National Archives

[Gwynneth Starr]

Hi.  Does anyone have access to the HO 8/69 record at the National Archives.  I would like to know if there is any mention of my great great grandfather Thomas Slingo on the Home Office: Convict Hulks, Convict Prisons and Criminal Lunatic Asylums Quarterly returns of Prisoners for the years 1841 through to 1857.   He was sentenced to 10 years transportation in 1841 for stealing a ewe but it seems he did not leave England.  He was granted a free pardon in 1846.  After this he just seems to disappear from the records.  His wife Jane (formerly Javes) remarried in 1857 to a David Cook.  Thomas was originally from Hampshire.  He was born in 1798.  Any info much appreciated.

Gwynneth

[Valda]

H08/69 is a quarterly list for 11 convict hulks approx 275 prisoners per ship depending on their size) dated September 1841 found at The National Archives only (unless it has been microfilmed which I don't think it has)

v.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?CATREF=ho8%2F69&SearchType=6&SearchInit=4&gotoref.x=88&gotoref.y=13

The lists would give very little information. Do you know which hulk Thomas was on?
Five of the hulks had registers which cover the early part of the 1840s and would give more information.

Euryalus  1825-1843  HO 9/2 , 10 
Fortitude  1825-1843  HO 9/2 , 11 
Justitia  1837-1844  HO 9/5 , 13 
Warrior  1837-1843  HO 9/12 
York  1805-1843  HO 9/9 , 15 

see TNA research guide

Criminals, Tracing 19th and 20th Century

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/researchguidesindex.asp

I don't think the HO69/8 hulk quarterly lists would give further information from what is already known from record sources which have been accessed so far, even if Thomas was present on a hulk in September 1841.

http://www.communigate.co.uk/hants/slingofamily2/page13.phtml

Regards

Valda

[Gwynneth Starr]

Sorry Valda.  I dont know which hulk he was on.  Is there anyway of finding this out online or do you need to physically access the records.   I know that the archives have researchers but at 15 pounds for 15 minutes its a bit expensive.  How long do you think it would take them to find out the info I need?

Gwynneth

[Valda]

You are assuming in September 1841 he was imprisoned on a hulk and not a prison. HO8/69 is only the September 1841 quarterly lists of 11 hulks.

Pre trial he would have been held in a local gaol where he would have gone for a short period post trial before transfering to a hulk or prison from which he might have been transfered again considering he was incarcerated for 5 years.

Trawling through the quarterly lists if you can find him (and not all records survive from the different prisons and hulks) will only tell you where he was imprisoned at the time of that quarter in that year. It won't give you any further information about him.

'How long do you think it would take them to find out the info I need?'

Difficult to answer because I'm not sure what the information is that you want.
Have you read the TNA research guide on

Criminals, Tracing 19th and 20th Century

as there may well be other records that it would be more useful to search if you are paying for a researcher to access such records, either at TNA or a local county record office - I don't know which as I don't know which sort of court Thomas Slingo was tried at - Assizes or Quarter Sessions or where the court was held.

Regards

Valda

[Gwynneth Starr]

Hi Valda.  Thanks again for all your help.  Thomas was tried at the Westminster in the midyear session 1841.  The precise orders given for him were "Prisoners held in the bridewell near Winchester.  "Thomas Slingo -convicted of Felony, to be transported to such parts beyond the seas as Her Majesty by advice of Her Privy Council should be pleased to direct, for the term of ten years.   What I would really like to know is what happened to him after he was given a free pardon in 1846.  He doesn't seem to have gone back to Crondall, which is where he lived previously.   In the 1851 census his wife Jane Slingo is still recorded as married.  I can't find a record of his death anywhere online. 

Jenny

[Valda]

Jenny

Westminster then in Middlesex and now central London is nowhere near Winchester in Hampshire! You would not be held in a prison in Winchester and be tried in Westminster.

Censuses of course contain errors.

Checking lists of names of prisoners in hulks in September 1841 will not supply you with the information you are seeking.

What evidence do you have that Thomas was granted a free pardon?

Regards

Valda

[Gwynneth Starr]

Hi Valda.  The information about Winchester was obtained for me by a English genealogist from the full entry in the Session Records and also the Committal Registers and the Calendar of Quarter Sessions.   She doesn't stipulate which Winchester and I wasn't aware there were two.  I can't remember her name but the full report has been posted on the Slingo Website at This is Hampshire.  My distant cousin Graham Slingo is the moderator of this site.   The information on the free pardon comes from a copy by the Joint Copying Project of an original entry which is very detailed.  It lists the date of the pardon as well as Thomas age, offence, where he was convicted (it just states Winchester), his age when he was convicted, (29th June) his sentence, gaoler's report ( he was recorded as unknown),  where he was born (Crookham, Hants),  his visage, that he was married, his height, occupation, that he had a scar on the 2nd finger of his left hand and also on his elbow.  The pardon was granted on the 26th Sept 1846.   About the only thing it doesn't tell me in fact is what happened next.  Graham assumes that he died but I would like to know for certain if there is any way of finding out. 

Cheers
Gwynneth

[Valda]

There are not two Winchesters. In your previouse message you specified 'Westminster'.

'Thomas was tried at the Westminster in the midyear session 1841.  The precise orders given for him were "Prisoners held in the bridewell near Winchester.'

Regards

Valda

[Gwynneth Starr]

Sorry Valda.  Must be the flu tablets.  Definitely Winchester.

Jenny