Summary
Personal Information
Transportation
Joseph Brittain 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 243 (123). --00--Chipulina, Neville (2013). “1842 - The 'Gib' Convicts - Skipper Figallo and the Fandangillo”, available at https://gibraltar-intro.blogspot.com/2013/08/1842-gib-convicts-figallo-and.html --00--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 2: John Rogers arrived in WA per the William Jardine more than 5½ years earlier, in August 1852. Of the original five Hanham and Cock Road gang members sentenced to transportation, only these two came to Australia. The bio for John Rogers is at https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/rogers/john/24122.
FOOTNOTE: From family researchers' records: Joseph Britton [sic] was baptised on 14 August, 1814, at Bitton at the age of two (Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1913; Bitton; 1814). His birth year of 1812 (above) is based on this document. He married Dinah Hicks on 3 June, 1832, at Bitton, Gloucestershire. Contrary to prison records, they had eight children, born between 1832 and 1850. It's believed Joseph Brittain died in NSW about 1883. [NSW BDM records show a "Joseph Britton" died in Sydney, in 1883, but he was only 30 years old.) --00--
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: BRITTAIN, Joseph; inmate #4692, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1815 [incorrect, see below] Marital Status: Married 7 children Occupation: Stone cutter Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Taunton, Somerset, England Crime: Felony Sentence Period: 20 years Ticket of Leave Date: 18 Mar 1858 Conditional Pardon Date: 8 Aug 1859 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --0--
8 September, 1857: Joseph Brittain was sent from Portsmouth, prisoner #7/4093, to board the Nile for transportation to WA. His behaviour on the voyage was “very good” (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). --00--
4 July, 1857: He was admitted to Portsmouth prison, in Penny Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, returning from Gibraltar per the convict ship Hamilla Mitchell. Listed as inmate #4093; details as per Gibraltar. Next of kin -- his wife Dinah Brittain, of Hanham, Gloucestershire. A notation says he was "acquitted of robbery about 15 years since"; character "bad". Up to this time, according to his record, he had served 7 years 5 months 10 days in prison (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). --0--
25 August, 1851: He was transported to the large Gibraltar work station. The penal servitude system used Gibraltar as an outlying branch of Millbank — “the terrible base prison” in London on whose site the Tate Gallery now stands. “It never promised more remission than one year in four, and sentences were high” (Chipulina 2013). Between 1842 and 1875, Gibraltar, along with Bermuda, was regarded as the second stage in the penal process (along with Portsmouth, Portland and Chatham in England and Spike Island in Ireland) “whereby convicts spent one to three years on public works, after which they would be sent on to Australia” (Chipulina 2013). 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 2018, p40). 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 11 AM 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, 2018). On Gibraltar, Joseph Brittain was held on the Europa Hulk; inmate #1816. Listed as 36 when tried [this does not gel with his baptism record below], convicted for assault and robbing money from the person; general character "bad". Other: Church of England, illiterate, stone mason, married; black hair, light hazel eyes, black eyebrows and lashes, pointed nose, long mouth, fair complexion, long visage and medium make/build, 5’5¼” tall. Other features: scar on upper lip, lost top of two fingers on right hand (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc. Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 and other years). --0--
1851: He was sent aboard the Stirling Castle hulk, moored at Portsmouth; held there for 2 months 5 days (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). --0--
12 November, 1850: Admitted to Dartmoor prison, Princetown, Yelverton. In November 1850, Dartmoor was reopened as a male convict public works prison (https://www.prisonhistory.org/) so Joseph Brittain would have been among the first intake. Family records say that while at Dartmoor, the former Hanham and Cock Road gang member was awaiting his appeal against transportation. He was listed as "Good but means to make his escape if possible". --0--
2 May, 1850: He was admitted to the 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, Joseph Brittain served 6 months in separate confinement. --0--
JAILS: 26 January, 1850: Held at the Wilton (Taunton) County Gaol and House of Correction in Upper High Street, Shuttern, Taunton (opened 1756, closed 1884) while awaiting his trial. Some records say he was committed, at Beaminster on the same day, to stand trial. Beaminster is approx 25 miles s-e of Taunton. Admitted to Wilton as inmate #316, aged 37, born 1813 at Hanham, labourer, married, living at Hanham; 5'5" tall, fresh complexion, grey eyes, dark brown hair, scar upper lip and missing top of two fingers on right hand (Somerset, England, Gaol Registers, 1807-1879; Wilton Gaol; Description Book 1841 - 1853). --0--