Richard Hayman's Land Sale & Alleged Murder of Mother-in-Law

Richard Hayman - Stole A Watch, Beat His Wife and May Have Murdered His Mother-in-Law, An indenture on vellum, formalizing the sale to Thomas Johnson for £45, of 'forty-three acres of Land lying and situate in the District of Mulgrave Place, on the Banks of the River Hawkesbury being part and parcel of one hundred and thirty Acres of Land originally given and granted by His Excellency Governor King unto Edward Yardley..'. Signed by all parties and with the original seal. Richard Hayman (1771 - 1826), one of 404 convicts transported aboard the 'Pitt', arrived in New South Wales in February 1792. He had been found guilty of stealing a watch and was sentenced at the Old Bailey to seven years transportation. He did not return to England and around 1811 was granted some land at Windsor. He was married to Ruth Yardley in September 1813 at St.Matthews Church at Windsor but shortly afterwards he was charged and fined for a 'breach of the Peace', often a euphemism for violence against a wife. There is a suggestion that the charge was brought by his mother-in-law, Catherine Edwards. The sale of land described in this document took place in October 1818. Catherine Edwards died on 14 October 1818 and it is suspected that she was murdered by her son-in-law, Richard Hayman after an argument. No doubt he needed to raise some money to pay for his defence as he was arrested and tried for her murder. At the trial, on 4th December 1818 he was found not guilty, but his marriage not survive.