prison records Australia 1835-39 - COMPLETED

[Rhodie]

I am seeking any prison record for James Hammett circ 1835-39 in Australia.  He was transported there in 1834 and went to work by a lottery for Edward John Eyre, a farmer at Molongo Plains, near Canberra.  Rumour had it that he was in prison at the time of his pardon (he was one of the Tolpuddle Martyrs), but he was the last to come home.  Cannot find anything here in the UK for this info, anyone out there in Australia with any info?  He was first cousin to my 2xgrt grandfather and many of us Hammett relatives over here would like to have this long outstanding question answered.
 

[tropicalj]

Hello  thee

So  from  you query  I take it that he returned to England? If so  what year did that happen?
You want to know about his life here?

Regards Jenn

[trish251]

Hi Rhodie

Have you tried the Tolpuddle museum - they have a little on your man, apparently the only one who returned to Tolpuddle and didn't write his story
http://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/mus_frms.html

There is probably information in the Colonial Secretary Correspondence, but there is no name index to your time period of interest
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/colonial_secretary_correspondence_contents_7424.asp

Trish

[Andcarred]

Hi,

I don't have any further information on James Hammet, except that he is buried in the churchyard at Tolpuddle which I assume you know.  However Edward John Eyre to whom he was assigned became famous as an explorer in Australia and Lake Eyre and the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia are named after him.  His property, a sheep station outside Canberra, was in a very remote area for those times.  Do you have any details of James Hammett's  pardon (I understand it was a Royal Pardon) or when he returned to England.

Also the lottery system for assigning convicts was instituted by the Government as the demand for labour to establish properties was so competitive and not enough workers to go around.  When the convict ships arrived the names of all people wanting convict labour were put into a barrell and drawn out, hence the "convict lottery".

If your James Hammet did anything to earn himself a colonial sentence the information would be in the Colonial Secretary's Correspondence which, after 1825, has been indexed by Joan Reece on fiche.  It is not online.  I don't have access to this index but someone else may be able to look it up for you.

Andcarred

[Rhodie]

Thanks for replies.  I am known quite well to Tolpuddle Musuem (Jan & co there) and was there for the rally just a few weeks back.  What we need to know is more about his time out there in Australia.  He was the last of the Tolpuddle Martyrs to come home after the Royal Pardon.  Some say he was in a jail out there for assault but there is no evidence to support this so far (on an assault charge at Windsor Sept 1837).  He was a man of few words about his time out there, so hence the mystery.  He came home in August 1839 (the others arrived 17/3/1838 on the John Barry) apparently he had been too far in the interior of Australia than they had and none had heard from him since they were arrived there in August 1834.  There had been a 3 yr delay from the pardon being granted to them actually being told about it and released!  Also wanted to know if anyone might know the name of the ship James Hammett came back on.  Apparently he only learnt of the pardon from an old newpaper his master had (source his daughter in law).  So all help in Australia gratefully appreciated.
 

[PrueM]

From the convict records now available at Ancestry.com.au, it looks like James (and the others?) was granted a Conditional Pardon in 1835, followed by a Complete Pardon the following year.  Not sure whether you have this information so thought I'd pop in and let you know, just in case 
You may have to get in touch with the NSW State Records Office and have them dig through the Colonial Secretary's papers for some correspondence to do with James's case.  The online name index for the papers only takes us as far as 1825.

Prue

[Andcarred]

Hi Rhodie,

I have done a bit more digging on James Hammett and have found 3 references to him in the HRA (Historical Records of Australia).  Two are about his conditional pardon and the other is a Government report.  It is in Volume XVIII June 1835 to June 1837.   These records are held in State Libraries in Australia so if you can hang on for a few days I'll see if I can get into the Qld State Library and look it up for you.  I can also check out the Col Secs records as well.

I did a google search on E J Eyre and it said he sold his property in the Molonglo Valley a couple of years after he took it up so probably James Hammett has had to go back to the Govt (maybe to the Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney) and then be reassigned to another master.  This might be how he ended up at Windsor which is nowhere near the Molonglo Valley.  Windsor is about 50 miles west of Sydney and my convict was there at the time also.  It was considered to be out in the bush in those days but is now nearly a suburb of the ever expanding city of Sydney. 

I am particularly interested in the Tolpuddle martyrs as I may have a very distant blood connection  through the Vincent family of Dewlish.  Jacob Vincent was my g g grandfather.  He came to Oz in 1841 with his wife Mary (nee Brett).  His brother Isaac Vincent and family also migrated, along with Henry Michel, son of Gen John Michel of Dewlish House.  The Vincents were a large family in the area and married into many other local families from Tolpuddle and surrounding villages.  I believe George Loveless' wife was a Vincent descendant.  The Vincents are also related through the Standfields.  Small world!

Could I re-post your query on to the Aus-Convicts Mailing list and see if anyone else comes up with any information?


Andcarred

[Rhodie]

please feel free to post it, and thanks, it would be great if you could find anything further out.  We all over here just wondered why he was the last to come back and if there was any truth in this prison spell for assault out there, cannot find anything on it over here.
Rhodie

[trish251]

Not sure if this is the same information that Andcarred found

Three references to your man in the index of the NSW Gov Gazette. The first two are referenced as "Convict Indulgence" - no definition of what this means June & Sep 1836 & the last in Jun 1837 is referenced as "Postal". I may be able to check the actual entries.

Trish