Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Robert Charlton was transported on the Thomas Arbuthnot, departing 6th Jan 1847 and arriving 4th May 1847 with 289 passengers.
Built 1841 at Aberdeen, Scotland. Wood ship of 621 Tons. Thomas Arbuthnot, 1847. “The Thomas Arbuthnot convict ship, Captain Thomson, sailed from Spithead this morning for Port Phillip, with a superior class of delinquents, officially called “exiles.” These are the first “exiles” sent to the above settlement, which the inhabitants of that respectable place are very wroth at, and have memorialised the Government on the subject. The most ingenious trades and professions are carried on, on board this ship; in fact, we believe, all trades in vogue have their representatives on board. The most ingenious affair, however, is a newspaper in manuscript, published every Saturday, having its foreign and domestic correspondence, advertisements, and, indeed, all the necessary accessories to an apparently well-conducted journal. The articles are well written and the arrangements well made. The name of this paper is the Citadel, and the conductors dub the captain of the ship ” the governor.” The Citadel having no opponents enjoys a large circulation. The editor is a man who has been of considerable note in the legitimate literary world; but all names and circumstances in connexion with their present position is strictly preserved secret with regard to these “exiles,” the greatest majority of whom are juvenile offenders from Millbank, Pentonville, and Parkhurst (Isle of Wight) prisons.”—Times, January 12. Published in the Launceston Examiner, 2 June 1847. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36252218?searchTerm=Thomas Arbuthnot There was a lot of public criticism of the arrival of these “Exiles” in New South Wales, and of their treatment, by being offered training, etc, to the detriment of honest but poor labourers.
Thomas Arbuthnot (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 92, Class and Piece Number HO11/15, Page Number 145 (74) |
| 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
Born in Northumberland in 1819, son of Robert Charlton, a watchmaker, and Mary. Occupation: watchmaker. Married Esther Kell in 1844. Sentenced to seven years for stealing a watch and other articles. His brother John arranged legal representation, but his barrister went to the wrong court. On landing in Port Phillip, was employed as a watchmaker in Melbourne. Convicted of stealing a watch in November 1847.
COMMITTAL OF A PENTONVILLAIN.- We stated in our last publication, that Mr Charet the Watchmaker and a Pentonvillain named Charleton, who has been in the employment of Mr. Brentani, were in custody on a charge of stealing a watch the property of Mr. Brentani. On Friday morning the accused parties were brought before the Magistrates, when the property in question was fully identified by Mr. Brentani, but as from the evidence adduced, there could be no doubt that the watch came innocently into the possession of Mr. Charet, to whom it had been given by Charleton, the bench dismissed the case against Mr Charet and fully committed Charleton to take his trial. Charleton is the man upon whom suspicion lighted as the perpetrator of the daring robbery committed some months back, at Mr. Bennett's the Watchmaker's, Collins Street. The Melbourne Argus, 9 Nov 1847. -------------------------------------------------- SUPREME COURT.-GAOL DELIVERY. November 17, 1847. Robert Charleton, stealing a watch, guilty, sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment with hard labor. Geelong Advertiser, 19 Nov 1847.
Convict Exiles Index. Robert Charlton, age 28, per Thomas Arbuthnot. Date of trial, 28/12/1844, at Rochester, sentence, 7 years, Charge, Felony. Remarks: Exiles.
Robert Charlton, 27, for stealing one watch, value 4/. 135., another watch, value 3/. Ss., the property of Francis Hink, silversmith, Rochester.—Transported seven years. Dover Telegraph, 4 Jan 1845.