Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Alexander Fraser 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 637 (321). --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
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Convict Notes
IN VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, ALEXANDER FRASER was listed as convict #27914, a carpenter and joiner, 36 years old, 6’ tall with dark brown to red hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. He was single, Presbyterian, and literate. Native place: St Andrews. Previous convictions for stealing brass (15 months) and 3 months for tools. Family: Half-brothers John at Carrington, and George at Cleveland; half-sister Elizabeth (h http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai24828). For further details see his VDL Conduct record at (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p69). --00--
On Gibraltar, Alexander Fraser was listed as 32 years old when convicted, sentenced to 10 years for “theft, habit and repute”; before convicted; born in St Andrews; Presbyterian; brown hair, hazel eyes and fair complexion, 6’0¼” tall; literate; carpenter; single; relatives/family – brother, Minister of Carrington. 3 February, 1853: He was sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL. --00--
TO GIBRALTAR: 7 November, 1849: FRASER, ALEXANDER #1364, arrived on Gibraltar from England per Hercules. 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 – COMBINED SOURCES: “Alexander Fraser, charged with stealing, March last, an iron rod employed in closing the roadway into Lower Crescent, Dundee, and the usual aggravations, was found guilty, and sentenced to ten years' transportation.” (Perthshire Advertiser, 27 April, 1848, p3; Dundee, Perth, and Cupar Advertiser, 28 April, p3). --0--
TRIAL: 25 April, 1848: Trial papers relating to Alexander Fraser for the crime of theft, habit and repute, and previous conviction. Tried at High Court, Perth. Accused: Alexander Fraser, Verdict: Guilty, Sentence: Transportation - 10 years (National Records of Scotland at https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/). --0--
PRECOGNITION: 1848: Precognition against Alexander Fraser for the crime of theft, habit and repute, and previous conviction. Accused : Alexander Fraser, wright, Address: Foundry Lane, Dundee (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/). --0--