Free Pardon for Joseph Taylor

A Free Pardon For Joseph Taylor: December 1846 Free Pardon signed by Governor Charles Fitzroy and bearing his seal, issued in favour of Taylor, a tailor, who had originally been tried at Cumberland Assizes in 1830 at the age of 16, found guilty and transported for 7 years aboard 'York' arriving at Sydney Cover in February 1831. The subject of the present Free Pardon is another event, 'Stealing in a Dwelling house' for which he was tried and convicted in the Supreme Court Sydney in July 1846 and 'had Sentence of Transportation for Seven years passed upon him...' The document indicates that 'wheras some favorable circumstances have been represented unto [Fitzroy], he is granted this pardon 'for his said crime.' Sir Charles Fitzroy was chosen as the 10th Governor of New South Wales by Lord Stanley in 1845. Fitzroy replaced Sir George Gipps as governor who had been a strong ruler but had provoked the animosity of many in the colony. It is likely that Fitzroy was chosen because he tended to be more appeasing in his approach. Fitzroy, his wife and his son arrived in the colony on board HMS Carysfort on 2 August 1846. Sir Charles remained in New South Wales for 8 years, which saw many changes take place in the Australian colonies, not the least being the first tentative steps towards Federation. In 1853, Fitzroy was appointed Governor of Van Diemen's Land, South Australia and Victoria, essentially a pre-Federation Governor-General of Australia, with wide-ranging powers to intervene in inter-colonial disputes.