The following are some of the Blacketts convicted during the 18th/19th centuries:
1) William Blackett, born 1760, Buckinghamshire. Tried in Middlesex 1792 for stealing.
Verdict
Sentenced to 7yrs transportation; someone spoke favourably on his behalf and he was pardoned to serve as a soldier in the East India Company.
2) William Blackett, born 1793. Tried in Middlesex 1812 for assault.
Verdict
3 months imprisonment.
3) Amelia Blackett, born 1786. Tried in Middlesex on three occasions. In 1815 was fined for larcency, in 1816 for larceny (acquitted) and again in 1822 for larceny.
Verdict
3 months imprisonment.
4) James Blackett, born 1798. Tried in Middlesex 1817 for larceny.
Verdict
7 yrs transportation. (NB. James appears to have escaped transportation. He was transferred to the prison ship “Bellerophon” from Newgate prison on 30 July 1817, where he remained until being transferred to another prison hulk, the “Ganymede”, on 10 April 1823. He was pardoned from a third prison ship, the “Hardy”. His gaolers reported that he behaved well while in gaol.)
5) Joseph Blackett, born 1807. Tried in Middlesex 1827 for larceny.
Verdict
14 yrs transportation.
6) James Blackett, born 1793. Tried in Norfolk 1836, involved in a riot.
Verdict
10 days imprisonment.
7) Frederick Blackett, born 1817. Tried in Middlesex 1837 for stealing.
Verdict
6 months imprisonment.
8) William Blackett, born 1825. Tried in Middlesex 1844 for larceny.
Verdict
18 months imprisonment.
9) Ralph Blackett, born 1828. Tried in Northumberland 1846 for larceny.
Verdict
6 months imprisonment.
10) James Blackett, born 1831. Tried in Middlesex 1848 for larceny.
Verdict
2 months imprisonment.
11) James Blackett. Tried in Middlesex 1849 for burglary.
Verdict
Ten years transportation.
12) Francis Blackett. Tried in Northumberland 1855 for larceny.
Verdict
4 years penal servitude.
13)
Mortimer Blackett Tried in Essex 1857 for stealing.
Verdict
One month in prison followed by 3 yrs in Essex reformatory.
(Mortimer Alfred Blackett was born in Greenwich, Kent in 1842. After his marriage to Martha Finch in London in 1872 he seems to have spent some time in Ireland, where his eldest son, Albert, was born in 1872/73 but by 1875 he had moved to Cheshire. Three years later he was living in Manchester and moved around Lancashire until at least 1891, when he was working as a saddler in Salford. Despite, or perhaps because of, his peripatetic lifestyle he lived until the age of 86 and died in Salford in 1928.)
14) Francis Blackett. Tried in Northumberland 1859 for felony.
Verdict
Ten years penal servitude. Robbery together with another and with personal violence before convicted of felony.
15) Benjamin Blackett. Tried in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1861 for larceny.
Verdict
5 months imprisonment before convicted of larceny under Criminal Justice Act.
16) William Wilks Blackett. Tried in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1861 for embezzlement.
Verdict
6 months imprisonment.
(William seems to have committed the offence whilst working as a brewer’s clerk, his occupation in April 1861 (he is shown as a book-keeper at his marriage in March 1861). At the time of his conviction his wife would have been pregnant, as their elder daughter, Clara Emma, was born in January 1862. Despite the inauspicious start to his marriage, William managed to prosper and by 1881 he had his own cloth finishing business, employing around 50 people. However, his fortune did not last and he was sentenced to three months hard labour in 1884 on three indictments of forging acceptances on bills of exchange.)
17) Cuthbert Blackett. Tried in Durham 1873 for larceny.
Verdict
After previous conviction for felony, 18 months imprisonment, followed by five years supervision of the police. (This was by no means Cuthbert’s only conviction, as outlined in the opening paragraph to The Blacketts that we don’t talk about.)
18) Mary Blackett. Tried in Sussex 1874 for fraud,
and
19) Sarah Maria Blackett. Tried in Sussex 1874 for fraud.
Verdict
6 months hard labour.
20) Robert Blackett (alias Robert Davison). Tried in Durham 1874 for receiving stolen money.
Verdict
4 months imprisonment.
21) Cuthbert Blackett. Tried in Durham 1877 for larceny.
Verdict
After previous conviction for felony received 7 years penal servitude.
See 17) above.
22) Henry Blackett. Tried in the North Riding of Yorkshire 1882 for obtaining by false pretences.
Verdict
One month in prison.
23) Henry Blackett. Trial in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1884 for horse stealing.
Verdict
After previous conviction for misdemeanours, sentenced to 3 months in prison.
In his book “My Name is Blacket” the late Nick Vine Hall mentions a James Blacket listed in the 1837 Muster of New South Wales as a convict, aged 30 years. This appears to be the James Blackett who arrived in New South Wales on the “Dunvegan Castle” in 1832, who was granted his certificate of freedom on 31 January 1840. He is listed as a grocer of Sydney in an 1855 directory. Also in the 1837 Muster appears William Blacket, a convict, who arrived in Sydney in 1834 on the ship “Fairlie”. The earliest Blacket in Australia discovered by Nick Vine Hall was, however, Thomas Blacket, a convict who arrived in New South Wales in 1799 on the “Hillsborough”, having been convicted at York assizes some three years earlier. He received his certificate of emancipation in February 1811, and in 1818 received a grant of land at Field of Mars, Parramatta, New South Wales. (Field of Mars gave its name to Marsfield, now a northern suburb of Sydney.) In 1823 he is included in the return of allotments in the town of Parramatta.
Some Blacketts suffered the ultimate punishment. On 31 August 1726 Frances, alias Mary, Blacket, aged 34 and the wife of a seaman, was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey for assault and highway robbery, along with two others. Still protesting her innocence, she was hanged at Tyburn on September 12th 1726. Five years later, on 8 September 1831, James Blacket, aged 26, and a co-defendent were found guilty of breaking and entering and sentenced to death.