ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Birth, Marriage and Death records for this man are elusive.  A search of a number of databases for a date and place of birth from 1800 to 1820 in the United Kingdom has revealed around fifty possibilities, the majority of which were in Lancashire.  Similiarly a search for marriage and death dates/places within Australia has revealed no records in WA, SA, VIC, NSW, QLD or TAS.

Nontheless, Longworth is well represented in newsprint as a witness in three very newsworthy (even infamous) Colonial events, relating to robbery, murder and mistreatment of natives. This reporting is available through the National Library of Australia’s newspaper archive TROVE (see sidebar selections).  The most serious for Longworth was that of the Commissariat robbery where he was initially apprehended as the perpertrator. He then turned Queens Evidence for the prosecution, and another man – John Wade – was arrested for the crime.  In a surprising verdict, neither the alleged thief nor Longworth as an accessory were found guilty! The trial lasted 18 hours and was reported in the Inquirer on 3rd March 1841.  The final paragraph reads: The Chairman concluded by expressing the hopes of the Bench that the jury would not suffer themselves to be tired out by the extraordinary length to which the trial had been protracted, but that they would still give the case that patient and conscientious investigation which its importance required. He also purposed to read over the evidence, but the jury declared it to be unnecessary. The jury having retired for a few minutes, declared the prisoner  ‘not guilty ‘ and he was accordingly instantly discharged from custody ; the verdict excited considerable surprise.

Longworth was also mentioned at the trial of John Gaven/Gavin for the murder of George Pollard,  Found guilty, the 15-year old ‘Parkhurst Boy’ Gaven was the first European to be executed in the Colony on 6th April 1844.  [Perth Gazette 6 & 10 Apr 1844].

Longworth was posted to Rottnest from 1st July 1844 to 30th September 1845 and was thus required as a witness at the Inquiry into the treatment of natives by Rottnest Superindent Henry Francis Vincent [Inquirer 19 Aug 1846 & Perth Gazette 5 Sep 1846].

A passenger named Longworth sailed on 9th June 1849 for an unknown destination – most likely Bunbury or the Vasse.[Perth Gazette 15 Jun 1849]. He was accompanied by ‘Williams’ who may have been Private #435 John Williams another 51st soldier who took his Army discharge in 1847, and also testified at the Rottnest investigation.