Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
John Kerr 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 639 (322). --0-- https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910 |
| 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
OTHER: 13 December, 1853: He was granted a Ticket of Leave. 31 July, 1855: He received a Conditional Pardon. 29 June, 1857: He received a Free Certificate. --00--
IN VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, JOHN KERR, convict #27956, was listed as a stone cutter (2 years); 19 years old, 5’5½” tall with black hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. He was single, Catholic and semi-literate. Native place: Tyrone. He said he had been transported for “stealing money from my master… at Tyrone”; first conviction. Gibraltar report – “very good” (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p112). Family: Father Robert; brothers Thomas and Robert; sisters Ann, Susan, and Mary – at his native place. (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai39931). --0--
VOYAGE: From the medical journal of the St Vincent, by Thomas Somerville, Surgeon Superintendent, Folio 2: 19 February, 1853: James Kerr, aged 18, convict; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list, 19 February 1853, discharged duty 21 February 1853 (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910). --00--
3 February, 1853: Sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL. --00—
On Gibraltar, JOHN KERR was described as 19 years old, sentenced to 10 years for stealing from the person; first conviction; born in Tyrone; Catholic; brown hair, grey eyes and a swarthy complexion, 5’5¼” tall; literate; sweep; single; relatives/family – at Tyrone (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --
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/). --
GIBRALTAR: 3 October, 1851: KERR, JOHN #1890, 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]). --
23 September, 1851: John Kerr was sent from Kilmainham jail, in Dublin, to board the Rodney for transportation to Gibraltar, as per the “Ireland-Australia transportation database”: Full name: JOHN KERR Sex: M Trial place: Co. Tyrone Trial date: 19/06/1847 Crime desc: Larceny from person Sentence: Transportation 10 yrs Comment1: Convict detained at Kilmainham Gaol, Co. Dublin Ship: RODNEY, (23/09/1851) (Document ref1: TR 6, p 200). --00--
TRIAL: 19 June, 1847: John Kerr was convicted at Tyrone and sentenced to 10 years’ transportation for stealing from the person (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p112). --0--