Born Richard Hill in west London in 1829, reputedly the illegitimate son of a guards officer and a lady's companion,[1] he became involved in petty street crime at age 14 and was soon jailed and flogged for pickpocketing.
After 20 months of solitary confinement he was shipped to Melbourne, Australia, arriving in September 1847.
[2] In 1852, he was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for armed highway robbery, and he was released in October 1861.
On 12 June 1866, James Battle was murdered on the Maungatapu track by Burgess and four others, known as the 'Burgess gang'.
In court Burgess boasted of committing nine murders; he wrote his memoirs while awaiting trial.