Transportation

[annaS]

In 1843 my g g grandmother's brother was transported for 10 years to Van Diemans Land (Tasmania)  for a string of petty offences.  His wife who was left behind with 3 young children joined him 11 years later.  They both died in Tasmania, the wife in 1883 and the husband in 1892.  Their descendants then made Australia their home.

What I would like to know:  how was the wife - Elizabeth - able to afford the journey in 1854 with three young children in tow?  She was a 'glover' in Somerset.    Anna

[rosball]

Hi Anna,

From NSW state records http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hmg/
===
Convicts could apply to have their families brought out at the expense of the Crown. Applications had to show that a convict would be able to support his family upon their arrival and not incur any further expense to the Government. In general, families were not permitted to reunite in Australia unless the convict applying had a Ticket of Leave. This indulgence allowed a convict to work for himself, thereby providing a means for supporting his family.

After a convict had applied to have his family brought out to the Colony, the application was assessed by the Government. On arrival the spouse often applied to have the convict assigned to them. This allowed the convict to serve out his sentence while living with his family.

===

regards,
   Ros

[annaS]

Thank you for that Ros.  I looked on a web site, and found it a tad confusing.  You have made it clear.  So that is what must of happened in this case.  Very kind regards, Anna

[jaybelnz]

Aw... That's so cool!  I didn't realise that could happen! 

How special that would be for the family.  After all, it seems like a lot of the people who were transported for what we would see as petty theft, (ie stealing a loaf of bread or the like) were probably trying to feed the family that later had to be left behind!

[rosball]

Hi Anna,
   A pleasure to help    I was just quoting from the NSW state records archives in brief - there is some more info on that link too.

Yes it is heart-warming jaybelnz   

Ros

After 11 years!   What a reunion!    (but you wonder how the poor wife and children survived during those 11 years)

[majm]

Hi there,

Van Diemen’s Land was hived off from NSW back in 1825.  The different administrations may have handled applications for family reunification quite differently.  In NSW transportation effectively ceased in 1840.  For VDL the effective date is 1853, although I understand that some colonies sent locally convicted persons ‘beyond the seas’ to VDL.

You write that your chap was sentenced to transportation for ten years in 1843 and that his wife and their three children came in 1854.   The youngest child was obviously at least ten years of age, perhaps the eldest was considered an adult, at least from the shipping line for purposes of calculating fares/meals/accommodation on the voyage out.   So  Elizabeth, the wife and their three came AFTER his sentence had expired.   

Perhaps your chap had had the term of his sentence reduced and he may have made his way across the sea to the mainland colonies of say Victoria or New South Wales.  Gold had been discovered in 1851 in both those colonies.   Perhaps that was the source of the funding for the wife and three children.    Perhaps though, in the 1850s they came as Assisted Migrants under one of the several Emigrant Schemes, or were sponsored by one of the English based Commissions.

http://www.coraweb.com.au/shipindex.htm
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~austashs/immig/immig.htm

At the following pdf, starting around pages 13 and 14, is well researched information about VDL and immigration in the 1850s,  including the new regulations that commenced January 1854.
http://stors.tas.gov.au/store/exlibris1/storage/STORS/2012/06/14/file_7/au-7-0095-02507_1.pdf

Cheers,  JM

[annaS]

Thank you one and all for your interesting replies.  Mark Stagg would be known today as a petty criminal: in 1840 he received a one month sentence for 'destroying a tree'; in 1841 he got an eight month sentence for 'housebreaking' and finally in 1843 he 'stole a basket and other articles for which he got his transportation sentence.

Funnily enough whilst in Tasmania in 1866 he too was the victim of a crime!  He had a pillow stolen

Anna