This is a spin-off of a previous thread on our relative Herbert Rippon. This is on the Australia board.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=686465.msg5321864#msg5321864Herbert Rippon was sentenced to be "transported for life" at Derby
13 March 1851 for Highway Robbery & Assault along with his brother-in-law George Harrison. He was in Derby Prison for the 1851 census.
The next record I have found for him is when he was put on board the Clyde as Convict No 4018 on
27 March 1863 at Chatham. The Clyde then went on to Portsmouth and then Portland before sailing for Western Australia on 15 March 1863. He was then allocated the WA Convict No 7235.
So, 12 years between sentence and being transported to Western Australia. Why

Nearly all of the Lifer's transported on the Clyde had been sentenced in the early 1850's.
One of those was William Gentle sentenced to Life, along with William Palmer, just 6 days after Herbert Rippon and George Harrison. I recently found this very well researched story about Gentle and Palmer spending 10 years in hulks in Bermuda before being brought back to Chatham to be shipped to WA. Unfortunately, the authors email account is no longer active.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/con116.htmWilliam Gentle 4008, Herbert Rippon 4018 and most of the Lifers were put on board the Clyde at Chatham.
Herbert Rippon was sentenced to be "transported for life" in 1851 but did he go to Bermuda to start off with. That would explain the gap of 12 years.
Sorry if its a bit long. Hope this is of interest to Bermuda and Western Australia researchers!
Can anyone tell me if the Prison Hulk records 1851 - 63 are available anywhere or is a trip to Kew the only answer?