Joseph Horrocks

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Joseph Lucas Horrocks (1805–October 1866) was a convict transported to Western Australia in 1852, who established the town of Northampton.

Joseph Horrocks was born in Cornwall in 1805. Little is known of his early life, except that he was well-educated, that at some point he worked as a sick bay attendant in the Royal Navy, and that he later owned a merchandising business.

Horrocks was convicted of forgery and sentenced to fourteen years transportation. He arrived in Western Australia on board the Marion in January 1852. He earned his ticket of leave in June 1853, and chose to work out of the Port Gregory convict depot. He became the depot's unofficial medical superintendent, as no qualified person was available to fill the position, and Horrocks had experience as a sick bay attendant. Horrocks earned his conditional pardon in April 1856, and set up as a storekeeper and postmaster, while continuing to provide for the community's medical needs, free of charge.

In 1859, Horrocks took up a hundred acres of land, and, with the help of George Shenton Sr, began to develop a copper mine which he named "Gwalla". Between 1862 and 1856, he employed sixty ticket-of-leave men on the mine. He had a road surveyed, along which he built stone cottages which he leased to the married miners at low rent. He encouraged agriculture, experimenting with various crops. In 1861 he began construction of the colony's first interdenominational church, which was opened in October 1864. In November 1863 he applied to the Government for an acre of land for a schoolhouse and garden. The school was completed in 1966. Horrocks died in October 1866. The town of "Gwalla" became Northampton.

[edit] References

• Erickson, Rica (1983). "Joseph Lucas Horrocks", in Erickson, Rica (ed): The Brand on His Coat: Biographies of some Western Australian Convicts. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press, pp. 224–227. ISBN 0-85564-223-8. 
• Gibbs, Martin. 1997 Landscapes of Meaning - Joseph Lucas Horrocks and the Gwalla Estate, Northampton, Western Australia. Historical Traces: Studies in Western Australian History,No. 17: 35-60, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands.

Persondata
NAME	Horrocks, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	convict
DATE OF BIRTH	1805
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cornwall
DATE OF DEATH	October 1866
PLACE OF DEATH	Northampton, Western Australia