Dartmoor Criminal records

[neil.meek]

I'm looking for information about John Lockhart Morton who was sentenced to four year penal servitude in 1859 and sent to Dartmoor Prison in March 1860. I cannot find him any where after that date and wonder whether he died in Dartmoor. If so, where would his death by registered?
I have found a John Morton death registered in March 1860 in Launceston but have no way knowing if its is him.

Any suggestions please?

Neil

[CaroleW]

Hi and welcome to Rootschat

Dartmoor would probably have come under the Totnes Registration District.  Although the Launceston RD covered a small part of Devon - it mainly covered Cornwall

http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/launceston.html

Where was he born and what was his birthyear

[davidft]

Dartmoor Prison comes under the Tavistock RD ( i had a record from there for 1854 last week)

John comes up several times on findmypast if you have a sub there. One record in the PCOM3 reference is mentioned on the national archives site with a date of 31 October 1862 so that would appear to rule out the 1860 death

[CaroleW]

If you have an Ancestry Worldwide subscription his name comes up on their Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)

[philipsearching]

If you have an approximate date of birth and birthplace the 1861 census might have him listed.  Do you have him on the 1851 census?

[Bookbox]

He was released on licence from Dartmoor in 1862, as already posted in reply #2 above ...

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10592121

... so almost certainly there in 1861 too. Dartmoor Prison uses initials only in the 1861 census. There is one J.L.M., male, aged 34, unmarried, merchant, born Scotland, who may fit the bill.
RG 9/1458 folio 114 page 26 (folio corrected, sorry)

[philipsearching]

He was released on licence from Dartmoor in 1862, as already posted in reply #2 above ...

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10592121

... so almost certainly there in 1861 too. Dartmoor Prison uses initials only in the 1861 census. There is one J.L.M., male, aged 34, unmarried, merchant, born Scotland, who may fit the bill.
RG 9/1458 folio 114 page 26 (folio corrected, sorry)

Well, I learn something new every day.  I didn't know Dartmoor prison only listed initials on the 1861 census.

So, tracking back from his release in 1862 I found a record on oldbaileyonline for 4 July 1859:
" JOHN LOCKHART MORTON (32), was indicted for feloniously forging and uttering a bill of exchequer for 500l., also a bill of exchequer for 485l. 10s., with intent to defraud; to which he PLEADED GUILTY ."

With an approximate birth year of 1827, born in Scotland, he might be traceable on the 1871 census.

[DavidG02]

There is a John L Morton Midlothian Land Agent on the 1851 census

[giblet]

Your fella was sentenced not long after transportation of convicts ceased, the prisons in the UK were then overflowing and some prisoners were often released early. If he had been convicted a couple of years earlier he would have most likely ended up in Australia 

Licence number 12043: John Lockhart Morton.
Caption order and prison record from when he was convicted of feloniously forging and uttering a forged acceptance of a bill of exchange at the Central Criminal Court at London, Middlesex 4 July 1859.
Then aged 32 years and by trade a merchant.
Sentence: 4 years penal servitude.
Licence granted 31 October 1862 for early release from Dartmoor prison.