Dorchester Assizes (Shire Hall, Dorchester) - Site of Trial of Joseph Feltham & George Smith

Old Shire Hall, High West St, Dorchester
Old Location of Dorchester Assizes and Crown Court
[Copyright Nigel Mykura, reuse under Creative Commons Licence.]

Joseph Feltham and George Smith were tried for housebreaking at Dorchester Assizes on the 13th March 1850. At that time the courthouse was at the Old Shire Hall. This location was also the site of the court trial for the 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' in 1834. The actual courtroom used for my trial and also earlier for the 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' is shown below. The judge for our trial in 1850 was Thomas Noon Talfourd.


Old Shire Hall Courtroom

The Blog Of Joseph Wheeler Feltham dec.

I am Joseph Wheeler Feltham dec., born Joseph Feltham 1831, originally from England, near Wimborne. I was tried and convicted of burglary at Dorchester on the 13th March 1850 and spent time in prison before being sent to Tasmania as a convict. I was shipped to Tasmania on the convict ship the Equestrian, leaving Plymouth on the 1st of September 1852 and arriving in Hobart on the 16th of December 1852. I was never to return to mother England.

This blog is about my life, ancestors, descendents and perceptions.