Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
John Godsill 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 638. --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
DEATH: 20 December, 1911: John Goodsill/Godsil died in Hobart, “at a house situate at the rear of 107 Murray Street”. An inquest found that “John Godsill [sic], aged 87 years an old age pensioner died from natural causes to wit heart failure” (https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC195-1-81-12939). --00--
PENSION: 31 August, 1909: John Goodsill applied for an old age pension (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p79). --0--
IN VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, JOHN GOODSILL [sic] was listed as convict #27924, a mason imperfect, 22 years old, 5’5” tall with black hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He was single, Catholic and literate. Native place: Cork City (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p79). He said he had been transported for “burglary, stealing groceries … at Cork”. He had been sentenced to 3 months for stealing a till. Prison report “very bad”. Gibraltar report “good”. Family: Mother Ellen, brother Patrick supposed to be in Hobart Town, emigrated (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai26886). 14 August, 1855: He received a Conditional Pardon (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p79). --0--
On Gibraltar, JOHN GODSIL was listed as 21 years old, sentenced to 7 years for “burglary and felony”; second conviction and “very bad”; born in Cork, Catholic; dark brown hair, hazel eyes and dark complexion, 5’5” tall; literate; labourer; single; relatives/family – Cork. --0-- 3 February, 1853: Sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL. --00--
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--
TO GIBRALTAR: October, 1851: GODSILL, JOHN #1900, arrived on Gibraltar from Ireland per Rodney. He was held on the Europa hulk (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --0--
SENT ABOARD THE RODNEY: 23 September, 1851: JOHN GODSIL [sic], male, 19, tried Cork City 18/05/1849; burglary and felony; transportation 7 years was sent to board the Rodney for transportation to Gibraltar ('Ireland-Australia transportation database', Document ref1: TR 9, p 41, at http://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/). --0--
TO SPIKE ISLAND: 17 September, 1849: After 95 days in Cork City prison (includes 3 days served prior to his conviction), John Godsil was sent to Spike Island (Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924 for John Godsil; Cork; Cork City; 1840-1874). Spike Island – known as “Ireland's Alcatraz” – sits at the mouth of the harbour at Cork. The original Napoleonic era fortress was converted to a convict prison in 1847, the worst year of the Great Famine (1845-1852). It was “an important holding centre for convicts transported to Australia and Bermuda” and a “hell on earth”. Most of the more than 1000 convicts buried on the island by the time the prison closed, in 1883, died in the first decade of its operation (https://www.ucc.ie/en/archaeology/research/projects/thespikeislandproject/). --0— “When a transportation sentence was handed down, the convict was usually returned to the local or county gaol until preparations were made for transmitting him or her to the port. Transportees from the southern counties were housed in the city gaol at Cork. Built over the old gate to the northern part of the city, it was in decay and constantly overcrowded… From 1817 a holding prison, known as a depot, was provided in Cork to house the large numbers of convicts accumulating there. From 1836 a depot was provided in Dublin for female convicts and between the Great Famine and the opening of Mountjoy convict prison in 1850, temporary depots and Smithfield in Dublin and Spike Island in Cork harbour were opened to take males.” (“Sources in the National Archives for research into the transportation of Irish convicts to Australia (1791-1853)” by Rena Lohan: introduction, at https://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/transportation/transp1.html). --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF TRIAL: 23 May, 1849: from the Cork Examiner, p4: “John Godril [sic], Denis Donovan, and Eliza Parker were found guilty of feloniously entering the dwelling house of Mr. Thomas O'Keeffe, and taking therefrom a quantity of tea, sugar and other property. Sentence deferred until next Court day.” (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) -- Eliza Parker would be back before the Cork City court in 1852, and would receive a far stiffer penalty for a guilty verdict: 9 October 1852: From the Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier, 9 October 1852, p3: RECORDER’S COURT—Yesterday… Mary Crawly, Anne Lynch, and Eliza Parker were charged with having stolen a quantity of wearing apparel, the property of Michael Dwyer, a man-of-war sailor, on the 4th October. The former was acquitted, and the two latter found guilty. Anne Lynch was sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment with hard labour, the last four days to be solitary, and Eliza Parker, being an old offender, was sentenced to seven years’ transportation.” (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) Footnote: It appears Eliza Parker was not transported. She was discharged from prison on 5 August, 1857 ('Ireland-Australia transportation database', Doc ref TR 12, p200 at http://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/). --0--
TRIAL: 18 May, 1849: All three were convicted of burglary and felony and sentenced by the Recorder, as follows: 7 years’ transportation for John Godsil, 6 months’ jail with hard labour for Denis Donovan (once previously in jail) and 8 months with hard labour for Elisa Parker (three times previously in jail). --0--