Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
James Feather was transported on the St Vincent, departing 28th Dec 1852 and arriving 26th May 1853 with 214 passengers.
St Vincent (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 92, Class and Piece Number HO11/17, Page Number 632. --0-- Roscoe, Katy (2018), “Convicts and the Sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment” at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/ |
| 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 |
Claims
No one has claimed James Feather yet.
Photos
No photos have been added for James Feather.
Convict Notes
FOOTNOTE: Allen Horsfall, his co-accused in 1847, was also sent to VDL. He arrived per the Blenheim in July 1850. See his bio at https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/horsfall/allen/17630. --00--
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF TRIAL: 2 May, 1856: From the Hobart Courier, p2: “Edward Down and James Feathers [sic]—one free, the other ticket-of leave--were charged with stealing a sheep, the property of some person unknown. They had so disfigured it that no one could identify it. It transpired in Court that on a certain night the Chief Constable of Oatlands received some information from one of the witnesses that some bedding had been stolen, and one of the prisoners was suspected of the theft. The informer and two constables watched the place where the prisoners resided. The ticket-of-leave man [James Feather] was away from his authorised place of abode, and going out with his fellow-prisoner they returned with the sheep in question. The prisoners were both convicted.” (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2502991) Note: Edward Down had been transported to VDL for 10 years, arriving on 4 February, 1844, per the Anson. See his bio at https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/down/edward/71328. --00--
ANOTHER CONVICTION: 1856, 29 April: He was tried and Oatlands and convicted for sheep stealing – sentenced to 6 years’ penal servitude at Port Arthur (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p63 and https://prosecutionproject.griffith.edu.au/). --0--
IN VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, JAMES FEATHER was listed as convict #27908, a machine maker, 26 years old, 5’3½” tall with brown hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. He was single, Protestant, and literate. Prison report from Gibraltar “fair”. He said he had been transported for burglary and stealing £50 at Halifax. Family: Father George; mother Grace; brother George; sisters Lydia, Sarah and Ann – all at his native place, Halifax (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai22871). For further details see his VDL Conduct record at https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p63 and his Indent record at https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-1-47$init=CON14-1-47_00156_L. --0--
VOYAGE: From the medical journal of the St Vincent, by Thomas Somerville, Surgeon Superintendent, Folio 2: 27 February, 1853: “James Feather, aged 26, convict; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list, 27 February 1853, discharged duty 1 March 1853.” (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910) --00--
On Gibraltar, JAMES FEATHER was listed as 23 years old when convicted, sentenced to 15 years for burglary and a previous conviction. Other: Born in Halifax; Church of England; light brown hair, hazel eyes and fair complexion, 5’3½” tall; tattoos left arm, chest, stomach and back; semi-literate; a millwright; single; relatives/family living at Halifax, Yorkshire. --0-- 3 February, 1853: Sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL. --00--
TO GIBRALTAR: 25 January, 1849: FEATHER, JAMES #1312, arrived on Gibraltar from the Stirling Castle hulk at Portsmouth per Appoline. 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—
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF TRIAL: 24 July, 1847: Leeds Times, p7, and Yorkshire Gazette, p2 – composite article James Feather (22), Allan Horsfall (17), William Platts (18) and John Williams (18), were charged with having, on the 17th of June last, at Northowram, near Halifax, broken into the dwelling-house of James Whiteley, a mechanic, and stolen therefrom a coat, a shawl and other items. The case against the prisoners was that each of them was found after the robbery with part of the property in his possession. Platts and Williams called a witness to prove that they had bought the articles found upon them from the other two boys. The jury found Feather and Horsfall Guilty, and acquitted Platts and Williams. (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --00--
TRIAL: 10 July, 1847: JAMES FEATHER was convicted at the York Assizes and sentenced to 15 years’ transportation for burglary, with a previous conviction for felony (stealing linen) taken into account. His co-accused Allan Horsfall was also convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ transportation; while William Platts and John Williams were both found not guilty (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for James Feather; England; Yorkshire - North Riding; 1847). --0--