Portland Prison records

[fbsearcher]

Hello

Are there any records of prisoners in the Portland Convict Prison?  The 1851 census shows a list of prisoners, including Richard Bithell, age 52, Fisherman born Chester.  I would be very interested to see any supplementary info on this man and wondered if the prison may have kept their own lists, etc.

Thanks in advance

Frank

[Valda]

Portland was a government prison and as such the registers for the period are held at The National Archives.

PCOM2 368-391 Portland 1853-1865.

I would expect that a prisoner serving time at Portland would have been sentenced locally (for the man) by either the Quarter sessions (local courts and therefore records held in the County Record Office) or the Assizes where a crown judge sat (records at TNA). In other words sentenced for a more serious crime. He would have been held in a local prison both before and after his sentence and then transferred to a prison like Pentonville or Millbank. Pentonville maintained a silent system which was designed to soften up the prisoners and make them more compliant. Prisoners usually stayed in Pentonville for about 6 months before transferring to a prison like Portland (or further west Dartmoor) where they would serve out the rest of their sentence of hard labour (in the case of Portland quarrying). Conditions were harsh at Portland. Quoted from

http://www.thebeasts.info/Learning/Portland_Stone/

Interestingly, it was built using a workforce of convicts from the Isle's prison, the Verne prison. The convicts were first brought to Portland in 1848 to transport the stone down to the harbour. The cruel conditions in the original Portland prison and its quarries during the latter half of the 19th century were a major catalyst for penal reform in this country. Many prisoners died while working to quarry the blocks of stone necessary to build Portland's naval breakwater. During the 1870s, deaths within the prison ran at nearly one per week. Local entrepreneurs living adjacent to the prison quarries would charge eagerly awaiting visitors, who came to the Island on the newly constructed railway, to view the prisoners at work from the upper windows of their houses. The prison still exists today and is called the Verne Young Offenders Institution.

or

http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications3/pauper-13.htm

if you can't get to the TNA, Somerset and Dorset seem to have transcribed some of Portland Prison records on to a CD

PORTLAND HISTORIC SOURCES - This CD is a must for all those with an interest in Portland. It is the result of 30 years work by one of our members, Ken Saunders, and contains, Parish Registers, Methodist Registers, Poll Books for 1807, 1831 & 1857, Portland Prison Records and much more including Reconstructed Portland Families. - Price £20 including p.& p.

you'd have to email them about coverage - the website is

http://www.sdfhs.org/Pubs.htm

It is likely that if your man survived the prison conditions he was released by licence (at TNA) - and as well as court records, county prison records (if they survive) and likely two sets of governement prison records, there would also be a licence for him giving more details about him. Besides this depending on his crime he may also get at least a brief notice in a local newspaper. So more than just supplementary information but a possibility of a whole host of records kept on him, which if he had been a later prisoner might even have included a photograph.

Regards

Valda

[fbsearcher]

Hello Valda,

Just to say many thanks for such a comprehensive reply.  You have given me a number of possible leads and I'll have to work out how to proceed next.

Thanks again

Frank

[pettsy]

Hi Frank,

I wanted to know how you got on with the prison records from Portland Prison.

I too had an ancestor in Portland Prison.
My 2 x great gran's brother was in there on the 1871 census. 20 years old.
He died in Weymouth, Dorset 1873. I am going to order the death cert on Wednesday.

He was born in Chelsea, but unfortunately the local library only had local newspapers from 1872.

Thanks

Pettsy

[fbsearcher]

Hello Pettsy,

Apologies for the rather tardy response!

I went to The National Archive and had a great time.  I was able to handle the original books of records from Portland and take photographs of the relevant entries.  My man was convicted in Chester in January 1850, sent to Millbank and transferred to Portland in January 1851, and set sail on a convict ship in October 1852, and arrived in Hobart, Van Dieman's Land, in February 1853.
Particularly moving was the Surgeon's report for the voyage.
I would recommend anyone thinking of visiting TNA to do some research on their website and allow double the time you think is needed so that you can absorb some of the fringe data.

Was this the sort of response you wanted?  I am happy to set out more detail if you think it would be helpful.