NOBLE, Archibald
ARCHIBALD NOBLE
Per ATLAS (4) 1819
At the age of 17, Archibald Noble was banished from his native shores and cast upon those of a far distant land - the penal colony of New South Wales.
No doubt young Archibald was reasonably well-known within the British Justice System as, with this probably not being his first offence, his potential was presaged and penal portage pursued.
You could say he was ahead of his time, or, conversely, that time was ahead of him as it would seem that the skills he acquired in his formative years before transportation, stood him in good stead for his years after transportation.
Archibald was disembarked in Sydney Cove in 1819 and housed in Darlinghurst Gaol. He remained in confinement and by 1822 was part of Road Gang No.19. Although he had absconded from custody in 1823, he must have sufficiently redeemed himself as he was assigned to Peter Sinclair of Newcastle in 1823 as a Government Servant/Laborer. He remained with Sinclair through 1825/6 despite a slight fall from grace by receiving 50 lashes for stealing from a Government Vessel in 1824. Eventually, having served his sentence, Archibald received his Certificate of Freedom on 28.03.1826.
The New South Wales Census of November 1928 records our now discharged felon as:
‘Noble Archibald 27 FS Atlas 4 P Laborer to J.H. Spearing Illawarra’
He was a free man, albeit temporarily.
As hinted above, all good things must end and 13th June 1831 saw Archibald again serving 6 weeks in custody in Sydney Gaol for:
‘Being concealed on the premises of William Barratt, dealer, of George Street Sydney’ followed by another stint in 1833. Yet again, in 1835, Archibald appeared in the Sydney Q.S. and received a 4 years sentence of transportation to another penal settlement and 2 months later was transported to Morton Bay. In June, 1839, with his sentence served he was returned to Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks where the trail runs cold until a mention in the archives of his being confined in Darlinghurst Gaol for 42 days in 1848.
Henceforth, Archibald appears to have faded into the background until his death in February, 1876 – our rampant recalcitrant died at the approximate age of 74 and is assumed to have been buried in Sofala, NSW.