In 1867 William Haskell was convicted of Larceny and sentenced to serve 7 years.
Newsletter of the Haskell Family Society
Volume 9, No. 3, September 2000James Haskell was born in 1820, occupation plasterer. According to the Dorset Criminal Register for 1850-52, he was tried at the Dorchester Quarter Sessions on 15 October 1850, convicted of stealing one lamb, valued at 30s, from Robert Shortwaters at Wimborne St. Giles, and sentenced to 15 years transportation.
"Whereas James Haskell was convicted before this court of Felony, for which offence he was sentenced to be transported beyond the seas for the term of 15 years according to an Act of Parliament... "
The Western Flying Post reported that James had a previous conviction, and the Criminal Registers show this to have been for felony. The Criminal Registers for 1848, so two years earlier, record that James was 43 (?) years old and had 'no instruction'. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for 'larceny by servant.' Almost certainly this was taken into consideration and led to his very stiff sentence.
The Dorchester Gaol Registers show that J. G. Garland and W. C. Lambert Esq received James Haskele (sic), aged 26 (sic), on 12 October 1850, having likewise committed him on the previous day. Although James had a previous felony conviction, the Gaol Registers has left that column blank, rarely filling it in around this period.
James was finally put on the prison hulk York at Gosport in the quarter ending 31 December 1851 and given the ship board number 3615. He was described as age 26 and 'healthy;' his behaviour as 'very good.' No reference is made in the hulk quarterly returns to his having been previously held on another hulk, so it is assumed that he was held in Dorchester Gaol for about a year after his trial.
He was transported to Western Australia on the ship, William Jardine Also known as John Haskell, he received his 'Ticket of Leave' on 10 August 1852 and his 'Conditional Pardon' at Perth, Western Australia, on 25 August 1860. He was described as 32 years of age (age discrepancies in convict records were doubtless due to clerical errors), 5ft 6.5 inches tall, light hair, hazel eyes, long face, fresh complexion, stout build, with a scar on his left forearm and forehead. He was probably the son of Daniel and Dianah Haskell of Cranborne/Verwood, born 6 February 1820.
Newsletter of the Haskell Family Society, Vol 4 # 1, Page 2
[son of Daniel and Diana (Budden) Haskell]On 5 February 1859 youngest son, John (born 6 September 1836), married Eliza Ellen Short (born 1838), daughter of George Short of Verwood, and their first child, Elizabeth Ellen Haskell, was born that year. For a time the family lived in Ringwood where John made brooms called 'besoms', used in gardens and for sweeping yards. On retirement son John succeeded his father in the business. Eliza Ellen died in 1916 at 78 years, her husband on 12 August 1926 at 90 years of age.