Portal:Toodyay Letters

Papers of William Sykes at the Battye Library

 * 1) Letter to William Sykes at Portsmouth Prison from Charles Hargreaves (1867)
 * 2) Letter to William Sykes at Portsmouth Prison from Myra Sykes (15 March 1867)
 * 3) Letter to William Sykes at Portsmouth Prison from Myra Sykes (19 March 1867)
 * 4) Letter to William Sykes at Portsmouth Prison from Myra Sykes (8 April 1867)
 * 5) Brief notes of the voyage to WA on the convict ship Norwood arrived Fremantle. No name, probably by William Sykes (13 July 1867)
 * 6) Letter to William Sykes at Western Australia from Myra Sykes (20 September 1868)
 * 7) Letter to William Sykes at Western Australia from Myra Sykes (4 November 1869)
 * 8) Letter to William Sykes at Western Australia from Myra Sykes (11 April 1875)
 * 9) Letter to William Sykes at Western Australia from son William (20 October 1875)
 * 10) Envelope to William Sykes, Newcastle, Western Australia. Stamped Rotherham JA19 76 (19 January 1876)
 * 11) Letter to the Hon. Acting Comptroller General at Western Australia from William Sykes (26 January 1876)
 * 12) Letter to William Sykes, well sinker, at Western Australia from James Ward (14 May 1879)
 * 13) Letter to William Sykes at Western Australia from Myra Sykes (1870s?) - Mentions daughter Anne had a baby
 * 14) Letter to William Sykes at Western Australia from Myra Sykes (9 March 1889?) - Mentions son Alfred to have a baby
 * 15) Envelope to Newcastle Toodyay Western Australia. Stamped MR 5 90 Greasboro [Greasbrough] Partial envelope, no name (5 March 1890)
 * 16) List of articles sent in box. Food to William Sykes (1867)
 * 17) List of articles. Clothing to William Sykes (1867)

1
15 March 1867 Dear husband i rite these few line to you hopeing to find you better than it leaves us at present i have been very uneasy sinse you did not rite my children cried When we got no leter Mrs Bone has got two leters sinse i got one will you please to rite to me and send me wird how you are getting on i have bilt myself up thinking i shall get

to you some time or another My mother sends her best love to you she had been very ill but she is better at present we all send hour kind love to you we all regret very much for you i hope their will be a lighting for you yet Woodhouse has been for giving hiself up severl times when he has been in drink i hope he will your John and Emma send their love to you we have wished scores

of time you was comeing in to the house we should syuse you to deth for we could like to see that Jhon ward lives next door to us he sends his respects to you his Wife his pius womman

she talks about you very often Joshua Sykes has sent word for me to go to their house but i have not had time to go you must not delay riteing if you can it will ease my mind if you can

if it ever lays in your power to send for us when you get abroad i would freely sell all up to come to you if i possibly could for health

Dear farther do pleas to writ to is i Sends one 100 kiss for you thirza Sykes a kiss will xxxxx Ann Sykes sends Dear xxxxx father i send a 100 kiss for you Alfredd sens kiss kinds Love to you    Masbro Midland Road 33

2
Masbro' 19 March 1867 My dear Husband&mdash; I have this afternoon received your letter and am glad to hear from you&mdash;I heard yesterday that there was a letter from you at Park-gate and wrote off immediately to the Governor of the Portsmouth prison asking him to kindly send me word if he could what was the latest day I could see you, as I do not see how I could pos sibly undertake the journey this week, being without mo ney, If I had received you

letter on Saturday, it was the reconing and I would have done my best to contrive it&mdash; But if you do not leave before the next reconing I will come if I come alone for none of them say anuthing about coming them- selves, or assisting me to do so either so far. I feel it as much as you do to be very hard for you to be where you are and Woodhouse at liberty, but rest assured whether I git to see you or not I hope that when you arrive at your journeys end you will not forget us, for we are always thinking about you. I hope the

governor will either send me a reply or allow you to do so, for I will leave no means untried to get to see you if there is time but if I was at the expense only to be too late when I got there it will be a serious loss to me situated as I am. I feel greatly hurt that you should send your letters to you Brothers & Sisters before me&mdash;for although we are separated there is no one I value and regard equal to you&mdash;and I should like you to still have the same feeling towards me,

and if there is ever a chance of our being permitted to join you again even though it be in a far off land, both the children and myself will most gladly do so&mdash;Mr Bone has written to his wife to get the childrens likenesses taken for him

to take away with him I should like you to have ours if you are allowed the same privilige Will you let me know? I cannot give you up. I live in the hope of our being together again somewhere before we end our days&mdash;My best love to you, the children also send their love to you, and love and remembrance from all friends your affectionate wife&mdash;Myra Sykes

3
This is intended for WIlliam Sykes number 283 Portsmouth Prison

Sir

Governor of this prison Sir it is not my wish or will to go against the rules or Regulations of this Prison and I hope and trust through your instumentality that William Sykes Convict number 283 will receive this into his hands and i hope it will not miss his heart and i wish to inform him that his wife and children Brothers and Sisters are all well at present for ought i know we send our dearst and kindest respects to you hoping it will find you in good health, William my advice to you is that you obey all that are in authority over you and Let your conduct be good and try to gain that which lost i mean your character Let me beg of you to pray to our heavenly father and his son Jesus Christ to give you a clean heart and right spirit within and then all your troubles and anxieties of this world will be small when compared with the Joy and happiness of that bright world above William I hope you are aware that our Blessed Lord has Caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning and God Grant that we may hear and read them and not to read them only but to do what they teach us and then when the swelling of Jordan overtakes us may we be ready to meet our saviour and him be ready to convey us through the valley and shadow of death to our heavenly father arms there everlasting to dwell with him Dear Brother i ask you to seek for Christian salvation which

means deliverance from something that is feared or suffered and it is therefore a term of very general application, but in reference to our spiritual condition it means deliverance from those evils with which we are afflicted in consequence of our departure from God it implies deliverance from ignorance from ignorance of God, the first and the last the greatest and the wisest, the holiest and the best of being, the maker of all things, the centre of all perfection, the fountain of all happiness, ignorant of God we cannot give him acceptable worship we cannot rightly obey his will we cannot hold communion with him here we cannot be prepared for the enjoyment of his presence hereafter But from this ignorance we are rescued by the salvation of the Gospel, which reveals God to us which makes us acquainted with his nature, his attributes his character, his government and which especially unfolds to us that scheme of mercy in which he has most clearly manifested his glory it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wate for the salvation of the Lord. William a few more words when they was leading Jesus to the cross and there followed a great company of people which also bewailed and lamented him but Jesus turning unto them said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for yourselves

Well William in conclusion i will say a little about the contents of your letter. i believe you said your children was the strings of your heart now i say let Christ be the strings of your heart i believe you went on to say that wentworth was your place of birth and i say let Christ be your salvation.

William your brother John sends his best respects to you hopeing the advice Given will have a good effect your sister Rebecca sends her love to you and trusts she will see you again before death do you part and your sister Elizabeth sends her kindest love to you wish you to behave yourself under your present situation and as for me C Charles Hargreaves my desire is to point you to the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and trust in Christ as your Physician for it is through him we Live and move and have our being Dear William your brother John would give your little boy a good school education but you Dear Wife cannot find time to send him to school i conclude with the blessing of God almighty the father the son and the holy Ghost may remain with you both now and for ever amen i trust the governor of this Prison is a kindhearted Man Charles Hargreaves Park Gate near Rotheram Yorkshire.

4
Masbro' 8 April 1867 My dear Husband&mdash; I have this day sent off a box for you which I hope you will receive safely&mdash;I have sent you all that I possibly could and am only sorry that it is not in my power to send you more&mdash;as soon as I received your letter I took it to Elizabeth&mdash;She has sent you two of the smallest spice loaves, and gave me 1s towards the expenses&mash;Then I went to Rebecca and she could not do anything towards

it. Emma has sent the other spice loaf and mince pie&mdash;&amp; Elizabeth the testament and tract, and John the other two books, and the remainder I I have sent myself&mdash;I hope you will write back the very first opportunity to let me know if you have received it. I have paid 4/6 carriage to Bristol they will send us word what it costs from there to the ship, and John will pay that, I should like you to write as often as ever you can, and when you write next

send word whether a few post age stamps will be of any use to you&mdash;I walked to Shef field yesterday morning in the hope of getting a good shut knife for you, but could not meet with any of them Sailor Bill is very well but I did not see him, and Chas Salt has good into the North and Edw. Uttley sends his best respects to you. If Saturday had been pay day I might perhaps have been able to get a trifle more for you I called

at John Cliffs they sent their love to you & Mrs sent an ounce of Tobacco&mdash;We also send our best love to you and the children all wish they were going in the same ship with their Father. I have enclosed you a list of the articles in the box and M.... encloses a packet of needles with his respects&mdash;If you have the chance to earn any money in Australia you must save it all up and I will do the same, that if there is a chance of our rejoin ing you we may be able to do so.

Be sure to write and let me know if you have recd the box for I shall not be easy in my mind until I hear from you again&mdash;Remaining the best love and wishes for your welfare. Your affectionate wife&mdash;Myra Sykes.

5
Masbrough 20 September 1868 Dear Husband I take this oportune -ty of writing you these few lines to you to let you know that I receved your letter dated the July the fifth 1868 Dear Husband I was glad to heir that you were well and in good

(bottom of page torn)

whither I had got one from you or not and that put me about for I thought that something had happened to you because their was no letters for me and I was much further put about when I receved your letter when it was a week amongst them before I got it Dear husband when you write again send me word what sort of a pashege you had when you were going out and send word whither you got that box that I sent you when you were leving this country for you never said in your letter whither you got it or not I am very sorry to be

(page missing)

Old house still and they all

send their kind love to you and Edward Huttley and his wife sends their kind love also and your daughter Ann is in place and doing well and Afread is working in the &mdash;al mill and he gets 10 pence per day Ann Thurza Alf William sends their kind love to you but William has got long white curly hair and he

was not called William for nothing for he is a little rip right and your Brothers and sisters sends their kind love to you and their was another

(page torn)

This took place on Lord Warncliffs Eastart the Keepper was Shot. Berdshaws father took it so much to heard that he went and through himself on the rails and the trains past over him and Kiled him Dear Husband when you write again Derect your letter to Mrs Sykes No 39 Midland Road Masbrough

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Greasbrough 4 Nov 1869 Dear Husband I take this opertunety of writing you these few lines to let you know that me and all the Children are all well hoping that when you receve this letter you will be in good helgth as this leves us all at present thank God for his kindness to us all Dear Husband it has been three weeks since I hard that their was a letter came to your Sister and I did went to the post office to see whether it was right or not and I found out that their had been one but I have never seen it yet and Ann had seen whether hir Ant Bacer would not let hir see the letter but

She said that she would not let me nor hir see the letter so the children has taken it greatly to heart and they are never done speaking about it and they never gave me any pease since but I have been waiting with the greates of pacientes till they had all seen your letter that I might know how to write to you but they will not give it up so the children would have Me write to you without Seeing your letter but Ann is the worst of them all about it and She is bothered greatly About it every day in hir life about it wheir she is serving for all your old friends in Gresbrough they are wanting to

know how you are geting on their is some of your old friends in the house where she is every night of the week that is in Harriss But Dear Husband I cannot tell what they have all got against me for I have never yet bothered them for nothing since you lef us all But Dear Husband I have work ed hur for my Children and myself Since you went I have done my uttermost to bring them up as well as any other persons Children about the place and I have done so yet thank God

We are living in Gresbrough and Alf is in the pit working and Ann is place and Thurza and William is going to the School and by the time I get a letter from you I hope Thiza will be able to write to you Dear Husband my brother Alfred is always bad the same as my Brother Manuel was before he died and he sends his kind love to you and all our familey does the same Ho and I had my Brother Ellis and his son Lodging with me for some time but they went back to Bannesley the work was slack there but it is much better now

7
9 March Dear Husban I been long In writing to you I hope you will forgive I receved you letter and was plesed with it I think you mite send me more work wot your doing I hope this will find you in good health as it leves us at present I want you to sent a line to Alfred he is geting up likes to go to the public But is not a Bad lad to me and I expect you will be a grandfather of to Wenn this Letter arrive at you Ann on Again she is not very good Luck lost a dule of time from binn poly but he Lucking well my littel Bill as as been very poly he is Better and Looks well

I want to now if you Write to your brother Jos i have seen him ons I think cince you went away I hearit say that if Mr Mondeller git in the elictions for Sheffield that he wood be abel to have some convesation with him and try to do something for you it harte Bricks me to write like this if the prodigal son cud come Buck to his home wons more thare woold me a rejoicing I must tel you that my brother Herbit as as got very bad Brunt I expecte as been getting Drunk linge on the flor I have not been to see him I must tell you that Mr Mondeller got in for Sheffield and I hope he will do you good

and you mencend about Lucking yong I thort you did when I saw you at Leeds my hart Broke neley wenn I felt your hand bing so soft. Dear Husban you wood be seprice to see Wot a grit fine lucking girl Tirza is it will be my Birth day on Tuensday 17 of March as for my self I not lucking very well at present Brother and sister sends there best love to you John tell friends ofen ask if i ever hear of John thay not yet Alfred is in the Woinbel main pit and Ann Husban and my Brother Ellis Alfred full week 19 6 pence he minden genger

Ann Husban say He Wood Work Hard for you to come hom if it cud be Done and my and my Dear Husban I sends my nearest and Dearest Love to you and all the children with A 1000 Loves and kiss wish We may meet again ho that We cold in this World

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11 April 1875 Dear Husband I writ these few lines to you hoping to find you well ass it leaves us at present we receved your letter dated 12th of January and was glad to recieved it and we recived your letters you directed to kit royal I dont douted but you have rote a many letters that I never heard tell of I wonce was thee years and had not had a a letter... your relations said that you was Dead I went to Rotherham townshall and asked if they knew wheather you was dead or not one of the police sade he heard you was desd

I put the chealdren and my self in black for you my little Tirza went to the first place in deap Black then I heard that your sister Elizabeth had got a letter from you my daughter Ann went to see if they had told her that you was all rite and and they told her that ther letter had gone to Sheffild she could not see it that wan the time you wass directed them to your sister Dear Husband Elizabeth fected the Bible and Robinson crewsaw while I was at the Leeds asices I bleve John has them John is living at the barrow in farnsess in Yorth

I donth now drections I lent Rebacca five shiling to go to Leeds with and never gave that back I had to do the best way I coud for my cheldren and my self Dear Husband cant express myself to you but I hoap to see you wonse more seeted in corner I will the beest for you if it coms to pass Some days I feel pretty cheeful and other very sad sad But I think it is owing my age well I must tell you that Ann geting Again for A nother and am sorry to tel you that he is not one of the best of Husban

Dear Husban I must tell my Alfred I beleve is toler than you peple is seprsed with him Thirza I belive she not far off 11 stone william nist boy he does not luse a inch of is ight but Ann she would be cross with me if new I sent you wird I dont think he is veary fond of work he is a unculted man peter Looffield very best respect to you he doing well he Loves that house that Tamer selars ned Utley sends love to you My brothers and Sister best Love&mdash; xxxxx xxxxx Luke Booth send is respects he live at the wite house ould Mr Crssland

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20 October 1875 Dear father I write these few lines hopeing to find you better than it leaves us at pressent my mother as been very ill and me my self and I am a bit better Dear father we think you have quite forgot us all my sister Ann takes it hard at you not writing oftener I must tel you that sister Ann as to nice boys the oldest is a fine little fellow well I must tell you what a stout young man my brother Alfred as got and Thirza is a stout young womman poor Ann is very thin Ann usband and Alfred works at aldwarke

Main pit Edward Utley sends his kindest love to you he as a large famuley they have nine children uncles and hants sends there kindest love to you we dont live far from hand rebacco france I often play with there little boy my hant often say I am like my father there oldest boy William as been dead fifteen mounths my uncle John as been over from barring furnace and he looked very well very well Dear father you woul Would hardly know Greasbrough now if you seed it we have got a new congregational church and I go to that school

Dear father Mother would like to no if they would alow you our likeness Dear father you never name me in you letters but I can sit down and write a letter to you now Dear father my mother wants to now if you ever hear of been sat free we all send kindest and dearest love to you and God bless you and 1,000 kisses for our Dear father from your Dear son William

10
Dear Husband I am grvd to my hard A bout my Ann I have had her Both times of her confindments and Ly shee gating on gain We hall sends our nearst and dearst Love to you with A 1000 kiss Dear Husband you must excuse writing

11


May 14$th$ 1879 To Well Sinkers in care of Mr C. Adams

William Sykes&mdash;

When I went to New- castle I looked at the Agreement and I find you and your mate were right in what you said 5 shilling foot for every five feet I did not beleive that I made that bargain with yous but I see now that I did. W.T.

I am quite willing to settle to settle with you when I here from either of yous yous plase send word    your James Ward