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Thomas Porley
Thomas Porley was successful as a butcher, although he died quite young aged 40. His wife Sarah outlived him by more than 40 years.
Erickson:
PORLEY, Thomas. b. 1799, d. 18.5.1839, arr . 23.8.1829 per Marquis of Anglesea with wife & 2 chd. m. (UK) Sarah JACKAMAN b. 1803 d. 18.10.1882 (York). Chd. Caroline b. 1822/3 d. 1897, Ambrose b. 1825, Harrier b. 1831 (Perth) d. ?1831/2, George Ambrose b. 1833 d. 1842. Of yeoman stock, they came as servants of R.A. Partridge. Made a living as a butcher (1837 Census). His widow visited Victoria 24.12.18.54 per Vivid.
Porley's death was in a brawl with visiting whalers, as Allen Graham recounts in his book:
Graham:
The whalers’ brawling was confined to Fremantle, and in May 1839 the worst fears of the locals were realised when one of these brawls turned to grief with the death of Thomas Porley, a resident of Perth. This brawl took place in the early evening when Porley, who was heavily under the influence of drink, attempted to engage several whalers in a fight. Porley, after exchanging punches with one whaler, tackled another and in the fight that followed both combatants fell to the ground. It was then that the inebriated Porley sustained a fatal knock to the head.
This death necessitated an immediate inquiry by the magistrates of Perth due to the need for the whalers to leave port. In the inquiry that followed, the whaler who had been in the fight with Porley was cleared of any wrongdoing as no malicious blow had been laid on Porley, whose state of intoxication at the time of the fight was found to be a big contributor to his death.
References and Links
Graham, Allen 2023, Inns and Outs of Fremantle: a Social History of Fremantle and its Hotels 1829-1856, Xlibris: 96.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 7 September, 2023 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/porleythomas.html (it was last updated on 10 September, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.