Berry, James

James Berry

John Hall, his son Goodwin Spires Hall and James George Baldwin, were indicted at Hemel Hempstead Coroners Court for the wilful murder of James Berry on the morning of Sunday 12th June 1836, at Hemel Hempstead.

At their subsequent trial, John Hall was acquitted but Goodwin & James were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced for life and sent to Australia.  They sailed on the convict ship Prince George from Torbay on the 14th January 1837 and arrived at Port Jackson, New South Wales on the 8th May 1837..  The ship was despatched with 250 convicts (all male), and offloaded 244, six having died on the crossing .

In 1834 Goodwin married Eliza Dell at Abbots Langley they had no children.

In 1853, it appears Goodwin married a Margaret Buckley in New South Wales and in 1857 became the innkeeper at Pennyweight Flat in New South Wales, later that year he married again to Mary Ann Tobin.  He was clearly successful and in 1858 paid for his brother and his family to emigrate to Australia at a cost of £4 per passage.  He died aged 79.

The families seemed to be on extremely good relations with each other -:

1.Goodwin Spires HALL was married to Eliza DELL in Herfordshire England 1838, but there were no children before his conviction.

2.Sophia HALL, Sister to Goodwin and daughter of John married James DELL Snr in Hertfordshire England 1845

3.James George BALDWINs daughter Sarah Margaret BALDWIN, later married Goodwin Spires HALLs nephew (Sophia’s son) James DELL Jnr in Armidale Australia 1878.