Family Historian User Group

This seems a very novice question to ask, but I have found an article referring to one of my ancestors being 'transported' and does that mean being sent to prison? If I'm right, then is there any way that I could find out what prison? Or could he have been sent to a workhouse? Can I also ask, if someone is punished by 'hard labour' what exactly would that have entailed? My relative in question would have been in his 60's! Thanks, Paula

ID:2512

I would assume 'transported' meant being sent to prison Australia or another colony

With regards to 'hard labour' it would mean physical labour of some sort. I guess it would depend on the authorities at the prison whether a 60 year old was given 'lighter' duties

A useful starting point for finding details of transportation might be:

http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/

If you haven't used it before, it holds a wealth of data from Family History Societies that you can search on by name and then view on a voucher based PPV basis. One of their databases is the Genealogical Society of Victoria's Convict Arrivals in New South Wales 1788-1842. It shows name, date of arrival and ship.

There are also a number of databases on Ancestry taken from the UK National Archives; convict transportation registers, convict censuses and so on. I'm not sure what level of subscription to Ancestry you would need to access them, though. It could be quite pricey. Alternatively, if you can get to the National Archives in Kew you can search the relevant Microfiche records for free once you've got a reader's ticket. Again, if you are lucky, you may find the date and place of your ancestor's conviction, and the sentence. Armed with that information, further searches in the National Archives or local record offices may throw up assize records with some trial details.

There may be easier ways, but that's the one I used.

If your ancestor was sent to Australia this link should be of use to you. The Colonial Secretary was the main recordkeeper for the times so certainly check out that section as well as the more obvious ones.

John

John Owen said:
If your ancestor was sent to Australia this link should be of use to you. The Colonial Secretary was the main recordkeeper for the times so certainly check out that section as well as the more obvious ones.

John

Oops! Left out the link

( http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/ ... e_3357.asp )

Thank you for all your replies, I've started searching these sites now and I'm really pleased to have something to go on.

I've read today also somewhere else (can't quite remember now which link it was, sorry) that most if not all the people transported for their part in the Swing Riots of 1830 were sent to Tasmania. Just thought that I'd post that in case anyone searches this post in the future, as I've gleaned so much little bits and pieces from my own searches on here. [smile]