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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Davedrave on Tuesday 08 June 21 17:57 BST (UK)
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I’d like to know more if possible of James Smith, who was sentenced to 7 years transportation at the 1817 Lent Assizes in Leicester for stealing geese and rabbits. The conviction is in the local newspaper and is also recorded in HO27 but I can’t find a record of him in Australia, though the individual in the preceding register entry certainly did arrive there.
(Incidentally, 23 individuals were sentenced to death just at this assizes, some for offences no worse, it would seem, than that of James Smith, so I suppose he was fortunate in a way.)
Dave :)
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Hi,
Please share Some info about your James.... as it can be very useful when searching Convict Indexes held in the various states that are Australia .... any clues help, particularly if you have details for any of the following (plenty of James SMITH chaps in both New South Wales and Van Diemens Land in the l810s and 1820s)
:) when and where was he born
:) married or single when sentenced, if married, any children.....
:) occupation/trade
:) any previous convictions
:) his parents names
:) what religious denomination
Don't panic if you don't have answers to all that list, but please do share what you already know.
There is a board for Australia at RChat, lots of regulars ready to help you there.
JM
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Maybe he absconded before transportation
With a surname like SMITH he.ll be hard to find .
Im from Leicester myself .
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The Hulk Registers have a James SMITH tried at Leicester 25 March 1817. He was given a free pardon on 10 Nov 1819.
Debra :)
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Well sorted Dundee. :)
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Many thanks for your help. James Smith, as far as I know, was no relation of mine. He stole livestock from one of my farming ancestors, but I like to fill in the social context, so I now know that I don’t have to go looking “down under”. I know absolutely nothing about his background yet, but having ancestors of my own who also spent time in the hulks, I find it interesting.
The whole business of who actually went to Australia, who only went to a hulk in English waters, and who entered hastily into the next world via a public spectacle, seems to have been something of a lottery in the “good old days”.
Dave :)
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The Hulk Registers have a James SMITH tried at Leicester 25 March 1817. He was given a free pardon on 10 Nov 1819.
Debra :)
Thank you. I have found the register entry of his conviction at Leicester Assizes in 1817 and the HO13 record of his free pardon in 1819 (using FindMyPast) but I can’t seem find any other record on that website which might give me a clue to his home town/village or age etc. Is there a record of him on a named hulk?
Dave :)
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Wonder where he actually was when pardoned.
Why hadnt he already been transported so long after ?
Did he spend a year fighting the conviction .?
More questions than answers !
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He was on the Leviathan hulk at Portsmouth. There were quite a few prisoners on the hulk that were given free pardons many years after trial. I think that Findmypast has some indexes of petitions for mitigation of sentences.
Debra :)
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He was on the Leviathan hulk at Portsmouth. There were quite a few prisoners on the hulk that were given free pardons many years after trial. I think that Findmypast has some indexes of petitions for mitigation of sentences.
Debra :)
This might be worth a read https://www.ourfamilypast.com/article/topic/7397/haa007-breakout-2-prison-hulks-and-leviathan and there are some resourse websites at the end which may give you more information
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Thanks, this is very interesting. My own criminal ancestor and his brother were sentenced to transportation in the 1840’s and spent time on the same “Leviathan” at Portsmouth as James Smith. They were never transported, but it seems that this was quite common by this time. They also were pardoned and released early, but certainly they served more of their sentences than James Smith appears to have done. I’ll follow the leads and see if I can find why he was released so soon.
Dave :)