Convicts what happend to them?

[foggyjano]

I have just discovered that an ancestor was transported to Western Austrilia in 1862 on the ship York.  I think this means he was sentanced to Fremantle Prison.

Were the convicts locked up like they were in prisons over in the uk?  He died in an accident in 1866 at Champion Bay, which from what i can gather from google this area was being built up around that time.

I am just wondering if there was a chance that he could of had children in Aussie while he was a convict, when he was transported as a convict he left a wife and child in the uk but she remarried soon after he left for Aussie.

I found a good site that lists ships that arrived to wa and even has a describtion on their appearance on arriving....my ancestor was only 5ft 3 1/2 " had brown hair, grey eyes, stout with a sallow complextion     members.iinet.com.au/~perthdps/convicts/ships

[tropicalj]

hello  there

how  about  a  name  please  then  we  can  check  for  marriage and children

regards to  you
jenn

[PrueM]

Hi foggyjano 

You might find this page interesting:
http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/collection/convict.asp
The State Records Office of WA would be a good place to start looking for info - general and specific - about convicts to WA. 

My two convicts came to NSW in 1817 and 1820, and were assigned to work for specific people.  Convicts were also assigned to government work gangs (constructing buildings, making roads, clearing bush etc).  After a time, they could apply for a Ticket of Leave which allowed them to go into business for themselves, and when their sentence was up they would get a Certificate of Freedom.  I expect all this would have been similar for WA convicts too.

Convicts were allowed to marry but they had to apply for permission to do so.  There shoudl be paperwork for this, and the marriage would be registered in the normal way.

Cheers
Prue

[trish251]

The early BDMs for WA are online - the link is ghastly - you should be able to find it from here

http://www.justice.wa.gov.au/    so you can check for marriage or children.

Check the WA links in the posting at the top of the page. As Prue says, it is most likely that your convict was assigned to free settlers as a servant. WA was very late in accepting convicts (all other states had stopped by this time) and the main reason was a requirement for cheap labour. It was very unlikely that they would have been held in a prison.

Trish

[foggyjano]

Hi Guys thanks for the quick replies, I have just discovered his ticket of leave was in 1864, so that means I can start looking around that date.  he actually died in feb 1866 in champion bay.

His name is Samuel Thomas dob 1833 and he arrived in Aussie on the York ship on 31 dec 1862. He was sentaced in Stafford....where he was born.

I must get to bed now.. it is past 1am, but this has been an exciting few hours!!!

Foggyjano

[foggyjano]

The early BDMs for WA are online - the link is ghastly - you should be able to find it from here

http://www.justice.wa.gov.au/    so you can check for marriage or children.

Check the WA links in the posting at the top of the page. As Prue says, it is most likely that your convict was assigned to free settlers as a servant. WA was very late in accepting convicts (all other states had stopped by this time) and the main reason was a requirement for cheap labour. It was very unlikely that they would have been held in a prison.

Trish

I have checked that link but nothing coming up for him.. what a shame...

[jadewing]

Hi there

His death cert may give more info.  This could be him:

Thomas, Samuel 33 yo Year:  1866  WA Ref:  3098

or there's another who was 25 yo:
1866   WA Ref:   3156

Jane

[trish251]

Sorry about that    

There seem to be two death records  for 1866 - One Samuel aged 25, the other 33 - I assume there may have been confusion at the time.  The death index gives unknown parents so obviously no-one who knew him closely gave the details. Details on death certificates for WA at that time are

Civil registrations

(i.e. from 1 September 1841) usually contain the following information:
Deceased's name
Date & place of death
Age & sex
Informant's name or signature, address and description - the latter can indicate the extent to which the information may be relied on
Date & place of registration

which appears to be very little - from the documentation most information was collected post 1896.
http://www.sag.org.au/ozsources/civil.htm

Trish

[gennig]

Hi

The following is a link to the Freemantle prison site.

 http://www.fremantleprison.com.au/history/history6.cfm

If you ever take a trip to London, the Archives office in Kew has convict records.  You can get copies of his convict records.

Regards


Genni