Summary
Personal Information
Transportation
Henry Keeling was transported on the Nile, departing 18th Sep 1857 and arriving 1st Jan 1858 with 271 passengers.
Nile (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/18, Page Number 244. --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. --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 |
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Convict Notes
Roscoe, Katy (2018), "Convicts and the sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment" at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk
IN WA: From his FREMANTLE jail record: KEELING, Henry; inmate #4710, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1811 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Illiterate Sentence Place: Stafford, Stafford, England Crime: Bestiality Sentence Period: Life, commuted Ticket of Leave Date: 23 Mar 1858 Conditional Pardon Date: 5 Mar 1862 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/).
8 September, 1857: He was sent from Portsmouth to board the NILE for transportation to WA; convict #25/4293. By this time he had served 8 years 1 month 21 days of his life sentence (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). Behaviour on the voyage "very good" (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). --0--
4 July, 1857: Henry Keeling was shipped back to England per the Hamilla Mitchell and admitted to PORTSMOUTH prison -- inmate #4293; same details except listed as single once more (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). --0--
18 February, 1851: He was transported from Portland to the large GIBRALTAR work station -- inmate #1564 -- and held on the EUROPA hulk. All his details are mainly as per previous records. Physical description: brown hair, grey eyes, sallow complexion, slight build, 5'2" tall; married, no children [previously listed as single]; able to read; a labourer (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Hy Keeling; Misc.; Register of Prisoners). Gibraltar and Bermuda were also 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 11 AM and 5PM, which they drank from a trough. [vii] 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--
10 August, 1850: Admitted to PORTLAND in Dorset -- inmate #1705. Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham and Spike Island in Ireland were listed public works stations and the second stage in the penal process. After separate confinement, prisoners were “placed on work parties at various locations, most commonly naval stations, where maintenance of facilities was vital for the effective protection of Britain’s far flung commercial and military influences around the world. While there, attitude and behaviour were monitored closely. In theory, only after consistently positive reports was a prisoner moved on to the third stage of his incarceration—transportation.” (Edgar, p40) --0--
29 December, 1849: Admitted to PENTONVILLE prison, Caledonian Road, London -- inmate #2754. Henry Keeling was listed as 35 when convicted, single, a farm labourer, able to read and write imperfectly; next of kin -- John Keeling, farm labourer, of Gnosall Heath, Staffordshire (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Hy Keeling; Pentonville Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1849-1850). --0--
4 November, 1849: Admitted to MILLBANK prison, Westminster, London -- served 1 month 20 days in separate confinement. “After a sentence of transportation was handed down, the prisoner entered into a separate stage where he was placed into an individual cell, isolated from others, apart from brief periods of exercise and attendance at chapel. However, no communication of any kind with other prisoners was permitted at any time. The philosophy behind this penal methodology had its provenances in the religious, monastic traditions; i.e., that in the isolation of his cell the malefactor would be able to contemplate the errors of his way, unadulterated by the negative influences of former contemporaries, and be reformed.” (Edgar, 2018, pp39-40) When first put into practice, the mandated period of separate confinement was 18 months. By the late 1840s, authorities had conceded that such conditions of imprisonment were “injurious to many prisoners’ mental health” and the stint was reduced to 12 months. Periods of separate confinement were reduced further “as a prisoner displayed good behaviour tendencies” (Edgar, p40). Millbank, Pentonville, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--
JAILS: 1849: STAFFORD JAIL -- held for 3 months. --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF THE TRIAL: From the Staffordshire Advertiser, Saturday 28 July 1849, p5: "WEDNESDAY. HENRY KEELING, 35, was found guilty upon an indictment charging him with an unnatural offence, at High Offley, [Staffordshire], on the 1st of June, and sentence of death was ordered to be recorded against him." (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --0--