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Diamond jewellery stolen in 1851
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<p>[QUOTE="Rene_R, post: 9483693, member: 81814"]Yes, we have a timeline from his arrival in England (December 10th, 1850) all the way to his transfer to prison (June 24th, 1851), and then again from documents from Germany and Australia, covering the time from early March 1853 till his death in December 1854.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are no contemporary portraits, unfortunately. We were really trying to find one, but all we have is a single signature, and that's the only example of his handwriting known to exist. There is a photo of his older brother though, who became an industrialist in Germany in the 1870s. There are fictitious portraits in Australian school books from the 1950s and 60s, but as I said, these aren't contemporary. No engravings (these were often done in British newspapers at the time, but we haven't found one for Thonen).</p><p><br /></p><p>There are descriptions, both from Australia, and from the prison records (the closest to the images of convicts you'd see in modern cases), which say:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>5/4 </i>[that is, 5 feet 4 inches in height]<i>, fresh</i> [teint], <i>black</i> [hair], <i>healthy</i>, <i>24</i> [years old]<i>, </i>[from] <i>Elberfeld</i>, [a] <i>clerk</i> [by profession]</p><p><br /></p><p>In an 1855 book about the Eureka Rebellion, he is described like this:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>EDWARD THONEN, a native of Elbertfeld, Prussia, five feet high, some thirty years old, thin, but robust, of vigorous health, used no razor. His eyes spoke determination and independence of character. One day in November, 1853, he called with his lemonade kegs at my hole in Sailors' Gully. A mate was served with a glass of lemonade—halloo! he must help at the windlass just at the moment he was tendering payment, and the shilling fell to the ground. Some words passed to the effect that six-pence a glass should be enough for lemonade. Thonen asked for his shilling; my mate directed him where the shilling lay; Thonen would see him d—d first before picking up his money like a dustman, and went away. I sent that identical shilling (stamped 1844), along with my little gold, to Rome; most astonishing! I had the presentiment at the time that I should have had occasion to relate the story. There was no mate on the gold-fields to match Thonen at chess-playing. He would turn his head, allow his opponent the move, and then he would give such a glance on the chess board, that the right piece would jump to the right place, as it were of its own accord. Shrewd, yet honest; benevolent, but scorning the knave; of deep-thought, though prompt in action; Thonen possessed the head belonging to that cast of men whose word is their bond.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>No. It must have been between January and April, 1851. The whereabouts of that letter are unknown (it may no longer exist). London Metropolitan Archives doesn't have it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Rene_R, post: 9483693, member: 81814"]Yes, we have a timeline from his arrival in England (December 10th, 1850) all the way to his transfer to prison (June 24th, 1851), and then again from documents from Germany and Australia, covering the time from early March 1853 till his death in December 1854. There are no contemporary portraits, unfortunately. We were really trying to find one, but all we have is a single signature, and that's the only example of his handwriting known to exist. There is a photo of his older brother though, who became an industrialist in Germany in the 1870s. There are fictitious portraits in Australian school books from the 1950s and 60s, but as I said, these aren't contemporary. No engravings (these were often done in British newspapers at the time, but we haven't found one for Thonen). There are descriptions, both from Australia, and from the prison records (the closest to the images of convicts you'd see in modern cases), which say: [I]5/4 [/I][that is, 5 feet 4 inches in height][I], fresh[/I] [teint], [I]black[/I] [hair], [I]healthy[/I], [I]24[/I] [years old][I], [/I][from] [I]Elberfeld[/I], [a] [I]clerk[/I] [by profession] In an 1855 book about the Eureka Rebellion, he is described like this: [I]EDWARD THONEN, a native of Elbertfeld, Prussia, five feet high, some thirty years old, thin, but robust, of vigorous health, used no razor. His eyes spoke determination and independence of character. One day in November, 1853, he called with his lemonade kegs at my hole in Sailors' Gully. A mate was served with a glass of lemonade—halloo! he must help at the windlass just at the moment he was tendering payment, and the shilling fell to the ground. Some words passed to the effect that six-pence a glass should be enough for lemonade. Thonen asked for his shilling; my mate directed him where the shilling lay; Thonen would see him d—d first before picking up his money like a dustman, and went away. I sent that identical shilling (stamped 1844), along with my little gold, to Rome; most astonishing! I had the presentiment at the time that I should have had occasion to relate the story. There was no mate on the gold-fields to match Thonen at chess-playing. He would turn his head, allow his opponent the move, and then he would give such a glance on the chess board, that the right piece would jump to the right place, as it were of its own accord. Shrewd, yet honest; benevolent, but scorning the knave; of deep-thought, though prompt in action; Thonen possessed the head belonging to that cast of men whose word is their bond.[/I] No. It must have been between January and April, 1851. The whereabouts of that letter are unknown (it may no longer exist). London Metropolitan Archives doesn't have it.[/QUOTE]
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Diamond jewellery stolen in 1851
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