In July 2023, I travelled to Birmingham and Warwick in the hope of finding additional intelligence on Joseph Wilkes’ early life.
Over four days I scoured the archives at the magnificent Library of Birmingham and the Warwickshire Archives in Warwick.
At the library I found maps of Birmingham from the early late 18th and early 19th century straddling the time period between Joseph’s birth and the time he left his home town. I photographed the potentially relevant pages of the early trade directories, and I copied extracts from books containing other potentially useful historical background information on the then fledgling industrial town.
I knew that the court files of both Joseph Wilkes who were convicted at Warwick, both from Birmingham, and both transported to Australia on the Dromedary in 1819, had long been destroyed. But my hunch was that I might be able to find some references to the relevant crimes in the local newspapers.
My heart skipped a few beats when I searched the relevant microfilmed issues of the Birmingham Gazette and I actually came across the sections that mentioned the relevant convictions at their respective Assizes Sessions in 1817 and 1819. Luckily, not only were the names of the perpetrators and co-conspirators mentioned, but also the names of their victims and what they each had stolen.
My Joseph had stolen wickyarn from grocer Samuel Lefevre, together with three other young men. The other Joseph had stolen leather from tanner John Lakin with one other man.
With those snippets of information in hand, I skipped back to the compactus that contained the trade directories. Sure enough, I found Samuel Lefevre’s name and the street where his business was located: Bromsgrove Street.
Sitting somewhat exhaustedly in one of Birminham’s Pizza Hut’s on my last evening in Birmingham, I pushed myself to look up Bromsgrove Street, and felt another burst of energy when I realised that the street still exists – and it was a mere stone’s throw away from my hotel!
Half an hour later I was walking up and down that street taking footage – perfectly aware that almost all of Birmingham, including this street, would have been completely transformed several times since the early 19th century. Still, it felt amazing to be in the very location where Joseph had committed the crime that would lead to him being banished to the other side of the world.
I also spent one day in Warwick, located a thirty minute train ride from Birmingham. That town couldn’t be any quainter. I spent the morning trying to make the most of the well-protected collection at the Warwickshire Archives.
I was able to copy a set of rules for Warwick prison, which gives me an idea of what life in prison would have been like for Joe back then. The Warwickshire Advertiser confirmed the information I had already found out through the Birmingham Gazette, including the approximate dates the two Josephs were transferred from Warwick prison to their respective hulks near London.
I wish both these papers were online and text searchable. They could potentially hold more useful information, especially because I suspect my Joseph may have tried to appeal his sentence, considering his rather lengthy time on the hulk before he was finally shipped to Van Diemen’s Land.
After leaving the archives, I headed to a local pub for fish and chips, followed by a visit to the local museum, where a few early 19th century clothing items were on display – although this didn’t entirely make up for my disappointment that the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery was closed for renovations.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t access the Old Shire Hall courts either, which is next to the old prison. These buildings are imposing from the outside, and I would have loved to see court room one, where the Wilkeses were in all likelihood put to trial and convicted.
I had sufficient time to visit the massive, history-soaked and school-children infested Warwick Castle, which boasts brilliant exhibits that take you back as close to the Middle Ages as is possible.
One of my lines of inquiry suggests that my Joseph got married to an Esther Morris in 1816. Just in case this turns out to be true, I set out one morning to go to the church where their wedding would have taken place – St. Bartholomew’s in Edgbaston. I wasn’t able to see the church from the inside, but that building too was only a small chapel back in Wilkes’ day.
To help me visualise Wilkes’ Birmingham I have also taken reference photos from a variety of sources that contained drawings of buildings as they existed at the time.