( family tree very incomplete - still being researched as at May 1999. )

Originated in Rochdale, Lancashire UK

"After a succession of strikes against competition from machinery and cuts in wages in 1829 the weavers violently rebelled against Rochdale woollen manufacturers who had accepted a Government contract at a low price and had attempted to cut wages. The shuttles of 'blackleg' weavers were taken away and the factories were attacked. Troops were called out and prisoners were taken to the New Bailey and when a crowd gathered outside this Rope Street prison, six people were killed outright by the shots of the soldier guards. When the prisoners were tried at the September Assizes, Kershaw, one of the organizers of the Union was sentenced to transportation for life; other sentences varied from 12 to 14 months of hard labour."

Thomas was also wrongly accused of taking part in the theft of the hand-loom weavers' cash box but it was later found that three constables had taken the money and they were convicted on this crime 26^th October 1829.

Meanwhile Thomas had fled from the Riots and was trying to board a packet ship for America in Liverpool when he was apprehended and brought back to Lancaster Castle where he was tried on 29^th October 1829 and was sentenced to 'banishment' for life and transportation to New South Wales.

It was a far more severe sentence that than given to the other rioters. From the wording of a post script, undated but added after Thomas Kershaw had been sentenced, to a petition sent to Sir Robert Peel, Principal Secretary to the States of the Home Department, by his wife Alice it seems to indicate that he may have also been implicated with a theft of funds from the Weavers' Union Box..

He arrived in Australia on 13^th February 1830 on the convict transport "The Mermaid". Arrival entry says - "200 male prisoners, 2 died on the voyage. Sailed 8^th Dec. 1929 from London, across to Bahlia (no illness) arrived Sydney 13^th February 1830."

He was assigned to an Andrew Bennett on the Paterson River near Singleton NSW. He became part of a road gang and by 1836 had become an overseer.

His father, Samuel sent a Petition to the King in 1836 begging for his son's release but this was unsuccessful and Thomas and his family remained in the Colony. He received a Ticket of Leave on 11^th July 1839. He died aged 47years 18^th April 1845. He was buried in the Wittingham Cemetery, Singleton and 14 years later his wife Alice died and was buried beside him.

The tragedy for this family, as well as so many others in such circumstances, is clearly spelt out by this sentence as Alice and the four children would have been left to starve, unless they were already working in the Woollen Mills. This did not happen as the resourceful Alice followed Thomas out to New South Wales possibly when he received his Ticket of Leave in 1839.

As yet I have not been able to find the ship or date of her arrival in the colony. Did she come alone with the children or did some of the rest of her family come with her? One can imagine the sorrow and heartbreak of sailing into the unknown leaving England and all her familiar life behind.

The name of Kershaw appears as a second Christian name amongst many members of his descendants especially those of Anne, his youngest daughter's descendants. She married Michael Coughlan in 1845 and their eldest son was named Thomas Kershaw Coughlan. This name can be found in future generations which leads me to wonder just what kind of a man Thomas could have been. 

Life in the penal colony of New South Wales was very harsh, many returned to crime and penal servitude but Thomas appears to have been successful in his life in Singleton. Unfortunately he died at the early age of 45 years - maybe the result of the harsh treatment and privations he received throughout his life.

As at the present time of May 1999 the following Kershaw family tree is as follows: