Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
John Enochiah Elisha Folkeston 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 636. --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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Convict Notes
YEAR OF BIRTH: Different records suggest different years. If, as stated by the ship's surgeon, he was 66 when he died, his birth year was about 1787. The hulk record, which usually gives a convict's age at the time of trial, suggests he was born around 1794. Until confirmation either way, or otherwise, the earlier of the two dates above has been selected.
DEATH: 13 May, 1853: This date, along with the notation "died at sea", also appears on John EE Folkestone's Conduct Record for VDL -- convict #27913 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p68).
VOYAGE: 19 February, 1853: From the medical journal of the St Vincent, by Thomas Somerville, Surgeon Superintendent, Folio 2: "John Folkestone, aged 66, convict; sick or hurt, nausea abundens; put on sick list 19 February 1853, discharged duty 21 February 1853." 13 May, 1853: "John Folkestone, aged 66, convict; sick or hurt, diseased bladder; put on sick list 12 April 1853, died 13 May 1853." Summary: "Folios 12-14: case no 6, John Folkestone, aged 66, Convict; taken ill at Sea; sick or hurt, diseased bladder, this was a curious eccentric man was employed as a Missionary for the conversion of the Jews, and transported for rape. He has suffered since embarking from a great inclination to pass urine with great pain and difficulty in micturition, after being upon deck exposed to cold and damp he was seized with retention of urine; put on sick list 27 April 1853, died 14 May [sic] 1853 at sea." (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910). --00--
3 February, 1853: He was sent from the hulk at Gibraltar to embark on the St Vincent for transportation to VDL (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Jno E E Folkestone; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --00--
Gibraltar and Bermuda were listed public works stations (and the second stage in the British 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 11 AM 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, 2018). --0--
OCCUPATION: Not "Not known", just not listed in the options. He was, according to court records, etc., an itinerant preacher. --00-- JAIL -- GIBRALTAR: Some time after his conviction at Perth, he was transported to Gibraltar. He was held on the Europa hulk where he was registered as John EE Folkestone, inmate #824, aged 52. Listed as a preacher, able to read and write well; native place "[born] at sea, Scotch". This conviction for rape was his second conviction [previous crime not stated]. Described as 5'5½" tall with very light hair, blue eyes (lost one), and a fair complexion (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Jno E E Folkestone; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --0--
NEWSPAPER report of the trial: "A Modern Tartuffe [hypocrite].— At the Perth circuit, on the 24th September, John Enochiah Elisha Folkestone, a little bearded perambulating street preacher, from Dundee, pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminally assaulting a female. After a trial that lasted five hours, he was found guilty, as libelled, and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. During the whole of the proceedings his behaviour was of a very peculiar description. At the commencement, he objected to the whole Jury, and put the Court to the trouble of balloting another. During the examination of witnesses he was continually referring to his Bible, as if in search of favourite passages and spreading his hands and turning up his eyes to the ceiling, as if in earnest prayer for his sinful accusers. On his sentence being pronounced, instead of reviling, as some in his situation would have done, he made an attempt at exhortation, but was cut short by Lord Cockburn telling him that neither time, place, nor circumstances were suitable for a sermon." (Morning Post, 5 October, 1846, p8, at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --00--
PRECOGNITION & TRIAL: National Records of Scotland: Reference AD14/46/62 Title Precognition against John Enochiah Folkestone for the crime of rape and assault with intent to ravish Dates 1846 Accused John Enochiah Folkestone, itinerant preacher, Address: No fixed abode. --0-- NAME: John Enochiah Elisha Folkeston ROLE: Accused CRIME COMMITTED: Rape, Assault With Intent to Ravish, and Using Lewd, Indecent and Libidinous Practices on A Child Under the Age of Puberty TRIAL DATE: 24 Sep 1846 TRIAL LOCATION: Perthshire, Scotland COURT HOUSE: Perth VERDICT: Guilty SENTENCE: Transportation - 14 Years NOTES: The Advocate Depute Passed From the Charge of Rape. RELATED TRIAL PAPERS: Jc26/1846/77 (Web: Scotland, High Court Criminal Indexes, 1790-1919). --0--