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Feast and Puckrin Families in 1800's

A tough time in Cambridgeshire

By Gary Buck, November 2016

William Warren Buck, my Great Great Grandfather was a french polisher in Cambridge.  Less than 20 kilometres away in Ely, Cambridgeshire, lived a man called Henry Feast.


Henry Feast (1808-1881) was my 3rd Great Grand Father.  The two families that lived so close in the early 1800's would come together in 1929 in Western Australia.  My father (William Maxwell Buck) is the Great Grandson of William Warren Buck and the Great Great Grandson of Henry Feast.


Their paths to Western Australia were very different, the Buck family is covered here.  The Feasts did not come willingly.  The earliest documents I have found are when Henry married Mary Nightall on Christmas Day in 1829 at The Parish of Ely Trinity, Cambridge, England.  Henry was 21, Mary was 19.


In 1830 their first son, WIlliam Henry was born, in 1832 my Great Grandfather Henry junior (1832-1914) was born.


The first signs of trouble with the law, turn up in 1834 when Henry senior was found not guilty of larceny (theft). On the same day those found guilty of that charge were sentenced to 7 years transportation. Guilty of housebreaking at that time at you receveid a life sentence, two charged with burglary received death sentences.


By 4 Apr 1835 he had been found guilty of sheep stealing and sentenced to life in prison.  On 7 Sep 1835 was placed aboard the "John Barry" to serve a fourteen year sentence in Sydney.  It's not clear why the sentence was reduced.


Various documents note that he can read and write.  He is 5 foot seven, stout.  and had a tattoo on the back of his left hand.


So he has left England, his wife Mary remains with a 3 year old Henry junior and a 5 year old, William 


in 1844, as a 14 year old, Henry was found guilty of larceny and sentenced to a weeks gaol and whipping.  Seems harsh but the case immediately before his case was a 10 year old on the same charge and he received the same sentence.


By March 1851, he was in much more trouble. He and James Milner were both convicted of buggery and given death sentences, commuted to transportation for life.


HIs mother and older brother remained in Ely and it seems that they left full and trouble free lives.


On 17 Nov 1852, Henry and James Milner were placed on the Dudbrook bound for Fremantle. They arrived 2 Feb 1853.


Henry was 20 years old.





What he didn't know was that his future wife had been born in Perth in 1833.  Thomas William David Puckrin (1800-1838) and his wife of four years, Louisa Vickers Bartram (1803-1889) had sailed to the Swan River Colony (Perth) on the "Nancy" arriving on January 9, 1830.


Given that the Swan River Colony was only founded in June 1829, they were some of the very first settlers.


There are a few notes of the time, it seems that Thomas and Louisa were both servants of a Mr Bull.  The property that Mr Bull owned has become what is now known as the Perth suburb of Bullcreek.


The Bartram's at one stage owned lots 107-108 Pakenham St in Fremantle, advertising it for sale in November 1834...if only they'd held on to it, today it would be worth a LOT of money.


They had two children, my Great Great Grandmother Sarah Ann (1833-1913) and Thomas (1835).


Unfortunately Thomas Puckrin died in 1838 from dysentry.  It was noted on his death certificate that he was acting as the Fremantle School Master at the time of his death.


His wive outlived him by more than 60 years, remarrying in 1845 to Richard Smith.