Hi all,
Apologies for the delay, it's been a really busy period of research for us and Surrey life have kindly written an article about us, gratified doesn't even cover it!
@Ruskie thank you so much for the tips, i'll be sure to put them to good use.
@Majm aha apologies, I do a bit of creative writing in my spare time and sometimes I run amok with rhetorical flare. But the truth is, many of our convicts at Woking Invalid Convict Prison
were unable to tell their own stories at that time, whether through illiteracy or, quite simply, society didn't care. So long as they were seen to be punished, that was enough. Redemption was
not offered either by state or by society at large. Even William Strahan, our most famous inmate and instigator of the Oxford v. Cambridge Boat Race, practically disappeared from the historical record post serving his sentence. It's great to see so many new sites pop up looking to research these institutions: history from below at it's finest.
@Maiden Stone that's a really interest poin. England implemented an act (Criminal Law Act 1776) so that any criminal sentenced to transportation during that period was instead forced to carry out hard labour. Mass transportation didn't take place in England again until the first transports to Australia in 1787If you PM me the name of your person of interest, i'd be more than happy to take a look.
@SilasWall Thank you, thank you! Any ways in which we can improve it, we'd gratefully accept any suggestion.
@Lidfam In terms of our current research project Woking Invalid Prison, the years covered are 1859-1889 and so we're covered by the 100 years rule. However to your second point,
you are able to view prison records from 1770-1935 on FindMyPast. Like @Maiden Stone, we'd be more than happy to research your ancestor or find relevant records.
@Coombes I really appreciate that! It's crazy how many people were transported for such trifling reasons. In a way your relatives were fortunate to end up in Oz, as in the latter
period many men who were meant to be transported actually ended up on 'prison hulks' where disease was rife.
