Michael (Hawe) Howe (1787 - 1818)

Born 16 Sep 1787 in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England

Died 21 Oct 1818 at age 31 in Van Diemen's Land, Australia

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Convicts After the Third Fleet

WikiTree Australian Bushrangers

Biography

Michael (Hawe) Howe was a convict after the Third Fleet.

Michael (Hawe) Howe was an Australian Bushranger

Convict

Crime -^[1]Highway robbery

Convicted at - York Assizes

Sentence term - 7 years

Ship - Indefatigable and Minstrel

Departure date -9th May, 1812

Arrival date -19th October, 1812

Place of arrival -New South Wales [Minstrel] and Van Diemen's Land [Indefatigable]

Passenger manifest -Travelled with 329 other convicts

Michael Howe was born at ^[2]Pontefract Yorkshire England he was the son of Thomas Howe and his wife Elizabeth he served two years on a merchant vessel at Hull before deserting to join the navy.

Transportation

On 31 July 1811 he was ^[1] sentenced to seven years transportation for robbing a miller on the highway he arrived in Van Diemen's Land in October 1812 in the Indefatigable,^[3] and was assigned to a Mr. John Ingle, a merchant and grazier.Michael Howe refused the assignment declaring that having served the King he would be no man's slave he escaped and joined a large party of escaped convicts in the bush

Bushranging Years

In 1814 Michael Howe had ^[4]joined up with a large group of escaped convicts who had become bushrangers, the gang of 28 was led by John Whitehead it included two soldiers (who had deserted) they robbed houses and farms around New Norfolk and set fire to barns and wheatstacks belonging to Hobarts Police magistrate. On the 10th March, 1815 a group of settlers who had been robbed by the gang and opened fire two of the settlers were killed and three others were badley wounded. On 11th May,1815 after the next raid on the Police magistrates property the Lieutenant Governor declared martial law,although this was illegal as the permission of the Governor had not be sort, martial law remained in place for 6 months.

A few days later ^[4] the gang were surprised by the 46th Regiment and John Whitehead was shot and killed to claim a reward for killing a bushranger, the body had to be identified, to stop people from claiming a reward for their capture Howe and Whitehead had made a promise to each other, to cut the head off whoever was killed first so no one would know who it was as soon as Whitehead was shot, his head was cut off by Howe and hidden in the bush the head was found two yrs later

Howe was now the leader of a gang of bloodthirsty Bushrangers, calling himself "The Governor of the Ranges" under Howe's rule gang members could be punished if they broke the gang's rules punishment included having to cut and carry firewood, and even included being whipped. One day they attacked an Aboriginal tribe and carried away many of the young Aboriginal girls one girl Mary Cockerill who was to become known in history as "Black Mary", became Howe's lover, and although the other girls eventually escaped into the bush, she stayed with him, and soon became indispensable to him she was his faithful and devoted companion, servant, mistress, and also his trustworthy confident, ally and scout.

Members of the gang

• Mary Cockerill
• James Garry
• Peter Septon
• George Jones
• Richard Colier
• John Chapman
• Thomas Coyne
• James Parker
• Mathew Kegan
• John Brown
• Nenis Curry

The gang had ^[4] twenty eight members at one time each kept in line by Howe,but after two more gang members were killed in March 1817 Howe thought he would be better off alone except for his aboriginal misstress Mary Cockerill ,a month later the Lieutenant Governor was replaced by William Sorrell a military man who later decided to create a penal colony in Maquarie Harbour Sorrell was eager to capture Michael Howe who at this time had a reputation as the worst of the bushrangers.

On the 9 April 1817 a military patrol came across Howe and Black Mary both started running but Mary couldnt keep up with him ,Howe turned and fired at the soliders but hit Mary instead (it is not known if Howe deliberately aimed at her) she fell wounded and Howe escaped ,Mary gave the soliders enough information to track down a number of Howes former gang members,two weeks later Howe sent a letter to the Governor of the town William Sorell Howe said he would surrender and give information about his other gang members if he was granted a pardon in return, Sorrell welcomed the offer as he no luck stopping the law breakers .Howe arrived Hobart under police escort on the 29 April, but much of Howes information was useless he did cause a stir by saying the Reverend Robert Knopwood was involved with the gang?

The new leader of the bushranger gang Geary was shot dead while Howe was in Hobart. Howe escaped into the bush again, some gang members were killed and others surrendered this left only Howe and George Watts they were not working together and Watts decided he might get a pardon and the reward if he help capture Howe,Watts and a associate of Howe's, William Drewe they set a trap for Howe and he was captured, on the way back to Hobart Howe managed to free his wrists he pulled out a dagger he had hidden in his clothing and stabbed Watts in the back he than grabbed Watts gun and shot Drewe through the head Howe escaped and Watts died a few days later .

Governor Sorrell decided ^[4] to offer a full pardon and passage back to England for any prisoner who helped capture Howe,but because he now worked alone he was he was hard to find. If he was hungry he robbed settlers and demanded food and ammunition most of the victims did not argue.Howe was startled one afternoon when he saw a solidier ahead of him he dropped his knap sack and ran ,inside the knap sack was a book Howe made out of kangaroo skin in which Howe had jotted his thoughts the book revealed Howes loneliness he dreamed of being murdered by aborigines after years in the bush and in clothes he had made from kangaroo skins Howe was looking very much like a wild man with his long black beard

If Howe had completly avoided human contact he might of died of old age in the bush but Howe occasionally met with a kangaroo hunter called Warburton it was Warburton who betrayed Hawe on the 21 October, 1818 Warburton and two others set a ambush but before he could be captured Howe managed to flee but Howe stumbled and when he stood up he was shot in the chest the bushranger pulled out his dagger but before he could use it he was smashed over the head with the butt of a gun. Michael Howe the bushranger was dead.^{[5] [6]}

Conspiracy

There is little doubt some of the most powerful men in Hobart and Launceston had arrangements with Howe and the most notable of these was the colony's wealthiest man, Edward Lord there is nothing to suggest that Lord dealt directly with Howe but rather a "understanding" were reached, Lord's wife Maria played a crucial part in these "understandings" Maria Lord not only ran her husband's affairs in his absence as an ex-convict herself she had the contacts to negotiate with the bushrangers.

The official investigations into Howe's relationship with Edward Lord and Robert Knopwood never went far, as no documents from his testimonies have survived as Carlo Canteri wrote in his Origins of Australian Social Banditry "...a complete exposure of all the bushrangers, interconnecting linkages would shake Van Diemen's Land to its very rum-cellars."

Legacy

In 1818, T. E. Wells, a cousin of Samuel Marsden, wrote an account of Howe's life and crimes, called The Last and Worst of the Bushrangers of Van Diemen's Land.

Howe is commemorated in two Tasmanian place names Mike Howes marsh, near Oatlands and a gully on the River Derwent.

In 2011, Screen Australia announced that a film called The Outlaw Michael Howe was in development this film was aired in Australia on the ABC television network on 1 December 2013.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Convict records - Michael Howe, one of 327 convicts transported on the Indefatigable and Minstrel, 09 May 1812
2. ↑ [England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NRQN-JBJ : 11 February 2018, Michael Haw, 16 Sep 1787); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 990,759.
3. ↑ Libraries Tasmania, Names Index:

   Name: Howe, Michael

   Record Type: Convicts

   Departure date: 4 Jun 1812

   Departure port: England

   Ship: Indefatigable

   Voyage number: 1

   Index number: 34493

   Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1403489

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Australian Dictionary Biography Michael Howe
5. ↑ Libraries Tasmania, Names Index:

   Name: Howe, Michael

   Record Type: Deaths

   Gender: Male

   Age: 30

   Date of burial: 21 Oct 1818

   Registered: Hobart

   Registration year: 1818

   Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1175903]

6. ↑
   Death notice in the The Sydney Gazette 12th December, 1818

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