This story follows on from the Anzac Day story The Fighting Israels. Here I look into the grandfather of these fighting heros, his convict origins and his successes.
Cashmore Israel was convicted in the Old Bailey in 1817 in England,
sentenced to death, but had his sentence commuted to life upon the mercy of the
court. He was transported as a convict to Australia serving his sentence in the New South Wales colony and
then was sent to Van Dieman’s Land or Tasmania. and was reportedly a well loved
member of an “old Launceston family” upon his death in 1872.
How does an 18-year-old come to this? His Old Bailey Court case reads like a chapter
from one of Charles Dickens' novels.
He was arrested on the 12th of November 1817 and was indicted for stealing jewellery and other items from his father's house.
He was accused of theft from a specified place (stealing, on the 11th of november, at the Parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate, one necklace, value 2l. 10s.; one pair of bracelets, value 1l.10s.; three broaches, value 3l.; one pair of ear-rings, value 1l.; four yards of cotton, value 5s.; eight yards of poplin, value 16s.; two rings, value 5s.; and two other broaches, value 3s., the goods of Isaiah Israel , in his dwelling-house).
In this excerpt form the trial he admits to his bad behaviour.
His father, a general dealer (pawn broker) from Houndsitch *, Isaiah Israel, said at his case, 'I am the unfortunate father of the prisoner.' When his daughter began missing some property, he suspected his son and reported him to police. Perhaps this is a little harsh but maybe he could not afford such a loss. In his favour, his father had claimed that Cashmore was born in 1799, but was most likely born in 1796; this was to avoid the death penalty.
*Houndsditch is a street in London known for its historical association with
pawnbrokers and the trade of goods, including those of questionable origin.
While not specifically a single pawnbroker, the area has been a location where
pawnbrokers operated and where stolen goods were likely to be fenced.
Isaiah’s child had been in trouble since he was about 11. Cashmore was one of
10 children of Isaiah and Yilete Israel. The convict records site https://convictrecords.com.au/ hints that
he had been expelled from the family and lived on the streets from his early
teens. He was quite possibly a forerunner to the likes of streetwise Artful
Dodger, Oliver Twist and Fagan's gang of children who worked as thieves and
pickpockets.
Charles Dickens, writing in books such as Oliver Twist, used to vividly
describe the social problems he was observing in London; he was merely a child
when Israel was transported, but he was deeply influenced by his own
circumstances, i.e, his father was in debtor's prison, and what he saw around
him.
“Oliver Twist” was not written until 1837, well after John Cashmore Israel was transported but it is believed that Ikey Solomon who Dicken’s Fagan character was modelled on lived about 10 houses down from Cashmore’s home and the surrounding pawn shops.
On the 20th of December 1817 at the Old Bailey, he was given a sentence of death for stealing in his father's house goods.
Cashmore Israel was placed in Newgate Prison near the Old Bailey Jail and later awaited his transportation to Australia in the Hulk Bellerophen, a decommissioned Navy ship which was moored on the Thames River at Woolwich. It was technically a floating prison due to the overcrowded prisons in London.
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| "Bellerophon Hulk " |
He sailed on the Glory to New South Wales on the 30th of April 1818 among 169 other convicts. When he arrived in Sydney on the 14th of September 1818 after a journey of 119 days he and the convicts who arrived on that voyage were dispersed to Parramatta, Windsor, Liverpool, and Bringelly.
Cashmore was only to remain in the New South Wales colony for six months when he with about 60 others continued their sentence in Van Dieman’s Land.
He was placed on the Prince Leopold to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
where he remained a prisoner for more than 18 years doing public service. Van
Diemen's Land was known to hold the more dangerous or troublesome of the
criminals.
He had a clean sheet for three years. His misdemeanours started in 1822, where
he was charged before the magistrate for “neglect of duty” and ended up in a
chain gang, in irons, for 30 days. His misdemeanours continued when on 17th of
September 1827, he was charged with being absent from his post as a watchman in
the new store and punished to work for one fortnight in the chain gang.
He received a conditional a conditional pardon in 1830. On February 6, 1832, he was charged with assaulting Margaret Rogers and bound over to keep the peace for three months.
On 4 June 1932, he was charged with absconding, being concealed on board the
bargue, Princess Augusta. As a condition of his ticket of leave, he was
not to be aboard any ship. So this deprived him of his ticket of leave.
On the 3rd of January 1834, his surgeon ruled him unfit for labour. Later on
the 2nd of October 1936, for making use of obscene language, he was fined five
shillings.
He received his full ticket of leave and eventually his free pardon in November 1842 after 23 years in the Colony and 4 years holding a conditional pardon with good conduct. He was “well recommended”.
At some stage, Cashmore added John to his name to be known as John Cashmore
Israel.
Later in June 1844, John Cashmere Israel married Adelaide Cooke who arrived in
Tasmania via the New South Wales colony. She had come to Australia with her
mother, who was being transported for larceny. Unfortunately, her mother,
Sophia Cooke nee Sanders, passed away during the journey, and upon arrival in
Sydney Town spent her early years in the Sydney Orphan School with her young
brother Alfred Cooke, before being sent to Tasmania, probably as a child servant.
He acquired a property around northern Tasmania, and gained his pawnbroker license in Brisbane Street on the 17th of April 1947.
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| Site of John's Pawnbroking business |
By the 1850s, he was a man of property. He had taken on the trades he had known from his father: baker, confectioner, jeweller, and pawnbroker.
Together, John and Adelaide had nine children.
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| The Israel family tree Click on the photo to expand |
Though Jewish, his wife was Anglican, and the children were brought up
Anglican. His sons went to Barrett's Private Academy and the Church of England
Grammar School. Some sons went into banking and the army moving to NZ and New
South Wales . John William Israel became the Chief Auditor General of the
government upon Federation! Only in Australia could sons of convicts rise to be
the men in charge of the government purse or a financial institution. Charles
Dickens, the champion of social justice, redemption, and social reform, would
be very proud.
It is not known whether John Cashmere Israel ever connected with his family
again. Being Jewish, records are limited for them. His father died in 1820 and
is buried in the Great Synagogue in London. His mother died in 1842.
However, his sisters and brothers began slipping into the English records when 10
yearly census records and births, deaths, and marriages began to be recorded
around the 1840s. Judging by death records and probates, they mostly married
well, had small families and left plenty of cash. It seems Hannah remained
single and was housed by her siblings.
The rest of John's story is that he lived out his days in Launceston. Despite
becoming more feeble he was working to the end collecting rents and other commission
business the day before his death. The
local papers recorded the death of John Cashmore Israel, an old colonist of 53
years standing, on the 29th of May 1872, at the age of 73 years. At that stage,
he was reported as a confectioner and a commission agent.
Israel, says the “Cornwall Chronicle” was a man known and respected not only by
the residents of Launceston, but a large proportion of the colonists of
northern Tasmania. He died of apoplexy. Towards the end of his life he
expressed the desire to see his oldest son who was absent from the colony
living in NZ. He also stated his desire as a Hebrew to be interred by those of
his own creed with the customary Jewish rites.
He was buried according to Jewish rites in the Jewish burial ground in
Georgetown Road. Each of the deceased’s sons, who were raised Anglican, placed
a shovel full of clay on the coffin in the Jewish tradition. Australian
Israelite, 7-6-1872.
His obituary described him as an active and intelligent man with a respectable family. It rued the fact that he was long term resident passing with a vast knowledge of the development of Port Dalrymple and the “rise and progress of Launceston”. He had been respected by locals for his authoritative knowledge in Courts of Law regarding town allotments in cases of disputed land claims.
He predeceased Adelaide who lived for a further 16 years until 1898.
Now, if you dig a little further into Adelaide's story and that of her mother and father, the plot thickens- it’s a story which starts in Jamaica, of money lost, bigamy, domestic violence, inheritance scandals - a story for another day. Watch this space!
