Morris

George Ennever (alias: Morris)

George Ennever, aged 34, with brown hair, ruddy complexion, grey eyes, and standing 5’5½”, fled London with his family after being named by a fellow criminal as a forger. On 12 August 1816, he was convicted at the Warwick Assizes for disposing of forged Bank of England notes and sentenced to death. However, he was fortunate: according to the Oxford Journal of 24 August, “Previous to the Judge leaving town on Friday, his Lordship was pleased to reprieve all the prisoners under sentence of death.” George’s sentence was commuted to transportation for life.

Family Background

George was born in 1778 to John Ennever, a watchcase maker of St Luke’s, and Sarah Ennever. John was declared bankrupt in 1783, having worked at various addresses including Red Lion Street and Golden Lane in London. His trade - fine watchcase making - placed him within a network of small-scale craftsmen closely tied to the precious metal economy of the day, an environment where forgery, clipping, and metal fraud were not uncommon. Although there is no direct evidence of forgery charges against John, his bankruptcy and the circumstances of his trade suggest financial pressures and familiarity with practices that skirted legality.

After John’s bankruptcy, she seems to have run a tobacconist business at one of the former family addresses, suggesting resilience and independence at a time when women’s financial agency was limited. No criminal record has been located for her, but the family’s repeated relocations and their links to East End artisan trades indicate a milieu in which petty crime and forgery were prevalent.

Forgery, the Ennevers, and the Bank of England

The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw a surge in forgery prosecutions - 313 capital convictions between 1797 and 1818 - largely due to the widespread issue of £1 and £2 notes. Even possession could carry a 14-year sentence; uttering or making a forged note was a capital offence. Among those convicted were two Ennevers.

The first to fall was Joseph Ennever, the second son, who was a shoemaker in Bath. Reputedly respectable, he was caught up in a forgery ring in 1807. He and George were with a woman, Mary Radford, when she attempted to pass a forged banknote. Mary and Joseph were arrested in the ensuing scuffle; George escaped. Mary had lived with George in Birmingham as his wife and returned to Bath to procure fifty forged £1 notes with funds given by the entire Ennever family.

The Bank of England’s Committee for Law Suits saw the case as serious. Joseph was charged with twelve counts, including forging and uttering banknotes. Mary turned King’s evidence; John and Sarah Ennever, and Mary herself, were not charged, deemed “instruments” at Joseph’s hands. George, however, was charged but not found - he had vanished.

Joseph, was tried, found guilty in the assizes at Taunton Castle, and hung. George seemed to be somewhat “involved” as he is endorsed as being “at large” in the court record. He seems to have started using the alias Morris during this time.

Transcript: Taunton Assizes – 26 March 1807

1807

Joseph Enever

1807

Shoe-maker

26 Mar 1807

Taunton, Somerset P

Uttering Forged Bank Notes. Death.

• ASSI 21/22 Court Proceedings

Assizes at the castle of Taunton Thursday 26 Mar 1807 Joseph Enever attainted of feloniously offering to one Elizabeth Williams a certain forged bank note well knowing the same to be forged and counterfeited with intent todefraud the governor & company of the Bank of England against statute. Let him be hanged by the neck until he be dead. Witnesses: Thomas Glover, Thomas & Elizabeth Williams, Charles & Catherine Satter, Samuel Handy

ASSI 25/5/8 Court Proceedings Somersetshire to wit the jurors of our sovereign Lord the King upon their oath present that Joseph Enever late of the parish of St Michael in the city of Bath in the county of Somerset. labourer and George Enever, late of the same parishaf St Michael, labourer, heretofore to wit on the seventh day ofJanuary the 47th year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the 3rd, by the grace of God ofthe United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland, King defender of the faith, with force & arms at the parish of StMichae/ feloniously did forge and counterfeit a certain bank note the tenor of which said forged and counterfeited is as followeth that is to say (drawing of a One Pound note No.8076 dated 27 Dec 1806), with intent to defraud the governor and company of the Bank of England. Warrant was dated 13. Jan 1807. Did falsely make, forge and counterfeit and cause and procureto be falsely made forged and willing by act and assist in the false making ofa certain note as followeth

(drawing as above). A total of twelve counts.

Court document endorsed George Enever at large.

From The Times, 29th April, 1807...

Transcription...
"On Wednesday, James Watts and Joseph Ennever, for uttering and having in their possesion several forged Bank of England notes, and others of the Chelmsford Bank: and Edward Mudford, for breaking open the shop of Mrs.Abrahams, at Yeovil, and stealing fifteen silver watches: and John Tingly, for breaking open a house, stealing upwards of 60/. and putting the wife of Mr.J.Hackway in personal danger, were executed at Ilchester. So strongly do the effects of superstition still sway the minds of many persons that it is an undoubted fact, several children were taken by their parents all the way from Bath to Ilchester (about forty miles) on purpose that they might be touched by one of the criminals whilst suspended, as a charm against the King's evil."

From the Bath Journal...

Transcription...
"EXECUTION AT ILCHESTER. - On Wednesday, James Watts and Joseph Ennever, for uttering and having in their possession several forged Bank of England Notes, and others of the Chelmsford Bank ; and Edward Mudford, for breaking open the shop of Mrs. Abrahams, at Yeovil, and stealing fifteen silver watches ; and John Tingly, for breaking open a house, stealing upwards of 50/. and putting the wife of Mr. J. Hockway in personal danger, were executed at Ilchester. Watts was about 30 years of age, born in the neighbourhood of Bradford, in this county, and was in the practice of jobbing cattle at different fairs, but bad recently settled as a butcher in Bath market. Ennever was a shoemaker at Bath, a young man of rather reputable character, until his connection with a gang of forgers. - The behaviour of the four criminals at the fatal tree was every way proper and exemplary; though Watts is reported to have shown few signs of contrition till within a short period of his execution."

In 1809 George’s mother, Sarah and father John, also using the Morris alias, were tried and acquitted at The Old Bailey, also for passing dodgy notes.

Sarah's Old Bailey proceedings...

Transcription....

629. SARAH ENNEVER, alias MORRIS , was indicted for feloniously forging on the 25th of August , a promissory note for the payment of 2 l. with intention to defraud Robert Mackglew .

SECOND COUNT, for uttering and publishing as true a like forged note, she knowing it to be forged, with the same intention.

THIRD COUNT, for feloniously offering a like forged promissory note with intention to defraud Robert Mackglew, she knowing it to be forged and counterfeited.

WILLIAM CULLEN . I live at No. 4, City-road, Finsbury ; with Robert Mackglew , a linen-draper . On the 25th of August last, between the hours of eleven and twelve, the prisoner came to our shop alone, she asked for some calico, she wished them to be remnants, as she lived with a lady that was a benevolent person, she purchased them for the purpose of giving them away to poor people, she did not say who that person was. I sold her two remnants for five shillings, she produced a two pound note. I perceived it to be of Westham, Essex bank; I gave it to John Spring , who has the management of the concern, No. 4, in the City-road; he told the prisoner that we did not take country notes, but if she would wait he would send to a friend of his, meaning to Mr. Mackglew, at his other shop, Pavement, Moorfields, or to the Banking-house where it was made payable; she consented to it, and stopped; he sent Martha Spring , his little girl, to Mr. Mackglew; Martha Spring came back with Mr. Mackglew, he presented the note to the prisoner and asked her if it was her's; she said it was. I went to Worship-street office and brought Mr. Ray, the officer, with me; he searched the prisoner and found no other notes upon her.

Q. Was any thing said in the prisoner's presence whether any body had doubted it before - A. The prisoner said to me that she had endeavoured to negotiate it in the neighbourhood; the person objected to it, being a country note. That was after I had shewed it to Mr. Spring.

Q. Then it was while Mr. Spring had the note, was it - A. Yes.

Mr. Knapp. So this person came to your shop to utter a forged note and told you that it had been objected to before - A. She told me that she had offered it to a neighbour, and they objected to it because it was a country note.

Q. Then you did not like the note, you sent it out by Martha Spring , and desired the prisoner to wait - A. Yes; she waited twenty minutes in the shop.

ROBERT MACKGLEW . I have two shops; the note was brought to me at my house on the Pavement, Moorfields; I went back and saw the prisoner; I addressed her, and said is this the lady that owns the note; she said yes; I asked her where she had got it; she said she had taken it from a lodger of the name of Ipsditch, a shoemaker; and she lived in Old Bethlem, I think she said No. 9. I asked her if she knew whether it was a good note; she said she believed it was. I saw it was directed to Postlewaite, London; I asked her where that Postlewaite resided; she seemed to hesitate; in a little time she said she believed in Tooley-street. There was Westham, Essex, upon the note. On further questioning of her she said she believed the banking house was a large shop. I saw it was a new note, the writing was fresh; It was dated in January.

JOHN RAY . I am an officer of Worship-street office. I took the prisoner into custody. This note was delivered to me; I have had it ever since. I went down to Westham to see whether there was any such firm of Davey, Brathwaite, and co.; there was not. I made enquiries in Tooley-street, there I found in Church-alley a person of the name of Postlewaite. I enquired at No. 9, Old Bethlem, the prisoner did live there.

The prisoner was not put on her defence.

NOT GUILTY .

First Middlesex jury, before Mr. justice Bailey.

George’s use of the Morris alias helped conceal his past. In 1814 and 1815, he narrowly escaped detection, though he was named by fellow forger Samuel Gilbert during a sweep of a London forgery network.

Eventually, the family moved again, this time to Bristol. George found work at a warehouse but was arrested for stealing sugar. Though he was acquitted, he soon returned to Birmingham - this time with the intention of purchasing forged notes. There, he was caught and tried under his alias in 1816.

Ann Walton’s Story

George’s wife Ann Walton was born in London around 1783. At the time of George’s trial, she was living with him and their children. She stood by him through the criminal proceedings and accompanied their daughter Sarah to the colony soon after his transportation.

Little is known of her early life, but her surname, Walton, appears in London parish records in Stepney and Southwark, and may be associated with families involved in leatherwork or tailoring. Ann appears to have been literate, and in New South Wales she showed both practicality and determination - managing her household and reuniting the family under difficult conditions.

Transportation

George’s trial took place at Warwick on 12 August 1816. He was sentenced to death, but unlike Joseph, the judge recommended mercy.

Before being bundled off to New South Wales, George spent three months on the prison hulk Leviathan at Portsmouth, where he is recorded as being a “good lad” in the Gaoler’s Report. The Leviathan, once a proud 74-gun ship-of-the-line that had fought the Spanish in its glory days, had by then been converted into a floating prison moored at Portsmouth.

Here's the Leviathan still being built. It's glory days were spent fighting the Spanish before being retired to Portsmouth for use as a prison hulk...

The caption reads...
"The Royal Dockyard at Chatham
This View is taken from the Banks of the River Medway, near Upnor Castle
We can trace this Royal Yard as far back Queen Elizabeths Reign, but since that time has undergone great Alterations, and improvements, so as to become the greatest Building yard in the Kingdom. And when this view was taken, there was on the Stocks the Leviathan of 74 Guns, finished, the Ville de Paris upwards of 100 Guns Building, the Royal Charlotte nearly finished, one of the largest Ships in the World, being upwards of 2278 Tons Burden, and on the same construction and dimensions with the Royal George lately launched there, and now lying in the River Medway, and three Ships of the Line in Dock repairing.
Published Oct 29, 1789 by J & J Boydell, Cheapside & at the Shakespeare Gallery, Pall Mall London."

Following his time on the Leviathan, George spent 18 days on the prison hulk Bellerophon at Sheerness. While there, he petitioned the Governor of the Bank of England to allow his wife and children to accompany him to New South Wales. In exchange, he supplied detailed information about forgery networks in London and Birmingham. His cooperation led to further arrests.

He boarded the convict ship Morley on 20 November 1816. Under Captain Robert R. Brown and surgeon Robert Espie, the ship reached Port Jackson on 16 April 1817 - just 113 days later, with no deaths on the voyage.

George’s time on the hulks was brief, and his gaoler’s report described him as a well-behaved prisoner. His wife Ann and their three children followed him to the colony eight months later, their passage paid by the Bank of England on the strength of his cooperation.

This painting by William Adolphus Knell in 1828, titled “The ship Morley and other vessels” is held by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich but sadly it isn’t currently on display!

George must have towed the line when working as a convict. In May 1818, just over a year after his arrival he was granted a ticket of leave to work in the old family trade as shoemaker/cobbler, not a forger!

In 1821 George was given a Conditional Pardon and the next year he was granted a licence to serve alcohol at the Greyhound Inn in Castelreagh Street, Sydney.

The Australian Pub Project records that...
"The original Australian Hotel, leased to John Murray, sat at 116 Cumberland Street on land within the Observatory Hill precinct.
However, the history of the hotel’s license can be traced back to 1824, when a pub traded on George Street, next to where the Museum of Contemporary Art now stands.
The Sydney Gazette announced that the Australian Hotel was officially opened for business on George Street on August 12 1824. When the plague hit Sydney in 1900, many buildings were pulled down to prevent further outbreaks, including the Australian Hotel.
The license was then transferred to a new building at 116 Cumberland Street."

In a comment further down the page, Anne Francis notes that...
"The original Australia Hotel in George St was built by George Ennever Morris in 1824. His wife Ann (nee Walton) had been granted a license to sell liquor at the Greyhound Inn Castlereagh St in 1821. It is may be that that original license was transferred to the Australia Hotel. So the license may be earlier than 1824. George and Ann were my 4th great grandparents so I would be grateful if you have any further information related to the original Australian Hotel ( as far as I am aware the first so named in the Colony, although this may be incorrect) George’s daughter and her husband took over the Australian in 1828 White (sic) George and Ann moved to the Crown & Anchor across from Customs House."

In 1825 George sent off a very eloquent request, called a Memorial, to Governor Brisbane for a land grant. I found this part of it...

Transcription:

17th January 1825

To His Excellency Sir Thomas Brisbane K.C.B. Captain General Governor and Commander in Chief of H.M. Territory of New South Wales and its Dependencies.

The Memorial of George Morris,

Respectfully States,

That your Memorialist arrived in the Colony by Ship Morley, in the year 1816, and obtained a Conditional Pardon from His Excellency the late Governor Macquarie in the year 1821.

That your Memorialist, wife and family arrived free in this Colony shortly after himself -

That during the period of his residence here he has conducted the business of an Inn upon an extensive scale, first that of the “Greyhound Inn” Castlereagh Street and that of his present residence “The Australian Hotel” George Street, and flatters himself with some credit to himself and satisfaction to the Public.

That Memorialist is possessed of considerable Property in Houses and Cattle, but, wishing to secure the future means of support to a large Family as well as a present Grazing run for his stock, is emboldened to solicit your Excellency will be pleased to grant him such portion of Land as to your Excellency in your superior goodness may seem meet, with a view

This Memorial must have gone pretty well as this 1828 Census record shows...

Here's an explanation of the key information...
"Morris, George, 47, Morley, 1817, life, Protestant, inn-keeper, George Street Sydney, 600 acres, 70 acres, cleared, 20 acres cultivated, 4 horses, 58 horned cattle."

It seems George and Ann powered on and in 1833 he was given an Absolute Pardon. For some reason the details on the front page have been blanked out, but you'll get the idea...

I'm guessing George left Ann behind to keep things running as he boarded the Warrior and returned to England for an extended holiday where he remained for six years.

At the grand old age of sixty-one he was making his return to Australia on board the Alfred when on 25th October, 1842 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and was buried at sea.

George’s younger brother William was later imprisoned at Millbank. William’s wife Elizabeth was tried for theft in 1850 and sentenced to six months. William was eventually implicated via a traced banknote and sentenced to seven years’ transportation - commuted to Dartmoor Prison. He died in the Shoreditch workhouse in 1873.

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