Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
John Kerly 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, p240 --0-- 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 --0-- England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892; Wales; Glamorgan; 1866 |
| 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
"Great Great Great Grandfather."
Photos
No photos have been added for John Kerly.
Convict Notes
JAILS: 1866: He was held at Swansea County Gaol, Oystermouth Road, Sandfields, Swansea, awaiting trial and following his conviction (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for John Kerly; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1866-1869; image 16). --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF TRIAL: From the Swansea and Glamorgan Herald, Wednesday, 14 March, 1866, p4: “GLAMORGANSHIIRE SPRING ASSIZES. SATURDAY, MARCH 10th. (Before Mr. Justice Blackburn). His Lordship took his seat in Court at a quarter past ten o’clock. Incest at Mountain Ash.—John Kerly, 44, collier, was charged with felonioualy assaulting Elizabeth Kerly, his daughter, at Llanwonno, on the 12th of September. Mr Allen prosecuted; the prisoner was undefended. This case occupied the court three hours; the details of it are, of course, unfit for publication. The prisoner was a widower, and the prosecutrix, who was a good looking, intelligent girl, said that she was sixteen years old, and that her mother died when she was three years of age. The prosecutrix and her father lodged together at a cottage, kept by Mrs Galin, sleeping in the same bed, and whilst lodging there it was said that the offence complained of was committed. The prisoner cross examined each of the witnesses, especially his own daughter, endeavouring to show that her character was very indifferent, and that from early childhood he had had considerable trouble with her, arising out of her dishonesty, untruthfulness, and unchastity. The daughter met most of the charges with indignant denials. In his defence the prisoner said he was innocent of the charge that was brought against him, and the reason she slept with him was because the people where he had lodged would not allow her to sleep in any other place. He had had a great many troubles, but this was the greatest of them all, and he must throw himself entirely on the mercy of the jury, and remind them that it was the first time he had ever appeared in a court of justice. His Lordship very carefully summed up, urging upon the jury not to allow their minds to be influenced so as to prejudice the prisoner by the dreadful story they had been obliged to listen to, and to confine their attention solely to the evidence they had heard. He had no doubt they would do that which they thought was their duty, but human nature was powerful, and its promptings might warp their judgment against the prisoner, and therefore he urged them to take care not to return a verdict of ‘guilty’ unless they were quite satisfied that the offence was committed against the consent of the prosecutrix. The jury retired for about half an hour, and returned a verdict of ‘Guilty’. His Lordship, in passing sentence, said he quite concurred with the verdict; and it was his painful duty to pass upon the prisoner the highest sentence the law allowed him to pass, which was penal servitude for life.” (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002977/18660314/033/0004) --00--
TRIAL: 1866, 7 March: Tried at the Lent Assizes, Swansea, and sentenced to penal servitude for the term of his “natural life” for rape (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for John Kerly; Wales; Glamorgan; 1866). --0--