James Clifford

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Dianne Jones on 26th July 2022

5 March, 1856: He received his Ticket of Leave. 23 December, 1856: He was granted a Conditional Pardon (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p29) --00--

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Dianne Jones on 26th July 2022

IN VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, JAMES CLIFFORD was listed as convict #27875, a farm labourer, 36 years old, 5’4” tall with brown hair, grey eyes and a sallow complexion. He was single, Protestant, and illiterate. Native place – Wallingford. He said he had been transported for “housebreaking, stealing brass and leather, prosecutor at Straitley; for a similar offence he served 18 months; transported in 1839 for 7 years, served 3 years 9 months at the York hulk”. Character from Gibraltar “exemplary” (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p29). Family: Mother Martha and sister Maria at his native place, Wallingford, Berkshire (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai10243). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 26th July 2022

CORRECTION: James Clifford actually embarked on the St Vincent at Gibraltar, where he had been sent in 1847. --0-- TO GIBRALTAR: 9 March, 1847: Clifford, James #784, arrived on Gibraltar from England per Euryalus. He was held on the Europa hulk (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). Gibraltar and Bermuda were listed public works stations (and the second stage in the penal process). 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 11am and 5pm, which they drank from a trough. 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, Katy (2018), “Convicts and the Sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment” at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/). --0-- On Gibraltar, James Clifford was described as 26 years old when convicted, sentenced to 20 years for “stealing leather and brass”; second conviction and previously transported; born in Berkshire; Church of England; brown hair, grey eyes and fair complexion, 5’5”tall; illiterate; labourer; single; relatives/family – at Swallowfield, Wiltshoire (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --0-- 3 February, 1853: He was sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL. --00--

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Dianne Jones on 15th July 2022

VOYAGE: From the medical journal of the St Vincent, by Thomas Somerville, Surgeon Superintendent, Folio 3: 16 May, 1853: James Clifford, aged 36, convict; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list, 16 May 1853, discharged duty 18 May 1853. (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910) --0--

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Dianne Jones on 15th July 2022

EMBARKATION: 1 December, 1852: According to the ship's surgeon, Thomas Somerville, the St Vincent took on 38 prisoners from Pentonville, embarking them at Woolwich, 24 of whom were "incorrigible and in irons"; and on the same day 16 "incorrigible prisoners" were received in irons from Millbank. On 2 December, the ship received 11 prisoners from Wakefield, 10 from Preston, 2 from Bath, 9 from Reading, 6 from Leicester and 13 from Bedford. On 3 December, 12 were received on board from Northampton. The St Vincent sailed for Portsmouth on 7 December and arrived at Spithead on 20 December "in consequence of prevalence of Westerly winds". Fifty prisoners from Portsmouth jail were taken on board on 21 December and, on the evening of the following day, 45 were received on board from Portland, making 210 prisoners, "all in apparent good health" (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 15th July 2022

NEWSPAPER reporting of the trial: "James Clifford pleaded guilty to five indictments, and two previous convictions, one of which was for seven years’ transportation. He was sentenced to transported for twenty years." (Windsor and Eton Express, 24 October, p3). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 15th July 2022

TRIAL: 19 October, 1846: Convicted at the Quarter Sessions, Reading, and sentenced to 20 years' transportation for housebreaking and stealing brass and leather (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai12971). --0--