Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Alexander Carey 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 255 (130) |
| 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 |
Claims
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Photos
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Convict Notes
From the "Convicts associated with Toodyay" database: Carey, Alexander (1822- ) 9682 1868-01-10 Hougoumont CWA: Unm; clerk; lit Prot; theft prev con 15 yrs; Fremantle, Perth; cook, lab, brickmaker, charcoal burner; to SA 22.02.1881. BDWA: CAREY, Alexander, b. 1832, (expiree). Arr. 10.1.1868 per Hougoument. Employed a T/L cook 1879 Toodyay. Departed for S.A. 22. 2. 1881 (https://www.toodyay.wa.gov.au/). -- Note: Possibly left on the Otway, dep Fremantle 20 February, with 66 passengers in steerage going to the "Eastern colonies" (Shipping News at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/112196646)
OTHER: Notations on his WA Convict record include: "Reported from Edinburgh as a likely man to try to EFFECT AN ESCAPE [words in upper case are lower case and underlined twice and three times in the original]. ATTEMPTED SUICIDE whilst under ... in a padded cell by bleeding himself in both arms with a piece of glass at 12.20am. EFFECTED HIS ESCAPE from prison by breaking through the walls of cell & prison on evening of Sunday 14 July, 1861, recaptured and relodged in prison same night Millbank [prison, Westminster, London]. 19 July 1861. BAD." Next of kin: Mother, Matilda Carey, 127 Nicholson Street, Edinburgh (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9059-9598 cont., 9599-10128 (R15-R16)). --00--
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: CAREY, Alexander; inmate #9682, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1822 Marital Status: Unmarried [How so?] Occupation: Clerk Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Edinburgh Crime: Theft Sentence Period: 15 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 2 Mar 1868 Certificate of Freedom Date: 14 May 1874 Comments: Cook, labourer, bricklayer, charcoal burner. To South Australia, 22 Feb 1881 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --0--
1858: While on parole, he was arrested for robbery, along with his wife Ann. Newspaper coverage of their 1858 trial: 10 May, 1858, from the Caledonian Mercury: "HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY... ROBBERY. Alexander Carey and Ann Smith or Carey were charged with breaking into the premises of Thomas S. Simpson, jeweller, George Street, on the 23rd or 24th of September last, and with stealing a large quantity of jewellery, amounting in value to upwards of £10. The panels pled not guilty, and the case went to trial. Mr Simpson deponed that on the morning of the 24th September he was called up by the police, who informed him that his shop had been robbed. He hurriedly dressed, and on going down to his shop found the lower panel of a side door communicating with his premises cut out, leaving an opening sufficiently large to admit a man. Inside the shop everything was in confusion, and a large quantity of silver spoons, knives and forks, chains, bracelets, &c., &c, was gone. Witness identified some of the jewellery shown him. James Simpson, a brother of the former witness, substantiated his evidence. James Cameron, apprentice to Mr Simpson, identified the articles of jewellery shown him, he having laid out the same in the window, the morning before the robbery. Alexander Sherwood, in the employment of Messrs Ballantyne and Allan, painters, deponed meeting the prisoners on a stair leading below Mr Simpson's premises, the night before the robbery. Elizabeth McVicar, of McVicar and Winks dressmakers, George Street, deponed that she lived above Mr Simpson's premises. On the night of the robbery, she heard a strange noise below the house. It continued for about four hours, and she became alarmed. She kept looking out of the window, in the hope of seeing the police, but saw no one, except the female prisoner, who was standing on the opposite side of the street, evidently making signals to some one. After some time, the noise ceased, and a man emerged from below the house and joined the woman. Witness accosted him from the window, and inquired if he was a policeman. 'All right,' he replied, and walked off. A policeman then came along and the robbery was discovered. Elizabeth Winks corroborated these statements; and further evidence was led, which went to show that the male prisoner, along with another man, climbed over a wall at the back of Mr Simpson's premises, about eleven o'clock at night, opened the back door, and having obtained admission to the passage, cut out the lower panel of Mr Simpson's side-door, and thus effected their entrance. Only a few of the stolen articles were recovered. The jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty; and the prisoners, who had been several times previously convicted, were sentenced, the man to fifteen years' and the woman to ten years' penal servitude. The latter fainted on hearing the sentence, but was rapidly recovered by the application of water. The Court then adjourned." (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/)
BACK IN ENGLAND: 27 December, 1856: Licence number 6745 to George Williams or Alexander Carey Alexander Carey alias George Williams was granted a Licence for Parole/Ticket of Leave for early release from Portsmouth prison where he was serving time for "robbery aggravated by habit and repute with a previous conviction". He had been tried and convicted at Ayr, in April 1853, and given a sentence of seven years' transportation. He was aged 18, and a blacksmith when convicted (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10373549). --00--
1868, 10 January: On arrival in WA, he was listed as 36 years old, and a clerk; single, with no children. This record of his marital status is at odds with his High Court record above (see Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department Registers (128/40 - 43)). The WA record also contains his physical description.
1858: Precognition against Alexander Carey and Ann Carey for the crime of theft by housebreaking, habit and repute at George Street, Edinburgh Accused: Alexander Carey, Address: Shoemakers Close, Canongate, Edinburgh Accused: Ann Carey, wife of Alexander Carey (co-accused), m.s. Smith, Address: Shoemakers Close, Canongate, Edinburgh Victim: Thomas Sawers Simpson, clock and watchmaker, residing with mother, Mary Leslie or Simpson, widow, Meadow Place, Edinburgh (see National Records of Scotland; Reference AD14/58/381). --0-- 1858, 8 May: Trial papers relating to Alexander Carey, Ann Carey for the crime of theft by housebreaking, habit and repute at George Street, Edinburgh. Tried at High Court, Edinburgh Accused: Alexander Carey, Verdict: Guilty, Sentence: Penal servitude - 15 years Previous convictions: theft - High Court of Justiciary, Ayr, 26 April 1853, under the name of George Williams, extract sentence of transportation (JC26/1853/143). Accused: Ann Carey, wife of Alexander Carey (co-accused), m.s. Smith, Verdict: Guilty, Sentence: Penal servitude - 10 years Previous convictions: theft - Edinburgh sheriff court, 27 March 1856, under the name of Ann Smith. Victim: Thomas Sawers Simpson, clock and watchmaker, residing with mother, Mary Leslie or Simpson, widow, Meadow Place, Edinburgh (see National Records of Scotland; Reference JC26/1858/419). --00--