Edward Broughton was a transported English laborer who escaped from the Macquarie Harbour penal station in Van Diemen's Land on September 3, 1830, with four other convicts. He and one companion, Matthew McAlboy, were the only two of the five to come back. Both were tried at Hobart in 1831 on a charge of being illegally at large while under sentence of transportation, and both were executed there on August 5, 1831.
The case is unusual in what the law did and did not decide. The offense of which the court dealt with them was the escape. Three other men from the same party were dead, and the judge told the prisoners that there was reason to fear they were guilty of murder, but no verdict of murder against either man is on record.
Broughton was born about 1803 at Dorking, in Surrey, England, and worked as a laborer. In 1824, at Sussex, he was found guilty of housebreaking and sentenced to transportation for 14 years. He reached Van Diemen's Land in August 1826.
His convict years in the colony were short before he was in trouble again. In April 1827 he was found guilty of stealing a blanket from a man at Sandy Bay and was sentenced to seven years' transportation to the Macquarie Harbour penal station. His family and his life before 1824 are not on record.
The Macquarie Harbour penal station was established on the west coast of Van Diemen's Land in late 1821 and was in use until it was abandoned in November 1833. Its commandant kept a letter book, running from August 20, 1829, to September 13, 1833, that recorded escapes, supplies and prisoner conduct.
Four other men left the station with Broughton on September 3, 1830. One was Matthew McAlboy, born about 1798 in County Down, Ireland, a laborer. He had been sentenced to seven years' transportation at the 1819 Lent Assizes in Down and arrived in Van Diemen's Land on the Castle Forbes in January 1820. In 1823 he was given 50 lashes on two occasions, once for disrespectful behavior and violent language toward his overseer and once for taking his master's dogs out on a Sunday and leaving his master's farm without permission. On February 9, 1829, he was sentenced to seven years' transportation for stealing wearing apparel and was sent to Macquarie Harbour.
The remaining three did not come back. Two of them were Richard Hutchinson, convicted at York in 1811 of stealing a horse, and William Coventry, transported from Ireland in 1802 and convicted in 1829 of stealing bullocks. Both had been sent to Macquarie Harbour, and both are recorded as dying in 1830 during the escape. The third man's name survives in several forms and is not settled.
Broughton and McAlboy reached the settled districts and surrendered to the authorities. They claimed that their three companions had been killed by Aboriginal people. The court did not fully believe this account. They were back in custody by late November 1830.
The two men were tried at Hobart in 1831, in proceedings under way by early July, for being illegally at large while under sentence of transportation. In his address to them the judge urged the two men to repent, saying that there was reason to fear they were guilty of murder. That fear was not tied to a charge or a verdict.
The exact words of the verdict and the sentence are not on record. The outcome is clear from what followed: both men were executed.
Broughton gave an account of what had happened to his companions, and the Colonial Times published it in the colony on August 10, 1831. It is his own statement and not a court finding. No trial for the deaths of the three companions is on record.
Coventry was the second of the group to die, so the three deaths did not happen at one moment. How many days lay between them is not on record.
Broughton and McAlboy were executed at Hobart on August 5, 1831. Broughton was about 28 years old and McAlboy about 33.
Established:
Broughton was tried for being illegally at large while under sentence of transportation, and executed on August 5, 1831.
He described the deaths of three companions in an account published in the colony on August 10, 1831.
Not on record:
A murder charge, trial or verdict against either man.
The court's exact wording of the verdict and sentence, and the date on which he gave his account.
Whether the deaths of the three companions should be counted as separate events or as one episode of the escape; they occurred in sequence.
Broughton's companion's name is also spelled MacAvoy or McAvoy.
About 1803: Edward Broughton is born at Dorking, Surrey.
1824: Found guilty of housebreaking at Sussex; sentenced to 14 years' transportation.
August 1826: Arrives in Van Diemen's Land.
April 1827: Found guilty of stealing a blanket at Sandy Bay; sentenced to seven years at Macquarie Harbour.
September 3, 1830: Escapes from the Macquarie Harbour penal station with four other convicts.
1830: Three of the five die during the escape.
Late November 1830: Broughton and McAlboy are back in custody.
July 1831: Trial at Hobart for being illegally at large; the judge addresses the prisoners.
August 5, 1831: Broughton and McAlboy are executed at Hobart.
August 10, 1831: The Colonial Times publishes Broughton's account.