Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
James Hanna 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
A final notation on his Conduct record says: “Samuel Hanna of Patrick Street, Ballymena, Antrim, is desirous of hearing from this man. 8/3/68” The Superintendent [of Prisons?] was informed of this on 22 June, 1868 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p97). --00--
OTHER: 13 December, 1853: He was granted a Ticket of Leave. 21 June, 1855: He received his certificate of Freedom. 17 June, 1868: He was convicted and sentenced to 3 months’ hard labour for larceny under £5 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p97). --0--
IN VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, JAMES HANNA, convict #27942 was listed as a blacksmith; 21 years old, 5’8½” tall with red hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. He was single, Presbyterian and literate. Native place: Antrim (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-96p97). He said he had been transported for burglary but nothing was taken (prosecutor Mr McAlister at Antrim). Gibraltar report – “good”. Family: Father Samuel; mother Charlotte; brothers Alexander and Samuel; sisters Mary and Jane – all at native place (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai29905). --0--
VOYAGE: From the medical journal of the St Vincent, by Thomas Somerville, Surgeon Superintendent, Folio 2: 28 February, 1853: “James Hannah, aged 21, convict; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list, 28 February 1853, discharged duty 3 March 1853.” (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910) --00--
On Gibraltar, JAMES HANNA was described as 20 years old, sentenced to 7 years for “larceny” and a previous conviction; born in Antrim; Presbyterian; red hair, blue eyes and fair complexion, 5’8½”tall; literate; blacksmith; single; relatives/family – at Antrim (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --0-- 3 February, 1853: He was 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: 3 October, 1851: HANNA, JAMES #1882 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--
JAIL & PETITION: 4 May, 1851: While a prisoner in Mountjoy prison, Dublin, James Hanna unsuccessfully petitioned against the severity of his sentence (Doc CRF 1851 H 19, 'Ireland-Australia transportation database', at http://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/). “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. Convicts brought to Dublin were housed, along with other offenders, mostly in Newgate and Kilmainham gaols. Like its namesake in London, Dublin's city gaol, Newgate, was under constant criticism from reformers because of its deplorable condition and the fact that all categories of offender were housed together. Kilmainham was Dublin's county gaol, with arrangements for convicts much the same as in Newgate, except that transportees were separated from debtors and petty offenders. From 1817 a holding prison, known as a depot, was provided in Cork to house the large numbers of convicts accumulating there [see footnote 5]. 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). --00--
TRIAL: 20 June, 1848: James Hanna was convicted at Antrim and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation for larceny (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-96p97). --0--