William QUELCH, Born c1838, Kent

[BAC3]

Hello,

Can anyone help me tracing William QUELCH please.

The only information for him that is validated is that he was tried at the Sandwich Quarter Sessions on 01/01/1852 and sentenced to 7 years transportation for "Stealing from a dwelling house articles of value £5."
He was apparently not transported but transferred from Millbank Prison to Parkhurst Prison on 15/05/1852 and then, on /16/12/1852, further transferred to Pentonville Prison.   I can find no definitive information from this point onwards, either in the transportation registers or other on-line index available via Ancestry, for instance.

For the moment

BAC3

[bearkat]

Do you have a date or place of birth for him?

[BAC3]

Part of my problem really......there are several 1841 Census entries and Ancestry Family Trees that could match but I need verification and, sadly, although I have written to the subscribers on Family Trees a month or so ago there have been no responses.

If I had place of birth particularly it would be helpful, although it could be Margate from the consensus.

[bearkat]

Familysearch has a baptism for William QUELCH 22nd September 1833 ay Ash-next-Sandwich, parents Robert and Mary Ann.

[BAC3]

One of the early possibles put to one side as too old.   If he had been born in 1833 he would have been 19 at the time of the offence and ineligible for Parkhurst Prison as a young offender.

[casalguidi]

From what I've read, Parkhurst was actually a centre for young offenders awaiting deportation in it's early years following it's use as a military prison.

What do you actually know about the William QUELCH you are looking for?

Casalguidi

[BAC3]

I am researching for a PhD on Parkhurst Prison 1838-1864 as a reforming institution for young offenders, one of whom was William QUELCH.   The details quoted above are more or less my complete knowledge of him.

Any information I can glean after he was transferred to Pentonville Prison will therefore be more than helpful in determining whether or not he was absorbed back into society as a free citizen.

BAC3

[casalguidi]

If you are still looking (possibly a bit late now), the offence took place at Ramsgate so I would think he could possibly be this one:

1841 Ramsgate

Harriett QUELCH 50 b.Kent
John 16 b.Kent
William 4 b.Kent
HO107/469 book 4 folio 18 page 29
...................

Sandwich quarter sessions Jan 1852.
William QUELCH, 14, for stealing one purse value of 8s the property of Thomas RENNISON on 8 November at Ramsgate - three weeks hard labour.  Also stealing from the dwelling house of Elizabeth Bennet EDWARDS £15 in money, one book, one penknife and a quantity of sealing wax together the value of £15 6s 6d the property of the said Elizabeth B EDWARDS on 13 Novemeber at Ramsgate - 7 years transportation.

Casalguidi

[BAC3]

Thank you Casalguidi,

I managed to download this morning further details about William QUELCH from a new link at The National Archives (Prison Commission and Home Office Department) which confirmed that he had been released from Portland Prison on 06/03/1856 on Licence (probation).   However, it also added that when he was convicted his stated age was 14, although it was believed his real age was 19.

By this reckoning he would have been born in 1833 and Ancestry Family Trees has a very limited entry for a William QUELCH, parents Robert QUELCH and Mary Ann (nee KINGSFORD), born 1833 in Ash by Sandwich, Kent......these details confirm an earlier posting by "Bearkat".......there were no census entries that I could retrieve unfortunately.   I had written to other Family Tree "Owners" who quoted 1838 as the date of birth in July last year but, as so often, nobody has replied.

I am not sure whether my Biography has advanced any further??!!

BAC3