Prynhawn da (Good afternoon) Fiona,
I happen to be one of those unfortunate Welshmen who will rise to heaven on the day we eventually beat the All Blacks (even though we persist in having Kiwi coaches!!!!).
Delighted to hear from you but, sadly, my knowledge of William BEALS, which was both the court's and Parkhurst Prison's spelling not BEALES, is very limited. He was already imprisoned for the 1841 England Census, which did not carry family details, and the only possible sighting of him is that he may be the son of Grace and William BEELS, born on 13/11/1825 in Falmouth, Cornwall, and christened on 01/12/1825. You may be able to help in his regard.
He was sentenced to transportation for 7 years at Falmouth Borough Sessions on 20/10/1837, held in Falmouth Gaol until 13/02/1838 when he was removed to the "York" Hulk at Gosport, Hampshire. From there he was transferred to Parkhurst Prison on 26/12/1838 with the dubious distinction of being one of the first 120 inmates received by the prison when it opened on that date. And then the removal to Auckland aboard the "Mandarin" where he arrived on 14/11/1843 as a "Free Immigrant", meaning that he was entitled to choose his own way life EXCEPT leave NZ until he had completed his servitude on 19/10/1844. Why he was transported with only a year outstanding on his sentence has never been answered. My only extra piece of information is that he was employed by an anonymous Mr. MILTON immediately after arrival.
If you can help with information post-1843 I would be delighted. This will then enable me to produce a standard format of Biography used in my database, a database that I keep extending whenever new details become available......sometimes I have to rewrite my conclusions about whether or not individuals were reformed or just kept on trangressing!!!!! When you respond to this posting I should be in a position to send you Personal Message with my email address.....email addresses are not allowed to be quoted on the open forum.
Once again, I am delighted you have contacted me and I look forward to developing with you the story of William BEALS, "Parkhurst Boy".
For the moment,
Tony