Can you help me find Convict ancestor?

[Sheila Whittingham]

Please can anyone help me find Transportation  details of my Great great great grandfather James Flower. My cousin in Australia and I have been trying without success to find the ship he was sent out on, sentence, where in Australia he served his time etc. We have found several James Flowers over the past 18 months, but age, date etc are always incorrect.
He came from the Bedminster area of Bristol and was probably involved with coalmining.The story goes that he and two men stole a sheep, and hid the butchered carcass in the outside privy of the Red Cow pub in Bedminster, and that the ringleader was hanged and he and his friend were transported around 1846, when he would have been about 38 years old.
I found a James flower in the Gloucester Gaol register, but age and crime were different. On the 1851 census my Great great great grandmother Caroline and children are listed, her as " head of household, occupation Saleswoman, husband transported," and he is back in England on the 1861 census.
My cousin is having no luck whatsoever on the Australian records.
Any advice on where to go from here at the English end would be very welcome.
Many thanks.

[Arranroots]

Hello!

Bedminster came under Somerset, so any gaol calendars etc should be with their records.  That might explain why you can't find them in Gloucestershire.

Very confusing of them to split Bristol in half!!

kind regards, Arranroots 

[Sheila Whittingham]

Many thanks, will give that a try,I was told he was  sentenced at Gloucester assizes, but obviously that was incorrect.
Sheila.

[Arranroots]

I don't want to contradict what you have been told, but it is worth a try!

Have you looked at Gloucester's online catalogue?  I assume you have.  If it turns out he is there, so to speak, I can look up the record for you next time I go.

A 

[Keziahemm]

Could he have been sentenced at the Assizes in Gloucester (held every quarter?) but in gaol elsewhere?

Susan 

[Keziahemm]

Here he is in 1841

James Flower  35  Toy Maker  -  Y
Caroline Flower  35  -    Y
George Flower  20  Smith  -  Y
James Flower  15  -  Y
Jonathan Flower  13  -  Y
Louise Flower  10  -  Y
Eliza Flower  8  -  Y
Caroline Flower  -  Y
Charlotte Flower  1  -  Y

Greens Buildings
Bedminster

HO107/376  folio 49  page 35

Y = Yes born in county


Susan 

[Sheila Whittingham]

Hello Susan,
thankyou for finding them on the 1841 census, same address as the 1851.Children tie in except for my great great grandfather who was born about 1842.i am thrilled to find he was a toymaker as most of the bedminster Flowers in my tree are coalminers.
On the 1851 census Caroline is a saleswoman with three male lodgers., so it looks like she needed income to support her family.
As I said earlier, maybe I need to search Bristol newspapers sometime to see if there is a report of the trial, as my cousin in Oz cant find him at her end either.A number of Flowers but not ours it seems.
Many thanksSheila.

[Arranroots]

I recently contacted the National Archives about my criminal ancestor & they referred me to their guide.

A link to that and various other sources are on the Black Sheep site, which might be helpful?

http://blacksheepancestors.com/uk/prisons.shtml

 

[Sheila Whittingham]

Thanks Arranroots,
Will checkout website and online catalog  at Gloucester as suggested.
Thankyou for your help and suggestions
Regards Sheila.