Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
James Bracken was transported on the Nile, departing 18th Sep 1857 and arriving 1st Jan 1858 with 271 passengers.
Nile (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/18, Page Number 238. UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875. Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Convicts Transported Per Nile (R32). |
| 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
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: BRACKEN, James; #4588, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1829 [at odds with trial and other jail records] Place of Death: Northam Marital Status: Married Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Semiliterate Sentence Place: Liverpool, Lancashire, England Crime: Manslaughter Sentence Period: Life Ticket of Leave Date: 1 Mar 1861 Conditional Pardon Date: 1 Sep 1866 Comments: Worked on Guildford Road, self-employed, 3 Aug 1861-21 Dec 1861 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --0--
10 September, 1857: James Bracken was sent to Chatham for transportation. On the record of “male transports” received from Portland at Chatham, for the voyage per Nile to WA, he was listed as #7050, 24, married, a labourer and semi-illiterate (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Convicts Transported Per Nile (R32)). --00--
19 May, 1857: He was admitted to Portland prison, in Grove Road, Portland, Dorset. Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham and Spike Island in Ireland were listed public works stations and the second stage in the penal process. After separate confinement, prisoners were "placed on work parties at various locations, most commonly naval stations, where maintenance of facilities was vital for the effective protection of Britain's far flung commercial and military influences around the world. While there, attitude and behaviour were monitored closely. In theory, only after consistently positive reports was a prisoner moved on to the third stage of his incarceration -- transportation." (Edgar, p40) James Bracken was listed as inmate #7050, 24 [his age when convicted], a labourer, Roman Catholic, married, no children, and able to read and write imperfectly; convicted for manslaughter, sentenced to transportation for life. He was 5'9" tall with red hair and grey eyes. Next of kin -- his wife, Mary Bracken of 29 New Wakefield Street, Manchester. He had no previous convictions and his state of health was "good" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875). --0--
16 September, 1856: James Bracken was admitted to West Riding House of Correction (also called Wakefield House of Correction, Wakefield County Gaol, Wakefield Prison and HMP Wakefield), Love Lane, Wakefield, in Yorkshire. "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). Wakefield, Millbank, Pentonville and Mountjoy in Ireland were the "Probation" or "Separate" prisons, as were some local jails. In Wakefield, James Bracken served 8 months 2 days in separate confinement. He had also spent 39 days in separate confinement at Kirkdale. --0--
JAILS: The Bracken brothers were initially held at Old Swan Police Station and Lock Up House, Kirkdale, Lancashire. Nearly a month after their convictions at Liverpool, they were split up. Andrew Bracken's story continues on his bio page at https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/bracken/andrew/61083. --0--
APPEAL FOR MERCY: 30 August, 1856: The Manchester Daily Examiner republished a letter from the London Morning Star of 23 August, 1856, written to the Home Secretary by Alfred Hutchinson Dymond, secretary of the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment. It it, Mr Dymond pointed out several contradictions in the testimony of witnesses about the evening’s events. He argued that even if the circumstances were such that Andrew Bracken hit Bates several times in an unprovoked attack, knocked him down and then kicked him in the head “it would still be easy to enumerate twenty cases in which juries have on equally unfavourable evidence returned verdicts of manslaughter only.” —0— 1 September, 1856: “The sentence of death passed upon Andrew Bracken, at the last Liverpool Assizes, for the murder of a man named Bates, has been commuted to transportation for life.” (The Albion, p5) Acknowledgment: Copies of these newspaper articles were generously provided by Ian Waugh from the Murder Research site at https://murderresearch.com/. Many thanks Ian! --00--
TRIAL: 9 August, 1856: This date appears on court and subsequent convict records, but newspaper reports of the trials list for the South Lancashire Summer Assizes and the proceedings at Liverpool indicate the two men were tried on Monday, 18 August, in the Crown Court before Mr Justice Willes. In its article “Murder at Manchester”, The Albion reported that James Bracken, 24, a labourer, and his brother Andrew, 21, also a labourer, had been indicted for the wilful killing and murder of William Bates. William Bates died in an infirmary following an allegedly unprovoked attack on him and his companion, a man named Taylor, outside the Brown Cow beerhouse in George Street, Hulme, in the evening on 28 June, 1856. Taylor went for help leaving William Bates alone with the Bracken brothers. Witnesses said he was knocked down and while on the ground Andrew Bracken “kicked him on the head with his clog boots. They then left him in the street in an insensible condition ... and he subsequently died from an effusion of blood to the brain.” The jury found James Bracken “guilty of manslaughter and Andrew Bracken guilty of wilful murder but with a strong recommendation to mercy on the ground that he was intoxicated at the time.” James Bracken was sentenced to transportation for life. Andrew Bracken, on receiving the death sentence, “immediately fell down in the dock and begged for mercy; but being raised by the turnkey, was escorted from the dock, ejaculating with fearful intensity, ‘Oh, mother, mother, that I should be hung.’ For a few minutes the court seemed paralyzed by the shocking scene which it had witnessed…” (The Albion, 25 August, Supplement). --0--
30 June, 1856: Hampshire—committal of Andrew Bracken, 21, and his brother James Bracken, 24, on a charge of wilful murder. —0—