James Blamire

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Dianne Jones on 24th July 2022

TO VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, JAMES BLAMIRE was listed as convict #27868, a labourer, 25 years old, 5’4½” tall with black hair, grey eyes and a sallow complexion. He was single, Protestant, and literate. He said he had been transported for stealing lead; previous conviction for stealing shirts (3 months) (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p22). Family: Mother Ann, brothers Isaac and John, and sister Ann – all at his native place, Sheffield (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai05437). For further details see his VDL Conduct record at https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p22 and his Indent record at https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-1-47$init=CON14-1-47_00140_L. --00—

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Dianne Jones on 24th July 2022

On Gibraltar, JAMES BLAMIRE was listed as 20 years old when convicted, sentenced to 7 years for “stealing a quantity of lead”; second conviction; born in Sheffield; Religion -- “Disenter” [sic]; brown hair, blue eyes and swarthy complexion, 5’5¼” tall; literate; sheet roller; single; relatives/family living in Silvester Gardens, Sheffield (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). 3 February, 1853: He was sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL. --00--

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Dianne Jones on 24th July 2022

Gibraltar and Bermuda were listed public works stations (and the second stage in the penal process). On Gibraltar, as “convicts worked together with free men on the dockyards, lines between them became blurred. Convicts, like seamen, were ‘easily recognised’ by ‘their swarthy, weather beaten complexions…[and] muscular well-knit frames’. The discipline on the penal settlement was also influenced by the naval department, who superintended part of the works. In the 1840s, for example, convicts were provided ‘a half gill of rum’ at 11am and 5pm, which they drank from a trough. This mirrored the daily allowance of diluted rum, known as grog, to Royal Naval seamen in the Victorian era. Convicts were also allowed to use part of their earnings, to buy goods, usually tobacco, which they were allowed to smoke in the evening in the barracks. Though official correspondence cited health reasons for grog allowance, it seems likely that the convict authorities feared insubordination if they were banned from drinking and smoking, which were provided to the sappers and dockyard workers whom they worked alongside… In 1854, the acting overseer stated that “half of the offences were committed when the men were excited by rum”. For more serious offences, convicts were flogged with a ‘cat o’nine tails’ whip against the ‘flogging mast’, and during an investigation Dr William Baly concluded that the whip which was used was an old naval cat, which was ‘much heavier than any now used in the government prison and hulks at home, or in the army.’” (Roscoe, Katy (2018), “Convicts and the Sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment” at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 24th July 2022

TO GIBRALTAR: 4 March, 1851: BLAMIRE, JAMES #1457, arrived on Gibraltar from England per Cornwall. Held on the Europa hulk (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 24th July 2022

TRIAL: 18 May, 1849: James Blamire was convicted at Sheffield and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation for "stealing a fixture", with a previous conviction for felony (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for James Blamire; England; Yorkshire - West Riding; 1849). --00--