Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Alfred Blow was transported on the Hougoumont, departing 10th Oct 1867 and arriving 9th Jan 1868 with 281 passengers.
875 ton ship was built at Moulmein in 1852. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/on-this-day-in-history-australias-last-convict-ship-docks.htm ---------------------------- Incorrect Image ....This is a four masted steel hulled Barque in the drawing , im surprised Australian Geo didn't do a bit more research on this .......The Hougoumont was a works ship on the Forth Bridge Project in 1885 ....the one potrayed as a drawing in Aust Geo is the later version of this ship.....the photograph i have attached is the correct and original convict vessel. --00-- 1867 "The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn, and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land." Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Thu 19 Dec 1867, p4, English Shipping, available on Trove at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271?searchTerm=hougoumont.
HougoumontReferences
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/19, Page Number 246. --0-- Edgar, W. (Bill) (2018), “The precarious voyage of her majesty’s convict ship ‘Nile’ to the Swan River colony, late 1857 – and the unexpected aftermath.” The Great Circle, 40(1), 20–43. |
| Source Description | This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
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Convict Notes
FOOTNOTE: WHAT BECAME OF SARAH BLOW? 17 November, 1865: Sarah Glover (daughter of John Glover and Hannah Brewer) married Alfred Blow at Willingham, Lincolnshire, England (England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973). --0-- 1871 Census: Sarah Blow (born Sarah Glover; also called Sarah Graham), convict, 26 (born 1845), married, no profession, born Lincolnshire, was an inmate of Woking female prison at Knaphill, Surrey, at the time of the Census (1871 England Census for Sarah Blow; Surrey; Woking; ALL; Female Convict Prison). Woking was the "first purpose-built female convict prison in England". It opened in April 1869, "bringing to a close the use of prisons at Brixton and Parkhurst for women." The prison closed in 1895 (https://www.prisonhistory.org/). --0-- 20 July, 1878: Sarah Blow (born Sarah Glover) was convicted at the Lincoln Assizes of "unlawfully endeavouring to conceal the birth of a certain female child, at Wellingham, on 13 May 1878" (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for Sarah Blow; England; Lincolnshire; 1878). She pleaded guilty before Justice Sir Edward Fry and was sentenced to 6 calendar months' jail with hard labour. Sarah was described in Lincoln Castle gaol documents as 32, a servant, able to read and write imperfectly and with a previous conviction for manslaughter resulting in a sentence of 15 years' penal servitude (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Sarah Blow; Lincoln Gaol; Calendar of Trials; labelled 1860-1863). --0-- 1881 Census: Sarah Blow (also called Sarah Graham), convict, 37, married, domestic servant, born at Haxey, Lincoln, was an inmate of H M Female Convict Prison Fulham, Burlington Lane, Fulham, London (1881 England Census for Sarah Blow, London, Fulham, ALL; District H M Fem Convict Prison).
OTHER: From the Eastern Districts Chronicle (York), Fri 4 Mar 1881, p3: "POLICE COURT YORK. Saturday, Feb. 26, 1881... John Harrison and Alfred Blow, was [sic] charged by Sergeant Back for bathing in a public place on Sunday morning during the prohibited hours. Each fined 6s. and 8s. 6d. costs." (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/148584407?searchTerm=alfred blow) --00--
From the "Convicts associated with Toodyay" database: Blow, Alfred (1846- ) 9669 1868-01-10 Hougoumont CWA: Mar; 1 chd; lit Prot; manslaughter 15 yrs; York, Toodyay, Swan; gen svt, lab, worked for self as lab. Ancestry: General Register for Nos 9059 - 9598 cont., 9599 - 10128 (R15 - R16): P538: 9669 Blow, Alfred. Hougoumont. Was employed (various employers) in the Toodyay district Dec. 1873 to 1876. Ancestry: CER: Alfred Blow, was a gardener in West Swan in 1903, 1909. --0--
From his FREMANTLE jail record: BLOW, Alfred; inmate #9669, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1846 Marital Status: Married 1 child Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Lincoln Crime: Manslaughter Sentence Period: 15 years Ticket of Leave Date: 26 Nov 1873 Certificate of Freedom Date: 23 Mar 1882 Comments: Conditional Release 1878. General servant, labourer, self-employed, as labourer --0--
IN WA: 10 January, 1868: On arrival, Alfred Blow was listed as #9669, aged 21 years, single with no children [peculiar?], and having no trade (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department; Registers (128/40 - 43)). --0--
30 September: He was sent from Millbank to board the HOUGOUMONT (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Alfred Blow; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1867-1868). “The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore [anchorage in the Thames estuary] on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank... The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard.” (Sydney Morning Herald, Thu 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271) --00--
28 September, 1867: He was admitted to MILLBANK prison, Westminster, London, in preparation for his embarkation on the Hougoumont for transportation WA. Listed as inmate #3853. There are no other details on this record (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Alfred Blow; Lincoln Gaol; Calendar of Trials; labelled 1860-1863). --0--
23 May, 1867: He was admitted to PENTONVILLE prison, Caledonian Road, London -- inmate #4623. In Pentonville, he would have been held in separate confinement (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Alfred Blow; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1866-1869). “After a sentence of transportation was handed down, the prisoner entered into a separate stage where he was placed into an individual cell, isolated from others, apart from brief periods of exercise and attendance at chapel. However, no communication of any kind with other prisoners was permitted at any time. The philosophy behind this penal methodology had its provenances in the religious, monastic traditions; i.e., that in the isolation of his cell the malefactor would be able to contemplate the errors of his way, unadulterated by the negative influences of former contemporaries, and be reformed.” (Edgar, 2018, pp39-40) When first put into practice, the mandated period of separate confinement was 18 months. By the late 1840s, authorities had conceded that such conditions of imprisonment were “injurious to many prisoners’ mental health” and the stint was reduced to 12 months. Periods of separate confinement were reduced further “as a prisoner displayed good behaviour tendencies” (Edgar, p40). Pentonville, Millbank, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--
JAILS: 19 January, 1867: Alfred Blow (and Sarah Blow) were arrested, following the issue of a warrant for same on the previous day, and admitted to LINCOLN CASTLE gaol to await trial on a charge of the "wilful murder of Elizabeth, otherwise Eliza Hannah Glover, at Gainsborough on 14 January, 1867". He was listed as inmate #1218; she was #1219. At their trial on March 20, before Mr Justice Robert Lush, they were each found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter, and sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Alfred Blow; Lincoln Gaol; Calendar of Trials; labelled 1860-1863). --0--
Newspaper report of the trial: From The Sun, Thursday 21 March 1867, p3: "SHOCKING CASE OF CRUELTY TO A CHILD.—At the Lincoln assizes yesterday Alfred Blow, 20, labourer, and Sarah Blow, 22, man and wife, were charged with the wilful murder of Elizabeth, otherwise Eliza Hannah Glover, at Gainsborough, on the 14th of January. The medical evidence showed that the poor child had been virtually starved and was covered with marks of brutal ill-treatment, which was spoken to by several witnesses. The prisoners were found guilty, and each sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude." (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --00--