Sadly, there is no shortage of candidates for this week’s
blog. All of the convicts I have
researched in Paul’s family were thieves.
The first to arrive was 4 x great grandfather Peter
McCann, aged about 30, who came on the convict ship Minerva
which left Cork on 24 August 1799 and landed in Sydney Cove on 11 January
1800. We do not know the nature of
Peter’s theft, but he was tried at Monaghan, Ireland and sentenced to 7 years. This was a standard sentence – in reality
very few convicts ever returned to their native lands.
In Sydney, Peter met Mary Fitzgerald, who had arrived
on the Atlas 1 in 1802.
Mary was only 16 at the time of her arrest and trial, in Waterford,
Ireland. She was given 7 years, and sentenced
with her, for the same crime, was Eleanor Fitzgerald, aged 31. We have never been able to ascertain whether
Eleanor was Mary’s mother or sister or aunt, or another relative but they
remained close throughout Eleanor’s life.
The Atlas 1 was a hell ship. Of the 179 convicts who embarked, three died
before the voyage began and another 63 men and 2 women died at sea. Four more died before the ship made anchor and
the large number of deaths resulted in an official inquiry which found that
Captain Brooks had been greedy and negligent,*(1) although he managed to escape
punishment.
Peter and Mary had two children before Peter drowned at
Windsor, NSW in 1806. Their eldest
child, Nicholas married Catherine Johnston in 1826. Catherine had arrived in the colony at the
age of 6 with her mother, Rosetta Johnston, (4 x great grandmother) who
was transported for 7 years for stealing.
Rosetta was born in County Louth, Ireland in about 1787 and tried at
Surrey Assizes in March 1814. She stole
“three pieces of sheeting, value 27 shillings, and one shawl, value 30
shillings.
Rosetta and Catherine travelled on the Northampton which
arrived in June 1815. Dr Joseph Arnold
had been appointed Ship’s Surgeon on the Northampton, which no doubt accounts
for its low mortality rate (4 deaths).
The surgeon reported to Governor Macquarie:
“I have the honour to report to your Excellency that Anne
Williams, Anne Watling and Rose Johnson, three convicts embarked in this Ship,
have made themselves useful during the voyage as attendants on the sick, and
have acquitted themselves to my satisfaction.”
Rosetta met and married John Beale *(2) in the
colony; their marriage performed by the infamous Samuel Marsden (“the flogging
parson”), and four months later Catherine was discharged from the Female
Orphanage at Parramatta into their care.
Although John Beale was not a blood ancestor, he made such
an impact on the family that two generations later, one of Charles and Mary
McCann’s sons was named “John Beale McCann”
Charles and Mary’s eldest son, Charles William McCann was
Paul’s great grandfather. His wife,
Esther was also descended from convicts.
Her mother, Lavinia Roberts was the daughter of William Roberts and
Agnes McMillan. (3 x great grandparents) I have written about
Agnes before (#52 Ancestors – Week 2).
She was transported at the age of 15 after a tough life on the streets
of Glasgow, and several convictions for theft.
The final conviction was for stealing some clothing in the company of
her friend, Janet Houston, who was also sentenced to 7 years to “parts beyond
the seas”. This was to be Van Diemen’s
Land, a notoriously inhospitable place for convicts.
Agnes survived her incarceration. She gave birth to a son, Frederick Lee, in
1841, and somehow managed to keep him alive at a time when the children of
female prisoners had an horrific mortality rate.
When she was finally free, William was waiting for her. She had met him in 1840 when she was being
held in Oatlands Prison (Van Diemen’s Land) for being insolent. William had been there at the same time - for
celebrating his ticket of leave rather too boisterously. He had ridden a horse recklessly ( and
drunkenly) through the main street of the town and for this transgression had
been given 14 days of solitary confinement on bread and water.
William Roberts was born William Watson, in
Lancashire, England. His was apparently
a ‘good’ family – his father Isaac was a coach builder. As a young man, William
had tried his hand at picking pockets but he seemed not to be skilful
enough. He was arrested in 1827 for
stealing one shilling and sixpence, and three halfpence and because it was his
second offence the judge imposed a sentence of 14 years transportation to parts
beyond the seas. He arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1828 on the William
Miles.
William was not a model prisoner. Less than a month after his arrival, he was
punished for absconding with “two days on the treadwheel”. Six weeks later he was given two more days,
this time for skipping the mandatory church muster. A year later while working on a road gang, he
was punished with 25 lashes for insolence.
The lashes were delivered with a cat-o-nine-tails – nine knotted leather
strips with lead weights fastened to the ends, designed to rip and tear into
the skin.
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| The treadwheel |
Agnes and William raised a family of 8 children, including
Fred Lee. They moved from Tasmania to
the goldfields of Ballarat and then finally to the northern rivers of NSW. None of the family seems ever to have been in
trouble with the law again.
Paul’s paternal grandmother, Alma Barrow was also descended
from convicts - Rebecca Bloxham and John Hooper (3 x great grandparents.)
Rebecca was sentenced to death in 1826
for the crime of “Robbery On A Person”. This sentence was commuted to
transportation for “the period of her natural life” following petitions for
clemency by her widowed mother, Ann Bloxham and the rector of her local parish.
The petition tells of a “steady, industrious girl who, after being forced to
move to Leicester to look for work, had her morals corrupted but was now
penitent.” Rebecca arrived on the Harmony
on 27 September 1827 and married fellow convict John Hooper in Newcastle in
1829.
John Hooper too was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent
to Van Diemen’s Land, but he managed to escape from Hobart and head north,
where he survived for a short time before being found and charged with bushranging
and theft. He received 200 lashes and
was sent to the much harsher penal settlement of Newcastle.
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| The cat - o - nine tails |
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| A public flogging |
It has become a cliché that convicts were transported for
“stealing a loaf of bread” but it is nevertheless true that the nature of the
thefts for which many were transported seems paltry to our eyes. Many so-called criminals were poor and
attempting to support themselves and their families on meagre earnings. Stealing food and clothing was a matter of
survival. Like many other convicts,
those in this story went on to build families and become good citizens of the
fledgling nation of Australia,
*(1) Captain Brooks had stowed the ship with private goods
for sale in Sydney. Because the ship was
so overcrowded, the air scuttles had to be closed in heavy weather, which meant
that no fresh air reached the prisoners below deck. During the passage they were all confined
with two leg irons and one on their necks, secured by a heavy padlock. Scurvy was a major cause of illness and death
due to inadequate rations and poor water supply.
*(2) John Beale was charged with burglary in 1812 and
sentenced “to be hanged by the neck until he be dead.” He was reprieved and sentenced to be
“transported beyond the seas for the rest of his natural life”. His crime was “burglarously with force and
arms attempting to steal two prayer books value fifteen shillings and sixpence,
the goods and chattels of James Gattey and one other prayer book value two
shillings and sixpence the good and chattels of John Hough Jackson”
On 17 April 1819, John Beale was appointed by the Governor
to be Keeper of His Majesty’s Prison at Parramatta.
