convicts

[dentony1]

I have a convict sentenced in Yorkshire in 1857 who according to a newspaper report was first sent to Bermuda where he was considered too much trouble and so sent on to Fremantle (Western Aust).

On December 2, 1857 at the Assizes Court in Yorkshire (England) one Charles William Smith was convicted of forgery and sentenced to 10 years.   He was transported aboard the vessel “Lord Dalhousie” on September 19, 1863 bound for Western Australia.

So I guess I have 2 questions - the first is would a prisoner sent "off" from Bermuda have gone back to England before being sent on to Australia?
the 2nd question is - if that wasn't the case then was nearly 6 years a usual time frame from sentencing to transporting in 1857?

Actually I have a 3rd question - are there any records for Bermuda prisoners and where would I find them?

regards
Debra

[regross]

Hello,
I know that convicts came to Australia from India and Canada and having a look at the WA convict ships I found that the Lord Dalhousie 1863 departed from Portland.

The list of ships has footnotes indicating thatthe MERCHANTMAN 1862 brought convicts from BERMUDA, so at least we know that some convicts came directly from Bermuda but perhaps not your convict.

http://www.convictcentral.com/index.html.

Have you been able to find him in prison in the 1861 census? Have you been able to check any manifest for ships transporting convicts to Bermuda? This may help uncover if he went to Bermuda, returned and was then transported to Australia.

From Access to the Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Convict Establishments, Bermuda and Gibraltar; Command Paper [2523] Parliamentary Archives, Records of the House of...]
These documents are held at: Parliamentary Archives

There are two other references which include convict and Bermuda but they are most probably not relveant. SO this is probably a good place to start if you are living in teh UK.

Regards

Robyn

[dentony1]

Thanks Robyn

It was at convict central I found the Dalhousie but I'd not thought of looking for him in the 1861 census mainly because up until recently I always presumed he was already in Australia.  So I shall try there now.

The National Archives will have to wait until I finally get to the UK - one day soon I hope.

At least you confirmed the convicts did come directly from Bermuda and pretty sure I would have wanted to escape Bermuda too, the conditions for convicts for appalling.

kind regards
Debra

[Ron Ham]

 ::)I dont think Australia was an improvement on Bermuda !  Ron

[MarieC]

Depends on where the convict was sent when he/she arrived here.  By 1857 the worst of the convict jails were closed and things were probably improved overall.

MarieC