John Graham Knatchbull (1789 – 13 February 1844) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He later became a convict who was transported to New South Wales in 1824, where Knatchbull was convicted of murder in January 1844 and executed in Sydney.

Knatchbull was born into the landed gentry. His father directed his education towards a career in the British navy, which he joined as a volunteer in 1804, aged fourteen, in the early period of the Napoleonic Wars. He was appointed a midshipman in 1806, rising to the rank of lieutenant in 1810. He briefly commanded the sloop HMS Doterel, sailing the vessel from the West Indies to England via the Azores in 1815. After the defeat of the French army at Waterloo in June 1815, Knatchbull was retired on half-pay. In 1818 he was removed from the Naval List in consequence of an unpaid debt he had incurred in April 1815 when his vessel had been stationed at the Azores.

In August 1824 Knatchbull was apprehended by the police and found in possession of a stolen sovereign and blank cheque. He was tried under the name of 'John Fitch' and sentenced to transportation for fourteen years in the colony of New South Wales. He was assigned to various employers in areas west of Sydney. In February 1832 he was convicted of forging a bank draft, for which he received an addition sentence of seven years on the Norfolk Island penal settlement. During the voyage to Norfolk Island and his time on the island Knatchbull was involved in two separate attempted mutinies, though his role in both was probably connected with his potential usefulness as a seaman and in both cases he was not identified or punished as a ringleader.

Knatchbull was returned to Sydney in May 1839 to serve out the remainder of his original sentence. He was sent from there to Port Macquarie. By 1843 he was employed on coasting vessels owned by Thomas Lewis, operating between Port Macquarie and Sydney. By the end of the year Lewis had become insolvent and Knatchbull was living in Sydney.

In January 1844 Knatchbull fatally wounded Ellen Jamieson with a tomahawk, in the process of robbing the small shop she operated from her residence in Sydney. He was apprehended at the scene by vigilant neighbours. Mrs. Jamieson, a widow with two small children, died from her wounds after eleven days and Knatchbull was charged with murder. He was tried on 24 January 1844. His defence counsel, Robert Lowe, attempted to prove that Knatchbull had committed the murder while in a state of "moral insanity" (at that stage a novel legal defence). The prisoner was found guilty and sentenced to death. Knatchbull was publicly hanged on 13 February 1844, on gallows erected outside the gaol on Darlinghurst Hill.

Biography

Early years

John Knatchbull was born into a family of the landed gentry of county Kent in England. He was born in 1789 on the 'Provender' estate at Norton in Kent, the third son (and one of eight children) of Sir Edward Knatchbull and his second wife, Frances (née Graham).Colin Roderick (1963), pages 14, 29, 137-139. His father became the eighth in a line of baronets in 1789 and inherited the Knatchbull family estate at Mersham, south-east of Ashford, with a mansion house known as 'Mersham Hatch' or 'Mersham-le-Hatch' (completed in 1763).'Mersham Hatch, Kent' (in) John Preston Neale (1824), Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen, in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, Second Series, Vol. III, London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, pages 63-66.

John Knatchbull's mother died in November 1799.Colin Roderick (1963), page 138. John and his siblings were then placed under the care of a governess, Miss Verney. He received his first formal education at Rev. Stoddart's Grammar School at nearby Ashford.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 30, 254. Later, after his father had decided that John should be educated for the Royal Navy, he was sent to Rev. Dr. Charles Burney's school at Greenwich in south-east London, the master of which was described by Knatchbull as "a very hostile man, proud in the extreme, and very severe in his discipline".Colin Roderick (1963), page 30-31.

Royal Navy

In August 1804, when he was aged fourteen, Knatchbull entered into service in the Royal Navy as a 'volunteer', a customary manner of naval enlistment for the younger sons of gentlemen. His first ship was HMS Ardent, commanded by Captain Winthrop, being used as a supply vessel for the Royal Navy fleet involved in a naval assault and blockade of the fortified French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, during the war against Napoleonic France.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 36, 341. Knatchbull joined the crew of HMS Revenge from April to June 1805. He was then briefly aboard HMS Zealand, before being transferred to HMS Sybille in July 1805 under Captain Winthrop. Sybille was a frigate-class vessel and was being filled out at Deptford in the period July to November 1805. In April 1806 Knatchbull was appointed as a midshipman, and continued to serve on Sybille until the end of June 1807, mainly patrolling off the Azores and occasionally returning to Plymouth to be refitted.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 42, 143-145.Christopher Simon Sykes (1983), Black Sheep, New York: The Viking Press, page 150.

In July 1807 Knatchbull was briefly transferred to HMS Téméraire, a Royal Navy warship renowned for its involvement in the battle of Trafalgar in October 1805. He was aboard HMS Pompée during the British bombardment of Copenhagen and seizure of the Danish fleet in August and September 1807. In November 1807 he served on the hospital ship HMS Matilda, before going on a month's leave.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 145-146. In early January 1808 Knatchbull joined HMS Leonidas under Captain James Dunbar, which was involved in active service in the Mediterranean. He was transferred to HMS Cumberland in November 1808 and served on HMS Ocean from April to July 1809.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 146-147. In July 1809 Knatchbull was transferred to HMS Ajax, a new vessel launched only two months previously. In October Ajax left in a large convoy of ships for the Mediterranean, where it became involved in various actions against French forces, using the port of Mahón on the island of Menorca as a base.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 148-150.

At Mahón in November 1810 Knatchbull passed his examination for promotion to the rank of lieutenant. He was commissioned as acting lieutenant by Sir Charles Cotton, commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet, and appointed to HMS Shearwater, which became engaged in the harassment of enemy forces along the eastern coast of Spain. Knatchbull was confirmed to the rank of lieutenant in December 1810.John Knatchbull (1792–1844), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 31 January 2025. Knatchbull claimed to have been wounded during his period as a crew-member of Shearwater. In about July 1812 he was given charge of a mortar-boat, a vessel armed with mortars, used for bombarding fixed positions on land. During the bombardment of a French encampment on the Spanish coast the boat was hit by a shell, destroying the vessel and killing several of the crew.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 50-52. Knatchbull was invalided back to England in August 1812 and remained on the sick list until April 1813. He was transferred to the crew of HMS Benbow at Woolwich in mid-May. In November 1813 he was transferred to HMS Queen.Colin Roderick (1963), page 151.

In December 1813, Knatchbull was commissioned to command the sloop HMS Doterel, on service in the West Indies. He left Queen at Portsmouth and obtained a passage for the West Indies aboard Garthland, arriving at Carlisle Bay, Barbados. Upon arrival Knatchbull discovered that Doterel had sailed for Bermuda a week previously. He obtained lodgings in the township, but became bed-ridden with yellow fever. Knatchbull's commission was cancelled in January 1814 and lieutenant Daniel Stow was appointed acting commander of Doterel in his place, during which the vessel engaged in skirmishes against American ships. Knatchbull's own account of his life states that he had joined and taken command of Doterel during this period, but this does not accord with the official records. Naval records indicate that Knatchbull was re-appointed as lieutenant in command of Doterel in early September 1814, when the sloop was being re-fitted at Halifax in Nova Scotia. His command on this occasion was short-lived, as on 28 September Captain Wrayford relieved him of the position and Knatchbull did not resume command of Doterel until 1 January 1815.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 66-67, 151-152.

In March 1815, Doterel sailed from Halifax to Bermuda, with her officers listed as John Knatchbull (captain) and Daniel Stowe (first lieutenant). After refitting she sailed from Bermuda for the Azores, where she patrolled during April and early May 1815. Doterel arrived back in English waters in mid-May and entered Portsmouth harbour to refit.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 153-154. The battle of Waterloo in June 1815, resulting in the defeat of the French army by coalition forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington, marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars and was a major turning point in Knatchbull's life. After Waterloo the Admiralty undertook a rapid reduction in the Royal Navy. In early September 1815 Knatchbull mustered the crew of Doterel and paid them off. In November the sloop was put out of service and taken from Portsmouth to the Chatham dockyard, with Knatchbull still in command. In December 1815 he was retired on half-pay, receiving thereafter eight shillings and sixpence per day. Knatchbull remained on the list of retired commanders until March 1818.

In April 1817 Thomas Parkin, the British vice-consul at Fayal in the Azores, wrote to the Admiralty to advise them of an unpaid debt owed to him by Knatchbull. The debt had been incurred in April 1815 when Doterel was stationed at the Azores. Knatchbull had persuaded Parkin to supply him with casks of wine, payable by bills upon Knatchbull's agent in London. His agent had refused payment and, after two years of "re-exchange, protests, commission, interest and postage incurred", Parkin was claiming a total debt of £355, payable by the Admiralty. The secretary of the Admiralty wrote to Knatchbull directing him to explain "the charge of so discreditable a nature". Knatchbull replied by claiming part of the debt had been paid, and he would pay the remainder when convenient, as it was "merely a debt of one gentleman to another and not an uncommon thing in the world". In September 1817 Parkin again wrote to the Admiralty, enclosing a demand for payment to be forwarded to Knatchbull. The Admiralty then ordered the navy board to stop Knatchbull's half-pay "until his original debt to the vice-consul shall be discharged". In February 1818 Knatchbull wrote to the Admiralty claiming his debt to Parkin was "an entirely private affair" and asked that his half-pay be resumed. The matter was then re-considered and it was concluded that Knatchbull's "conduct was unbecoming the character of an officer" and his name was removed from the Royal Navy list.Colin Roderick (1963), pages 154-156.

Crime and transportation

Little is known of Knatchbull's life in the period 1818 to June 1824. His biographer, Colin Roderick, suggests it was unlikely Knatchbull found steady employment during these years, given the large number of unemployed seamen in Britain after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. In his memoirs Knatchbull claims to have fought against the Spanish in South America, with the mercenary forces led by Thomas Cochrane, during the period 1818 and much of 1819. Knatchbull claimed he was involved "in many different engagements under the Venezuelan flag".Colin Roderick (1963), pages 72-73, 158-161.