Benjamin Thorpe - Aussie convict from Halifax area

[Ande]

Greetings all

I'm working backwards here. I'm trying to seek out information about a Benjamin Thorpe. I believe he was born circa 1814 around the Halifax area. Then I think he married Maria Petty, though he would have only been around 16 if this is the case. His age tends to change a lot through the years, and not in the logical way!
(From FamilySearch)
Name   Benjamin Thorpe
Residence Place   Shelf, Halifax
Spouse's Name   Maria Petty
Spouse's Residence Place   Shelf, Halifax
Marriage Date   10 Jan 1830
Marriage Place   Halifax St James, Halifax, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Marriage Place (Original)   Halifax, Yorkshire (West Riding), England
Event Type   Marriage
Event Type Note   Baptisms, marriages & burials
Page   127
Source Publication Year Range   1600-1846
Affiliate Name   Borthwick Institute for Archives

Benjamin pleaded guilty to embezzlement/larceny at the Spring Assizes in York and was transported for 7 years to Tasmania. He was aboard the ship Gilmore in  Oct 1831 ( https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/thorpe/benjamin/118339 ). It says in his convict record that he left his wife Maria and 2 children behind. Somehow they had two children between their marriage in Jan 1830 and his departure in October 1831. From what I can gather he eventually got his ticket of leave in 1840 and moved to South Australia in 1846. I have all of his Aussie life documented. He died there in 1876.

I'm hoping I might be able to discover what happened to his wife and children in Yorkshire, but what I'm ultimately trying to do is go further back and hopefully even discover who Benjamin's parents were.

A thought I had was that Maria probably remarried after Benjamin was taken to Australia in 1831. Someone helped me find a potential marriage between Maria and a Joseph Priestly, though I have not yet found them on the 1841 census:
(from FamilySearch)
Name   Joseph Priestly
Residence Place   Skircoat, Halifax
Spouse's Name   Mary Thorpe
Spouse's Residence Place   Skircoat, Halifax
Marriage Date   18 Nov 1832
Marriage Place   Halifax St James, Halifax, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Marriage Place (Original)   Halifax, Yorkshire (West Riding), England
Event Type   Marriage
Event Type Note   Baptisms, marriages & burials
Page   79
Source Publication Year Range   1600-1846
Affiliate Name   Borthwick Institute for Archives

Unfortunately that's all I have in regard to his English life, and it is all a bit flimsy. I'd appreciate any help you may be able to offer! Thank you in advance.

[BumbleB]

Not a lot of help, really, but both marriages took place at St John the Baptist in Halifax - the parish church.  (Added:  I understand that St James wasn't built until 1832  )

Images for both marriages are available on Ancestry.  The 1832 marriage entry says that Mary Thorpe is a Spinster.

I can't readily see any baptisms for Thorpe children with parents Benjamin and Maria.

[Ande]

Well, there was a good chance that the Joseph Priestly marriage wasn't correct - though Mary have been lying when she said she was a spinster, so I'm still none the wiser. Thank you for taking the time to do those lookups.

[emeltom]

From the records available on findmypast Benjamin Thorpe was22 when he was convicted so born c1809. He gave Shelf, near  Halifax as his place of birth and he is listed as married with one child.

I still haven't been able to find a birth/baptism for him though.

[iluleah]

On Findagrave it seems there is another

Name   Benjamin Thorpe
Death or Burial Place   Shelf, Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England
Cemetery   Bethel Methodist Chapelyard
Death Date   29 Mar 1844
Birth Date   1810

and yet another in the 1851 census, married to 'a' Mary( also born Shelf) with 8 children
1851: Benjamin Thorp Head Male 40 Shelf, Yorkshire b shelf living in Cleveland

one who married a Mary Mortimer in 1827 in Halifax

and another who married a Ellen Lockwood in 1837 in Thornhill, Yorkshire

So it looks like the name is a very popular name

[Ande]

That's very interesting about the FindMyPast entry, and very curious that he's listed as having one child at the time, where elsewhere it says two.

Yes, unfortunately Benjamin has a common name. There's yet another Benjamin with a wife Mary on the 1881 census, around Halifax, with children Thomas and Harriet, that I thought was him initially, but it can't be him because he had died in Australia in 1876. He's hard to pinpoint.

Thank you for your lookups.

[Neale1961]

That's very interesting about the FindMyPast entry, and very curious that he's listed as having one child at the time, where elsewhere it says two.

The second child born after he was convicted, and before he arrived in Australia?