Thomas Bushell (c. 1834 – 12 September 1865) was a convict

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she wou ...

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. He was

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

in 1865 after attacking a warder. __NOTOC__ Thomas Bushell was born in

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around 1834; nothing is known of his early life. At the age of twenty-two he was an unmarried, semi- literate soldier serving at

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, with a bad army record, when he struck a superior officer and was sentenced to life imprisonment and

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

. Assuming normal procedure, he would have spent the first two years of his sentence in

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, the first nine months of which would be spent in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

Transfer to Australia

In 1858, he was transported to

, arriving on the ''Edwin Fox'' in November. He was initially set to work in the kitchens of the Convict Establishment, but on 11 January 1859 he wrecked some kitchen tools and used them to clean the boilers. As punishment for "willfully destroying Prison property", he was committed to the Refractory cells. There, he tried to commit

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

using a cord made from the lining of his jacket. He was subsequently transferred to the Lunatic Asylum, where he was put into solitary confinement. He assaulted the warders who came to his cell, and in consequence was kept completely locked up for about six weeks. After four months, Bushell was adjudged ready to be returned to the Convict Establishment, but on hearing of his impending transfer he tore up his bedding and threatened to kill himself and any warders who came near him. He was then adjudged insane again, but too violent for the Asylum, so he was returned to the Establishment anyway. From this point on until his execution, Bushell was constantly in trouble. Margaret Brown writes "The page allotted to him in the Character Book is so cramped with entries that they are difficult to read." His behaviour included threats of violence, persistent insubordination, refusal to work and repeatedly absconding from work parties. In punishment, he was

flogged Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging ...

, spent weeks in solitary confinement on bread and water, was worked in irons for months, and at one point was transferred to the prison on

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Death penalty

On 9 July 1865, Bushell smuggled a 13-inch dough knife back to his cell from his work in the Prison bakehouse. That afternoon, he stabbed a warder in the shoulder, allegedly because the warder had told some prisoners that Bushell had provided information about other prisoners. He was tried on the charge of malicious injury with intent to murder. Bushell pleaded not guilty, and conducted his own defence. He claimed to have been urged to the attack by his fellow prisoners, and to have been drunk at the time. He insisted that he did not intend to kill the warder. The warder spoke in Bushell's defence saying he did not believe the prisoner intended to harm him. Bushell was nonetheless found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged three days later on 12 September 1865.

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;Works cited *

Transfer to Australia

Death penalty

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Further reading