John Casey

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Dianne Jones on 19th August 2021

FOOTNOTE: re JOHN SARSFIELD CASEY'S WORK... From: Irish Literary Supplement, Volume 31, Number 1, 1 September 2011, pp23-24: "Faith, Fenians, and Filibusters By Frank Rynne The Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, later the Irish Republican Brotherhood commonly referred to as the Fenians, after the name of its American counterpart The Fenian Brotherhood, was founded in 1858 with the objective of eschewing the democratic process and establishing an independent Irish republic through the use of military force. This approach has been viewed by many historians as foolhardy, especially in light of the often outlandish claims of its founding leader, James Stephens, with regard to the movement’s available manpower and military equipment. The ineffectual Fenian Rising in 1867 also evoked the dismal failure of the Young Ireland skirmish at Ballingarry in 1848, which Stephens had participated in. Furthermore, Stephens’ decision to found a newspaper, Irish People , employing the movement’s leaders in a building across the street from both the government and Dublin Metropolitan Police headquarters at Dublin Castle, has been viewed as irreconcilable with the stated aim of organizing a secret military offensive against British rule. However, the influence of the various Fenian organizations and re-organizations on the Irish body politic, their influence on the political organization of Nationalists in civil society, and indeed the creation of political origin myths linking Young Ireland, the “Fenian Fever” of the mid 1860s, the Land War, the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence which formed and informs the reason d’existence of various political parties and physical force nationalists down to the present day, ensures that the study of the Fenian movement continues to hold a central place in any attempt at understanding both the development of and the potential flaws inherent in any political organisation in Ireland right into the 21st century. UCD Press has recently published several works of primary source material related to the Fenian movement. Their latest offerings, John Sarsfield Casey’s A Mingling of Swans, edited by Mairead Maume, Patrick Maume and Mary Casey, and J.F.X. O Brien’s For the Liberty of Ireland at Home and Abroad, edited by Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre, are first publications of these writings by two early members of the IRB. J.F.X O’Brien is mentioned in several Irish historical works which note his role in County Cork’s 1867 Fenian Rising, his election as a Pamellite MP in 1885 and his presence in opposition to Parnell in Committee Room 15 in December 1890. John Sarsfeld Casey’s nom de plume, “The Galtee Boy,” is well known thanks to a ballad which Michael Collins was said to have been fond of. Due to his arrest in 1865, he missed out on the Rising, and though he was active in the Land War and the Plan of Campaign, he remains very much a minor historical figure. These two volumes are welcome additions to the Fenian oeuvre as they both shed light on personalities, education and global experiences not untypical of lower and middle ranking Fenians of the 1860s. John Sarsfield Casey’s prison writings detailing his arrest, trial and imprisonment in England, The Galtee Boy, was published by UCD Press in 2004. A Mingling of Swans is a collection of his letters from Australia, the notebook which he kept there and his letters to The Irishman. In 1867, Casey was transported on board the Hougoumont, the last convict ship to take prisoners from England to Australia. His letters to his parents, his cousin, brother and relatives, and their replies to him, provide detailed observations of both convict and settler life in Australia in the late 1860s, as well as details of life at home. They also give brief glimpses into the emigrant lives of his cousins in New Zealand and Australia, who traversed the globe working as miners. Other topics covered include the amnesty movement which sought to free the Fenian prisoners, Casey’s initial shock and later positive view of Aborigines, and the international information networks which Fenians maintained despite being imprisoned or on parole. Indeed it is notable that relatives in Ireland wrote to Casey in Australia for news of Fenian convicts still in English prisons. The book begins with a letter to his parents, penned in Portland prison in September 1867, where Casey was serving a sentence for treason felony having written letters to the Irish People newspaper. Through Casey’s letters, a narrative emerges, from his arrival in a strange new land, his life as a prisoner on a “Bush party,” his daily activities and his eventual parole on a “Ticket of Leave.” He describes in his early letters the bugs and fleas that tormented him and his fellow prisoners. The letters were ones of torment, from the tremendous heat of the summer and the cold damp winters while prisoners worked making roads and digging rocks for use as aggregate. However, out in the bush, there were opportunities for free association and hunting expeditions as well as contact with free men working as contractors. Casey’s notebook describes the tensions and rifts that emerge between prisoners and their efforts to maintain Fenian contacts and support networks in Australia. The letters show that convict life in the colony contrasted greatly with the horror of the confined convict life in Victorian prisons such as Millbank and Portland, which is most graphically described by O’Donovan Rossa in his Irish Rebels in English Prisons. Despite hardships and the distance from home, it may be concluded that convict life in Australia was preferable to confinement in a Victorian prison. Like O’Donovan Rossa in his prison writing, Casey articulates a deeply felt sense of personal injustice. To be treated as an ordinary convict rather than a political prisoner, and such injustice, provide him with a living metaphor for Ireland’s treatment by England. Their writings also portray their unshakable belief in the righteousness of their cause and evidence that the incarceration of articulate Fenians strengthened rather than weakened their belief in and commitment to that cause. J.F.X. O’Brien’s For the Liberty of Ireland at Home and Abroad is an overly pithy unfinished autobiography which he worked on in the late 1890s with the assistance of Alfred Webb MP. It begins with a description of his childhood and education in County Waterford and his early encounters with a John O’Leary who, as a youth, holidayed in Dungarvan with his family. O’Brien’s first active participation in revolutionary affairs was in 1849 when he became involved with the “conspiracy” led by James Fintan Lalor. From the circle of young men around Lalor came the most enduring and literate revolutionaries of the Fenian movement, such as Thomas Clarke Luby and John O’Leary. Indeed Lalor’s influence was central to Fenian orthodoxy and it was he who first proposed the form of peasant proprietorship advanced by the Land League, and who, in 1915, was cited by Patrick Pearse as one of his “Four Evangelists of Irish Nationalism”. Like John O’Leary, O’Brien went to Paris to study medicine in the 1850s. His account provides some details of the lives of Young Ireland exiles there. O’Brien shared the wish to experience and learn military arts with many other leading Fenians of the 1860s such as William Francis Roantree, Patrick “Pagan” O’Leary, John Devoy and J.J. Kelly. In 1857 O’Brien traveled to Nicaragua to join in William Walker’s filibuster. Arriving too late he ended up in New Orleans during the American Civil War and, like Casey in Australia, made his living as a teacher. The participation of O’Brien and other Fenians in Walker’s filibuster indicates that the later Fenian attempts to invade Canada were consistent with the filibustering trends implicit in the concept of Manifest Destiny. He also maintained his links with former Young Irelanders in the U.S. O’Brien details the period from 1862 to 1867, when he was organizing the IRB in Cork, and deals with his role as the somewhat reluctant leader of the 1867 Fenian Rising there. His account of his role “On the Hill-Side,” presented with apparent modesty, implies that his second in command Captain William Mackey (Lomansey) was hesitant in the attack on the police barracks at Ballyknocknane which is at odds with comments in John Devoy’s Recollections of an Irish Rebel. Devoy pointedly states that people present gave credit for the Fenians’ success in capturing and burning the barracks to the efforts of “The Little Captain,” as Lomansey was known. O’Brien’s substantive narrative ends in 1874, although the last chapter reprises the years to 1890. Unfortunately, it adds nothing of importance regarding Parnell and the split, but he blames the rupture in the Irish Party at the “end of 1890" for Ireland still not having Home Rule at the time of his writing that chapter in 1898. Other than their imprisonment for involvement with advanced nationalism in the 1860s, other common points between Casey and O’Brien emerge from these books. Both were well educated men, from mercantile families and their writing indicates a keen interest in education and a national identity which, in the early 1840s, Thomas Davis deemed prerequisites for Irish independence. They both wrote for the Irish People newspaper and worked as teachers in Australia and the U.S., respectively. In spite of the conflict between the Fenians of the 1860 sand the Catholic hierarchy, especially with Archbishop (later Cardinal) Cullen, both writers were devoutly Catholic. Less than a month after the first wave of Fenian arrests in September 1865, Cullen published a pastoral equating the Fenian movement with the Orange Institution and threatened the excommunication of members of secret societies. He believed James Stephens to be “an open infidel” and that Fenians were atheists. This contrasts with O’Brien’s shock at the young John O’Leary’s disrespect for the authority of the Church, Casey’s weekly attendance at Mass and his contact with a Christian Brother, despite a member of that congregation abetting his prosecution by proving his handwriting at the Special Commission. Casey’s only criticism of Cullen was in respect of the prelate’s belief that the emigration of Irish Catholics was the result of “Divine Providence,” designed to spread the faith worldwide. Casey condemned emigration to Australia and claimed that young Irish women were imposed on and forced into immoral unions. This anomalous relationship between republican revolutionaries and their Catholic faith, rather than being a peculiar contradiction in Fenian rhetoric, perhaps illustrates the peculiarity of the Irish republican creed, which has always encountered an intellectual difficulty when dealing with the separation of Church and state, though it must be noted that following the revolution, it took France one hundred and sixteen years to pass parliamentary acts separating the two. It is unfortunate that Jennifer Regan Lefebvre’s editorial efforts are reviewed alongside those of Mairead Maume, Patrick Maume and Mary Casey. As John Sarsfield Casey’s granddaughter, Mary Casey has familial insights into the narrative and personalities that would elude many historians. A Mingling of Swans is also meticulously annotated and perhaps sets the bar higher than most historians ever achieve or achieved, with the notable exception of the late T.W. Moody and a handful of his students. A Mingling of Swans is prefaced by an extensive introduction and includes four appendices, including twenty-two pages of biographical notes on the key figures mentioned in the text, a history of the Catholic Church in Western Australia, a history of western Australia, a detailed essay on the amnesty movement, as well as extensive references, explanations and historical details which augment the text. In Regan-Lefebvre’s introduction to O’Brien’s memoirs, she notes that her students pushed her to think harder about Fenianism. Her annotations indicate a less-that-expert knowledge of the Fenian movement, its leading members and its political nuances. One example of this is O’Brien mentioning meetings with Joe Denieff (sic) in his account of the aftermath of the suppression of the Irish People newspaper. However, there is no annotated reference to the fact that this was Joseph Denieffe, one of the three founding members of the IRB and author of A Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood (1906) which is one of the most important contemporary narratives written by a Fenian. Her biographical notes on the people mentioned in the text might have been expanded beyond the excellent but pithy Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and instead directed readers to the substantial memoirs and biographies that have been written by or about the subjects. For instance, Michael Davitt is described as an MP and labor leader without any reference to the Irish National Land League, or the New Departure, or his The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland. While citing works which utilized the manuscript of O’Brien’s memoir, she notes two recent studies but omits Leon 6 Broin’s seminal Fenian Fever. It must be stated that Regan-Lefebvre is an expert on Alfred Webb MP, the close friend of J.F.X. O’Brien who edited the original unfinished manuscript. These disparities in editorial rigor do not detract from the value and importance of both publications. They provide welcome and now easily available primary source material which will enhance and inform future studies of Irish nationalism. — Trinity College Dublin John Sarsfield Casey A Mingling of Swans: John Sarsfield Casey. Edited by Mairead Maume, Patrick Maume and Mary Casey. Dublin: UCD Press. 2010. €2O. • J.F.X O’Brien For the Liberty of Ireland at Home and Abroad Edited by Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre. Dublin; UCD Press. 2010. €2O."

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

--00-- JOHN CASEY's return to Ireland... 1870, 21 May: From the Freeman’s Journal, p7: “ARRIVAL OF THE IRISH STATE PRISONERS AT CORK. GREAT EXCITEMENT. (From the Cork Herald.) The excitement which the expected arrival of the Fenian prisoners aroused in this city, and which the anxious waiting for them only intensified, culminated last evening when Messrs. Eugene Lombard, J. C. O’Donovan, Simon Downey, Morgan McSwiney, and Thomas Culhuane [aka Thomas Bowler], of Ballymacoda, reached the city by the eight o’clock train. As on the previous evenings during the past week crowds assembled at the railway station, but their wonted enthusiasm reached a pitch of almost frantic joy when it became definitely known that the late prisoners were on their way to Cork... At every station on the line the arrival of the train was awaited by large crowds of persons who welcomed the exiles with the heartiest manifestations of sympathy. At the Mallow Junction, where Mr. J. S. Casey (the Galtee Boy) alighted from the train, but especially at Kilmallock, where Messrs. Thomas Daly, Riordan [Reardon], and M. Noonan parted company with their companions, their reception amounted to a frenzied ovation, but, as far as we could ascertain, the demonstrations in their honour were nowhere attended with disorder.”

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

JOHN CASEY is named in this republished letter, written by one of his fellow Fenians who received a free pardon but went to America, per the Baringa, in 1879 (see the Freeman’s Journal, Sydney, Sat 2 Jul 1870, p13): NEWS OF THE RELEASED IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS. The Boston Pilot — per favour of Mr. John Boyle O’Reilly, the military political prisoner who escaped from Western Australia — publishes the following letter received by that gentleman. We regret the want of success which met those [15 men who went to America aboard the Baringa] who expected to find happy homes in California: “34, Minna street, between 1st and 2nd streets, San Francisco, Cal., March 9, 1870. MY DEAR O’REILLY,— It was more by chance than good luck I happened to hear of your being in New York, and so I write to be one of the first to congratulate you on your escape from Western Australia. Of course we were aware of your escape, but did not know in what quarter of the world you were. The majority of us thought you were soldiering down in South America, but I am very glad to find you are better off. Before we left Western Australia we visited the boys in prison; they all seemed to be in pretty good health — that is as far as health in a prison goes — and spirits. I give you, on the other side, the names of those here with me, those in prison in Fremantle, those gone home, those free in Western Australia, and of our soldier friends still prisoners in bush parties, and out on a ticket- of -leave. I am afraid there is but very little chance of their getting out. On the road up from Perth to King George’s Sound we met a few of our military friends, stationed in different bush parties on the road; they all seemed to be in good health and spirits, except [James] Wilson. He looked like a man that had to put up with a great deal of annoyance, as I believe he has, from his warder, who is continually reporting him for the slightest cause. Martin Hogan is up in the Champion Bay district. I did not see [Patrick] Keating, neither do I know where he is; but I heard that he and [Patrick] Killeen were working in different parties on the York road. [Michael] Harrington is somewhere about Northam; Keeley [James Keily/Kiely] is in some other quarter. With the exception of those, I have seen all the others. Although we had a police escort, we managed to speak to the boys ‘for a’ that.’ We had rather hard times after getting out of prison; some of us had to go miles away into the infernal bush, where I suppose we would be now, only for the noble-hearted Irishmen and women in the Australian colonies. You would not believe how kind they were to us. I could not find words enough in the dictionary to express their goodness; where-ever we went we found them the same… Had we stayed in Sydney we would have all got first-class situations from the wealthy Irishmen there; but like fools, as we were, nothing would do us only to come out to this place, where we are loafing about for the last six or seven weeks, and can’t get employment. Were it not for the money we got in Australia we would be ‘hard up’ indeed; some of us would be off soldiering for Uncle Sam — perhaps down in Arizona, or some other place — by this time. There are only five or six out of the fifteen of us at work. Since I made out the list, I have learned from a letter received by Denis Hennessy from Western Australia, that Hugh F. Brophy was to start for home the following mail, and that James Flood was about going to New Zealand. That is all the news from that benighted land. Send all the news from home, as I have not had a letter from any one since last August. We do not know how the wind blows in that quarter. Letter from M. Cody yesterday. Father Lynch gone home to Ireland for twelve months. Father McCabe, of Bunbury, in his place. Hoping soon to hear from you, I am yours, very sincerely, JOHN B. WALSH.” LIST… In San Francisco, California: John Keneally, Patrick Doran, Denis B. Cashman, Patrick Dunne, Denis Hennessy, Thomas Fogarty, Eugene Geary, David Cummins, Michael Moore, DAVID JOYCE, Patrick Leahy, John Sheehan, Maurice Fitzgibbon, John B. Walsh, Patrick Wall. In Prison in Fremantle, West Australia: John Flood, 15 years, Corn. D Keane, 10 years, J. Edward Kelly, life imprisonment, Daniel J. Bradley, 10 years, Michael Cody, 20 years, Thos. Baines, 10 years, Thos. Fennell, 10 years, James Kearney, 7 years, Geo. Connelly, 15 years. Gone Back to Ireland: Thomas Daly, Morgan McSwiney, Jeremiah O’Donovan, Michael Noonan, John S. Casey, Thomas Cullinane (alias Bowler) Eugene Lombard, Patrick Riordon, Simon Downey, Robert May. Free in Western Australia: Hugh F. Brophy, Cornelius O’Mahony, Joseph Noonan, Jeremiah Aher, James O’Reilly, John Goulding, Thomas Duggan, Laurence Fulham, James Flood, Luke Fulham. Our Military Friends Prisoners in different Bush Parties, and on Ticket of Leave in Western Australia: Sergeant Major [Thomas] Darragh, life, 11th Regiment. James Wilson, life, 5th Dragoon Guards. Martin Hogan, life, 6th Dragoon Guards. James Mecoy, 15 years, 61st Regiment. Patrick Keating, life, 5th Dragoon Guards. Thomas Delaney, 15 years, 5th Dragoon Guards John Foley, 7 years, Royal Horse Artillery. Thos. Hassett, life, 24th Regiment. J. [John] Shine, 20 years, 60th Rifles. Patrick Killeen, 7 years, Royal Horse Artillery. Michael Harrington, life, 61st Regiment. Robert Cranston, life, 61st Regiment. — Keely [James M. Kiely], life, 53rd Regiment. On Ticket of Leave: William Foley, 5th Dragoon Guards. John Lynch, 5th Dragoon Guards. John Donoughue, 24th Regiment.

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

1869, 21 September: John Casey sailed on the SS Rangatira from Albany for Sydney, via Melbourne (see Western Australia, Australia, Crew and Passenger Lists, 1852-1930; Albany, 1872). 1869, 5 October: The SS Rangatira's arrival in Sydney was reported in the Freeman’s Journal, on 9 October, p2: “ARRIVAL OF THE LIBERATED IRISH STATE PRISONERS IN SYDNEY. The Rangatira, with twenty five of the Amnestied State Prisoners on board, left Melbourne at about half-past four o’clock on last Saturday afternoon, but did not arrive in Sydney until some short time after eight on Tuesday morning. This detention was caused by a strong northerly breeze and head sea which the vessel encountered immediately on rounding Cape Howe. The Sub Committee appointed by the Central Committee of Sydney had secured apartments for them at the Italian Hotel, in north George street, and were at their post at the hour when the steamer was due. It had first, on the report of apprehended disturbance on the part of the Orangemen, been arranged that the subcommittee should engage a small steamer and take their friends off the Rangatira somewhere below Port Denison. This intention was abandoned because it might be subsequently alleged, by people who have shown some anxiety to misrepresent the real state of affairs, that the patriots were smuggled ashore. Accordingly the gentlemen deputed to receive the guests took their station on the wharf as soon as they learned that the steamer was coming up the harbour and awaited their arrival. The news of the arrival of “the Fenians” spread with astonishing rapidity in the vicinity, and crowds were immediately rushing to the water’s side to catch a glimpse of the much dreaded revolutionists. By the time time the men had disembarked there were some hundreds on the wharf. There was not even the semblance of a demonstration on either side, not a voice was raised not a gesture made. Indeed save and except the numbers present not the least difference could be noticed between the landing of the ex-prisoners and the landing of an equal number of ordinary immigrants from the neighbouring colonies. The men then marched four abreast to the carriages waiting for them and were driven off to the hotel abovementioned. None of them seemed much the worse for their imprisonment, and all of them declared that bad as penal servitude in Western Australia was, it was infinitely preferable to incarceration in any of the English prisons. They are chiefly from Cork and Limerick, with a few from Dublin, as will be seen by the annexed list. They are very favourable specimens of the young and intelligent Irishmen of the present day, and are evidently imbued with a manly and patriotic spirit. We understand that none of them care about remaining in the colony; the great majority of them will return home to Ireland, and the remainder of them will proceed by the first opportunity to San Francisco. We were highly pleased to see that they were accorded a genuine Irish “Cead mille failthe” without the slightest pretext being given to certain parties, who shall be nameless for the present, at all events, to cry out that a “Fenian demonstration” was taking place, or that “old sores”, whatever kind of wounds they may happen to be, were being ripped open once more. A constant tide of friends and sympathisers, anxious to clasp the hands of the patriots and to congratulate them on their release from their unmerited suffering, flowed through the rooms and threatened occasionally to become a decided nuisance to our gallant young countrymen. It must have been a great relief to them when the hand shaking terminated and they were allowed to retire and rest themselves after their protracted and disagreeable passage from the Sound. On one occasion two members of the detective force mingled with the throng in the room, and although they were instantly recognized there was no more notice taken of their presence than if they had been but a couple of cur dogs that followed the crowd. We regret that we are quite unable to say whether they were able to report anything important to their highly respected, intelligent, and efficient chief. Our friends are by no means confined in their movements, they ramble freely about the city, and so far as we can hear, they have been subjected to no unfriendly molestation or interference of any kind. Their quiet unostentatious and gentlemanly manner has favourably impressed both friends and foes, who have come in contact with them. We append a list of their names, place of birth, where convicted, and nature of sentence, which we make no doubt will prove interesting to many of our readers as by this means they can tell whether they have been acquainted in the old country with the prisoners, or their families:— 1. Mr. John Kenealy [sic], born at Newmarket, county Cork; convicted at Cork, December 1865; sentence, 10 years penal servitude. 2. Mr. Jeremiah O’Donovan, born at Blarney, county Cork; convicted at Cork, December 1865; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 3. Mr. John S. CASEY, born at Mitchelstown, county Cork; convicted at Cork, December 1865; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 4. Mr. Michael Moore, born at Dublin; convicted at Dublin, December 1865; sentence, 10 years penal servitude. 5. Mr. Patrick Dunne, born at Dublin; convicted at Dublin, December 1865; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 6. Mr. Denis B. Cashman, born at Waterford; convicted at Dublin, January 1866; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 7. Mr. John B. Walsh, born at Dublin; convicted at Dublin, January 1866; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 8. Mr. Patrick Doran, born at Dublin; convicted at Dublin, April 1867; sentence, hanged, drawn and quartered. 9. Mr. Eugene Lombard, born at Cork; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 10. Mr. Eugene Geary, born at Cork; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 11. Mr. David Joyce, born at Ballamacoda, county Cork; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, hanged, drawn and quartered. 12. Mr. Thomas Cullinane, born at Ballamacoda, county Cork; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, hanged, drawn and quartered. 13. Mr. Simon Downey, born at Cork; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 14. Mr. Morgan McSweeny, born at Cork; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 15. Mr. Denis Hennessy, born at Kilmallock, county Limerick; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 16. Mr. Maurice Fitzgibbon, born at Kilmallock, county Limerick; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 17. Mr. Thomas Daly, born at Kilmallock, county Limerick; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 15 years penal servitude. 18. Mr. John Sheehan, born at Kilmallock, county Limerick; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 19. Mr. David Cummins, born at Youghal, county Cork; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 20. Mr Michael Noonan, born at Kilmallock; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 21. Mr. Patrick Riordan, born at Kilmallock; convicted at Cork, May 1867; sentence, 7 years penal servitude. 22. Mr. Patrick Leahy, born at Thurles, county Tipperary; convicted at Cork [incorrect; Nenagh], May 1867 incorrect; 29/7/1867]; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 23. Mr. Thomas Fogarty, Kilfeacle, county Tipperary; convicted at Cork May 1867; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 24. Mr. Robert May, born at Drogheda; convicted at Dundalk, August 1867; sentence, 5 years penal servitude. 25. Mr. Patrick Wall, born at Drogheda; convicted at Dundalk, August 1867; sentence, 5 years penal servitude."

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

1869, 5 February: JOHN CASEY was one of 35 Fenians who had been transported to Western Australia (as well as others imprisoned in Great Britain) who were given Free Pardons / “unconditionally discharged” by the House of Commons. For a full list, see the Melbourne Advocate, 22 May 1869, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169267360?. 1869, 15 May: He received his Free Pardon certificate from the Resident Magistrate at York (see Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9599 - 10128 cont. (R16)). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

1868, 10 January: On arrival in WA, JOHN CASEY was listed as #9684, 21 years old, and a clerk; single, with no children (see Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department Registers (128/40 - 43)). This record also contains his physical description. Note: His year of birth differs on his Fremantle jail record. On the General Register, his next of kin was his father, Jeremiah Casey, a grocer at Mitchelstown, Co Cork (see Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9059 - 9598 cont., 9599 - 10128 (R15 - R16)). --0-- From his Fremantle jail record: CASEY, John; #9684; arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1844 Place of Birth: Mitchelstown, County Cork Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Clerk Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Cork Crime: Treason Sentence Period: 5 years Ticket Leave Date: 13 Nov 1868 Comments: One of 62 Fenians transported on the Hougoumont, the last convict ship sent to Australia. Its arrival at Fremantle on 9 Jan 1868 signalled the end of transportation to this country. General servant, school, teacher. To New South Wales, 21 Sep 1869 (see https://fremantleprison.com.au/).

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

1867, 8 October: According to newspaper reports, 23 Fenian prisoners, including John Casey, were among the convicts from Portland who were taken aboard the Hougoumont, on this date, for transportation to WA. “Shortly before midday 90 convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 13th Light Infantry. The party included 23 Fenian convicts… 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.” (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271?searchTerm=hougoumont).

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

1866, 6 January: John Casey, alias John B.S. Casey, was admitted to Mountjoy jail in Dublin, having been convicted of treason-felony at the Special Commission, Cork. The jail record describes him as 19, single and a Roman Catholic from Cork. He was 5'5½" tall with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. A clerk, he could read and write. A notation on his records says: "If able to earn his bread - Yes. Born at Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Would wish to reside at Mitchelstown, his friends being there" (see Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924). --0-- 1866, 16 January: He was sent to England and admitted to Pentonville jail in Middlesex, as prisoner #3423. His record there lists him as 19 years old, able to read and write and a clerk. He had “friends at Mitchelstown, Cork”. After almost 4 months, he was sent from Pentonville to Portland jail (see UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners, 1864-1866). --0-- 1866, 14 May: John Casey was admitted to Portland jail. Portland held adult convicts and its purpose “was largely to make use of convict labour in the construction of the breakwaters of Portland Harbour and its various defences” (see Wikipedia).

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

1865, 14 December: John B.S. Casey, prisoner #1169, was held at Cork jail prior to and following his trial on a charge of "being a member of the Fenian Brotherhood -- treason-felony". He was convicted at the Special Commission in Cork (before Judges Keogh and Fitzgerald) and sentenced to 5 years’ penal servitude (see Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924; Cork; Cork 1861-1873). The Melbourne Leader reported on the Fenian trials (including JOHN CASEY’s appearance) in its 24 March 1866 edition, p8: “THE FENIAN MOVEMENT. The trials of Fenians have been continued in considerable numbers, and almost invariably resulted in convictions, with more or less heavy sentences. Considerable numbers of pikes, muskets, uniforms, &c, have been discovered in various parts of the country, and there can be no doubt that the organisation was much more wide-spread than was at first considered. Michael O’Regan was convicted of being a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, and attempting to seduce a petty naval officer, named Hallinan, from his allegiance. He was sentenced to seven years’penal servitude. The prisoner, on leaving the dock, was heard to say that he would not be long in custody. Patrick Barry was then arraigned for administering the Fenian oath to a soldier named Patrick Killian [aka Killeen, he was transported to WA aboard the Hougoumont], of the 1st Royals, and sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude. In the case of James Mountaine a verdict was brought in of ‘Not Guilty.’ John B. S. CASEY [my emphasis], a very young man of boyish appearance, was convicted on a charge of treason felony. Mr Justice Fitzgerald sentenced the prisoner to five years’ penal servitude. Hayes, wheelwright, of London, was then put on his trial. It was sworn that he was one of the principal Fenian organisers. The prisoner was convicted, and sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude. John Kenneally [also sent per Hougoumont to WA], a commercial traveller, was convicted, and sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude.” --0--

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Dianne Jones on 1st August 2021

CRIME: Treason-felony [is not available in the options above]