Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Edwin Hooper 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 240 --00-- https://www.prisonhistory.org/prison/leicester-county-gaol-and-house-of-correction/ --00-- --00-- Edgar, W. (Bill), (2018). “The precarious voyage of her majesty’s convict ship ‘Nile’ to the Swan River colony, late 1857 – and the unexpected aftermath.” The Great Circle, 40(1), 20–43. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26783779 |
| 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 |
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Convict Notes
NOTE: Year of Birth is known from UK records but not the day and month. The latter dates have been entered as 01/01 because the site does not allow those fields to be left empty.
ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND: The London Daily Chronicle of Friday, 19 April, 1878 (p2), reported the arrival of the Charlotte Padbury, from the Swan River, at Gravesend on the previous day (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005049/18780419/012/0002). --000--
From the Inquirer and Commercial News, 9 January 1878, p3: NOTES FROM THE PORT. The Charlotte Padbury got away crowded with passengers, about forty in all, on Saturday afternoon. There are some heavy odds laid as to which vessel of the two — the Helena Mena or the Charlotte Padbury — will arrive home first. It is a singular fact that the number of people leaving the colony by these two vessels is as large as the number imparted at the expense of the colony by the Robert Morrison. (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65957345) --000--
BACK TO ENGLAND: 1878, 5 January: From “Convicts associated with Toodyay” (https://www.toodyay.wa.gov.au/documents/234/convicts-associated-with-toodyay-as-at-30-sep-2020) Hooper, Edwin (1838- ) 9770; 1868-01-10 Hougoumont CWA: Unmarried; farm labourer; literate Protestant; firing stacks, previous convictions, 8 yrs; York, Toodyay; general servant. To UK 05- 04-1878 [actually 5 Jan. 1878]. Ancestry: WA convict records: General Register for Nos 9599 - 10128 cont. (R16): P78: 9770 Hooper, Edwin. Hougoumont. Working as TOL in Toodyay and Northam, for various employers, in 1869-1870. WA Police Gazette 1878: Left colony on the Charlotte Padbury on 5 Jan. 1878. --00—
From his FREMANTLE JAIL record: HOOPER, Edwin; inmate #9770, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1838 [1841 -- see UK jail and court records] Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Farm labourer Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Gloucester Crime: Firing stacks Sentence Period: 8 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 28 Apr 1869 Certificate of Freedom Date: 7 Mar 1873 [at York] Comments: General servant. To England, 5 Jan 1878 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --000--
IN WA: On arrival, EDWIN HOOPER was listed as convict #9770, 26 [on arrival, 23 when convicted], single, literate, farm labourer, Protestant; family – father John Hooper, 10 Jubilee Place, St Leonards; 5’4” tall, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, sallow complexion, flat feet; behaviour “indifferent”; health – “tolerable, has a very slight affection of heart and inflamed legs by long standing” (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department; Registers (128/40 - 43)). --00--
EMBARKATION: 1867, 8 October: Edwin Hooper was sent to board the Hougoumont for transportation to WA “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 [only two were on the Hougoumont – Thomas Berwick and Lionel Holdsworth, each sentenced to 20 years for fraud], 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 [not the senior Fenian, Captain Moriarty; rather, this was Bartholomew Moriarty, aged 17]. 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.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271). --00—
1865, 13 March: Edwin Hooper was discharged from the County Gaol and sent to Leicester County Gaol, Welford Road, Leicester. Some time later, he was sent to Portland jail, Grove Road, Portland, Dorset; inmate #4863. Portland opened in November 1848 as the first male convict public works prison, receiving prisoners who had already undergone periods of separate confinement at Millbank, Pentonville and specially contracted local prisons. --00—
JAILS: 1864, 20 October: Admitted to Gloucester County Gaol; inmate #2519, Edwin Hooper, semiliterate, 23, 5’4¼”, brown hair, grey eyes, sallow complexion, flat feet; committed for “feloniously setting fire to a certain rick of hay the property of William Turner at Withington [sic] on the 12th of October 1864”; committed by the Hon GGC Talbot, clerk, and T B…, clerk (Gloucestershire, England, Prison Records, 1728-1914; Registers of Prisoners; The County Gaol; 1860-1865). --00--
GLOUCESTER CALENDAR OF PRISONERS: WINTER ASSIZES 1864 Edwin Hooper: known to police, known 1 month; 23 years old, offence -- arson at Whittington; imprisonment 8 years’ penal servitude; 5’4½” , brown hair, grey eyes, sallow complexion, flat footed (Gloucestershire, England, Prison Records, 1728-1914 for Edwin Hopper; Calendars of Prisoners; Berkeley, Cirencester, Northgate (Gloucester), Lawfords Gate (Bristol) and Winchcombe; 1861-1877). Edwin’s previous convictions were: in 1861 for housebreaking (at Exeter) – 18 months’ hard labour; and in 1863 for stealing wearing apparel (at Exeter) – one month hard labour (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9599-10128 cont. (R16)). --00—