/10) but his sentence was commuted to transportation to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) the same year. When received on the Justitia prison hulk his age was shown as 16.

About 12 years ago a relative stated that 'Stephen May was born in 1800 in Wiltshire to parents Samuel May a gardener and wife Mary (Samuel May a blind man lived at Burgess in 1823) (CO 31/29)'. This would have made him 23 when he was transferred to the Justitia, which doesn't seem right.

Does anyone know what this reference (CO 31/29) is?

The only Stephen May I have found who fits the description in online records (findmypast) is Stephen May, the son of Samuel May and Mary Neate, who was baptised on 10 November 1804 in Atworth. The May family appear to have had a fairly long connection with Atworth.

Samuel and Mary had several other children:
- Thomas Hayward (baptised May 1782)
- Hannah May (baptised 1787)
- Samuel May (baptised 1792)
- Sarah May (baptised 1794)
- Alis May (baptised 1798, in the 'Independent' non-conformist church (Ref TNA/RG/4/2221)
- Stephen May (baptised 10 November 1804)

I believe this is the correct family because most of Stephen's nine children have similar names, in order of birth: Samuel, Mary Ann, Stephen, Edward, Thomas, Elizabeth, William, Alice, Sarah.

Any help on the above reference, or any other details, would be greatly appreciated. I have a lot of details about the May family of Atworth from online sources, and Stephen's life in Australia also.

Thank you

[KGarrad]

Welcome to RootsChat!

The reference is from The National Archives (TNA).
CO is the Government Department code, and refers to the Colonial Office.
There then follows a Series number - 31.
And followed by a sub-number - /29.

But that reference appears to refer to Caribbean records?
More specifically:
Colonial Office and Predecessors, Barbados, Sessional Papers, Assembly.
Date: 1754-1760

By contrast ASSI 23/10 refers to:
Assizes: Western Circuit, Gaol Books.
Date: 1813-1824

[andrewwarland]

Thank you, your quick reply is much appreciated.

I also noticed that 'CO' was a reference to the Colonial Office records in the National Archives so discounted that option (sorry I should have said that in my post). I wondered if it was something more specific to Wiltshire.

I believe that the alleged birth date of 1800 was derived from his alleged age of 77 when he died in Geelong in 1876. I don't know where the reference to Samuel May a blind man in Burgess in 1823 comes from but I did notice that a Samuel May appears to be in the Infirmary Records in 1821, so I will check that in the next day or so.