Summary
Personal Information
Transportation
John Hunter was transported on the Nile, departing 18th Sep 1857 and arriving 1st Jan 1858 with 271 passengers.
Nile (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/18, Page Number 234. Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department Registers (128/38 - 39). |
| 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
FOOTNOTE 2: NEWSPAPER reports of his successive trials: 1. Durham Chronicle, Friday 2 March, 1849, p8: "JOHN BALAM (29), was charged with having, at the parish of Lamesley, broken and entered the church and feloniously stolen therein, one velvet cloth and two cushions, the property of the parishioners of Lamesley... Two brothers of the name of Richardson ... [who were passing] the church in question... observed a party of four men leave the vestry. The four men seeing them fled, three them one direction and the fourth in another. The fourth, which was the prisoner, they succeeded ... in capturing." 2. Durham Chronicle, Friday 2 March, 1849, p6: "JOHN BALAM alias HUNTER (convicted of sacrilege, yesterday), was convicted of stealing some hammers at Chester-le-Street, and again sentenced to be transported for life." (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --00--
Footnote: One of two men listed on WA Convict Records as having died during the voyage. The other was Hodgson Dawson -- see his bio at https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/dawson/hodgson/60968.
From the Fremantle jail records: HUNTER, John; #4708, [should have arrived] 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Alias: BALAM Date of Birth: 1829 Date of Death: c1857 Place of Death: On voyage out Marital Status: Unmarried Literacy: Illiterate Sentence Place: Durham, Durham, England Crime: Sacrilege Sentence Period: Life Previous Convictions: Yes (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
1858: His WA Convict Record lists him as convict #4708 and his crime as larceny/sacrilege, with a previous conviction for felony. He was single, able to read but not write and his behaviour in jail prior to transportation was "G" for good (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department Registers (128/38 - 39)). --00--
3 May, 1850: John Hunter was transferred from Wakefield prison in Yorkshire and admitted to Portland jail in Dorset. Prisoner #1377, he was 29, single, and a labourer, having been convicted at the Durham Assizes and sentenced to life for sacrilege. A notation on this record says he had been previously transported (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records; Undated). 14 February, 1851: According to the Portland register, he was sent from there to Gibraltar per the Cornwall. --00--
27 February, 1849: John Hunter alias John Balam was convicted at Durham Assizes and sentenced to transportation for life for sacrilege. What did he do? This explanation of sacrilege comes from Wikipedia: "In Post-Reformation England, sacrilege was a criminal offence for centuries, though its statutory definition varied considerably. Most English dictionaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries appealed to the primary sense of stealing objects from a church. Criminal law was consolidated by Peel's Acts from 1828" with provisions relating to sacrilege being repealed and new laws being created around larceny. "In England, Wales, and Ireland, section 10 of each was identical: 'That if any person shall break and enter any church or chapel, and steal therein any chattel, or having stolen any chattel in any church or chapel, shall break out of the same, every such offender, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon.'" --00--