Numismatic Association of Australia Article

Peter Lane and Peter Fleig

Bones in the Belfry home page

    This article , entitled "William Henshall: Maker of NSW Holey Dollars and Dumps" appeared in Volume 15 in 2004. It is based partly on an extensive dossier in the Bank of England Archives, generated by the pursuit, trial and transportation of William Henshall, Thomas Clarkson and Richard Clarkson. The article is an excellent read in it's own right, but also adds some new material on Thomas Clarkson.
a brief summary follows:
     Henshall first came under suspicion for illicit liquor trading in late 1804. The police raid found some partialy completed dollar (= five Shilling) pieces. These were ignored by the plod, but raised the interest of the Bank of England. The Bank raised a major operation to infiltrate the organisation run by our three forgers. A month after the earlier raid, another raid uncovered coin dies and equipment, and forged coins and banknotes.
Henshall and an employee Thomas Ashford were sentenced to seven years transportation, and the two Clarksons received fourteen. The fact that Henshall was convicted of forging and possession, and the Clarksons of posession, but the Clarksons received the longer sentence suggests that the Clarksons might have been regarded as the organisers of the operation.
     After conviction the prisoners set about reducing the impact of their sentences. They started from the optimistic request for pardons in return for cooperation but retreated to the requesting that their families be allowed to accompany them. Their cooperation included
    (1) handing over plates for

£1,

£2,

£5 and

£10 notes
    (2) Henshall provided the bank with advice on anti-forgery design in its coins and notes
    (3) informing on over 130 criminals and their haunts. (These make an interesting appendix to the article)
    The best deal they could get was that their wives and younger children would accompany them to Botany Bay. Nancy Henshall elected to stay in England because all of her seven children could not go. Richard's wife Lucy elected to stay in England with her infant child. Catherine reluctantly went leaving one child behind. The bank provided

£10 to the wives for immediate provisions, and also

£10 for 'sea stock' for the prisoners,
William Hensall in 1814 organised the manufacturing operation for Macquarie of nearly 80,000 Holey Dollars and Dumps.

Family History Followup (Les Rowley)

There are two possible marriages for Richard in the LDS:

(1) To Lucy Hyde on 13 or 21 Sep1800 St Martin In The Fields, Westminster, London,
(2) To Jane Henshall 12 Jun 1798 Saint Martin, Birmingham, Warwick

There is a plausible birth for Richard , in the following family

George Clarkson
Susannah
    Thomas Clarkson (b 8 Apr 1768 St Phillips Birmingham, Warwick)
    John Clarkson (b 19 Oct 1770 St Phillips Birmingham, Warwick)
    Richard Clarkson (b 3 jun 1773 St Phillips Birmingham, Warwick)

Is this family an alternative to the one on the main webpage?

Samuel Clarkson (b 1731 Kingsbury Warwickshire, m Mary Hargreaves 1758 Kingsbury)
Mary Hargrave (b 1738 Curdworth Warwick)
    Sarah Clarkson (b 1759 Kingsbury).
    Samuel Clarkson (b 1760 Kingsbury).
    Thomas Clarkson (b 1763 Kingsbury )
    William Clarkson (b 1765 Kingsbury).
    Mary Clarkson (b 1768 Kingsbury).
Elizabeth Clarkson (b 1771 Kingsbury).
    Hannah Clarkson (b 1774 Kingsbury).
    James Clarkson (b 1776 Kingsbury).

Evidence for Samuel and Mary versus George and Susannah as our Thomas' parents
    (1) For S & M: Samuel was born and married in Kingsbury, where S was born and S & M married
    (2) For S & M:: Thomas age is given as 66 in the Parish death registration, making his year of birth about 1758, ie much closer to S & M, but 5 years away from either
    (3) For G & S: The family includes a brother Richard. the S & M family does not, yet it looks like a fairly complete family
    (4) For G & S: We don't know where they lived, but they married in the principal church of Birmingham, consistent with a family that seemed to be wealthy. Kingston is about ten miles from the centre of Birmingham. Samuel's father was married in the same church as G & S, strengthining the case that the two families were related
    (5) For G & S: If we believe Lucy Hyde married our Thomas' brother, this is a case for the Clarksons circulating more widely geographically
    (6) For G & S: Either marriage for Richard looks just the right age to be the G & S Richard
Conclusion
    Difficult to assess, but I reckon it's a 50:50 guess between the two families. And there is a small chance it could be neither, given we don't have an accurate year of birth for Thomas? Commenta are welcome . Another possible clue is the (unusual) name Mountford that turns up in our Thomas' children. The only interesting one I can find is a Mountford Clarkson born 1788 to Joseph and Catherine in Curdworth, which is where Mary Heargraves was born. Curdworth is midway between Kingbury and Birmingham. The Mountfords appear to be a prominent family in Warwick

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Numismatic Association of Australia Article

Peter Lane and Peter Fleig

To obtain a copy of the article

Family History Followup (Les Rowley)