Lawrence Kavenagh
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Lawrence Kavenagh (abt. 1810 - 1846)

Lawrence Kavenagh
Born about in County Wicklow, Irelandmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
[spouse(s) unknown]
[children unknown]
Died at about age 36 in Norfolk Island, Australiamap
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Biography

Lawrence Kavanagh was a convict bushranger known for escaping from Port Arthur, the so-called escape-proof prison settlement in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), with Martin Cash and George Jones. Kavanagh was tried five times for serious crimes and he was finally executed in 1846 at Norfolk Island.
Lawrence Kavenagh was a convict after the Third Fleet.
Lawrence Kavenagh was an Australian Bushranger

Lawrence Kavanagh was from Newbridge (now known as Avoca), County Wicklow, Ireland. In 1828 he was at Dublin where he and his sister were convicted of burglary.[1][2][3]

Trial number one: On 24 August 1828 Lawrence and his sister Catherine were convicted of burglary in Dublin. The trial was reported in detail in the newspaper Saunders's News-Letter.

They were sentenced to death, commuted to transportation for life.

Lawrence Kavanagh arrived in Sydney on the Ferguson in 1829. He was described in the ship's convict indent as age 18, single, 5ft 7.5in, with ruddy freckled complexion, brown hair, blue eyes; he was missing the little finger of the right hand, he had a flat nose, a small scar on the back of his left hand and on centre of forehead, He had some education in that he could read and was a carter, with 3 previous convictions. He was assigned to work for Edwd Reiley at Raby.[4] Later his description in 1842 in Tasmania has a “D” above elbow joint left arm, and he is taller, 5ft 11in. Interestingly, he later described himself as a stonemason and quarryman when he was sent to Tasmania in 1842 (possibly this was the work he was required to do at Norfolk Island).

After arriving in New South Wales, he had been assigned to work for Edward Reiley at Raby. However on 13 February 1832 he received forty lashes for insolence and disorderly conduct.[5] In September 1832 he was in Road Gang 20. In October 1832 he was in Road Gangs 24 and 4.[6]

Trial number two: On 7 February 1833 he appeared at the Campbelltown Quarter Sessions charged with "Assault with intent to rob"; he was found guilty, and sentenced to be transported for fourteen years at Norfolk Island. The newspaper Currency Lad reported the trial: Lawrence Cavanah (sic) and Domick McCoy were charged with assaulting, with intent to rob, Martin Grady. Martin Grady being sworn, deposed, that on the 13th October last, the prisoners, with another man, came to rob the cart he was driving on the Liverpool road ; that, on being assaulted with sticks, he took from his pocket a pair of sharp shears, with which he defended himself ; the two first he wounded, and the third ran away ; he at length beat the men off, and they escaped into the bush. — Guilty. To be transported for fourteen years. This case has already been before the public, and they will remember the spirited manner in which Mr. Badgery's man defended himself with the shears.[7]

He was sent to the Phoenix Hulk, then transferred to Norfolk Island on 10 March 1833.[8]

At Norfolk Island he spent 14 days in irons for refusing to assist[?] in getting up the boats on 21 May 1833. He was sentenced to 7 days in the cells on 14 April 1834 for rioting in the cells. He spent 9 years at Norfolk Island.[9]

By 1842 he had been returned to Sydney and was probably at Hyde Park barracks, in irons for an unknown misdemeamour. It was recorded that he had received 150 lashes for attempting to run away on 26 January, presumably 1842 (BUT the year was not given in the Tasmanian indent, and Clune has 1835 at Norfolk Island!). On 19 January 1842 he had received 36 lashes for cutting his irons.[10][11]On 27 January 1842 (?the day after being flogged 150 lashes !?) he and another convict Thomas Brown escaped from the watch house at Hyde Park barracks, and were at large "committing depredations in the neighbourhood of Sydney"; a reward of ten pounds or a conditional pardon was posted in the Australasian Chronicle.[12].

Trial number three: He was captured and sentenced for attempted murder, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in Tasmania. A newspaper reported the trial in the Supreme Court, Sydney, in April 1842:

Supreme Court.
TUESDAY, 12TH APRIL.
Before His Honor Mr. Justice Burton, and a common jury.
Thomas Brown, Lawrence Cavenagh, and Joseph Johnson, were indicted for shooting at one William Hunter, in February last, at Rose Bay, with intent to murder him. From the evidence adduced, it appeared that while the Colonial Secretary, Captain Hunter, Mr. Edye Manning, and Dr. Dobie were riding round Rose Bay, the three prisoners rushed out of the bush with loaded fire arms, and fired several shots at them : some of the balls passed very near the person of Captain Hunter, and the sand at the feet of Mr. Thomson's horse, was scattered about by the charge from the gun. The gentlemen were however fortunate enough io escape unhurt, and on their return to town they gave information to the mounted police, who succeeded in capturing the prisoners the following day, in a cave, near where they had fired at Captain Hunter and the other gentlemen who accompanied him. Several stand of arms were found in the cave, together with a quantity ofgunpowder, shot, &c.
The prisoners in their defence, attributed their present position to the tyranny which been practised towards them in the barracks, and induced them to take to the practices which had brought them to their unfortunate situation.
His Honor then summed up with his usual ability, and the Jury returned a verdict of guilty.[13]

A description of their capture is in The Australian.[14] He was sent on the ship Marion Watson and on arrival there he was sent to Port Arthur where he met Martin Cash and George Jones.[15][16]

Port Arthur Penal Colony
Port Arthur Penal Colony
One of the security measures was the infamous Dogline which was devised by Captain John Peyton Jones
One of the security measures was the infamous Dogline which was devised by Captain John Peyton Jones
It occurred to me that the only way to prevent the escape of Prisoners from Port Arthur in consequence of the noise occasioned by the continual roar of the sea breaking on the beach and the peculiar formation of the land which rendered sentries comparatively useless, was to establish a line of lamps and dogs. I therefore at once covered a way with cockle shells so as to show a brilliant light on the ground at night and proposed that a certain number of Lamps be supplied and rations for a certain number of dogs to be so placed that they could not fight although eat out of the same trough, and render it impossible for any one to pass through
Melville described the guard dogs as a fierce and motley bunch: There were the black, the white, the brindle, the grey and the grisly, the rough and the smooth, the crop-eared and the lop-eared, the gaunt and the grim. Every four-footed, black-fanged individual among them would have taken first prize in his own class for ugliness and ferocity at any show. (Henry Melville, journalist and publisher, c. 1840) [17]
Another plan devised by Captain John Peyton Jones was to feed the sharks in the bay to prevent the escape of convicts from the work gangs in the Port Arthur area

Kavanagh worked in the stone quarry at Port Arthur, and he became acquainted with Martin Cash and George Jones.[18] On Boxing Day 1842 Martin Cash George Jones and Lawrence Kavenagh took off from a work party. Hiding in dense scrub land and with little food they made their way 15 km to the Eaglehawk Neck. Swimming with their clothes tied in bundles above their heads, they made the other side. All three of them having lost their bundles and now naked the trio robbed a road gang's hut for clothing, and began a six month spree of bushranging, robbing homesteads and inns and bailing up a mail coach. An account of their escape and bushranging spree is in Martin Cash's memoirs[19]

In January 1843 a reward of Fifty Sovereigns and a Conditional Pardon was posted in the Hobart Courier.[20]In July 1843 the Government offered 'one hundred acres of land or one hundred sovereigns, in addition to the reward of fifty sovereigns, free pardon, and passage from the colony, for the apprehension of' Cash, Jones and Kavenagh.[21] Strangely, the description given in the reward notice was incorrect: for example the 1842 Tasmanian official description list has hair sandy brown inclined to curl, broad visage, large broad nose & flat nostrils, but the description in the reward notice has hair brown to grey, long visage, nose long and sharp.

In July 1843 Kavanagh tripped over and the charge in his gun exploded and wounded his arm. He said he had to give himself up or he would bleed to death in the bush. His surrender was reported in the Colonial Times.[22]

Norfolk Island Penal Colony
Norfolk Island Penal Colony

Trial number four: On 7 September 1843 Kavanagh was tried before Justice Montague at the Hobart Town Criminal Sessions. Kavanagh was found guilty of Robbery Under Arms of the Launceston Mail Coach at Epping Forest on 13th July 1843, which was a hanging offence. The trial was reported in the newspapers: James Hewitt, coachman to Mrs. Cox was robbed, and he gave evidence: on the 3d July 1843; a stage coach between Hobart Town Launceston ; I was the driver at that time; it was travelling from Launceston to Antill Ponds ... I was driving the horses, and Mr. Dart was with me at the time; about a quarter past ten in the morning, there were three armed men came out, and desired us to stop, from the left-hand side of the road ; I didn't know either of them ; they were armed with a gun ; the prisoner at the bar was one of them ; the prisoner had a gun ; they came out to the front of the horses and desired us to stop, and pointed at me, I think ; I am not sure they said they wouldn't injure, but merely came to rob us ; I think there was only one of them told us to stop; I cannot swear which one ; they were about the side of the horses ; I stopped the horses immediately ; thought they intended to kill one of the horses ; I cannot swear that the guns were directed to the horses; Mr. Dart, Miss Hilton, Mr. Jacombs, and Mrs, Cox were passengers ; I got off the coach, being ordered, and because they presented their arms; they robbed me of several one pound notes and my watch.[23][24][25]

The sentence was commuted by the Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, and Kavanagh was sent to Norfolk Island. He was transported to Norfolk Island at the end of April 1844 on the Lady Franklin.[26]

On 1 July 1846 he joined William Westwood (a bushranger known as ‘Jacky-Jacky’) and several other men in a convict mutiny known as the "Cooking-pot Uprising" which led to the deaths of four men, one of them the overseer Stephen Smith.[27] Stephen Smith's murder is described in a newspaper report.

Trial number five:A Court was convened on Norfolk Island on 22 July 1846 but was aborted before the mutineers were arraigned due to the sudden illness of the judge.[28]Eventually 12 men were condemned to death on 23 September for the murder of John Morris, a constable, but details of the trial were not given in the newspaper reports.[29][30]Before he was executed, William Westward declared that some of the men, including Kavanagh were innocent of murdering John Morris, and this was reported in the Australian, which also commented on the reformed Martin Cash: "It is said that Martin Cash, the former associate of Lawrence Kavenagh, is a very well-conducted man, and has gained general esteem."[31]

Execution: Lawrence Kavanagh was hanged on 13 October 1846 and buried with the other executed men in the "Murderers Mound", which was a disused saw-pit outside the cemetery on Norfolk Island.[32]

Lawrence Kavanagh's Family

In the indents of the the ship Marion Watson 1842 is the notation: "My mother Sarah at Mugowey [Mulgoa] NSW, 3 brothers Martin, Andrew & Bryan at Dublin". "[33]

Lawrence Kavanagh's brother Martin Kavenagh, age 21, Tried at Wicklow. Lent Assizes 1823 for Burglary & Felony, received a sentence of transportation for life. Transported on the ship Castle Forbes but died during the voyage on 6 January 1824 at Latitude 36 ‘25’. Longitude 138’ 32’.[34]

Lawrence Kavanagh's sister Catherine Kavanagh was tried at Dublinwith her brother Lawrence for House Robbery. She received a life sentence and was transported on the Edward in 1829. The convict indent records that she was 24. Native Place: Wicklow, Catholic, Single. 1 child, trade or calling; Servant of all work, height; 5 ft. 3 3/4 in, eyes; Blue, Hair; Brown, Completion; Ruddy. Additional remarks:  "Brother Here Law. Kavanagh per Ferguson do Martin Cavanagh in 1823".[35]  She was admitted to Sydney Gaol on 19 July 1831 and sent to the Parramatta Female Factory, 1st class.[36] On 22 December 1831 permission was granted for Catherine to marry John Fox (age 29 Cawdry life TofL), but they apparently did not marry.[37] She is NOT the Catherine Cavanagh who died 1840 in NSW.[38]

Lawrence Kavanagh's mother Sarah Kavanagh apparently arrived as a free passenger on the Palambam in 1831. She died in December 1838 and the burial record had the notation that she was a settler of Mulgoa, age 65, ship Palambam  She was buried 10 December 1838, registered at St Matthew Church (Roman Catholic) Windsor, clergyman: W Brady.[39]

Research Notes

Place of birth: ALL primary records seen have his native place County Wicklow, however several websites have County Waterford for some reason.

Escape from Norfolk Island? Several websites allege that he escaped from his first exile at Norfolk Island before 1842. There is no evidence that he escaped from Norfolk Island.

Date of death: Although some official sources suggest that Kavenagh was executed on 12 October,[40] the contemporary reports in newspapers show it to have been on Tuesday 13 October. Examples include The Courier and The Australian. There appears to be a discrepancy in the reported date of his death. Hazzard has 13 October.

Sources

  1. ↑ County Wicklow is in the indents of 1829 and 1842. The 1842 indent also gives the town or townland's name "Redrum" (probably Rathdrum, which is 10km north of Avoca), see Clune p.154. The 1842 Tasmanian description list has New Bridge County Wicklow
  2. ↑ Tasmania, Australia, Convict Court and Selected Records, 1800-1899 for Lawrence Kavanagh Register Description lists of convicts convicted locally or arriving on non-convict ships , 1842 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60920/images/44967_6129999_0033-00057?treeid=157367769&personid=372284770239&hintid=&queryId=897469bd07e697e1f7813b20a0c01f07&usePUB=true&_phsrc=dOf31398&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.248194884.2121149455.1619597566-748394131.1571540596&pId=27573
  3. ↑ 1842 Marion Watson indent https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON16-1-1$init=CON16-1-1P212
  4. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 for Lawce Kavanagh, Bound Indentures 1829 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/2024/images/32082_223766__0001-00038?pId=32235
  5. ↑ "Extract from Sydney Records" in Conduct Record Book CON31-1-25 Image 210 Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-25$init=CON31-1-25P210
  6. ↑ Biographical report for Lawrence KAVANAGH, Biographical Database of Australia (BDA) (subscription required) https://www.bda-online.org.au/mybda/search/biographical-report/12081475001?f=lawrence&l=kavanagh&ol=&i=3&s=&p=
  7. ↑ 1833 'Campbelltown Quarter Sessions.', The Currency Lad (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1833), 16 February, p. 3. , viewed 01 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article252637064
  8. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930 for Lawrence Cavanagh Entrance Book Phoenix Hulk 1833-1848 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1783/images/41491_329457-00005?pId=451292
  9. ↑ "Extract from Sydney Records" in Conduct Record Book CON31-1-25 Image 210 Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-25$init=CON31-1-25P210
  10. ↑ "Extract from Sydney Records" in Conduct Record Book CON31-1-25 Image 210 Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-25$init=CON31-1-25P210
  11. ↑ Clune, Frank, "Martin Cash : the last of the Tasmanian bushrangers / by Frank Clune ; ill. by Virgil Reilly. Published Angus and Robertson, 1955. Clune has looked at the Tasmanian indent (and other records?) and come to the conclusion that the 150 lashes was in 1835 at Norfolk Island. Certainly the date 26 January is BEFORE the date 19 January in the indent).
  12. ↑ 1842 'TWENTY POUNDS REWARD, OR A CONDITIONAL PARDON.', Australasian Chronicle (Sydney, NSW : 1839 - 1843), 10 February, p. 4. , viewed 02 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31734988
  13. ↑ 1842 'Supreme Court.', The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), 14 April, p. 2. , viewed 01 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2556241
  14. ↑ 1842 'SIR RICHARD BOURKE'S STATUE.', The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 - 1848), 15 February, p. 2. , viewed 01 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36849834
  15. ↑ Conduct Record Book CON31-1-25 Image 210 Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-25$init=CON31-1-25P210
  16. ↑ Convict Indents CON16-1-1 pp. 208,209 (Digitised Imagse 212 and 213) Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON16-1-1$init=CON16-1-1P213
  17. ↑ Quoted in "Solomon's Noose: The True Story of Her Majesty's Hangman of Hobart" by Steve Harris, Googlebooks
  18. ↑ Martin Cash's memoirs quoted in Free Settler or Felon, George Jones and Joseph Bowers https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com/jones_&_bowers.htm
  19. ↑ Cash, Martin, and James Lester. Burke. "The Adventures of Martin Cash : Comprising a Faithful Account of His Exploits, While a Bushranger under Arms in Tasmania, in Company with Kavanagh and Jones in the Year 1843" / Martin Cash ;edited by James Lester Burke. Hobart Town: "Mercury" Steam Press Office, 1870. (see p.66 onwards)
  20. ↑ 1843 'REWARD', The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), 27 January, p. 4. , viewed 02 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2953250
  21. ↑ The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859) p.5 5th July, 1843 Article REWARD of One Hundred Acres of Land, or One Hundred Sovereigns ! Police Department
  22. ↑ 1843 'Domestic intelligence.', Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), 18 July, p. 3. , viewed 02 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8753749
  23. ↑ 1843 'GENERAL GAOL DELIVERY.', The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), 15 September, p. 2. , viewed 02 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2952126
  24. ↑ 1843 verdict in Court NAME_INDEXES:1507258, Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-5$init=SC32-1-5P045JPG
  25. ↑ 1843 sentence in Court NAME_INDEXES:1507258, Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-5$init=SC32-1-5P046JPG
  26. ↑ 1844 'Domestic Intelligence.', Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), 30 April, p. 3. , viewed 01 Apr 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8754827 Wikipedia citation
  27. ↑ Hazzard, Margaret. Punishment Short of Death : A History of the Penal Settlement at Norfolk Island / Margaret Hazzard. Melbourne: Hyland House, 1984. pp.197-212.
  28. ↑ The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859) p.2 2nd September, 1846 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2944991
  29. ↑ 1846 'NORFOLK ISLAND.', The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), 28 October, p. 3. , viewed 02 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2944598
  30. ↑ Hazzard pp. 204 has date of trial and some detail based on other records
  31. ↑ 1846 'NORFOLK ISLAND.', The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 - 1848), 14 November, p. 3. , viewed 02 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37127840
  32. ↑ Hazzard p.205
  33. ↑ Convict Indents CON16-1-1 pp. 208,209 (Digitised Imagse 212 and 213) Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON16-1-1$init=CON16-1-1P213
  34. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 for Martin Kavenagh Bound Indentures 1823-1826 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/2024/images/32082_223760__0001-00043?pId=44196
  35. ↑ Convictrecords https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/kavanagh/catherine/142421
  36. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930 for Catherine Cavanagh, Entrance Book Sydney1825-1832 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1783/images/32245_223266-00694?pId=78828
  37. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, 1826-1851, Granted1831 https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1504/images/30514_081751-00058?pId=19738
  38. ↑ NSW BDM online index 107 1840 V114 (Reel 5048) checked - this is Catherine Cavanagh, ship Leighton, age 48, publican of Clarence St Sydney
  39. ↑  Biographical report for Sarah KAVANAGHhttps://www.bda-online.org.au/mybda/search/biographical-report/30371011601?f=sarah&l=KAVANAGH&ol=kavanagh&i=3&s=1&p= 
  40. ↑ See for example the Death under sentence book, Tasmanian Archives https://stors.tas.gov.au/1355217$init=1355217-12-1

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Images: 3
Lawrence Kavenagh on trial, 1843 Hobart
Lawrence Kavenagh on trial, 1843 Hobart
Lawrence Kavenagh ticket of leave cancelled
Lawrence Kavenagh ticket of leave cancelled
A number of items linked to the bushrangers Martin Cash, Lawrence Kavanagh and George Jones, aka Cash and Co.
A number of items linked to the bushrangers Martin Cash, Lawrence Kavanagh and George Jones, aka Cash and Co.


Comments: 4

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Carla Beljaars
Hi Heather,

First off, thank you so much for all the valuable information regarding Lawrence Kavenagh it has assisted me a great deal. I am missing two very important pieces through. What date did he leave Australian in 1843 for Norfolk Island and what ship?

I appreciated you assistance in the last stage of my research. Kind regards Carla Beljaars

posted by Carla Beljaars
Stevens-18395 Heather Stevens
Hi Carla

One of his convict records, at https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON31-1-25/CON31-1-25P210 , has references to two memos dated 20 April 1844 and 6 Dec 1844, that he was to be sent to Norfolk Island. I am not sure how to interpret the 2 dates. Was he sent twice in 1844? There is a newspaper report on 30 April 1844 that he was sent on the "Lady Franklin". See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8754827 and search for "Kavenagh".

posted by Heather Stevens
Stevens-18395 Heather Stevens
The image of the cancelled Ticket of Leave refers to another convict, Lawrence Kavenagh, ship Cambridge 1827.
posted by Heather Stevens
Stevens-18395 Heather Stevens
I will be working on this profile for the Australia Project. Contact me privately if you wish to discuss.
posted by Heather Stevens

K  >  Kavenagh  >  Lawrence Kavenagh

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