Learning more about German genealogical research

My mother, born in Berlin, now an Australian, still has a few German family documents, and for me these have been a valuable source of information about my German forebears, her side of the our family. However, most of what I know about about my German ancestors I learned directly from my German grandfather, who was happy to answer my family history questions. When I started researching this branch of the family I also found some good leads in the International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) microform indexes prepared by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Researching German sources from Australia is difficult, of course, and there is much more information online about our British forebears. So I look forward to attending a day's session in August about German genealogical resources and methods for Australian researchers, hosted by Unlock the Past. The main speaker will be Dirk Weissleder, a genealogy consultant, who is national chairman of the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft genealogischer Verbände e.V. (D.A.G.V.) (at http://www.dagv.org), the umbrella organisation of the genealogical and heraldic associations in Germany. He is President of the Federation of Family Associations (Bund der Familienverbände, BdF). Herr Wiessleder has written extensively about genealogical research in Germany. See, for example, http://www.forum-familiengeschichte.de/haus-der-genealogie-hdgen/.

In Melbourne Herr Wiessleder will be speaking about primary and secondary resources on genealogy in German and about European research generally. He will also be talking about the International German Genealogical Partnership, https://iggpartner.org/about.php, and on archives, libraries and institutions for genealogical researchers in Germany.

Herr Weissleder will speak in Melbourne on Saturday 19 August.

The Roadshow costs $57 for a single day if the ticket is purchasedahead of time, or $60 on the day. On Friday 18 August, a Scottish researcher, Chris Paton,  will be speaking on British Isles research. A combined ticket for the two days is $90. Herr Wiessleder will also be visiting Brisbane, Auckland, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth.

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Disclosure: I have accepted the opportunity to participate in the Unlock the Past Researching Abroad Roadshow 2017 as a Roadshow Ambassadress and agreed to promote the Roadshow in return for free entry. I will write again after the session on what I have learned.

Sun charts

I was interested to read about sun charts, a new product from MyHeritage for displaying family trees.  I have seen circular charts displayed at the Genealogical Society of Victoria and thought they looked very elegant, but they were hand drawn and it looked like a lot of work.

In the 1990s a cousin arranged for a de Crespigny family tree to be drawn up by hand. It is very elegant but clearly a lot of work, not only in compiling the research, but also in arranging the branches of the tree and all the descendants.

This morning I signed up to MyHeritage and uploaded a gedcom. The process was easy and efficient.

I have generated a couple of charts and I have had them printed up at OfficeWorks. It was only $4 per A0 sheet and I am very pleased with the results.

The next step will be to add photographs to the tree at MyHeritage as I think this will make the charts more interesting.  I haven't got pictures for everyone but I have quite a few.

This chart is of the descendants of Claude Champion de Crespigny (1620-1695) my eighth great grandfather. 12 generations are shown in the one chart.

This chart is just of the Australian branch of the family, that is the descendants of Philip Robert Champion de Crespigny (1817-1889), my 3rd great grandfather.

This is one of the three sheets of the family tree drawn up in the early 1990s

W is for George Wilkins writing from Western Australia

Greg's grandfather Cecil Young (1898-1975) had a small collection of postcards that he had collected when young. He passed it on to Greg's father, Peter.

When I first started our family history research I looked at those postcards and tried to work out who was writing to whom and why the cards had been collected.  They contained important clues. I've spent many years working on the family tree they make a lot more sense now,  but they are still worth revisiting for new insights.

Two of the cards were sent from Western Australia, I think from Cecil's cousin George Wilkins (1884-1909). Cecil and his brother Jack lived at Homebush near Avoca, with George's parents, George Wilkins senior (1857-1944) and their aunt Charlotte Wilkins née Young (1861-1925). These two postcards were addressed to Charlotte Wilkins.

 

The cards show Fremantle Harbour and Kings Park, Perth. Both cards are postmarked Meekatharra, a town in the mid-west of Western Australia.

An article in the Avoca Free Press of 10 March 1909 mentioned a memorial service for George Wilkins who had died 30 January 1909 in Meekatharra.

Cemetery records show that George was buried at Nannine Cemetery.  Nannine is 35 kilometres south-west of Meekatharra, 735 kilometres north-north-east of Perth. It is now a ghost town but in the early 1900s it was a gold-mining centre.

When I was thinking about researching this post I decided to look up the Victorian probate index. Although George did not die in Victoria there was a chance his affairs had been administered there. George died intestate but he had a block of land and there is a file containing letters of administration.

• George E Wilkins occupation School Teacher residence Maryborough date of death 30 Jan 1909 file number 115/855 VPRS 28/P3, unit 130 VPRS 7591/P2, unit 447

The file contains an affidavit by George's father concerning the search for the will. It mentions a William Baker of Meekatharra, who had been an intimate friend of George's. Baker stated there was no will and there was no will found in the effects forwarded to his parents by the police. Nurse Cameron of the Meekathatta hospital attended George in his last illness and stated he had made no will despite being urged to by his attendants. George Wilkins senior also stated that Nurse Cameron had said George had been asked

if he had any message to leave. He replied that he had told Willy Baker all that he had to say except what he would tell his mother. His mother did not see him as he died before news of his fatal illness arrived. For all of which reasons I am fully satisfied that deceased left no will. (VPRS 7591/P2, unit 447, pages 15-16)

The letters of administration dealt with 20 acres of land at Homebush Lower and associated fencing.

I don't know how long George Wilkins had been in Western Australia. The postmarks are not clear and I can't read the dates.

Related posts

• T is for teachers' records

S is for Sebastapol school records

One day I was browsing the resources of the Ballarat Archives Centre and came across some microfiche prepared by the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society, the  Ballarat and District School Students Registers - Consolidated Index 1864-1963 (BDGS).

I checked for my husband's father. He was listed and I learned something that I hadn't known. He had moved schools and addresses while living in Ballarat as a child.

Ernest Young was born on 8 July 1920 in Melbourne to Elizabeth Young née Cross and Cecil Young. Ernest was always known as Peter. His parents separated and Peter and his mother lived with her parents, Frederick James Cross and Ann Jane née Plowright.

Peter Young aged about seven.

The Cross family lived at Homebush near Avoca for many years. In the early 1920s Frederick James Cross sold his property there and the family moved to Sebastopol near Ballarat. They lived on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets. The house is still there.

Peter outside the Cross house on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets, Sebastopol.

The house on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets where Peter Young lived with his mother and grandparents. Photographed May 2014.

The Sebastopol Primary School records are held by the Sebastopol & District Historical Society, housed in the old Sebastopol school building. The Society is open on the first Sunday of each month from 2 to 4 in the afternoon.

The old building of the Sebastopol State School now houses the Sebastopol & District Historical Society. Photographed May 2014.

Ernest Young started school at Sebastopol on 3 June 1925, just over a month before his fifth birthday. His father, Cecil Young, was named as his parent. Cecil's occupation was given as labourer.

The school records show that Peter left Sebastopol to attend Urquart Street school in Ballarat in December 1929.

Peter's grandfather Frederick James Cross had died in May 1929 and the family moved house.

The Urquart Street School records indicate that he was living at 419 Ascot Street and that he left in December 1931 to go to Melbourne.

Peter's grandmother died in November 1930. It seems that another upheaval in his living arrangements followed.

Urquhart Street SS No 2013 - Vision and Realisation Vol 2. from Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Resources - Ballarat Schools

The former Urquart Street School photographed May 2014

The house at 419 Ascot Street Ballarat photographed May 2014

I don't know where Peter went to school in Melbourne. His mother found work as a housekeeper there.

Further Reading

• Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Resources - Ballarat Schools

X, her mark

In 2012 at http://www.lonetester.com/2012/10/family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge-x-is-for-signatures/ Alona Tester blogged about 'X is for signatures'. She included examples of certificates where 'X his mark' showed that someone could not sign his name.

I looked though my collection of birth, death and marriage certificates for examples of people who could not sign their name.

On the birth certificate of Alice Young, born in 1859, the informant, her mother Caroline née Clark, could not sign her name and made an X. On the birth certificate of Caroline Young in 1867, the informant was her father George Young. He signed his name. In 1878 the birth of James Ernest Young was registered and the informant was Caroline. This time she appears to have signed her name. The informant's name is in a different handwriting to the details on the rest of the certificate. Perhaps Caroline had learned how to sign her name in the twenty years between the births of Alice and James.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of Alice Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 4807 of 1859. Caroline was also the informant on John Young's birth in 1856. She signed with her mark on that certificate too.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of James Ernest Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 20382 of 1878. Other details from the certificate and from the preceding certificate have been left to show the difference in handwriting, which suggests that this might be the signature of Caroline.

Sarah Way née Daw was the informant on the 1868 birth certificate of her daughter Emily Way. She could not sign her name and made a mark. However, in 1896 Sarah's husband John Way signed his name as the informant for the registration of the death of his son John.

When she registered the birth in 1864 of Henry Dawson at Corby, Lincolnshire, Eliza Dawson née Skerritt, his mother, could not sign her name. Her husband Isaac was able to sign his name when they married in 1855. She signed the marriage register with her mark.

These are the only examples I could find in my family documents of people who could not write their own name. All three women were great great great grandmothers of my husband. Eleven of his other great great great grandparents could sign their name.

These women were all born in the first half of the nineteenth century. All their husbands could sign their own names. In the next generation, their children, both girls and boys, could write their own name.

Some demographers have argued that illiteracy is linked to the size of families, in particular that education diminishes fertility. For example, a study of demographic changes in Britain from the 1850s to the early twentieth century found that "the extension of basic literacy is related to increases in female labour market participation, which is in turn related to fertility reduction". (Newell and Gazeley) The data from my family does not support this hypothesis. None of the women in the table below were ever in paid employment. I cannot see any link between the literacy of my own and my husband's great great great grandparents and the size of their families.

Age at marriage, children and dates of birth for our great great great grandmothers

Name	Ahnentafel number	literacy	number of children	age at marriage	age when first child born	age when last child born	age at death	lived	Notes
Caroline Clarke	33	no	13	18	18	43	44	1835-1879	Includes one set of twins.
Sarah Daw	35	no	10	17	18	37	58	1837-1895
Ellen Murray	37	passenger list stated she could read and write	11	19	20	41	64	1837-1901
Margaret Smyth	39	passenger list stated she could read and write	7	21	19	38	63	1834-1897	had a child before she married
Eliza Sinden	43	signature appears on birth and death certificates	8	25	26	41	85	1823-1908
Eliza Skerrit	45	no	10	21	24	38	65	1834-1899	Includes one set of triplets. This is the only English family. The last child was born at the time Eliza's husband, Isaac Dawson, died.
Caroline Ralph	47	signature appears on marriage certificate	10	20	21	43	46	1850-1896
Annie Frances Chauncy	49	yes	2	20	21	24	25	1857-1883	died young
Jeanie Hawkins	51	yes	4	21	22	31	79	1862-1941
Margaret Budge	53	yes	13	21	22	44	67	1845-1912
Ellen Jane Mainwaring	55	yes	10	20	20	37	75	1845-1920

The women in this table were Australian, with the exception of that of Eliza Skerrit, wife of Isaac Dawson, who was from Lincolnshire, England. I have not included my German great great great grandparents as I do not have the relevant data.

A graphical representation of the above data for our great great great grandmothers

click to enlarge

Reference:

• Newell, A. and Gazeley, I. (2012) The declines in infant mortality and fertility: Evidence from British cities in demographic transition, Economics Department Working Paper Series, University of Sussex, No. 48-2012 retrieved from http://ftp.iza.org/dp6855.pdf 27 April 2014

W is for Wick, Caithness

My great great grandmother Margaret Cudmore née  Budge (1845-1912) came from Wick, Caithness. Her father, Kenneth Budge (1813-1852), was a seaman. After his death, her mother Margaret Gunn (1819-1863) remarried and emigrated to Australia with her children and second husband.

Wick was an important herring port. My great great great grandfather shipped herring from Wick to ports on the Baltic sea.

Wick harbour 1867 retrieved from http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usebooks/naylor-johnogroats/04.html

Herring gutters Wick 1913 Retrieved from Dornoch History Links image library http://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number11780.asp

From a collection of 44 monochrome postcards showing fishing scenes around Scotland in the early 20th century. Monchrome photograph with the title 'Herring Gutters at work, Wick' showing three large trench style benchs full of herring with men and women on each side gutting herring. There are stacked fish barrels behind them with the masts of fishing vessels in the harbour in the background. Retrieved from Dornoch History Links image library http://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number11794.asp

Last month Sue Adams wrote about Soundtoll Registers on the Worldwide Genealogy Blog. Soundtolls were taxes imposed by the king of Denmark on ships passing through the narrow strait, the Sound, between Sweden and Denmark,. The records run from 1497 to 1857. The toll house was at Elsinore.

I searched the database of the Soundtoll Registers for Kenneth Budge and found five entries, three from Wick and two from Inverkeithing. The two Inverkeithing records are for the same voyage on the same day.

Date 16 September 1850, master K. Budge from Wick. The voyage was between Wick and Stettin. Sondtoll register film 363 image 147 from http://dietrich.soundtoll.nl/public/toon.php?fnr=363&sid=147

On 16 September 1850 K. Budge from Wick was sailing from Wick to Stettin with a cargo of sild [herring]. Stettin is present day Szczecin in Poland on the Baltic sea. In the nineteenth century it was a major Prussian port connected with Prussian and Pomeranian cities by rail from 1843.

On 9 October 1850 K. Budge from Wick was sailing from Stettin to London with a cargo of zink [zinc] and staver [translates as spells but this does not make sense, perhaps staves of wood].

On 2 July 1851 K. Budge of Wick was sailing from Kønigsberg to Liverpool with a cargo of 3460 Scheffel Ærter [3460 bushels of peas]. Kønigsberg is today known as Kaliningrad. It is on the Baltic and was the capital of East Prussia.

On 10 August 1852 K. Budge of Inverkeithing, was sailing from Wick to the Baltic sea with a cargo of sild [herring] and 2 heste [horses]. Inverkeithing is near Edinburgh, 240 miles south of Wick. I am not certain why there are two separate records apparently two pages apart for the voyage other than that two different sorts of cargo  are involved.

On this last voyage Kenneth Budge died of cholera. From the John O'Groat Journal Friday 10 September 1852

THE MARY RODGERS. -  This vessel which belongs to Bo'ness, is reported in the Shipping Gazette of the 4th instant as having left Elsinore on the 30th ult.; and in the same paper she is again reported as having put into the same port, with master and one man dead of cholera. This vessel left Wick on the 30th July, herring laden, for Dantzic, and was commanded by Mr Kenneth Budge, of this place, son of the late Mr Donald Budge, shipmaster, Wick. The owner of the Mary Rodgers was on board when the vessel left Wick.

View Kenneth Budge's voyages in a larger map

Related posts:

• Margaret Gunn (1819 - 1863)
• The death of Kenneth Budge (1813 - 1852)

U is for Union Mine disaster

On 2 January 1884, there was an accident at the Union Gold Mining Company's mine at Mount Greenock, 5km south of Talbot, in central Victoria.

Mount Greenock and the site of the Union Mine

The accident happened when four men were being lowered to the working level of the mine at the beginning of their shift.

The cage carrying miners to the working level was lifted and lowered by a steam engine which turned a horizontal shaft called a 'pinion-shaft'.

Attached to the pinion-shaft was a large spool of wire rope (this reel was called the 'spider') which, winding and unwinding, raised and lowered the cage.

The accident was caused by poorly-designed and insufficiently strong keying (joins) between the spider and the pinion-shaft. The keys gave way and the spider spun out of control on the shaft. 

The spool of wire rope supporting the cage ran out of control, and the cage fell the last eighty feet of a 230 foot shaft. The cage was not a safety cage, although safety cages had been the subject of a Parliamentary Report five years earlier.

One of the injured men was John Reher (1837-1891), the husband of Alice Young (1859-1935), my husband's great grand aunt.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. (1884, January 4). The North Eastern Ensign (Benalla, Vic. : 1872 - 1938), p. 2. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70745282

Syndicated newspaper reports, such as the one that appeared in the Australian Town and Country Journal of 5 January 1884, reported that Reher was "the most severely hurt. His internal injuries are considered certain to prove fatal". It went on to say, incorrectly, that Reher, "who was too badly hurt to be moved, is a single man".

Alice Young and John Reher had married in 1880. They had two children, Gertrude Alice Carol Reher born 1881 and Percy Powell Albury Reher born 1882. A third child, Elfleda Cecilia Anna Reher, was born in 1884, the year of the accident.

Reher broke his right leg, dislocated his right elbow joint and had severe internal injuries. (Report in the Talbot Leader of 4 January 1884)

John Reher, and the three other injured men, survived. Morris Whelan was also married and had eight children, John Beckman was married with one child and John Sellborn was single. All four men were compensated with part wages paid for three months.

The newspaper reports were not completely accurate about the names of the men and other details. For example, John Selborn's name was reported as Selthorne.

The names of the four men are recorded in the Victorian Mining Accident Index compiled by Dave Evans at http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/resources/victorian-mining-accident-index . The on-line index has information of about 5,600 miners killed or injured from the early 1850s to the 1940s. There is also a more comprehensive index available on CD-ROM with about 9,100 names and more details.

Nearly sixty years later the accident was remembered by a letter writer to the Age who recalled that Reher had to spend the greater part of his days sitting in a chair.

The Age 26 August 1939 page 9 retrieved from Google News

John and Alice had a fourth child, Mary Maude Mabel Reher, born in 1886.

John Reher died in 1891, seven years after the accident.

Transcription of article in the Talbot Leader of 4 January 1884

T is for teachers' records

Victorian Teacher Record Books from 1863-1959 have been microfilmed and are available at the Public Record Office (VPRS 13718). An index to these record books is online at http://prov.vic.gov.au/index_search?searchid=38 .

I find such online indexes worth checking for surnames I am researching and I found a record for Constantine Trent Champion Crespigny, the name of my great grandfather. I was unaware that he had spent any time working as a teacher, so I retrieved the record from the microfilm. It was in fact his uncle, after whom he was named. I have previously written about Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion de Crespigny (1851-1883).

In June 1877 Constantine was appointed Truant Officer for the Education Department: From The Argus of Friday 15 June 1877 page 4:

Mr. T. C. Crespigny has been appointed Truant Officer for the St. Kilda district.

 From The Argus of Saturday 16 June 1877 page 7:  

Mr. Crespigny's appointment as Truant Officer, announced in Friday's Argus, includes the district of Prahran as well as St Kilda.

It seems that the Teacher Record Books include records of Truant Officers.

Teacher Record Books VPRS 13718 - teacher record number 8983

Records of teachers include the schools where they taught.  

George Ernest Wilkins (1884-1909). George, my husband's first cousin twice removed, was the son of George Edward Wilkins (1857-1944), also a teacher, and his wife Charlotte née Young (1861-1925). George Wilkins senior's record is quite long. However, until looking in the index to Teacher Record Books, I did not know that George Wilkins junior had spent any time teaching

Teacher Record Books VPRS 13718 - teacher record number 14167

From the first column of the record George taught in school numbers 959 and 404. There is an online list of Victorian state schools, which can be searched by number or name, at http://prov.vic.gov.au/index_search?searchid=80 .  School 909 was at Elmhurst, 28 km west from Avoca in central Victoria. School 404 was at Maryborough, a small city in central Victoria

George Wilkins junior's record gives his birth date, appointments, comments about his teaching performance and also his exam results. George appeared to have failed some of his exams. He resigned in October 1904. He died in 1909 in Western Australia.

George's sister Ethel Caroline Wilkins (1883-1955) also served as a teacher, from 1902 to 31 May 1904. She resigned the week before her marriage on 6 June 1904  to Charles Grose.

Teacher Record Books VPRS 13718 - teacher record number 5116

Ethel was appointed Sewing Mistress (S.M.) at school 3022, at Warrenmang.  Warrenmang, near Moonambel, is 23km north-west of Avoca in Central Victoria.

School 3022 does not appear on the PROV searchable index. This is probably because records of the school, other than the building file, have not survived. Searching the National Library's Trove newspaper site, I found a public tender notice in The Argus of 5 August 1904 concerning a tender for repairs to the residence and a brick chimney and learned that school 3022 was at Warrenmang. The school number is confirmed at http://victorianschoolhistories.weebly.com/schools-v-w-and-y.html. This website has indexed the entries from Vision and Realisation, A Centenary History of State Education in Victoria, a 3 Volume work published in 1973 by the Education Department of Victoria, which has a short history of each State School in Victoria.

R is for Railways - triennial listing of railways employees in Victoria

I wrote earlier this month about the Victorian Government Gazettes. The Gazette published a list of railway employees every three years between 1884 and 1929.

I have been able to follow the career of my husband's great grandfather, Henry Dawson (1864 - 1929).

On 7 June 1889 commenced employment as a railway employee.

On 30 January 1893 he was with the traffic branch as a lampman.

On 4 February 1896 he was with the traffic branch as a carriage cleaner.

On 2 February 1899 he was with the traffic branch as a porter.

On 1 January  1902 again employed as a carriage cleaner. His  pay was 7 shillings weekly.

As he was not mentioned in the gazette listing of 1905 it appears that Henry had left the railways before January 1905  (1905 Gazette 141 Page 4744  http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1905&class=general&page_num=4719&state=V&classNum=G142)

The Commonwealth of Australia Electoral Roll of 1909 has him still employed as a railway employee. He probably hadn't updated his voting registration. (1909 Australian Electoral Roll, Bentleigh polling place, Division of Balaclava, State of Victoria)

On 1 January 1912 Henry Dawson recommenced work with the railways

On 4 August 1914, 27 February 1918 and 7 April 1921 he was with the transportation branch as a lampman. He was still in that job on 24 November 1925; his weekly pay was 14 shillings 8 pence.

 ...

retrieved from http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1926&class=general&page_num=1233&state=V&classNum=G54

There is more information about railway employment  at http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-40

Where to find the Triennial List of Railway Employees in the Government Gazette

(1884 – 1929)

Year	Vol	Page		Year	Vol	Page
1884	1	1459		1908	2	2333
1887	2	2055		1911	2	4457
1890	1	1237		1914	2	3267
1893	1	387		1918	1	887
1896	1	621		1921	1	1189
1899	1	433		1924	1	1167
1902	3	4099		1926	1	1233
1905	3	4719		1929	2	1931

The list was discontinued after 1929.

O is for Old Bailey records

I have written once before about the proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, which are online at oldbaileyonline.org in a useful searchable format.

In my previous blog entry, at http://ayfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/george-bowyer-transported-for.html, I wrote about the theft of a pocket handkerchief from my fifth great uncle, Claude Crespigny. The thief was transported as a convict to Australia, which seems a very harsh punishment for a minor theft. It appears he did not survive the voyage.

In 1789 Claude Crespigny's son, William (1765-1829), accused his former coachman, William Hayward, of stealing some used harness from him. (Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 15 April 2014), January 1790, trial of WILLIAM HAYWARD (t17900113-104).)

The Old Bailey Sessions House by John Ellis, 1790. Image from http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/The-old-bailey.jsp

William Crespigny had dismissed his coachman and then travelled from London to his country house in Berkshire. Some weeks later he sent to his coach house in Little Portland Mews in London for the harness. The harness did not come. The harness, which had William's crest on it, was probably about two or three months old.

The question in the trial was what arrangement he had made with his coachman.

When this coachman was engaged, did you make a bargain with him? - I did of course.

Does it happen to you, among the coachmen you have employed, to recollect the terms of that bargain? - Perfectly.

I will trouble you to state them: I believe at first he asked twenty six guineas? - I do not recollect.

This will be very important; I must trouble you to tax your recollection; I believe in the end, the standing wages agreed on, was twenty two guineas, together with other articles? - Yes.

One guinea for boots? - My memory does not serve me.

One guinea for breeches; does your memory serve you to that? - I cannot say.

Do you recollect whether he was to have the old wheels, in order to make up this sum? - I perfectly recollect he was not to have them; I never allowed either old wheels or old harnesses to any coachman; I do not remember that any thing was said about it.

Was any thing said about the old harness? - Nothing to my recollection; I can venture to say, to the best of my recollection, upon oath, that nothing was said; I mean to swear that if any thing was said, that I never agreed to it.

Explain to me what these articles were that were to make up the twenty-two guineas, to be twenty-six guineas? - I believe I gave him twenty-five guineas a year, to the best of my recollection; I do not keep such a very minute recollection.

I must not compliment away a man's liberty? - I think it was twenty-five guineas a year.

Court. I understood you, the agreement was twenty-two guineas a year wages; what other agreement did you make besides? - I believe there were boots and breeches, and a number of et cetera's which the coachmen generally have, but I will not say on my oath.

Mr. Garrow. Pray do not be in a hurry, Mr. Crespigny, the boots and breeches we know all the world over, are two guineas; and the old wheels, though they cost us eight pounds, sell for one? - I know nothing about the old wheels; I never made any agreement for them.

Did your former coachman account for the old wheels? - No, never: I believe they were the first wheels I had ever wore out.

The trial was a trial by jury. William Hayward was found not guilty. There seemed to be reasonable doubt as to whether Hayward was entitled to the old harness as a perquisite, as much his right as his wages. However, the court was at pains to point out that Hayward's acquittal was not setting a precedent: "it is by no means to be understood that servants have a civil right to lay hold of the property of their masters and keep it as wages."

William Crespigny's memory issues are similar to those of Arthur Sinodinos at the recent ICAC hearings, represented in this cartoon about Arthur the bilby at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/apr/07/australia-australian-politics?CMP=ema_632 .