Catalogue description Prisoner name(s): John Eyre . Prisoner occupation: Postmaster of Marlborough,...

Prisoner name(s): John Eyre.

Prisoner occupation: Postmaster of Marlborough, [Wiltshire].

Court and date of trial: Wiltshire Lent Assizes held at New Sarum 7 March 1829.

Crime: Embezzlement. The prisoner defrauded His Majesty's Post Office revenue.

Initial sentence: Seven years transportation.

Petitioner(s): 112 inhabitants of Marlborough, Wiltshire.

79 inhabitants of Swindon, Wiltshire.

Grounds for clemency (Petition Details): The prisoner has been an inhabitant of Marlborough since his childhood and has known some of the petitioners for 30 years; the prisoner is a man of invincible integrity and good conduct; the prisoner's charity toward his friends, neighbours and the poor has gained him a large circle of acquaintance; the prisoner's friends provided character testimony at the trial and the jury recommended him for merciful consideration; the prisoner may die if he is forced to endure the journey to His Majesty's foreign plantations and the climate; the prisoner's early habits of life gave rise to a protracted and grievous bodily malady that depleted his strength.

Other papers: Note about location of John Eyre.

Letter from T Keeley from the General Post Office stating the prisoner should not be sent out of the country; he should be made an example of in order to deter others from similar crimes.

Additional Information: On board York hulk; now on Lady Feversham about to sail for N S W.