Convicts returning to England

[Emmeline]

Hello All

I have read that few convicts returned to England after they completed their sentences.

My own convict Peter Jordan - a chemist and druggist was sentenced to transportation to Van Diemans Land for 7 years. His crime was fencing stolen goods.

Have found that his Freedom Certificate was issued 15th April 1851  and the Launceston Examiner notes 26th April 1851 that his sentence had expired.

Peter was back in London for the 1861 census but I have not been able to find anything yet on his passage back to England.

Have found that his two co-conspirators charged at the same time travelled steerage  to Melbourne in August and December 1851 respectively.

I'll keep looking..........

[Emmeline]

Goodness knows what happened there - have never had that happen before 

Must have been because I modified.........

[majm]

Hi,


Mark Prickett trial date 6 March 1847 at Oxford Assizes, sentence 7 years.


Mark Prickett ex the Randolph of 1849 received a Ticket of Leave in 1849 at  Singleton NSW  (No. 49/495)
Mark Prickett aka Puckett, ex the Randolph of 1849 received his Ticket of Leave Passport from the Scone Bench (courts) on 30 Nov 1850 (No. 50/0796)

http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/indexsearch/keyname.aspx 

Will follow up shortly

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

The lads on the Randolph could well be part of the "Convict Exiles"  records 

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/indexes-online/indexes-to-convict-records/index-to-convict-exiles

...... Convict transportation to New South Wales effectively ceased in 1842 but between 1849-50 exiles were transported. Exiles had served part of their sentence in a penitentiary in Britain and were granted a conditional pardon or ticket of leave on arrival in the Colony. .......

http://www.historyaustralia.org.au/twconvic/Randolph+1849

The Randolph departed from London 28 April 1849 and arrived NSW 20 Aug 1849
Captain Wm Dale,   Two Surgeons .... H Goldney and Walt Lawrance.
300 convicts embarked    295 convicts arrived

http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/shipNSW2.html

Other links
http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/grthom/web/medjour.html
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

So he got to NSW, now to find him after 30 Nov 1850       

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

Hi casram,

very very very short version of 1850's NSW

Very good time to have arrived.  Gold was found, and the Gov't encouraged it to be mined, thus poor Earl Grey (Whitehall's Sec for the Colonies) was basically at a loss to effectively administer NSW through his attempts to control expenditure etc, as NSW economy was experiencing "boom times" and masses "emigrated" as they caught "gold fever". 

NSW Resources Board here at RChat : http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,369703.0.html
(has many links)

Civil Registrations for BDM commenced in NSW 1856, so earlier records are based on Parish Records that were transferred to NSW BDM in the decades after civil registration commenced. 

Newspapers from that era have been digitised (link as per earlier post "trove) and also the following link (basically covered 1840's and some 1850's, and is not keyword searchable)  http://www.nla.gov.au/ferg/browselist.html

Many historians have researched the Convict Exiles and some have had books published  link to the National Library of Australia http://www.nla.gov.au/ and look for "collections" then "catalogue"

Cheers,  JM

[Billyblue]

How common was it for convicts to return to England once their sentence was completed.?
 Are there any records which would show his leaving NSW.?
thanks
Carolyn

My Irish convictg ggf was "cleared out for Calcutta" on his record, after serving his time.
He presumably got himself somehow from Calcutta to UK, as a few years later he got himself back here by his original method!  Probably decided the weather was better on this side of the world   

Dawn M

[karen8]

Hi

I'm researching a Samuel Sargent b. 1805 in Cambridgeshire.  He came from a family of Ag labs.  He is not on the census 1841 but appears on the 1851 census with an Irish born wife and 3 children born in East Indies in the 1840s and one born in 1847 in Cambridgeshire.

I also found record of a Samuel Sargent in Cambridgeshire sentenced to death for sheep stealing in 1837 which was commuted to transportation for life. 

Is it possible these are the same person?  Is it possible that he arrived in Australia and somehow managed to get home via the East Indies (maybe by joining a ship's crew)?

Any suggestions of further research I could do would be welcome? (I don't have access to 'foreign' data though)

Many thanks

[majm]

Hi there karen8

There's many free to search online sites mentioned on the various sub-boards at RChat's Australian Resources link here http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,399.0.html

As you may have him on the 1851 census, then it would be best to look for convict records on links on the sub-boards for Tasmania  and New South Wales . (NSW in the 1840's included what is now also Victoria and Queensland).

The NSW State Records online indexes should help, and I am sure you would know of lots of variations for his surname, for keyword searchings.  link http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/indexsearch/keyname.aspx and http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/archives-in-brief/archives-in-brief-2

Digitised newspapers are online too, and are also free to search, and are linked on those resources boards too.

Fingers crossed that you are on track.

Cheers,  JM

[casram]

JM

thanks for those links,

Mark was only 14 when sentenced and 16 when actually transported so he would have been around 21 when his sentence expired,wonder if that influenced his desire to get back to Engalnd.

Carolyn