Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
George Friend 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 625 (315). --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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Photos
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Convict Notes
IN VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, GEORGE FRIEND was listed as convict #27907. He said his proper name was George Cappas. Listed as a labourer [career change], 24 years old, 5’6¾”tall with dark hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was single, Protestant, and literate. Native place: Spitalfields. Prison report: Detected with false keys. He said he had been transported for stealing a silk handkerchief. Previous conviction 6 months for picking pockets. Family: Father John; brothers John, George and Charles; sister Elizabeth – all at his native place (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai25034). For further details see his VDL Conduct record at (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p62). --00--
VOYAGE: From the medical journal of the St Vincent, by Thomas Somerville, Surgeon Superintendent, Folio 2: 19 February, 1853: “George Friend, aged 24, convict; sick or hurt, constipation; put on sick list 19 February 1853, discharged duty 20 February 1853.” (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910) --00--
3 February, 1853: George Friend was sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --00--
On Gibraltar, George Friend was listed as 19 years old when convicted, sentenced to 10 years for “stealing from the person”; twice previously convicted for felony; born in Spitalfields, Church of England; brown hair, grey eyes and dark complexion, 5’7¼” tall; literate; blacking maker; single; relatives/family – “friends, London”. This record also has the notation: "23 May, 1849: Detected in bringing false keys to another prisoner; probation to commence." --0--
TO GIBRALTAR: 25 August, 1851: FRIEND, GEORGE #1722, arrived on Gibraltar from England per Hempsyke. 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--
7 February, 1851: He was transferred to Millbank prison, Pimlico, London (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for George Friend; Portland Prison; Prison Records; Undated). --0--
JAILS: 4 March, 1850: George Friend was sent from Pentonville prison, Caledonian Road, London, and admitted to Portland prison, Grove Road, Portland, Dorset; inmate #1176, 19 years old, single, a blacking maker, sentenced to 10 years for stealing from the person; two previous convictions. Note: A blacking maker produced shoe polish, commonly made by mixing tallow with lamp black (Dictionary of Old Occupations at https://www.familyresearcher.co.uk/). --0--
TRIAL: 11 April, 1848: George Friend, 19 and semi-literate, was convicted at Clerkenwell and sentenced to 10 years’ transportation for larceny from the person (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for George Friend; England; Middlesex; 1848). Note: Some records give his trial date as 23 May 1848/49 (see below in Gibraltar entry). --00--