Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
John Conners 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 235 (119) --00--Chipulina, Neville (2013). “1842 - The 'Gib' Convicts - Skipper Figallo and the Fandangillo”, available at https://gibraltar-intro.blogspot.com/2013/08/1842-gib-convicts-figallo-and.html --00--Edgar, W. (Bill). (2018). “The precarious voyage of her majesty’s convict ship ‘Nile’ to the Swan River colony, late 1857 – and the unexpected aftermath.” The Great Circle, 40(1), 20–43. https: |
| 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
Correction: Re trial sentence on 27 Feb 1849, he was sentenced to transportation for life (not 20 years).
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: CONNORS, John; inmate #4688, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1825 [see Europa hulk record for date used in this bio] Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales Crime: Manslaughter Sentence Period: Life Ticket of Leave Date: 18 Mar 1858 Conditional Pardon Date: 22 Oct 1859 Comments: Self-employed, 1856 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
8 September, 1857: John Conners was sent from Portsmouth, prisoner #3/4089, to board the Nile at Plymouth for transportation to WA. 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: After more than 6 years, John Conners was back in England and was admitted to Portsmouth prison in Hampshire (coming from Gibraltar per the convict ship Hamilla Mitchell); inmate #4089. Listed as 25 when tried, single, Roman Catholic, able to read and write; convicted for manslaughter under an indictment for wilful murder; sentenced to life. Committed for trial on 20 November, 1848, at Cardiff. Periods of separate confinement: Swansea 8 months [cf 6 months entered on Pentonville record], Millbank 2 months, Pentonville 5 months 11 days. "Good" character at all previous prisons; family living at city of Limerick, Ireland. Up to this time, according to his record, he had served 8 years 6 months 13 days in prison (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). --0--
4 March, 1851: He was transported to the large Gibraltar work station. The penal servitude system used Gibraltar as an outlying branch of Millbank — “the terrible base prison” in London on whose site the Tate Gallery now stands. “It never promised more remission than one year in four, and sentences were high” (Chipulina 2013). Between 1842 and 1875, Gibraltar, along with Bermuda, was regarded as the second stage in the penal process (along with Portsmouth, Portland and Chatham in England and Spike Island in Ireland) “whereby convicts spent one to three years on public works, after which they would be sent on to Australia” (Chipulina 2013). 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 2018, 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. 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). On Gibraltar, he was held on the hulk Europa; listed as inmate #1550. All details are as per other records below but his physical characteristics are comprehensively described here: dark brown hair, grey eyes, brown eyebrows and lashes, sharp nose, compact mouth, swarthy complexion, long visage and slight make/build, 5'10" tall. He was fond of tattoos, too, with one on his left arm reading, "Born Nov THE 1st AD 1824" [a portable birth certificate?] (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc. Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 and other years). --0--
11 June, 1850: Admitted to Portland prison, Grove Road, Dorset. --0-- 26 December, 1850: Admitted to the Stirling Castle hulk, moored at Devonport, Portsmouth. --0--
29 December, 1849: Admitted to Pentonville prison in north London; inmate #2718, 25 years old [when tried], weighed 11 stone 4 lbs on admission, single, next of kin Michael Conners, able to read and write imperfectly, railway labourer; behaviour at Millbank "good"; "good" in Pentonville. He served 5 months 10 days in separate confinement at Pentonville, on top of 6 months at Swansea and 2 months at Millbank (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1849-1850). --0--
30 October, 1849: Admitted to Millbank prison in London and served 2 months in separate confinement. “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, Pentonville, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--
From 27 February, 1849: Held at Swansea gaol in Wales where he served 6 or 8 months in separate confinement (see below). --0--
JAILS: 20 November, 1848: Committed at Cardiff to stand trial. May have been held at Cardiff prison, Adamstown. --0--