John Anderson

23

tonycocks1 on 16th February 2018

John Anderson was born c1832 in Glasgow the son of William and Elizabeth Anderson and brother to William, James, Mary and Ellen. Nothing is known of his early life history until he was committed to appear at the Glasgow Court of Justiciary on 20/09/1848 accused of “Theft by housebreaking and previous convictions”, found guilty and sentenced to transportation for 10 years. Then aged 16 the Court recorded he had been employed as a Labourer. He was initially received at Millbank Prison as part of the standard interim holding arrangements and later, on 08/031849, transferred to Parkhurst Prison, where his Gaoler’s initial Report commented that he had been “Twice convicted: (was) most incorrigible, impertinent and hopeless”, single and could read only. His documentation in Van Diemen’s Land records that he could both read and write a little, skills presumably learned in Parkhurst Prison, but, more importantly, it also reported that during imprisonment his character had been profiled as “Very bad: stubborn and a confirmed thief, constantly plotting to make his escape”. He was discharged from Parkhurst Prison on 23/01/1851 in readiness for transportation to Van Diemen’s Land. He sailed from Portsmouth to Van Diemen’s Land aboard the “Lady Kennaway” on 05/02/1851, eventually disembarking at Hobart on 28/05/1851.(v) The unnamed Superintendent Surgeon aboard the ship reporting in his Conduct Record stated that John Anderson’s attitude and disposition during the voyage had been ”Bad”. The document then continues to diarise his subsequent behaviour from 28/05/1851 onwards, indicating that the first 22 months of his colonial servitude would be treated as a period of gang probation at the Cascades Station of Gang, before he became eligible to be considered for the award of a Ticket of Leave: 09/06/1851: Hobart: Prisoners’ Barracks. 21/06/1851: Cascades. 12/08/1851: Cascades: Misconduct in talking in Chapel: Ten days solitary. 23/08/1852: Cascades: Misconduct in being absent with permission: Recommended that two months be added to his existing period of probation: Approved 27/08/1852. 13/10/1852: Cascades: Misconduct on the works: Fourteen days solitary. 30/12/1852: Pass Holder 02/01/1854: Launceston: Absconding: Eighteen months hard labour: Approved Port Arthur 07/01/1854. 0404/1854: Impression Bay: Absconding: Eighteen months hard labour and recommended to be worked in the Quarry Gang Port Arthur: Approved 08/04/1854. Same date: Impression Bay: Absconding from the gaol: Thirty days solitary. 05/04/1854: Port Arthur. 2907/1854: Port Arthur: Idleness: Fourteen days solitary. 15/05/1856: Prisoners’ Barracks Hobart: Absence: 4 months hard labour. 07/10/1856: Hobart: Disobedience of orders: 1 month hard labour. 2911/1856: Kingston: Misconduct: Admonished. 03/12/1856: Absconded 09/12/1856: Gazetted. There are no further entries on the Conduct Record and nor has any information about his continued life history been retrieved.