James HARDMAN
James HARDMAN
New South Wales
Corporal
Regd. # ?
Stations: Bathurst Mounted Police
Awards: ?
Service: From ? to 9 August 1836
Born: ?
Died: 9 August 1836
Age: 27 old
Cause: Shot – Murdered
Location: near Bathurst
Date of event: 9 August, 1836
Funeral date: ?
Funeral location: ?
Grave location: ?
[alert_green]James IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_green]
( Dabee – as mentioned on the touch plate, is an area near Rylstone / Kandos, NSW which is part of the Mudgee area. There is also a property by the name of Dabee in the Kandos region )
Mounted Trooper Hardman ( formerly of the 17th and 28th Regiments ) was shot to death by bushrangers near Bathurst, however few details are known other than those contained in a couple of brief newspaper articles of the time. A reward of fifty pounds, or a conditional pardon, was offered on 22 October, 1836 for information leading to the apprehension of those who had ” most wickedly and barbarously murdered “ Corporal Hardman in August of that year.
The Sydney Morning Herald of 7 November, 1836 reported that ” On Saturday, Alexander Lambert was convicted of aiding and assisting in the wilful murder of Corporal Hardman of the Mounted Police. The deceased and another policeman were in the act of apprehending the prisoner, when another bushranger [ John Halloran ] who was in company with him, fired at Hardman, and shot him dead, and then made his escape. Lambert is to be executed this morning. ”
Halloran was later arrested and the Sydney Monitor of 22 May, 1837 carried the following, slightly cryptic, story.
John Halloran, charged with the murder of a mounted policeman.
The Attorney-General stated, that in consequence of a person named Kenny swearing that the prisoner was the man who fired the shot which killed the policeman, he was committed for trial on the 2nd February, but the day before Sessions, from the evidence obtained, it appeared improbable that the prisoner could have fired the shot. Their Honors then directed the case stand over, but ordered that strict enquiry should be made into the circumstances.
At the time of his death the trooper was 27 years of age and was attached to the Bathurst Mounted Police. He is sometimes referred to as Harman or Harding.
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