Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
Henry Gabbites was transported on the Hougoumont, departing 10th Oct 1867 and arriving 9th Jan 1868 with 281 passengers.
875 ton ship was built at Moulmein in 1852. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/on-this-day-in-history-australias-last-convict-ship-docks.htm ---------------------------- Incorrect Image ....This is a four masted steel hulled Barque in the drawing , im surprised Australian Geo didn't do a bit more research on this .......The Hougoumont was a works ship on the Forth Bridge Project in 1885 ....the one potrayed as a drawing in Aust Geo is the later version of this ship.....the photograph i have attached is the correct and original convict vessel. --00-- 1867 "The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn, and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land." Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Thu 19 Dec 1867, p4, English Shipping, available on Trove at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271?searchTerm=hougoumont.
HougoumontReferences
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/19, Page Number 254. --0-- KW Amos, 1987, "The Fenians and Australia c1865-1880". --0-- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.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
FOOTNOTE 2: At least one newspaper report of Henry Gabbites's trial referred to his home life, in particular his relationship with his stepmother. The newspaper report above was one. It said: "The defence set up was homicidal mania, arising from a low type of physical and mental development, the latter intensified by epileptic attacks to which he had been subject, and also to general depression of spirits, from ill-treatment on the part of his stepmother from an early period of his life..." Just over a week later, a letter from the boy's father was published in the Leeds Times (Saturday, 22 December, 1866, p6). “The Murderer Gabbites and his Stepmother. -- The following letter has been addressed to the Eastern Morning News by the father of the boy Gabbites, who was convicted on Tuesday of the murder of Arthur Allen:-- 'Sir, -- Having read an article or series of articles defamatory of my wife's character, and burlesquing mine, and at a time when my heart bleeds on account of my son Henry, I think it most cruel and unjust. I pass by the rakings from the sinks of West-street, or Station-place, the emanations of a woman who ought not to be believed, and proceed to the most weighty charge -- that of mental injury. A more infamous falsehood could not have been fabricated. I believe my son Henry never received any bodily or mental injury from any human being. I have never in my life received notice to leave a house on account of my wife's ill-treatment of my children. Yours truly, Robert Gabbites. -- 1, Victoria-terrace, Campbell Street, Hull, Dec. 17.'” (Leeds Times - Saturday 22 December 1866, p5, at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000336/18661222/008/0005) --00--
FOOTNOTE: Family researchers have made Henry Gabbites's (spelled Gabites) tree available on Ancestry at https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/283202/person/260180685669/facts. --0--
DEATH RECORD: 17 May, 1868: Henry Gabbites died in Perth Colonial Hospital from fever. From his Death record, he was 17 years old; registration number 3920; death registered at Perth (Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-justice). --00--
OTHER: 15 January, 1868: From his WA Convict Record – “Specially recommended by Surgeon Superintendent for good conduct on voyage”. Family: Mrs J Berry, 13 Albion Terrace, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, Middlesex. Behaviour “tolerable” in Millbank prison, London (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9599-10128 cont. (R16)). --0--
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: GABBITES, Henry; inmate #9741, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1849 Date of Death: 17 May 1868 Place of Death: Perth, Colonial hospital, fever Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Draper Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Leeds Crime: Murder Sentence Period: Life (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). Note: Perth's reestablished Colonial Hospital came into being on December 14, 1840, in St. George's Terrace, opposite Government House (Garry Gillard, 2021, "Colonial Hospital" at https://fremantlestuff.info/. --0—
30 September, 1867: He was sent to board the Hougoumont for transportation to WA. --0—
JAIL: 22 January, 1867: From Leeds, Henry Gabbites, 16, was admitted to Millbank Prison, Pimlico, London. Listed as inmate #2826, single, literate, Independent; behaviour at Leeds “good”. Family – Robert Gabbites, 1 Victoria Parade, Campbell St Hessle Road, Hull. He was visited by his brother on 13 August, 1867 (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Henry Gabbites; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners, 1866-1867). --0—
RESPITE: “Boy Murderer.—The sentence of death passed upon the youth, Henry Gabbites, at the recent Leeds Assizes, for the murder of a fellow-apprentice, has been respited until the further signification of her Majesty’s pleasure.” (Monday 31 December 1866, Newcastle Daily Chronicle, p3) -- “On Sunday the Governor of Leeds Borough Gaol received an intimation that the sentence of death passed on the youth Henry Gabbites, for the murder of his fellow apprentice at Sheffield, had been respited. It is understood that the sentence will be commuted to transportation for life.” (Tuesday, 1 January, 1867, Bury and Norwich Post, p7; https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --0--
18 December, 1866 [sic]: Henry Gabbites was tried before Mr Justice Lush and found guilty of wilful murder (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Henry Gabbites; Wakefield Gaol; Calendar of Trials, 1860-1879). --0—
WARRANT, JAILS, ETC.: 22 November, 1866: A warrant was issued for the arrest of Henry Gabbites, 16, draper, literate, for the wilful murder of Arthur Allen at Sheffield in November 1866. -- 24 November, 1866: Henry Gabbites was received into custody at Wakefield Gaol. There he was held until his trial. After his conviction, he spent 1 month 8 days 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). Some local jails were “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were Pentonville, Millbank, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland. --0--