Summary
Personal Information
Transportation
Charles Lancaster 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 247 (125) |
| 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: LANCASTER, Charles; inmate #4703, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1823 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: York, Yorkshire, England Crime: Sacrilege Sentence Period: 20 years Ticket of Leave Date: 23 Mar 1858 Conditional Pardon Date: 3 Sep 1859 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --0--
9 September, 1857: He was sent from Portsmouth to board the Nile for WA, convict #18/4201. By this time, he had served 7 years 6 months 2 days of his 20 years sentence (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Chas Lancaster; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). 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 (one of 26 men received from Gibraltar to be forwarded to WA). He was listed as inmate #4201. Details are as previously recorded, but his next of kin now given as his step-father, James Maltby, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. --0--
25 August, 1851: He was transported to the large Gibraltar work station. Gibraltar and Bermuda, along with Portsmouth, Portland and Chatham in England 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). 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. [vii] 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). Charles Lancaster was listed as inmate #1786 and was held on the Europa hulk, moored off the island. He was 24 years old when convicted, convicted for sacrilege with no previous convictions; born Yorkshire; Church of England; brown hair, grey eyes, dark complexion, stout build, 5’2”; reads and writes; labourer; relatives -- father in Lincolnshire (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc. Register of Prisoners). --0--
6 August, 1851: Sent from the York hulk to board the Hempsyke for transportation to Gibraltar. 7 August, 1851 -- from the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette: "PORTSMOUTH — Aug. 6: The Hempsyke, convict ship, has arrived at Spithead, for the purpose of taking in prisoners from the convict hulks at this port, for conveyance to Gibraltar, for employment on the works that fortress. She then proceeds to Bermuda." --0--
15 March, 1851: Admitted to the York prison hulk, moored at Gosport. Listed as inmate #3383; conduct "good" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Charles Lancaster; Misc.; Register of Prisoners). --0--
16 April, 1850: He was admitted to Leicester County Gaol, Welford Road, Leicester—served 10 months 27 days in separate confinement; behaviour “good”. “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, Wakefield, Pentonville and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails such as Leicester. --0--
JAILS: 16 February, 1850: Charles Lancaster was committed at Kirby Malzead to stand trial. He was held at York Castle following his trial, for 1 month; behaviour "good". --0--
Newspaper report of his trial: John Wilson and Charles Lancaster were indicted for sacrilege, in having, on the 31st of January, stolen from the parish church of Kirby Malzeard [a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire] eight bottles of port wine, the property of the parishioners. Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Travis appeared for the prosecution. The prisoners were not defended by counsel. It appeared in evidence that on the 30th of January last there had been a baptism in the church between twelve and one o'clock, and that after this ceremony the church door had been locked, and the sexton took the key to the vicarage. Next day on going to the church the sexton discovered that the door had been broken open by violence, and that there were marks on the door of a crowbar or a chisel. On going into the church he found the altar-cloths lifted up, and papers were strewed about the vestry floor, and a box in the vestry cupboard had been broken open. A bottle was lying on the ground and a pickaxe. A thorn stick was also found in the church by the churchwarden..." --0--
TRIAL: 7 March, 1850: At the Assizes at York Castle, Charles Lancaster was convicted and sentenced to 20 years' transportation for sacrilege (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for Charles Lancaster; England; Yorkshire - North Riding; 1850). --0--