Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 23:24
KELLY, Thomas
(1825–66).
Maungatapu murderer.
Thomas Kelly, alias Noon, alias Hannon, was born in Old Street, St. Luke's Parish, London, of poor but respectable Catholic parents, and attended school with Sullivan's younger brothers. He was apprenticed to Duggan, a tailor, where he committed many petty thefts. Transported for seven years for burglary, he was released in 1849, and went to the Victorian diggings where he consorted with Gardiner the bushranger. In 1854 Kelly and his brother, then serving sentences for robbery, were tried for the murder of Marcus, a publican at Oven's diggings, for which Kelly's brother was executed. Kelly came to Otago in 1861 where his subsequent career paralleled that of Burgess. Although a hardened criminal, Kelly lacked emotional stability, and collapsed on being sentenced. He was executed in Nelson Gaol on 5 October 1866, along with Burgess and Levy; Sullivan, the fourth member of the gang, was reprieved.
by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.