Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
John Sims 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 627 (316). --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
FAMILY: Family: Father George; mother Elizabeth; brothers George, Frederick and Arthur; sisters Eliza and Harriett – at his native place (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai64325). --0-- OTHER: 17 May, 1859: He was granted a Conditional Pardon. For more details of his convict life, see (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p171. --00—
VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, JOHN SIMS, convict #28015, was listed as an imperfect blacksmith and labourer [previously listed as a weaver]; transported for 14 years for receiving wearing apparel; 29 years old, 5’7¾” tall with black hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. He was single, Protestant and literate. Native place: Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. He said he had been transported for “receiving clothes”. Gibraltar report “exemplary” (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p171). --
On Gibraltar, John Sims was described as 22 years old when convicted, sentenced to 14 years for “receiving stolen goods”; “3rd conviction”; born in Bradford; Church of England; dark hair, hazel eyes and a fair complexion, 5’4¼” tall; literate; weaver; single; relatives/family – living in Bath (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --0-- 3 February, 1853: John Sims 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/). --
GIBRALTAR: 30 January, 1848: SIMS, JOHN #1146, arrived on Gibraltar from Millbank prison, England, per Mount Stewart Elphinstone. Held on the Europa hulk (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --
JAIL: 5 January, 1847: John Sims, inmate #15196, 22 years old, was admitted to Wilton Gaol, Taunton. Listed as having been received from the Wells Epiphany Sessions of 5 January; and able to read and write well. Previous convictions included “once in Bath for pawning” in 1845 (Somerset, England, Gaol Registers, 1807-1879 for John Sims; Wilton Gaol’ Register of Prisoners 1831 – 1847). --00--
TRIAL: 5 January, 1847: John Sims, 22 and able to read and write “well”, was tried and convicted at the County Quarter Sessions at Wells. He was sentenced to 14 years’ transportation for receiving stolen clothing (his third offence) (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for John Sims; England; Somerset; 1847). --00--