Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
James Howe 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 243 (124). --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.
WA Death registration: Surname: Howe Given names: James Sex: Male Age: 68 Father: Unknown Mother: Unknown Place of death: Fremantle Year of death: 1904 Reg. number: 1255 Reg. year: 1904 (Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-justice/online-index-search-tool) --000--
DEATH OF JAMES HOWE? From the West Australian, 15 December 1904, p4: Death of a Prisoner. — James Howe, aged 68 years, a prisoner at the Fremantle gaol, died on Tuesday afternoon, and at the inquest, which was concluded by Mr. W. De Lacy Bacon, J.P. yesterday morning, a verdict was returned that death was due to senile decay. (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/25369359) --00--
30 June 1900, p3: BEVERLEY. At the Beverley Police Court on Tuesday (before Dr. House and Mr. Horace Smith, J's.P.), a well-known character named James Howe was charged with stealing a quantity of rations from Ellen Martin, Woonderlin, near Beverley, on the 20th inst. Sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. For being a rogue and a vagabond a further sentence of twelve months’ imprisonment was meted out, the prisoner making use of disgusting epithets to the Bench as he was removed from the dock. --00
Police Court, Perth, 5 December 1899: 'A Cowardly, Brutal Assault.'— The action of a powerfully-built young man named William Lyons, in having committed a violent, unprovoked attack on an old man named James Howe, was characterised by the bench as a cowardly, brutal assault. Lyons was ordered to pay a fine of 40s., or go to gaol for a week. (Daily News Perth, p3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/83062109) --00--
--00-- THE SAME JAMES HOWE? From the Western Australian Times, 10 October 1876, p2 – Supreme Court Criminal Sittings, Perth, 5 October: Housebreaking. James Howe, who appeared at the bar in prison dress was charged with having, on the 20th July [sic] last, feloniously broken into the hut of one Geo. Wood, at Beverley, and stolen therefrom a number of articles, the property of the prosecutor. The prisoner, who pleaded not guilty, had made a statement before the committing magistrate acknowledging having broken into the hut and stolen all the articles enumerated in the indictment, with the exception of a kangaroo rug. He now, however, denied his guilt. Police sergeant Thomas Edwards deposed that he arrested the prisoner for vagrancy on the 25th June [sic] last, and found various articles belonging to the prosecutor in his possession. He admitted they were the property of the prosecutor, and that, being very hungry, he had broken into the hut with an axe. George Wood, the prosecutor, identified the articles produced, and said they were stolen out of his hut, in his absence. They consisted of a quantity of tea and sugar, a piece of bacon, a rug, a knife, and some pieces of rope. The prisoner’s statement before the committing magistrate was then put in and read by the clerk of arraigns. The jury, without hesitation, returned a verdict of guilty, and His Honor sentenced the prisoner to 5 years’ penal servitude. [Note: At least one of the above dates is wrong. Howe could not have possession of the stolen articles on 25 June if he didn’t steal them until 20 July.] --00--
From “Convicts associated with Toodyay”: Howe, James (1834- ) 9772 1868-01-10 Hougoumont CWA: Single; clerk; lit Prot; burglary prev conv 10 yrs; York, Toodyay, Perth, Fremantle, Beverley; lab, cooking, gen svt, woodcutter, builder, worked for self 1874-1875. Ancestry: WA convict records: General Register for Nos 9599 - 10128 cont. (R16): P80: 9772 Howe, James. Hougoumont. Working as TOL in Toodyay and Northam, in 1871-1872. WA Pol Gaz, 1879: JAMES HOWE, exp., late 9772, at Perth, on 12th inst., by P.C. McCaffrey; with violently assaulting John J. Elsegood. Fined 20s.; 1900: JAMES HOWE, exp., late 9772, at Perth, on the 16th inst., by P.C. G.W. Underwood; obscenity, 21 days h.l. (https://www.toodyay.wa.gov.au/documents/234/convicts-associated-with-toodyay-as-at-30-sep-2020) --00--
From his FREMANTLE JAIL record: HOWE, James; inmate #9772, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1834 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Clerk Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Manchester Crime: Burglary Sentence Period: 10 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 21 Nov 1871 Certificate of Freedom Date: 17 Nov 1876 Comments: Labourer, cook, general servant, wood cutter, builder, self-employed, 1874-1875 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/) --00--
IN WA: On arrival, JAMES HOWE was listed as convict #9772, 32 [30 when convicted], single no children, literate, clerk, Roman Catholic; family – wife Elizabeth [sic]; 5’3¼” tall, brown hair, hazel eyes, dark complexion; behaviour in jail in England “tolerably good” (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department; Registers (128/40 - 43)). --00--
EMBARKATION: 1867, 5 October: James Howe was sent from Portsmouth 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--