Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
Edward Brunton 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 240. --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. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26783779 |
| 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
WAS THIS EDWARD BRUNTON? From: The Inquirer and Commercial News, Wed 4 Aug 1880, p2: "VICTORIA PLAINS, July 31. On Monday last the Resident Magistrate (Mr. Burt) and Dr. Mayhew held an inquest on the body of a shepherd named Scott, alias Brunton, who died suddenly; a verdict of heart disease was recorded." (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65960386)
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: BRUNTON, Edward; inmate #4728, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1829 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Truss bandage maker [see explanation above under OCCUPATION] Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Westminster, Middlesex, England Crime: Larceny Sentence Period: 6 years penal servitude Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 25 May 1859 Conditional Pardon Date: 15 Dec 1860 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
10 September, 1857: Sent from Portland to board the Nile for transportation to WA (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875). --00--
7 April, 1857: Admitted to Portland; inmate #6968. Listed as 24 (when convicted), single, truss maker, able to read and write, Church of England; next of kin -- his aunt, Mrs Gilbert, 36 Bell Yard, Temple Bar. Previous conviction 10 May, 1852, sentenced to 7 years. Portland, Chatham, Portsmouth 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) --0--
31 July, 1856: Admitted to Pentonville; inmate 6910 -- 9 months 6 days in separate confinement; behaviour "good". Described as 5'9", fair complexion, brown hair and grey eyes. Marks -- D on left side, scar on left groin. [Was he branded with a "D"?] (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1854-1856). --0--
26 June, 1856: Admitted to Millbank in London from Cold Bath Fields [also formerly known as the Middlesex House of Correction and Clerkenwell Gaol]; inmate #2887 -- 1 month 5 days in separate confinement; behaviour "good" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners to 1885). “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). Millbank, Pentonville, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. —0—
JAILS: 22 February, 1856: Arrest and committal at Marlborough Street Police Court. Held at Clerkenwell jail in London in association with other prisoners for 105 days; behaviour "indifferent". --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORT: From the 'Weekly Dispatch', March 16, 1856 A TICKET-OF-LEAVE CONVICT Edward Brunton, 24, a ticket of leave convict was indicted for having stolen six gold rings, value £4, the property of Richard Stephen Waylett. He was further charged with having stolen two gold rings and a gold chain, value £5, the property of George Danby, and with having been twice before convicted of felony. The prisoner pleaded “Guilty” in Mr. Waylett’s case, and also to the previous convictions. He handed in a paper, stating that since he was liberated on a ticket-of-leave he had endeavoured to live honestly, but could not obtain the means of doing so, and he had been again driven into crime against his will. It appeared from the depositions in Mr. Waylett’s case, prisoner went into his (a jeweller’s) shop, in Oxford-street, and seeing Mrs. Waylett, asked her to show him some rings, and a tray containing a quantity was placed on the counter for his inspection. He selected several, and placed one on his finger, but being observed by Mr. Waylett to put one in his pocket, she tried to get it from him, and called out, “Stop, thief!” He ran out of the shop, and was pursued into Portman-square, where he was stopped by a policeman, opposite Lord Cardigan’s. They were identified by the prosecutor as his property. The evidence in the other case was of the same nature. The Assistant-Judge said it might possibly be to some extent true, as the prisoner represented in the paper he had handed in that he had found difficulties in the way of getting an honest living if he had endeavoured to do so; but, even were such really the case, it could not affect the Court in dealing with a man who was released from a sentence of transportation on a ticket-of-leave only in September last, who had been repeatedly convicted before, and was now charged with two daring robberies. It was necessary that society should be relieved for some time from his presence. The sentence therefore was that he be kept in penal servitude for six years, and it would be as well that it should be generally known that such sentences would not be reduced a single day. (Western Australian Convicts at http://www.perthdps.com/convicts/w4728.htm) --0--
TRIAL: 13 March, 1856: Convicted at the Middlesex Sessions -- larceny after a previous conviction for felony; sentenced to 6 years' penal servitude. Latest offences committed while on a Ticket-of-leave (issued in September 1855). --0--
OCCUPATION: Not "not known", just not listed in the options. He was a truss maker. The Dictionary of Old Occupations lists a "Trusser", which may be short for a Hay-Trusser who baled hay, or it may refer to a person who made building trusses (https://www.familyresearcher.co.uk/glossary/Dictionary-of-Old-Occupations). Alternatively, he may have served a totally different clientele. The term also refers to an ancilliary occupation of the medical profession -- surgical / hernia truss makers. In 19th century France, surgeon-truss makers in Lyon complained to the authorities about buckle makers, cutlers and other unauthorised manufacturers of surgical trusses (Matthew Ramsay, 2002, "Professional and popular medicine in France 1770-1830", p28). "Since hernia trusses were often covered with chamois, the right to produce them went to the pursemakers" who also met with competition from blacksmiths, locksmiths and cutlers (Ramsay, pp87-88). --00--