Thomas Hopkins

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Dianne Jones on 2nd October 2023

NOTE: Date of Birth is from various records but the day and month are not known. The latter have been entered as 01/01 because the site won't save a year unless the day and month fields are filled.

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Dianne Jones on 2nd October 2023

RECORD CORRECTION: This record below, from the “Convict Index 1788-1866” on Ancestry.com, contains inaccuracies -- including his arrival year in WA (it was 1868, not 1866), and the assertion he was involved in the “Catalpa” affair. This was the daring rescue of six military Fenians, originally sent to WA on the Hougoumont, who escaped and sailed to freedom in America in 1876. WA Death and Fremantle Prison hospital records confirm that Thomas Hopkins died in the Prison hospital in 1873, so he couldn’t have reinvented himself and returned in 1880 as a Fenian agent! No texts about the “Catalpa” rescue that I have seen credit Thomas Hopkins with aiding, abetting or having pertinent knowledge of the escape of the Fenian soldier prisoners from Fremantle jail in 1876. But a man called Henry Hopkins (real name Walsh) was in WA in 1876. He and Alfred Dixon (real name Denis McCarthy) were there as agents of the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) of England and Ireland. They became willing conspirators in the “Catalpa” rescue. Thomas Keneally (1998, p.663) writes that “on the day of [the Fremantle prisoners’] escape... McCarthy could cut the telegraph wire between Fremantle and Perth, and Walsh the wire southwards between Fremantle and Bunbury”. Name Thomas Hopkins Age 29 Birth Year 1837 Arrival Year 1866 Arrival State Western Australia Trial Place Ccc Status W 3 chn Ship Hougoumont Comments Implicated in "Catalpa" affair & retd 1880 as Leonard W. A fenian agent. D.25.1.1873 Fremantle prison hosp Occupation Labourer (“Convict Index 1788-1866”) --000—

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HOSPITAL RECORDS: 1872, 4 November: Thomas Hopkins was suffering from phthisis (tuberculosis) when admitted to Fremantle Prison hospital where he was working as a hospital orderly. He died over two months later, at 4:15pm on 25 January, 1873 (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Establishment, Medical Register of Admissions and Discharges From Hospital, 1857 - 1886 (M32)). --000--

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DEATH: Hopkins, Thomas Male Age: 35 years old Father not known Mother not known Died: Fremantle Prison Hospital [from consumption] Year of death: 1873 Reg No: 6448 Registered: 1873 (https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-justice/online-index-search-tool). --000—

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--00— From his FREMANTLE jail record: HOPKINS, Thomas; inmate #9771, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1837 Date of Death: 21 Jan 1873 Place of Death: Fremantle Prison Hospital, consumption Marital Status: Widower 3 children Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Literate Crime: Manslaughter Sentence Period: 15 years (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --000--

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IN WA: On arrival, THOMAS HOPKINS was listed as convict #9771, 29 [when convicted], widower with three children, literate, labourer, Roman Catholic; family – his children George (9½), Thomas (8) and John (6), living at High Street, Edmonton, Middlesex; 5’8” tall, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, healthy complexion, flat feet; behaviour in jail in England “indifferent”. Jan 15, 1868 specially recommended by Surgeon Superintendent of the Hougoumont for good conduct on the voyage (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department; Registers (128/40 - 43)). --00--

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--00— EMBARKATION: 1867, 5 October: Thomas Hopkins was sent from Portsmouth to board the Hougoumont for transportation to WA (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Thomas Hopkins; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1866-1868). “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—

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1867, 14 March: He was sent from Millbank to Portsmouth prison, in Hampshire; inmate #768 (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Thomas Hopkins; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1866-1868). Portsmouth, Portland and Chatham in England and Spike Island in Ireland, along with Gibraltar and Bermuda, were listed public works stations and the second stage in the penal process. After separate confinement, prisoners were “placed on work parties at various locations, most commonly naval stations, where maintenance of facilities was vital for the effective protection of Britain’s far flung commercial and military influences around the world. While there, attitude and behaviour were monitored closely. In theory, only after consistently positive reports was a prisoner moved on to the third stage of his incarceration—transportation.” (Edgar, p40).

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JAIL: 1866, June: Thomas Hopkins, 29 (born 1837), was held at Millbank prison following his conviction and sentence of 15 years’ penal servitude (UK, After-Trial Calendar of Prisoners, 1855-1931 for Thomas Hopkins; 1866). -- “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). Pentonville, Millbank, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --00--

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NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF TRIAL: From the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, 14 June, 1866, p5: THE EDMONTON MURDER. Thomas Hopkins, a labourer, aged 29, was found guilty of the manslaughter of his wife, Sarah Hopkins, by stabbing her in the neck, and was sentenced to 15 years’ penal servitude. (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001702/18660614/064/0005) --00—