Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
William Cook 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 240. --0-- 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://www.jstor.org/stable/26783779 |
| 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: COOK, William; inmate #4725, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1831 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Scissor grinder [tailor on all court and transportation records] Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England Crime: House breaking Sentence Period: 6 years penal servitude Ticket Leave Date: 20 Jan 1860 Comments: Escaped from Vasse, Feb 1861 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
10 September, 1857: Sent from Portland gaol to board the Nile for transportation to WA (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Convicts Transported Per Nile (R32)). --00--
7 April, 1857: Portland -- inmate #6964; all particulars as above (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875). Portland, Chatham, Portsmouth 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) --0--
31 July, 1856: Pentonville -- inmate #6894; 24 (when tried), single, reads and writes; 5'5" tall with light brown hair and grey eyes; Church of England; next of kin -- father, Mr Cook, of Walsall, Staffordshire. Served 9 months 6 days in separate confinement; behaviour "good" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1854-1856). --0--
26 June, 1856: Millbank -- inmate #2908; 1 month 5 days in separate confinement; behaviour "good" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners to 1885). “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--
JAILS: 3 March 1856: Arrested and committed for trial at Thames Police Court. Admitted to Clerkenwell -- served 108 days in association with other prisoners; behaviour "indifferent". --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORT: From the 'Weekly Dispatch', March 16, 1856: Middlesex Sessions, Tuesday Before Mr Pashley, QC, Assistant Judge WILLIAM COOK, 24, tailor, was indicted for stealing five watches, the property of Charles Porter. The prosecutor was a watchmaker, at No. 2, Whitehorse-terrace, Stepney, and on the evening of 31st December, during a momentary absence from the shop, he heard the smash of glass, and on running to the window he found that two panes had been broken, and five silver watches taken from a tray inside. There was blood on the broken glass. The thief had got clear away. The prisoner was apprehended upon information received by Police-constable 52A at No. 18, Flower and Dean-street, Spitalfields, where he lodged with a man named Flinn, a cabinet-maker. Flinn stated that on the evening in question the prisoner came home with his right hand bleeding. At his request he washed it, and took out of the wound some bits of glass, and on being asked how it happened he said he had dashed his hand through a jeweller’s shop window near Stepney Church, but had got only one watch, as the party was at the back of the shop, and was so quick when he broke the glass that he had not time to get more than one. He went out and on his return he said he had sold it for 50s., less than half what it was ticketed in the window. The jury found the prisoner Guilty. It was stated that the prisoner had been previously convicted, and had been recognised at the Holloway prison as a man who was sentenced at the Old Bailey to transportation in 1851. There was reason to infer, therefore, that he was a ticket-o-leave man. The Assistant-Judge said, without assuming as a fact that the prisoner really was a convict or ticket-of-leave, there was quite sufficient before the Court in the case which had been proved against him, and in another which had not been gone into, a precisely similar case, a robbery of watches by breaking a shop-window, to require that a severe sentence should be passed upon him. He should sentence him to six years penal servitude. The prisoner said if he lived to come back he would do Flinn a good turn." (Western Australian Convicts at http://www.perthdps.com/convicts/w4725.htm) --00--
TRIAL: 10 March, 1856: Tried and convicted at Middlesex Sessions of stealing five watches; sentenced to 6 years' penal servitude (a previous conviction being taken into account). -00-