Early Life in England
Henry Savery was born in Somerset, England into the family of a well to do banker. Little else is known of his early years. He married Eliza Elliott Oliver, daughter of a London business man and their only son was born in 1816. His attempts to earn a living were unsuccessful, a sugar-refining business being declared bankrupt in 1819 and proprietorship of the newspaper The Bristol Observer lasting only a little over two years. But his return to sugar-refining ended in catastrophe.
Probably because he could not admit having overextended the firm's commitments to his partner, he began trading in forged bills of credit which eventually amounted to over £30,000. His partner called the authorities when he absconded with £1500 and he was arrested on 9 December, having jumped from the boat that was to take him to America. While in prison his behaviour was so erratic that his trial had to be postponed. But on 2 April 1825 he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to hang on the 22nd of the same month ref. Through influential friends this was commuted to transportation, only a day before his execution was due. Sometime in August he departed England for the last time on the ship Medway with 171 other convicts.
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