James Hasleby

Who was James Hasleby?

James Hasleby, was an English convict transported to Western Australia. He was one of only 37 convicts transported to the colony to overcome the social stigma of convictism to become schoolteachers, and one of only four convicts to be elected a member of a local Education Board. Notably, given his previous conviction at the Old Bailey, in 1893 he was appointed Clerk of the Local Court at Northampton.

Little is known of James Hasleby's early life. Born in 1833, he worked as a clerk. At the Old Bailey in February 1864 he pleaded guilty to three indictments for embezzlement, after a former conviction at Preston in October, 1856 and was sentenced to eight years penal servitude.

Hasleby was transported to Western Australia on board the Norwood, arriving in July 1867. He received a ticket of leave in 1868, and taught at the Greenhills School, now Irishtown, near Northam until receiving a Conditional Pardon in 1870, when he resigned from teaching. He received his Certificate of Freedom in 1872. In 1873 he advertised himself as a storekeeper and in October 1873 leased the Avon Bridge Hotel. He employed a number of ticket of leave convicts in his businesses.